2017 Update: This one-bowl lemon pound cake remains a perennial favorite with my family, making appearances at most summer dinners. I love that it’s so easy and requires almost no planning ahead. It also turns out consistently time after time, the true measure of a great recipe. I served it at a backyard dinner party at my house and took the opportunity to update the photos and the recipe below. This one is worth rediscovering!

Sitting in bed, listening to the crickets chirp and snuggling under the down comforter to ward off the lovely night breeze reminding me that fall is just around the corner, I’m feeling pretty good about today.  The rain finally stopped, the humidity that’s been hanging over everything and making it impossible to breathe lifted, and the sun came out with a fresh breeze to accompany it.  I woke up more refreshed than I’ve felt in days, having finally spent a night by myself in my own bed. I spent the day swimming and sunning and watching my brothers and cousins mess about in boats.  At lunch I had a few spoonfuls of the creamiest homemade peppermint stick ice cream, and after lunch it got quiet enough at the dock for the loons to swim up and be photographed.  I went for a jog at dusk, then sat down to a steaming bowl of this pork and black-eyed pea chili, followed by a slice of this incredible lemon pound cake you see here, topped with wild raspberries and blackberries that I picked along Lily Lane yesterday afternoon.  I’ve been uncharacteristically anxious and stressed these past few weeks, and it’s nice to step back and appreciate the calm and joy of simplicity.  Days like this should not be taken for granted, they should be savored.

Like this one-bowl lemon pound cake. Because this cake recipe is one of the best ever.  I don’t know where it came from, or how old it is, I just know that it’s nearly perfect.  It’s one of those recipes that’s been passed from mother to mother at bake sales and pot lucks, scribbled down from memory on a notecard.  My own mother makes it at least once every two weeks in the summer, when fresh berries, the cake’s perfect foil, are abundant and super-sweet.  She received it from a friend at a church picnic, and we love it so much that she even used to send it to us as a care package at school.  We’ve shared the recipe with aunts and friends, and one of my aunts even shared it with the owner of a bakery, who immediately added it to her menu.  It’s that good.

In addition to its sweet lemon flavor and perfect consistency, a few other things make this cake noteworthy. First, it uses exactly one bowl. No separating dry ingredients from wet ingredients, just beat everything together and pop it in the oven. It even goes into a cold oven and bakes from there.  Both of these characteristics make me think that this recipe is from another decade. It’s exactly the kind of cake I can see grandmothers making 60 years ago – no fuss, with so few ingredients that it can easily be made from memory.  You don’t even need to plan far enough ahead to preheat the oven.

It couldn’t be easier to make, or more of a crowd-pleaser to serve.  Dress it up with a drizzle of lemon glaze or a bowl of fresh berries and homemade whipped cream, and it’s elegant enough for company. Or wrap it up in a bit of plastic wrap and stick it in a lunchbox, and it becomes the perfect mid-morning snack.  The almond and lemon extracts give it the perfect scent and flavor, the inside of the cake is dense and moist, and the outside gets a crackly-sweet glaze as it bakes. My brothers and I can never resist breaking off little pieces of the sweet “crust” as the cake cools.  If you make this cake, which I sincerely hope you do, please make it exactly as written at least once before changing it.  Generally, I adjust recipes as I think best – even if it’s just changing the type of sugar or the amount of extract, but this one is well tested.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

One-Bowl Lemon Pound Cake

This Lemon Pound Cake is a favorite family recipe in the summer. We always serve it with berries and whipped cream, although sometimes a simple lemon glaze is nice as well (or both! What’s stopping you?). It’s an easy, consistent cake that feeds and pleases a crowd.

This recipe came to my family through a friend at a picnic, and my mother has been making it ever since. If anyone knows the original source, please share!

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 16
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. butter, softened
• 2 1/2 c. sugar
• 5 eggs
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1 c. whipping cream/heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Instructions

1. Prepare a large bundt pan by greasing and flouring the inside.  A cooking spray works best to get all the creases of the bundt pan.  In an electric mixer or large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed.  Since the ratio of sugar to butter is so high, the creamed butter will not get as fluffy as in some recipes, and may remain grainy.  This is fine – it’s not a fussy cake!  Add the eggs one at a time, leaving the mixer on low speed, or beating by hand until fully incorporated in between additions.
2. Add 1 1/2 c. flour to the batter, and beat until incorporated.  Next, add 1/2 c. of the heavy cream and beat until incorporated.  Add and incorporate the remaining 1 c. of flour, followed by the remaining 1/2 c. of cream.  Beat until smooth and fully incorporated.  Mix in the lemon, vanilla, and almond extracts.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan.  Place pan in cold oven, then turn heat to 300°F, and bake cake for 90 minutes.  Cake top will be beginning to crack when cake is done.  Turn oven off and leave cake in oven for 15 minutes longer.  Remove cake from oven, and allow to cool for 15 minutes in pan.  Then, turn cake over onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving.  Serve with fresh berries tossed with a bit of sugar, and a dollop of homemade whipped cream.

The post One-Bowl Lemon Pound Cake appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The world may not need another blog post about strawberry-rhubarb pie, but I need to write this one. Because it’s not just about pie, it’s about a pie for my dad. My dad has the misfortune of his birthday only being a week or so before Father’s Day, so we tend to lump the two together. Also he’s quite difficult to shop for, so we tend to… not shop for him. But this year I’m going to celebrate him properly – starting with this blog post, and a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie.

I become more and more grateful for my parents the older I get. Particularly this year as we prepare for our wedding, I don’t know where we would be without them. We’re getting married at their house in Maine, and my dad built us a barn, by hand, for the reception. It’s absolutely beautiful and so special to be celebrating at a place we both love. (Lest you think I’m even more spoiled than I am in reality, the barn, who’s primary purpose will be boat storage, was always in the long term house plan, just bumped up a few years). The long farm tables we’ll gather at will be my dad’s handiwork as well. Not to mention the hours of yard work and prep required to host a wedding!

The wedding is a big thing, but I’m grateful for all the little (and other not so little) things too. The emergency plumbing assistance when our pipes burst while we were in Portugal. Bringing us a piano rescued from a friary. The tax help phone call I make every year on April 14th. Driving me and a pile of my adult friends to and from our high school reunion last weekend when we did a little too much day-drinking. Teaching me how to play soccer and to sail, even though I never really fell in love with those things. Teaching me to play piano, which I do love.

My dad doesn’t like to sit still. He always has a dozen projects going on, and a “master plan” he’s ready to share with you. When we’re up in Maine, he can usually be found tractoring something or cutting down a tree – we (lovingly) call him The Onceler. He loves to be on the water, the reason we find ourselves with such a collection of boats. Some of my fondest memories of Maine are of early mornings out on the harbor, dad at Clifford’s helm, skimming the ocean’s surface while its still glassy, looking for dolphins.

