Mocha Scones

I suppose these are really coffee scones with chocolate chips, but "mocha scones" is more concise. They are delicious scones made with instant espresso in the dough and plenty of chocolate chips folded in. I really enjoyed these, even if the coffee does kind of make a mockery of the whole tea and scones thing. This recipe, by the way, is from the Alice's Tea Cup cookbook--it's one of their better recipes, just don't brush the tops with anything, they are too delicate and don't rise properly.

Lemon Drops

Look how tiny they are. Adorable!

I love all things lemon and these are no exception. They are lovely, with a pungent lemon flavor but none of the bitterness of an actual lemon. They are tiny and cake-y; the perfect one or two bit cookie. They would be a perfect tea cookie, they are very nice with a tangy frozen yogurt, and they are great on their own--I dare you to just have one. I double dog dare you! Seriously, these cookies, from the Serendipity cookbook, are relatively to make and wonderful to eat.

Carrot Muffins

These are more along the lines of zucchini bread (except with carrot, obviously, and a ton of cinnamon) than carrot cake. They were quite nice although a little too healthy seeming for my taste! The recipe is from the Williams Sonoma Muffins cookbook, which has a whole section devoted to vegetable muffins. I do think the reason this came across as too healthy is because it is a sweet muffin--their shallot muffins (which I hope to make soon) seem to be a savory muffin, which I think tends to be a better way to go if you are adding veggies to baked goods. Regardless, these were good and, while not healthy by any means, were healthier than many muffins and still satisfied my sweet tooth. All in all a success, though I don't think I'll bother with them again.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

I made this years ago, before I had a blog. Since then I have modified the recipe and completely changed the icing to make it into the cake I served for my menu project. The original cake is from Nigella Lawson's Feast. It's delicious, as delicious as mine, just a bit different. (I use more Guinness, but reduce it further so its slightly more pungent and bitter). Like I said, however, the main difference is the icing; hers is a relatively rich and thick cream cheese icing (thinned with milk) and mine is more light and fluffy with crème fraîche and heavy cream.

Balsamic Strawberry Icebox Pie

Remember the peach icebox pie I made? I really liked the cheesecake-esque pie and wanted to make it again but I didn't have any peaches. Then I decided that it could really have any fruit topping I wanted. I opted for strawberries, partly because I had some in the fridge and partly because they are a traditional cheesecake topping, which I though might be fun.

I didn't really want to do plain strawberries or, I shudder at the thought, strawberries with some sort of glaze so I opted for balsamic strawberries. Basically, I macerated sliced strawberries in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, chambord, and sugar for a few hours before draining them and putting on top of the pie. This is a much more dressed up version of the pie--I always feel that peaches (and other stone fruits) are somehow more down-home than other fruits. I love both versions and I'm not sure I could pick one that I like more since they really are so different. I don't know how I'll decide which topping to make when I make this pie again. Perhaps I'll just have to try something new!

Heirloom Tomatoes and Mozzarella

I know it isn't difficult to make this, but I wanted to share it anyway. I found delicious and beautiful heirloom tomatoes at Whole Foods and decided I had to use them in a way that showcased them. I cut one slice per plate of a lovely green tomato and arranged a pile of mozzarella wedges on top. Then I placed some wedges of tomato and cheese around the plate and lightly drizzled on some good balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil. It was fresh and delicious--a lovely summer dinner!

Flourless and Nut-Free Chocolate Cake

Mini heart-shaped flourless chocolate cakes. How cute?

The restaurant I work at has a recipe for flourless chocolate cake that doesn't have nut flour in it. I have a friend who is allergic to nuts so I thought this would be fun to make for her (I like making her things that she couldn't ordinarily get). However I wanted to make it at home first, just to make sure it would work in my not-terribly-reliable, non-convection oven. (Plus we had family over for my mom's birthday). It did, so now I'll have to have her over and make it again. This cake is sort of a chocolatly cross between a brownie and a souffle. Yum!

The larger cake just after I took it out of the oven.

At the restaurant we make the cake in individual size silicon molds; I only have one small sheet of heart shaped molds so I used that and a small cake pan for the rest. The little cakes came out perfectly! The larger cake came out delicious but not perfect, the edges were a bit over done and the middle sunk dramatically as it cooled. Still, after I cut of the ridge around the edge and iced it with leftover mascarpone cream and coated it in dark chocolate covered cacao nibs. Have I mentioned, yum! I also used little rosettes of the mascarpone on the little heart cakes. Delicious and pretty!

