Category Archives: food

Pumpkin Cheesecake Pancakes

Night before:
Mix 8oz softened cream cheese with pumpkin spices (1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2tsp clove, 1/2tsp ginger and a couple pinches of nutmeg) — then smear onto a sheet of plastic wrap in an 8×8 baking tray. This way the cheesecake pieces will stay together and not end up smeared into the batter. Additionally, because I don’t like super sweet pancakes, I left the sugar out (maple syrup was sweet enough), but you may prefer it sweeter.

Next morning:
Cut up the cream cheese into 1/2in x 1/2in cubes, put back in freezer

Make pancake batter:
(I’m lazy and I mix together all the dry ingredients, then plop the wet ingredients on top and mix. I’m sure this goes against what everyone says is the “right” way of making pancakes…)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2.5 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1.25c pumpkin puree
1/3 brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp melted butter (or oil for lazy mode)
1.5c milk

Once the batter is all mixed, mix in the cream cheese cubes. Fry on medium high on a preheated pan with copious butter. Then serve with pumpkin butter and/or maple syrup.

Pancaaaakes!

To keep all my favorite recipes in one place, reposting (with sliiiight modifications) Kottke’s world’s best pancake recipe.

2 cups flour
scant 2 tbsp sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups buttermilk
4 tbsp melted butter + extra butter for frying
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Get the pan nice and hot, melt a non trivial amount of butter in it, then fry up these pancakes.

Or griddle them at 325-350F.

Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

(needs some work)

Based on this recipe.

1 cup softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp cinnamon
3 cups oats
1.5 cups raisins

Cream together butter and sugars. Then add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla. Mix the dry flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Combine with wet ingredients slowly. Then mix in oats. Then raisins.

Bake at 375 for ~10 minutes.

Feedback: not chewy enough. could be a little softer. and a little less sweet.

Strawberry Overload

Shamiq, Emily and I went strawberry picking on Saturday and ended up with 26lbs of strawberries… Some of the things I made:

strawberry mousse cake

Strawberry mousse cake.
Mousse recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated
Yellow cake from Epicurious
& “frosted” with whipped cream

Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry cheesecake.
Adapted from the inside of the Philly Cream Cheese Box + Chow
Topped with compote & sliced strawberries

Oops.

I fell off the face of the… blog again.

Since then…

Giant cake
I made a 7.5″ cake for my 1 year anniversary at Sift. Layers of chocolate, cookie dough, cheese cake, banana pudding, hazelnut…

Blood Orange Macarons
And blood orange macarons.

Ink comparisons
Bought a bunch of ink. And did a comparison. (Turns out I need some gum arabic to thicken up the ink for use with a dip pen…)

Potaaaatoes
And, last weekend, planted some potatoes!

Parisian Gnocchi

Gnocchi!
Recipe originally from Serious Eats

Ingredients:
1 cup (8 ounces) water
8 tablespoons (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon (about .15 ounces) salt
1 1/4 cups (6.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (I omitted this, due to lack of mustard)
1/2 cup (about 1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese
3 large eggs
4 tbsp finely chopped chives
1 tbsp finely chopped basil
Olive oil

1. Bring water, butter and salt to a boil. Then dump the flour in, stir briskly until a sticky dough forms.

2. Transfer to stand mixer, add cheese, eggs (one at a time) then herbs.

3. Transfer to gallon bag, let rest for 15-25 minutes. Bring a large pot of salted water to a simmer.

4. Cut the gallon bag with a 1/2 in opening, then pipe logs of dough onto a tray. Cut them up into 1in pieces.

5. Boil in batches, about 3 minutes after they float to the top

6. Drain then scoop onto an olive olive-oil greased tray. Toss, so they don’t stick.

7. FRY IN BUTTER (or cool and fridge)

Sea Salt Brownie Cookies

Adapted from Butterlust

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup natural cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp hot water
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar
3. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each one.
4. Add the cocoa powder, flour, and salt and beat until a dough forms – it should be the consistency of a thick brownie batter.
5. In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda into the hot water. Add dissolved baking soda and vanilla and beat until well combined.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spatula.
7. Refrigerate the batter for at least 30 minutes, up to overnight.
8. Use a cookie scoop to scoop out heaping tablespoons onto your prepared baking sheets and sprinkle with sea salt.
9. Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges are set.
10. Let cool completely on the baking sheets then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

And some cookie shaping science:
On the left are cookies that were jagged lumps of dough, then baked. On the right are cookies that were rounded balls of dough before baking. It makes a difference! Roll your dough.

Dough Shaping

Fresh Bagels = NOM

Finished Bagels

Yesterday I made bagels following this recipe, with a couple changes.

1 1/2 cups warm water, and 1 tablespoon for the egg wash
2 1/4 tsp yeast
4 cups bread flour
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
1 large egg white
Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or coarse salt for topping

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water
2. Mix flour, salt, honey and sugar in a mixer bowl. Add in yeast water.
3. Mix on low for 2 minutes. Then mix on medium for 8. The dough should be dry, but not stiff.
4. Place in an oiled bowl (roll it around so it gets oiled) and cover, for 20 minutes (it should be noticeably puffy)
5. Divide dough into 12 pieces (3oz each), then roll each into a 9in log, then use a 1in overlap to make a bagel shape! Keep the others covered as you work, so the dough doesn’t dry out.
6. Let rest for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 425F, bring pot of water to a simmer (add 1tsp salt and 1tsp baking soda)
7. Stretch bagels if necessary, then boil for 30 seconds each side
8. Mix 1 egg white and 1 tbsp warm water. Brush boiled bagels (sprinkle with toppings)
9. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate and bake for another 10
10. Cool for 30 minutes before eating (then eat soon!)

Post Shaping
Post shaping

Post Boiling
Post boiling, now with toppings

Tea Time

Tea Time

Last week I hosted a tea party! That’s what the cookies, meringues and cake stands were for.

Chive butter was also a huge hit in cucumber and tomato sandwiches. Cheddar and pickle was also a surprisingly good sandwich. Roast beef and foie gras sandwiches were also very popular, but no surprise there.