I could go on, but the point is, my dad is a good guy. Some might say a Great Man. And it’s time to tell you about this the pie. My dad has always loved strawberry-rhubarb pie, but after many attempts deemed “a little too soupy” my mother refuses to make any more. Don’t get me wrong, my mom is an amazing cook, and she’s particularly good at baking pies. But strawberry-rhubarb pie is just not her thing.

So I’ve taken the baton from her and am the strawberry-rhubarb pie baker this year. Actually, I made two pies – one to take to my dad last weekend, and one to share here. I added raspberries to both, making this a strawberry-rhubarb-raspberry pie, and did my best at a lattice crust. Trevor is a bit persnickety about these things but I think even he approves of this lattice. The filling is still a little bit loose – I’m not sure there’s a way around that – but holds together well enough to slice neatly. Just make sure you don’t cut into it right away, as it needs several hours post-baking to set up properly.

Happy birthday and happy father’s day, dad! I love you and I hope my pie was up to snuff.

Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie

A not-too-soupy, not-too-firm Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie with a lattice crust and a hint of vanilla.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Sally’s Baking Addiction.

• Author: Katie at the Kitchen Door
• Yield: 8-10
• Category: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 TBS) salted butter, cold
• 2 eggs
• 4 TBS ice cold water
• 1 1/4 lbs rhubarb, sliced in half inch slices (about 4 cups)
• 1  lb strawberries, sliced (about 3 cups)
• 1/2 lb raspberries (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup tapioca granules
• 2 TBS whole milk, for brushing the pie crust

Instructions

1. Make the pie crust: In a large bowl, mix the flour and sea salt together. Cut the cold butter into the bowl in small pieces, aiming for about 1/2 TBS per piece. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to cut the butter into the flour until it is crumbly with pea-size pieces of butter. Whisk together the eggs and the ice cold water in a small bowl until evenly combined. Add about half of the egg mixture to the flour and use a fork to quickly mix, moistening as much of the flour as you can. Test to see if the dough will hold together when pressed. If not, continue stirring in a splash of the egg mixture at a time until the dough just barely holds together when gathered into a ball. Once the dough holds together, stop adding the liquid, form into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough until thoroughly chilled, at least 30 minutes.
2. Prepare the filling: Add the sliced rhubarb, sliced strawberries, raspberries, vanilla, cinnamon, brown sugar, white sugar, and tapioca granules to a large bowl. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until all of the filling ingredients are fully mixed and the fruit is coated with sugar. Set the filling aside.
3. Make the pie: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare a flat work surface for rolling out the dough by putting a dusting of flour on the work surface and on a rolling pin. Divide the dough into two pieces – one that uses 2/3 of the dough and the other that uses 1/3 of the dough. Roll the larger pieces out into a large circle that is about 1/4 of an inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Carefully transfer this piece of dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Very lightly press the dough into the pie plate so that it the dough is touching all of the sides of the pan. You should have at least a half inch of overhang on all sides.
4. Spoon the filling into the prepared pie crust, taking care to fill the pie evenly and remove as many air gaps as possible by spreading the fruit around. Roll the second piece of pie dough out into a circle and cut into strips that are about 1/2 inch wide. Arrange the strips in a lattice pattern on the top of the pie. You may need to adjust pieces of the filling as you work to get the lattice strips to lay flat. Once you are happy with the lattice, gently press the lattice pieces into the edges of the lower pie crust, then trim the crust, leaving just a little bit of overhang (the crust will shrink as it bakes – press the overhang under the rim of the pie pan if you want it to stay all the way to the edge).
5. Use a pastry brush to brush all of the exposed pie crust lightly with milk. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, an additional 60 minutes. Let cool completely, preferably overnight, before serving.

Notes

I have made this pie with both tapioca granules and cornstarch. Both help stabilize the filling, but neither is perfect. Feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

Letting this pie sit for several hours before slicing it will help reduce soupiness.

The post Strawberry-Rhubarb-Raspberry Pie appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last year, Trevor and I spent Valentine’s Day in the executive lounge of the Hong Kong Airport Marriott. It was actually quite nice – we were at the tail end of our 6 weeks in Asia, waiting for our connection back to the US, having just come back from an incredible vacation in Japan. We were really exhausted, and for two entire days we didn’t leave the hotel. We never travel like that – we are always on the go, exploring, trying new things. But we were tired, and it was raining, and we’d already spent 5 weeks in Hong Kong. So we just stayed inside the massive hotel, taking long showers, watching TV, and working from the top floor lounge. There was unlimited free wine and snacks. If every Valentine’s were like that, I’d be perfectly happy.

This year, Trevor will be working at the restaurant and I’ll probably be home catching up on the 5 weeks of miscellaneous chores and errands I didn’t do while we were in Portugal. When Trevor gets home we’ll probably sneak in an episode of Arrested Development and maybe I’ll pop open a bottle of champagne. Actually, I think I’ll definitely pop open a bottle of champagne. And I’ll bake something chocolatey. It may be subdued, but we’ll make it just as romantic as a big dinner out. In my book, a few hours together is all you really need to appreciate someone you love.

However, if your plans are a bit more exciting than mine, I have something festive for you: Chambord-Hibiscus Champagne Punch. This is what I would be making if I were throwing a little dinner party or girls’ night for Valentine’s Day. I seem to have a bit of a thing for pink, sparkling drinks. I’ve got Raspberry Sherbet Champagne Floats and Rhubarb Prosecco Spritzers and now I’ve gone and made a whole punch full of Chambord and hibiscus-infused-vodka and champagne. It’s quite easy to put together, and a little dangerous – the way a good punch should be.

I partnered with Drizly to bring you this recipe – they dropped off the Chambord and champagne within an hour, and we were ready to go. Drizly works with a number of fantastic cocktail bloggers: you can find more recipes on their Tastemakers page.

Disclosure: As a Top Shelf blogger, Drizly provided me with the alcohol for this post free of charge, but I was not otherwise compensated. As usual, all opinions are my own!

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Thanks for reading!

More pink and sparkling drinks…

Blood Orange Mimosas

Raspberry Sherbet Champagne Floats

Strawberry Champagne Shrub

Chambord-Hibiscus Champagne Punch

A Katie at the Kitchen Door original recipe. Serves 4-6.