The frosted, decorated, cake

Brooklyn Blackout Cake with Mocha Buttercream

My aunt came down for my mom's birthday, but not on the actual day. So I had to make a second cake. I made the same Brooklyn blackout cake I made on July Fourth, and a similar mocha buttercream. Since we'd eaten a whole cake already, I decided to do just one layer. I love buttercream and I could have split the cake in half to make a second layer (as I would usually) but it just seemed too gluttonous to use that extra buttercream. Regardless, it was still delicious and the Brooklyn blackout cake was incredibly moist so it really didn't need the extra buttercream.

Look how lovely and dark the cake is.

Afternoon Chocolate Cake

I told my mom I'd make her any cake she wanted for her birthday; she picked Francois Payard's Afternoon Chocolate Cake. I love this cake, except I can never unmold it from the pan. Ah well, she wanted it. In retrospect, I should have used a springform pan for this or lined the sides of the regular cake pan with parchment, not just the bottom. In the end I had to cut the wedges right in the pan and pry them out. It didn't do wonders for the look of the cake but I suppose that doesn't matter as much as the taste, which was still great. It's richly chocolate and buttery with just the faintest hint of saltiness. The texture is more brownie-like than cake like, but slightly drier and more crumbly than a brownie.

Since it was a birthday cake, I decided to do some icing. I made a vanilla cream cheese and mascarpone cream and piped it on the edge of the cake--it was too strong to cover the whole cake with, but as an accent it was perfect!

Happy birthday, mom!

Peach Icebox Pie Recipe

The icebox pie before I put the peaches on top.

As promised, here is the recipe for my peach icebox pie. It's quite easy to make and can be made and almost fully assembled a day in advance. Enjoy!

Crust:

• Aprox 1/2 box graham crackers, finely crushed
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2-1 stick butter, melted
• 1 tbsp cinnamon (optional)

Filling:

• 8oz cream cheese
• 8oz mascarpone
• 8oz greek yogurt
• 1/4-1/2 cup superfine sugar (or to taste)
• 1 vanilla bean scraped or one 2tsp vanilla bean paste (note: if you have neither, you can use 1tbsp  vanilla extract, but you won't have the lovely flecks of vanilla bean)

Topping:

• 2 cans peach slices in fruit juice
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp peach schnapps (optional)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

To make the crust, mix the graham cracker crumbs, the pecans, the brown sugar, and the cinnamon (if you are using it) together. Mix in 1/2-1 cups melted butter, until the mixture comes together. Press the crumb mixture about 1/4 inch thick into a lightly buttered 9-in pie plate. If you have extra (I did) press it into the bottom of a few ramekins. Bake at 350* until golden and somewhat dry, about 10-15 min for the pie. Let cool.

To make the filling, whip everything together until it reaches soft peaks. You will have leftover, fill the ramekins if you have any, if not just put it in a tupperware and serve it with fresh berries when you've finished up the pie. Spread it into the cool pie crust and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. 

To make the topping, drain the peaches and mix them with the other ingredients. Put in a covered container and allow to chill until you are ready to serve the pie. 

To serve, either top the entire pie with the peaches or slice then top each slice (the best bet if you don't plan on serving the whole pie in one night, since it can make the pie a bit soggy if it sits too long.) To slice the pie, run a sharp knife under hot water, wipe with a towel, and cut. This allows you to have nice clean slices through the semi-soft filling. 

Peach Icebox Pie

An individual serving of peach icebox pie.

The other day I had a slice of peach jamboree (or something of that nature) at Magnolia Bakery. It was very good and I was disappointed to see that I didn't have a recipe for it in my Magnolia Bakery cookbook--either it's in one of their other books or they decided not to tell the public how to make this one. I decided that I really did want to make it, so I worked from memory and recreated it. I don't actually think I was terribly accurate, but that's alright I love my version anyway. It's sort of a cross between cheesecake and a peach pie--what could be bad about that?!

Basically, I made a graham cracker crust, a creamy cheese filling, and a peach topping. Technically this isn't an icebox pie, as I chilled it in the refrigerator rather than freezing it. I had extra crust and filling so I made little individual pies in ramekins. They were a perfect serving size for one person but I thought the crust to filling ratio was a bit off--I prefer more crust than you get in a ramekin since you can only line the bottom.

It was easy and only the crust required baking, which was nice on a hot summer night like tonight. I wrote down approximately what I did, so I'll type it up and give you all the recipe for my peach icebox pie soon.