• 1 cup frozen raspberries
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup hibiscus-infused vodka, chilled (recipe below)
• 1/2 cup Chambord
• 1 1/2 cups champagne, chilled
• fresh raspberries, for garnish

1. Place the raspberries, water, and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Simmer until the sugar has dissolved and the raspberries have become very soft and started to disintegrate. Remove from the heat, let cool to room temperature, then pour into a glass jar and refrigerate until chilled.
2. Mix the chilled raspberry syrup, hibiscus-infused vodka, and chambord together in a punch bowl. Add ice. Just before serving, add the champagne to the punch, then ladle the punch into glasses. Top each glass of with a little bit more champagne and a few fresh raspberries. Serve immediately.

Hibiscus-Infused Vodka

Makes 2 cups.

• 2 cups vodka
• 2 bags of hibiscus tea, such as Tazo Passion

1. Cut open the tea bags and empty the contents into a sterilized pint jar. Pour the vodka over the tea and stir a few times with a clean spoon to mix. Cover the jar with a lid or plastic wrap and let infuse at room temperature for 6-8 hours. When it is done infusing, strain the vodka through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean jar. Use in recipes as directed.

The post Chambord-Hibiscus Champagne Punch with Drizly appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Trevor and I have recently undertaken a very serious task – finding the perfect apple to grow in our front yard. After moving in, we quickly decided that we wanted nothing to do with the overgrown hedges creating a border between our tiny patch of lawn and the sidewalk, or with the constant maintenance they seem to require. The only thing I liked about them were the colorful snails they made a home for, and I think the snails just moved into our basement anyways. So we took the hedges down (I use the term “we” loosely, although this is one of the few house chores that I’ve actually contributed to) and chopped them up into little pieces and stuffed them into about a dozen lawn bags to be hauled away (ed note: that description sounds more sinister than I intended). And in their place, we decided to plant an apple tree.

Being able to plant a tree – a permanent, flowering, fruit-bearing tree – is one of the things that Trevor and I daydreamed about when we were looking for houses. Really, I think that someday we’ll end up on a farm in Vermont with an orchard and a little pond and baby goats running around, but for now, we have room for one tree. We’ve thoroughly scoped out the neighborhood and identified at least 4 different apple tree varieties within a quarter mile of our house, so pollination shouldn’t be an issue with a single tree. So now we just need to pick a variety. I initially proposed a Honeycrisp or a Pink Lady, but Trevor quickly established that whatever apple we chose, it needed to be heirloom, and it couldn’t be something that you could get at the grocery store. Apparently I live with an apple snob. So, we did the only logical thing there was – embarked on an apple tasting of all the varieties we could get our hands on.

So far, we’ve tasted 18 varieties – Mollie’s Sheepnose, Ginger Gold, Holstein, Franc Rombauer, Lamb Abbey Pearmain, Blondee, Zestar, Mollie’s Delicious, Paula Red, Wolf River, Melrose, Fortune, Snowsweet, Mutsu, Rhode Island Greening, Burgundy, Red Gravenstein, and Opalescent. It’s all very serious and scientific: I load up on apples at the farmer’s market, taking a picture of each apple next to the sign so I can remember which is which, then when I get home, we line them up on the counter with labels and cut slices and take notes. It’s dorky, maybe, but it’s totally fascinating how much variation there is in different apples – texture, flavor intensity, sweet-tart balance, skin thickness, color, juiciness, tannins, etc. We’re looking for an apple with a strong, unique flavor, that’s relatively crisp, and preferably thin-skinned. The front runners are Snowsweet, which has a really unique, strong, almost tropical flavor, Mutsu, which is intensely sweet and very crisp, and Burgundy, which may be the juiciest apple I’ve ever taken a bite of. But the decision is not made yet, and we’re not done tasting – if any of you have favorite apples that we should try, tell us!

When trying 8 to 10 apples at a time, you end up with a lot of half-eaten apples leftover. So I’ve been making a lot of applesauce and apple crisp, which I actually don’t really recommend using 8 different varieties of apples for because you end up with all kinds of textures and doneness. But all the apple crisp got me thinking about what makes a perfect apple crisp, which I basically consider to be my dad’s apple crisp. In my book, there should never be any oats in the topping, the apples should be thickly sliced and have minimal additions, and the ratio of apples to topping should be about 4:1, volume-wise. This crisp has all of that. It also has raspberries, because I realized with the first crisp that early apples and late raspberries both show up in late September, and are a beautiful pairing. So here you have it – an oat-free, brown sugar topped, raspberry-apple crisp, the happy result of trying too many apples and making too many apple crisps.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door in the box on the right, on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Raspberry Apple Crisp

Topping recipe from Netcooks. Serves 4.

• 4 medium Cortland apples, peeled, cored, and cut into wedges
• 6 oz. fresh raspberries
• 2 TBS honey
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 stick (1/4 c.) cold butter

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, toss the apples and raspberries with the honey, then transfer to a small casserole dish (that holds 1.5 or 2 quarts).
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the topping mix. Use a pastry cutter or a fork to work the butter into the flour and sugar, until the mixture is coarse with the pieces of butter being no larger than peas. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the top of the crisp.
3. Bake in preheated oven until apples are tender and juicy, and topping is browned and melted, about 45 minutes. Let cool slightly then serve with vanilla ice cream.

The post The Perfect Apple // Raspberry Apple Crisp appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

It’s a bit impossible for me to believe that it’s already May. I was having this debate with my manager yesterday – whether time moves more slowly or more quickly when you’re incredibly busy. I say quickly. With all the planes and coming and going, I feel as if I’m in a constant state of transit, never quite settled. It’s not my favorite feeling, but I’ll admit that being a frequent traveler has a certain glamour to it. Anyway, between airports and planes and a never-ending Boston winter and buying a house, the last 5 months seems to have slipped right by, and now it’s the first of May. It was unreasonably chilly outside today, but I still woke up this morning excited about spring and summer and hopefully carving out some time to really enjoy this season. May is really a lovely, happy month. It has Trevor’s birthday, cinco de mayo, the season’s first BBQs, Memorial Day Weekend… and Mother’s Day.

My first picnic of the year was in honor of my mom, although she wasn’t actually there, which I’m sure she will mention to me as soon as she sees this post. (Don’t worry, mom, I will give you your own picnic when it is actually Mother’s Day — this picnic was just in preparation so that the real one can be as good as possible. And so that other people could read this and plan picnics for their moms. Also, I will bring you a trifle on Sunday.) Mothers are wonderful, special people who pour a whole lot of energy and love and heart into ensuring that we, their children, are safe and well-fed and happy and that ultimately we turn out alright. They are worth celebrating, probably a lot more frequently than once a year, but let’s start there. Brunch is perhaps the most typical way to celebrate Mother’s Day, but I think that a picnic is an equally lovely way to treat mom to something special. If the weather cooperates, it’s a great way to linger over a meal, enjoying the outdoors, each other’s company, and some light and spring-like dishes.

The savory part of this picnic is Mushroom and Goat Cheese Savory Squares, which is just a fancy name for “puff pastry tarts.” These are super simple to prepare: the mushrooms are sliced and sautéed with butter, garlic, Chardonnay, and thyme, then baked along with goat cheese on store-bought puff pastry. Despite being easy to make, they look and taste super elegant, thanks to the wonderful amount of butter in puff pastry. For dessert, there are Mini Lemon Curd Trifles. Trifle, because it reminds me of my mother; mini, because packing things in mason jars is trendy and perfect for picnics; and lemon curd, because I love it and it screams springtime. The trifle layers are lemon shortbread, lemon curd, whipped cream, and fresh raspberries. I could have eaten about 6 of these little trifle mason jars on my own, they were so good. And of course, the wine! A bottle of Cambria’s Bench Break 2012 Chardonnay is the perfect thing to bring along, because it’s a lovely match for the mushrooms, goat cheese, lemons, and buttery pastry and shortbread.

Find the recipes for the Mushroom and Goat Cheese Savory Squares and the Mini Lemon Curd Trifles over on the Cambria Wines blog!

Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Cambria Wines. All opinions are honest and my own.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

The post Mother’s Day Picnic // Mushroom Savory Squares, Lemon Curd Trifles, and Chardonnay appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I’ve been trying to write this post for four years. I’m not exaggerating. For the past four years, when September rolls around, I put this post on my calendar, waiting for the raspberries at my parents’ house to ripen. And for the past four years, our raspberries, which are gorgeous and achingly sweet and juicy, have been 100% infested with raspberry fruitworms. It’s devastating. The anticipation of opening up a perfectly ripe, deep red, juicy berry, hoping beyond hope that there will be no squirmy white bugs inside, and then to have all your hopes dashed in an instant – heartbreaking. This year, I’d had enough – I was going to buy my raspberries, make this dessert, and satisfy this particular September craving.

When the weather starts to turn cooler, I begin daydreaming of Prague, although the longer I spend away from my one-time home the fainter the daydreams become. Cold, gray days in particular pull back memories tinged with longing: the long winding tram ride from my apartment to school; my daily afternoon snack of mulled wine and candied almonds, eaten with gloved fingers standing on the cobbled corners; wandering the rose gardens on top of Petrin hill, with nowhere else to be for hours; the Christmas markets in all their splendor, filled with warm light and the smell of sausages and potatoes; hiking through falling snow in the far corners of the country, feeling like we were the only people for miles and miles. I could go on and on, but really, I should just go back. I want to take Trevor there and share that city with him, relive some of my old memories and create new ones. Although I’ve traveled many places since Prague, it still holds a special place in my heart – sometimes I wonder if it’s better to have a few places you really love than to travel all over the world in search of you’re not quite sure what.

When my family came to visit me in Prague, being able to order something called “hot love” was one of my 11 year old brother’s greatest pleasures. It’s a dessert that goes by more than one name: Horká láska. Hot love. Horké maniny. Piping hot raspberries smothering a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Although it’s name may be suggestive, the dessert itself is pure, simple and completely sublime. A staple of most Czech menus, horká láska is not just a dish of ice cream with raspberry sauce, it is a dish of juicy, steaming-hot raspberries with just enough ice cream on top so that it has completely melted into the berries by the time you are 3/4 done with the dish.  The trick is all in getting the right ratio and remembering that it’s called “hot raspberries” and not “ice cream with raspberries” for a reason. I did find one traditional recipe (in Czech) that I used for guidance in recreating this classic dessert, but it’s a pretty straightforward concept that doesn’t need to be overthought. The addition of framboise and a pat of butter take the sauce up another level, but you don’t want either to overwhelm the taste of raspberries. It’s a perfect dessert for early fall, with the contrast of hot with cold and fresh with creamy satisfying both summer and fall cravings.

Like what you just read? Subscribe to Katie at the Kitchen Door on Feedly or Bloglovin‘, or follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or Google+. Thanks for reading!

Horká Láska – Hot Raspberries with Ice Cream

Serves 2.

• 12 oz. (1 1/2 cups) fresh raspberries
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 TBS framboise or other raspberry liqueur
• 1/2 TBS salted butter
• 2 scoops vanilla ice cream

1. Add the raspberries and sugar to a small saucepan and heat over medium heat. Cook the raspberries, stirring occasionally, until they are broken down and juicy and the sauce is steaming, about 5-7 minutes. Add the framboise and salted butter, stir to combine, then remove from heat. Spoon a generous amount of raspberry sauce over each scoop of vanilla ice cream and serve immediately.

The post Horká Láska (Hot Love) appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Another New Year’s Eve is here! Although at times it felt like everything was getting away from me, I’m very satisfied with how 2013 turned out. It was a big year. I’m going to try and keep my musings short and sweet (how cute is Molly’s one-paragraph mini reflection?), because I know everyone and their mother is writing down all their thoughts and feelings and memories today. But basically, here’s the big stuff: I moved in with Trevor, and I’m still so excited that I get to see him every single day. I went to Russia, five times. It was awesome, but exhausting. I also went to Spain, and Italy. My brother moved to Seattle and I went to visit him and to meet lots of other food bloggers at IFBC. I stuck with my beginner ballet lessons and made it through an intensive two week ballet camp, complete with a recital at the end. We grew an amazing veggie garden and spent August picking pounds and pounds of tomatoes and cucumbers and blackberries. On the blog, I reviewed dozens of new cookbooks, started working with Captain Morgan, and was featured as one of Huffington Post’s best food bloggers. I got my first smartphone, and subsequently became addicted to Instagram. I liked my job, I spent time with friends, I threw a couple of parties, I saw my family all the time, I rested, I ran, I explored. If 2014 is as good as 2013 (and I think it will be), I’ll be happy.

We have a pretty low key evening planned tonight/it’s not really even that planned. We’re definitely going to the movies with my brothers to kick things off. Then we might wander around First Night with some high school friends and see where the night takes us, or we could just end up on the couch with champagne and bugles watching Out of the Wild: Venezuela on Netflix. We’ll see. Either way, I’ve created a drink to match our attitude toward the festivities – easy but still celebratory and fun. In fact, it’s so easy that you could swing by the liquor store for Framboise and Champagne and the grocery store for a pint of sherbet right now and up the ante for your drinks tonight in a mere 20 minutes. Or you could just go with what you already have planned and make these tomorrow or any other day of the year. (Does anyone have a New Year’s resolution to drink more champagne? I think that could be a good one…). Whatever you do tonight, I hope it’s happy and fun, and here’s to a wonderful 2014. Happy New Year!

P.S. I opened our Champagne early just for you guys and just drank both of these at 2PM. I also had a Best Pop of 2013 dance party by myself earlier this morning. No shame.

Raspberry Sherbet Champagne Floats

Serves 2.

• 2 small scoops raspberry sherbet
• 2 oz. Framboise, Chambord, or other raspberry liqueur
• Champagne, Prosecco, or other sparkling white wine

1. Place a small scoop of raspberry sherbet into each of two champagne flutes. Drizzle 1 oz. of the raspberry liqueur into each glass. Top each glass off with champagne, stirring gently to mix. Serve immediately.

The post Celebrating 2013 // Raspberry Sherbet Champagne Floats appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

OK, last pre-cleanse post! Just wanted to get these two breakfast recipes up here so they’re included for the big round-up tomorrow. The first recipe is a favorite of mine, and a frequent breakfast staple, inspired by Heidi a few years back. I use frozen raspberries and stir most of them in at the beginning, so that the whole thing turns pink and has a lovely raspberry flavor. Then I add a few whole ones back in at the end, for that tangy bite. The second recipe is for a roasted broccoli and mushroom scramble – not really a recipe you need, but posted here for convenience of anyone following the cleanse. Both of these recipes are the sort that are infinitely variable, and you can change according to your taste – this is just the way I like them!

I’ll be back tomorrow.

Raspberry-Maple Breakfast Quinoa

Serves 2

• 1/2 c. quinoa, rinsed
• 1 c. skim milk
• 1 1/3 c. raspberries
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 c. pecans
• 2 TBS maple syrup

Add the quinoa, milk, and 1 cup of the raspberries to a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Let simmer, uncovered, and stirring frequently, until quinoa’s “tails” have unfurled, about 15 minutes. Keep a close eye on it, as simmering milk frequently froths up and can make a big mess. Once quinoa is done, stir in cinnamon, pecans, maple syrup, and remaining whole raspberries. Enjoy warm, refrigerate any leftovers.

Roast Broccoli and Mushroom Scramble

Serves 1

• 1/2 TBS olive oil
• 5 large button mushrooms, sliced
• sea salt
• 1 egg
• 2 egg whites
• 1 c. roasted broccoli (roasted with olive oil for 20 minutes at 375°F)

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a saute pan. Add mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with salt. Beat together egg and egg white, then pour over mushrooms. Add roasted broccoli and cook scramble, stirring with a spatula, until eggs have reached desired doneness.

The post Cleanse Breakfasts: Raspberry-Maple Quinoa, Broccoli & Mushroom Scramble appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

The raspberries at my parents house are out of control.  It’s an unruly patch out way behind the house, that’s difficult to get into but so worthwhile.  Picking from that patch is my ideal berry picking experience – fingers stained red, jammy berries just barely this side of overripe, some already with a hint of yeasty fermentation, easily picking quarts of berries at a time, taking home just enough to last a week, until the next time I’m there.  A precious treat the rest of the year, raspberries now adorn most breakfasts and desserts – cereal, oatmeal, smoothies, ice cream, cake – and this breakfast polenta.

A steaming bowl of creamy polenta, a handful of fresh raspberries, a cup of hot coffee… as we get into the cooler mornings of fall, a hot breakfast while wrapped up in your favorite sweatshirt becomes infinitely appealing.  In fact, I can’t get enough of the weather right now: fresh, chilly mornings followed by warm, dry days… there’s a reason fall is my favorite season!

Although I’ve always thought of it as a dinner food, polenta is a filling and satisfying way to start off your day.  During the week, 1/2 a cup of instant polenta, some skim milk, and a few minutes of stirring gets you a hot breakfast that still gets you to work on time.  On the weekend, use traditional polenta and whole milk for a creamier, more luxurious version.  Inspired by Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, I topped this batch with greek yogurt, honey, and raspberries; the next day, I took the leftovers in a savory direction, adding some shredded cheddar, chopped basil, and a fried egg.  Both were delicious and kept me full until lunch – which can be a challenge!  Head on over to Greatist for the recipe, and give it a try.

The post Greatist Collaboration: Breakfast Polenta with Honeyed-Yogurt appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Oh, May.  What a month you were.  I flew six different times in May.  That’s a lot of planes.  I also graduated, moved, spent at least 5 hours on hold with U-haul trying to orchestrate said move, hung out in Miami with my dad, hung out in Denver with my cousin, hung out in Boulder with some stellar Ultimate players I know, hung out in Grand Junction with my baby bro, and got pedicures/shot guns with my grandmother within 4 hours of each other.  Busy times, yo.  Hence, not a lot of blogging.  Or cooking for that matter.  Eating, yes.  Cooking, no.

However.  I did take some time to make these super delicious nutella-raspberry mousse hybrid whoopie pie-ice cream sandwich things.  They were kind of an experiment, and an experiment gone right.  See, Ryan and I are still chilling in Colorado, where my Aunt Deanne has very graciously allowed us to use her house (and her car.  I’m totally staying here: everybody spoils me and I have a car to drive with a working suspension system.  Plus my skin loves it here and I can go hiking every day.  Win, win, win.)  So, in a few hour break from Aunt Lynn’s wonderful social calendar (God, Lynn, a gap?  You slacker), I decided to make some dessert to bring along to fajita night at Grandma’s.  Because spending a few hours baking is super appealing if you happen to be me on vacation.

The reasons that the nutella-raspberry combination came about?  One: Ryan and I spent a lot of last week hoofing it from point a to point b with lots of stuff on our backs, and in order to minimize fainting spells due to lack of nutrients as well as overdrafting our bank accounts, we needed snacks.  Portable, cheap snacks.  But, lame, he’s allergic to peanut butter, my favorite snack.  So nutella it was.  (As a side note, I just realized that not once in my two years living in my own apartment at Duke did I buy nutella.  Not because I don’t love nutella, just because I was terrified of how quickly I would eat it if it appeared in my cupboard.  Is that self-control or complete lack of it?)  Two: raspberries cost $1 here.  This is miraculous to me.  I’m tempted to eat raspberries for every meal just because I will probably never be able to afford this many again.

Not to brag, but these were really pretty awesome.  The cookies themselves – decent.  The mousse – pretty tasty.  Together?  Way better than the sum of their parts.  I love it when that happens.  All of the family members present seemed to heartily approve, although to be fair, half of them were teenage boys.  In any case, I would absolutely make these again.  And again.  They’re pretty quick, easy to store in the fridge or freezer, and a good summer crowd pleaser.  And don’t worry, Deanne, I stuck four in your freezer as a tiny thanks for your generosity this week.  Also, we didn’t kill your fish, so there’s that too.

Nutella and Raspberry Mousse-wiches

Nutella cookie recipe from Rock Recipes.  Mousse recipe original.  Makes about 14 sandwiches.

For nutella cookies:

• 2 sticks salted butter, room temperature
• 2 c. sugar
• 2/3 c. nutella
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. flour
• 2/3 c. cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 c. milk
• 6 oz. chocolate chips
• sea salt

The post Nutella and May and Stuff. appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Margie – [Pronounced Marrrr-ghee]  A hilarious species native to Israel.  I mean, New York.  Known to carry a large camera, abbreviate most words in the English and Hebrew languages, and ask for crowns relentlessly.  Often seen practicing Judaism and stealing bagels at the Freeman center.  Adapts easily to some external habitats, but will stagnate in others, most notably the park in Budapest and dirty hostels in Cesky Krumlov.  Is much better than Helen Wang at carrying large bags of groceries.  Enjoys Taylor Swift, Mika, Steph Wells, Miley Cyrus, and no other musicians.  Highly lovable.

Seriously, Margie and I are Praha besties.  Sophomore year we actually lived on the same hall as each other and didn’t speak for the entire year, except for one time – a time which I remember vividly and she remembers not at all. I cut my hand on the espresso machine at the coffeehouse during a late shift, and when I got back to the Crave Megan was already sleeping and I couldn’t find my bandaids without the light.  Bleeding, exhausted, I was standing in the bathroom at 3 in the morning, when Margie pads in in bright red feetie pajamas, looks at my hand, and runs back to her room to get a bandaid.  I thanked her, she went on her apparently exceedingly merry way, and we never spoke again.  That is until I showed up in Prague and saw her name on my apartment door.  Awkward.  Good thing she rules, and we quickly bonded over the fact that we’re both kind of cheap and occasionally grouchy and bigoted.  Especially when it comes to Asian roommates.  Kidding!  We love you Helen, even though you can’t cook rice and store food in the dishwasher instead of dishes.

Anyway, being together in Prague was a blast, and now I have an incredible friend at Duke too.  Honestly, that was not at all something I was expecting when I escaped to Prague via NYU, but it definitely worked out in my favor.  And Margie’s too, because I rule.  Now, on to the birthday part.  I’m really glad Margie’s finally 21 … I think I may actually have been looking forward to her birthday more than she has.  People like my parents and Steph and Trevor keep asking me how I’m doing, and I’m like “great, Margie’s birthday is in 15 days!”  And they sort of pause awkwardly and decide to just move on.  What can I say?  I really like Margie and I really like birthdays.  And I really like making cupcakes, and this time around, I went with mini key-lime and raspberry cheesecakes.

All the components of these cupcakes have a reason behind them – the key lime is because she ate all of my break-up key lime pie out of the freezer, the cheesecake is to pay homage to the one I made her in Prague a year ago (it was a serious feat considering they don’t have cream cheese in the potraviny), and the raspberry swirl/white chocolate layer/almond crust is for keeping it classy, like her.  D’aw.  These were delish – they taste kind of just like you would expect them to taste, given the description.  You can taste all the components, and they go well together.  And that, my friends, is the end of the cupcake extravaganza.  I’m going to go have a salad.

Mini Key-Lime Cheesecakes

Makes 18.  Recipe adapted from Modern Comfort Food.

• 1 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 c. sliced almonds
• 4 TBS butter, melted
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. white chocolate chips
• 8 oz neufchatel cheese, room temperature
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 2 egg yolks
• 4 oz (1/2 c.) key lime juice
• 1/2 c. frozen raspberries
• 2 TBS sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line muffin tins with cupcake liners.  In a food processor, pulse graham crackers, almonds, and sugar, until fine.  Mix in melted butter and stir or pulse until all crumbs are moistened.  Press a tablespoon of crust mixture into the bottom of each cup.  Top with a few white chocolate chips.  Bake for 3-5 minutes, and remove from oven.  Immediately spread white chocolate chips into a layer over the graham cracker.  Pop into the freezer while you prepare the other components.*
2. In a large bowl, beat neufchatel (cream cheese), sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and egg yolks, until combined.  Set aside.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, warm raspberries and sugar, stirring constantly.  Break up the raspberries with the back of your spoon.  Cook until all of the raspberries have broken down and have formed a slightly thickened sauce.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Remove muffin tin from freezer.  Place 3 tablespoons of cheesecake batter in each cup.  Using a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon, spoon 3-4 tiny dots on top of each cheesecake cup.  Take a toothpick and gently swirl the raspberry into the cheesecake batter, forming a marble pattern.
5. Bake the cheesecakes for 20 minutes, until set.  Refrigerate for 2-4 hours.  Serve cold.

* If anyone can think of a better way to do the white chocolate layer, let me know.  I tried heating the chips with a small amount of cream to form a makeshift ganache, but it soaked into the graham cracker layer.  Ideally, I’d like a crisp layer of white chocolate over the graham cracker firmly separating the crust from the cheesecake.

Want some more?

Cupcake Lovin’, Part One

Cupcake Lovin’, Part Two

The post Cupcake Lovin’, Part Three appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Dear Blog,

I’m sorry about August.  I really meant to spend a lot of time with you, whisking, mincing, drinking nice wines, holding hands… but I got distracted, and I let things slide.  Please forgive me.

To be fair, I did get to do some pretty cool things in August.  I successfully summitted Katahdin via the Cathedral Trail, and although it was one of the most challenging/terrifying/harrowing things I’ve ever done, it was also completely exhilarating and incredible and awesome.  I finally had the loon stalking experience I’ve been waiting for (see my previous lament), and I was totally channeling my Native American heritage as I paddled my little red canoe, kneeling quietly in the center, into the middle of a group of birds fishing.  And then whipped out my huge high tech camera and stole their souls. Sorry, guys.  I kayaked in the ocean and communed with bald eagles, I saw Shakespeare performed in a tiny opera house by the sea, and I had some really, really good steak.  Life’s been OK.

I even got a little busy in the kitchen, despite my lack of effort in the documentation department.  I tackled my first leg of lamb with less than thrilling results.  I then returned to my vegetarian inclinations and made the most sublime gnocchi-corn-chanterelle-sage concoction, which I promise to share with you sometime.  And I had ribs for the first time in my life and now I know why everyone always wants to eat them.  I lost negative 1 pounds.

But now I’m back.  Back in Durham, back at school, back in my own kitchen.  And that means I’m once again responsible for feeding myself every day.  So hopefully, with a little help from the food muses, I’ll be around here more often.  And by food muses I mostly mean Justin, whom I have committed to cooking for at least once a week.  He has high standards.

So, to start things off, I’ve made some back to school cookies.  You know, to pack in my lunch bag.  Because I’ll probably never outgrow bagged lunches.  These particular back to school cookies are linzer cookies, because I’ve been meaning to make them since I had a less than satisfactory one in Prague.  And because one of the other things I did in August was spend an amazing hour in Rooster Bros, my favorite kitchen store of all time, buying culinary essentials like tartlet pans, orange oil, and linzer cookie cutters.

I used the Dorie Greenspan recipe, as it seems to be fairly ubiquitous, and I would give it a 4 out of 5.  Definitely make sure your nuts are ground very finely so that you don’t get irritating little pieces stuck in your mouth.  Less jam makes a prettier cookie, but more jam gives a better flavor balance.  The dough was a little bit difficult to work with it – be sure to chill it in between each time you roll it out so your cookies don’t crack as you transfer them.  And, for the most photogenic results, dust the top halves of the cookies with powdered sugar before placing them on top of the jam.  Enjoy!

Linzer Cookies

Makes 12 large sandwich cookies, or 20 small sandwich cookies

Recipe from Dorie Greenspan via Lottie and Doof

• 1 1/2 c. ground almonds and/or hazelnuts
• 1 1/2 c. flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp water
• 1 stick butter, room temperature
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. jam
• 2 tsp water
• powdered sugar for dusting

1. Sift together ground nuts (to grind, pulse in food processor), flour, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg.  Stir to combine.  In a separate bowl whisk egg with 2 tsp water.
2. Beat softened butter with 1/2 c. sugar until smooth.  Add egg and water mixture and beat for another minute.  Add dry ingredients to wet and stir gently.  Do not overwork the dough once you have added the dry ingredients as it will toughen the dough.  When the dough comes together in your hands, take half of the dough and form it into a ball.  Flatten into a disk and place between two sheets of wax paper.  Roll out to a 1/4 inch thickness.  Repeat with remaining dough.  Place dough sheets on top of a baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes, or refrigerate for 2 hours, until dough is firm.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Use a round cookie cutter to cut circles from the chilled dough.  Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Use a smaller round cookie cutter to cut circles out of the centers of half of the cookies; these will form the tops.  Bake cookies for 12 minutes.  Re-roll any dough scraps and chill quickly in the freezer while first batch of cookies bakes.  When first batch is done, remove from oven and place on racks to cool to room temperature.  Cut out cookies from remaining dough and bake.
4. In a small saucepan, bring jam and 2 tsp water to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Once boiling, remove from heat and allow to come to room temperature.
5. Dust top cookie halves with powdered sugar.  Line bottom cookie halves up and place a small spoonful of jam on each one.  Sandwich the jam by placing a top cookie half over the jam.

The post Sorry, August. appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

I wasn’t planning on writing anything for a while.  I felt a little bit guilty about abandoning this blog just like that, but I’ve been adjusting to some fairly major changes in … my plans? my life in general? my world view? my sense of self?  Wherever the changes really are, they’ve left me feeling uninspired, and not energetic enough to do more than try and sort myself out.  Certainly not enough to create.

So I was planning on letting this blog rest, at least until I got to Maine, where everything always seems fresh and calm.  But then a really good friend who knew I was dealing with some blah stuff dropped off a package that included cream soda, key lime pie, fresh mozzarella, and three beautiful, beautiful pints of raspberries.  (How did he know???)  And when I saw these raspberries, I was so suddenly and forcefully relieved and inspired, that I just started to smile.  And I knew that I had to use them and share them and maintain the part of myself that loves to do that.

Ironically, I already had a blog post written and ready to go when said major changes occurred, and that blog post promised you two things: one, that I was imposing a ten day baking ban on myself, due to the overload of delicious but highly fattening recipes I seem to have been making lately, and two, that the next three recipes I posted would be healthy.  Errrrrm… I made muffins with the raspberries.  I swear, I searched and searched for savory raspberry recipes but didn’t really want to write about something as mundane as a salad dressing and didn’t want to go out and buy meat to go under a raspberry sauce.  So I told myself that muffins were an OK compromise – they’re not really dessert, and they don’t have that much sugar, and they have lots and lots of healthy berries.  And I actually had gone exactly ten days without baking, I just hadn’t ever made it official.  And muffins are just good to have around when you’re at risk of waking up sorta sad and discombobulated.  Or really any day, actually.

These muffins were yum.  But, they were not sweet.  At all.  In fact, they’re very tart, which actually makes them feel healthier and, I dunno, more muffin-y, less cupcake-y.  However, if like me, you like most food that you consume to be noticeably sweet, I have three options for you in terms of these muffins.  1.  Do not make them.  Adhere to your own personal baking ban instead.  2.  Add 1/4 cup of sugar to the recipe as it’s posted below.  3. Add chocolate chips to the batter.

I made half of them with chocolate chips.  It was the right choice.  It made them perfect.  It made them just like my favorite muffins in the world, the raspberry chocolate chip muffins at Perfecto’s.  If you’re ever in Massachusetts, and you drive by a Perfecto’s, you should really stop.  Their muffins are epic.  Anyway, I’m glad I made these.  I’m glad I’m writing.  And I’d like to thank you, Marco, and really all my friends, for being around and being supportive … and for bringing me raspberries!  Friends rule.

Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins

Adapted from a combination of the recipes from Joy of Baking and “The Berry Bible”

Makes 12 muffins

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• zest of one lemon
• 1 egg
• 1 c. buttermilk
• 2/3 c. canola oil
• 2 c. raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 1 c. dark chocolate chips (optional)
• turbinado sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line muffin pan with liners, or grease muffin cups well.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, and lemon zest. [Note: I was out of AP flour and used 1 cup of cake flour mixed with 1 cup of bread flour – the results were very good, the texture was slightly denser than a regular muffin but not too much so.]
3. In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg, and canola oil until well blended.  Pour buttermilk mixture over flour mixture and stir just to combine.
4. Add raspberries, and chocolate chips if desired. Stir to incorporate.  If you stir vigorously, the raspberries may break up, giving the muffins a lovely pink tint, but losing the concentrated raspberry flavor in a single bite.
5. Fill muffin cups full with batter.  Place one whole raspberry in the center of each muffin and sprinkle turbinado sugar on top.  Bake for 20 minutes.

The post Raspberries. appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

He’s such a tease.   He’s there, tantalizingly close, and then he’s gone, just like that.  I’m this close to giving up on him completely, but some small part of me can’t let go.  If only he knew how much it would mean to me if he could just sit there, quietly, for 45 seconds.  Stupid bird.

OK, maybe I shouldn’t care so much, but I’ve been trying to get a decent picture of this bird for a full week.  Two cardinals live in the bushes behind my apartment, and they are absolutely stunning.  I’ve always thought cardinals are beautiful – they way their red coats match the berries on an iced-over holly bush can really brighten up a winter day – but I’d never seen them in the summer until I moved here.  That red against the vibrant green foliage of North Carolina in May is just incredible.  Sometimes when one of the birds flies past my window I literally catch my breath.  Just ask Trevor – several Skype conversations have been interrupted recently by a rapid head turn and exclamation of “Bird!” a la Doug from Up.  (Incredible movie.  I could watch it 100 times and laugh/cry every time.)   Once I even hung up on him to run barefoot out the door and chase the birds around the apartment complex.  And yet, where is the stunning photographic evidence of this?  Sadly, nowhere to be found. [Fortunately, I have been able to counter this lack of cardinal photography with what is hopefully stunning cupcake photography.  Cupcakes are very cooperative subjects.]

Now, I’ve been in this situation before.  Last summer, my sole mission in life was to get close enough to one of the loons of Walker Pond to take a good picture.  My brother and I took our clunky old motor boat, The Tub, across the lake to work every morning, and on the days that there was a loon in our vicinity I’d hiss “Ryan, I’ve got to get that bird!”  And like the wonderful brother he is, he would dull the engine, and steer us slowly toward the bird, with me in the front holding my breath and desperately snapping long distance pictures.  We’d almost be close enough and then, without a sound, the loon would be underwater, not even leaving a ripple on the surface.  Admittedly, a gasoline chugging motorboat is not really the ideal stealth vehicle, but taking my camera in any sort of unstable boat is not worth the hyperventilation that occurs as I envision my beautiful Canon sinking to the bottom of the lake.  So when my brother left for school a few days before I did and I was on my own on the boat front (i.e. I canoed; the Tub and I are not compatible individuals, much to my parents’ frustration), my pocket camera was all that accompanied me.  As Trevor and I canoed peacefully across the lake one orange-tinged morning, a loon popped peacefully up about 50 meters in front of us.  And then, one by one, six more popped up next to him.  We paddled silently towards them, getting so close that we could see their shiny red eyes watching us.  It was perfect: seven graceful loons drifting through small puffs of leftover fog, the whole lake silent but for the hesitant chirps of the birds.  And the only photographic evidence I have is a grainy, dull photo with seven small blobs.

And now this cardinal is playing the same game with me.  Oh we’ve had some close calls, the cardinal and I.  There was the time he landed on my drainpipe while I was waiting there, camera poised, only to realize that my shutter speed was way too high, and as I frantically spun the camera wheel, he flitted away like it was nothing.  And then, when I had the camera poised and perfectly adjusted on him resting on a distant branch, he dove out of the field of vision, leaving me with a dramatic red blur streaked across my photo.  Just the other afternoon, he landed on a cannister right outside my window, but I knew if I opened the back door he would leave in a hurry, so there will forever be the stains of my dirty window in between me and that beautiful red bird.

His wife has been more cooperative, but, no offense to her, she’s just not as attractive.  Sure, her beak is nice, and she is certainly distinctive, but she just can’t hold a candle to her male counterpart.  I have a few shots that are OK, but I’m just not satisfied.  With each frustration, the amount of respect I have for the patience that wildlife photographers have in their pursuit of nature’s rarest creatures grows.  I can barely manage standing on my own back porch for half an hour, and so I can’t imagine what standing in sub-zero temperatures for 48 hours waiting for the instantaneous migration of a rare goose in China would be like.  (Yes, someone did this, I saw the exhibit in Prague.)

So, wow, if you came here expecting food and read all of that bird-chasing-nonsense, I definitely owe you a recipe of some sorts.  Unfortunately, I do not know of any cardinal recipes.  And I already shared the only recipe I know that has the world cardinal in it here.  And as Megan just pointed out, eating a loon is probably a felony. So…

Cupcakes!  Everybody loves cupcakes, even if they have absolutely no relevance to the 800 words they just read.  And hopefully you’ve made it to this point because of the tantalizing cupcake photographs that have accompanied my bird saga.  These are cupcakes that I’ve been mulling over in my head for a while – I love the idea of spicy, chai flavored baked goods, and I just couldn’t shake the image of a chai cupcake topped with a tangy raspberry frosting.  So I made some, and they were good.  And they were very pretty.  So I’m happy.

Chai Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

(Adapted from Sky High Cakes via Une-Deux Senses)

For the cupcakes (makes 12):

• 2/3 c. whole milk
• 5 bags chai tea
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/3 c. cake flour
• 1 c. sugar
• 2 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line cupcake tin with liners.
2. Bring milk to a low simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Add tea bags and remove from heat.  Allow to steep for 10 minutes.  Squeeze milk from teabags and discard tea.
3. In a small bowl mix together 1/4 cup of the chai milk with the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla.
4. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  Add butter and remaining chai milk and beat until fluffly.
5. Add egg mixture in two batches and mix just to incorporate.
6. Divide batter evenly among cupcake cups.  Bake for 18-22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean.

For the frosting (makes enough for a lot more than 12 – halve, or plan on having extra):

• 1 8oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
• 3 TBS butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 c. – 1/3 c. raspberry jam
• 2-3 TBS grenadine or raspberry flavored syrup/liquor
• 2 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy.  Mix in jam and syrup until desired color and flavor is reached.  Mix in powdered sugar a half cup at a time, stopping when desired consistency is reached.  Chill for an hour before using.

The post Quit Playing Games with My Heart appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Last May I spent two weeks in France with Trevor. We only went out to dinner twice due to the budget constraints of regular 20 year old people, but the night we went out in Paris was perfect. Duh, it’s Paris. The most memorable thing about the restaurant was the appetizer we split – chevre chaud with fig jam. Chevre chaud is basically warmed goat cheese on slices of toasted french bread, but it’s not just warm cheese. It’s perfect cheese – brown and a little crusty on the outside, smooth and melty on the inside. With the crunch of the bread and the sweet complexity of the fig jam it’s miraculous.

We have tried several times to recreate the toasts exactly, with not that much success. However, David Leibowitz includes a recipe for a Chevre Toast Salad in his book “The Sweet Life in Paris” which almost made the cut (only “almost” because I don’t know if anything I eat in real life will ever match the memory of that meal). He has you broil thick rounds of cheese on slices of bread until the bread is starting to blacken and the cheese is just starting to brown on the top and sides. So I did this. I used two slices of roasted garlic bakery bread and four 1″ thick rounds of Montchevre, broiling them on high for about 10 minutes. I served them on some hearty lettuce tossed with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette, and c’etait tres bien.

The post Warm Chevre and Jam with Some Salad Too appeared first on Katie at the Kitchen Door.