Ginger Cookies

I have a cookie weakness. With prom this weekend, I’ve spent weeks trying to maintain this system of  eating only lean proteins, raw fruits and vegetables, with as little sweets and carbs as possible. As you can imagine by the fact that I have a blog dedicated solely to sweets, it has been hard. But I’m about to crack, and these cookies are about to break my fast.

There is something that I absolutely love about the addition of ginger into recipes. Spicy, and sweet, it adds a surprising zing to deserts. So I consulted the goddess, Barefoot Contessa. I watched this episode on food network a few months back, and I loved how she added candied ginger to these traditional cookies; the woman is a genius. I always love ginger snaps with their crispy and golden goodness, but this recipe was unique with its soft and chewy bite. Easy to prepare and quick to disappear, I’m sure that these cookies will be completely worth the three weeks I’ve spent suppressing my addiction.

 

 

 

 

 

Popsicles!

Some of my best summertime memories from when I was young are of lemonade stands
with my best friends; whiling away the hours by chasing around ice cream trucks and swimming in my neighbors pool until our parents dragged us out by our pruned feet. I have grown up since those days, but I continue to revel in my childhood memories each time I enjoy an icy popsicle. I think I ate so many because my mom was always a health-nut and kept popsicles by the dozens to steer clear of other fattening deserts. Although there were times when I did rebel by sneaking vanilla bean ice cream into the freezer, there is something that just cannot be beat by this fruity, sweet, and icy treat.

 

After reading this blog, I was inspired. I ran to the store to buy fun popsicle molds, and filled them with homemade lemonade. But that was not enough to satisfy my creative urges. My next plan? This recipe. If I can convince my mom that the Zoku Quick Pop Maker is necessary (I know, an ice cube tray and wooden sticks can suffice, but there is something about the 7 minute wait time for delicious icy treats that I simply cannot resist), then I will have endless recipes to share of my popsicle filled summer. But for now, enjoy these photos while we all dream of summertime. 16 days! :)

Homemade Marshmallows

For the past few days, I’ve been having this strange obsession with the idea of making homemade marshmallows, and I don’t know why. Usually I’m not even a fan of the powdery-store-bought version unless they are toasted, surrounded by graham cracker and melty chocolate, while I sit in front of a bonfire in the summertime. So I did some research and it sounds like homemade marshmallows are heavenly, and something every baker must attempt.

With officially 23 days left of school, I’ve been dreaming about summertime while I begin to assemble my collection of summery dresses and strappy heels that I’ve been waiting to wear for my senior week activities. Except to my dismay, Newburyport got three inches of wet snow today, April fools! Not funny.

 I’ve been debating for hours whether to make a surprising rendition of marshmallows with raspberries, or to dip them in chocolate, or both. But since there is a birthday party this weekend that I can bake a treat for, I’ve thought of the perfect way to present my delicious creation while reveling in the summertime glory that I’ve been yearning for. I’ve decided to create a Homemade Smore’s Candy Bar, containing all the goodness of the summertime, minus the greenheads.

Everyone at the party absolutely loved these little treats, and after sitting out in the sun for a few hours, they started melting which was mistakenly delicious. With this recipe, I even had three tupperware containers filled with leftovers, so I threw a few marshmallows in with my typical hot chocolate, and it was fantastic. The flecks of vanilla bean livened up the powdery mix and created this creamy cup of chocolaty goodness.

Homemade Marshmallow Ingredients:

• Nonstick cooking spray
• 3 (1/4-ounce) packages unflavored gelatin
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, plus 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• Confectioners' sugar, sifted, for coating

Homemade Marshmallow Directions:

1.      Lightly spray a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Line pan with plastic wrap, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides; set aside.

2.      In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold water; let stand for 10 minutes. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, corn syrup, and 1/4 cup water. Place saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; boil rapidly for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and, with the mixer on high, slowly pour the boiling syrup down the side of the mixer bowl into gelatin mixture. Add salt and continue mixing for 12 minutes.

3.      Add vanilla extract and vanilla bean seeds; mix until well combined. Spray a rubber spatula or your hands with cooking spray. Spread gelatin mixture evenly into pan using prepared spatula or your hands. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place, spray side down, on top of marshmallows. Let stand for 2 hours.

4.      Carefully remove marshmallows from pan. Remove all plastic wrap and discard. Cut marshmallows into 2-inch squares using a sprayed sharp knife. Place confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Working in batches, add marshmallows to bowl and toss to coat. Marshmallows can be stored in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Smore’s Candy Bars Ingredients:

• 10 whole graham crackers
• Homemade Marshmallow Recipe
• 6 oz melted dark chocolate

Smore’s Candy Bars Directions:

1. Break graham crackers in half and then in half again, making four pieces.
2. Spread one piece with about a teaspoon of Marshmallow and top with another graham cracker, pressing gently together. Repeat with remaining graham crackers and Marshmallow.
3. In a medium sized double boiler, melt chocolate coating.
4. Dip each graham cracker sandwich in chocolate using a large fork. Gently shake or tap off excess chocolate and place on wax paper to cool. Serve or store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, (if they last that long!)

Coconut Macaroons

I have found my weakness, and it comes in the form of coconut and rich dark chocolate. I was never a fan of the texture of nutty coconut until my summer job at the local gelatoria (an Italian ice cream shop), where they made hundreds of fresh flavors on location. Our favorite past-time was sampling different flavor combinations with our tiny spoons, which was where I was enlightened by the glory of coconut and chocolate.

The vanilla-creaminess of the fresh coconut gelato paired with the most intense chocolate gelato I have ever tasted, this treat was creamy and delicious, (and developed into a very unhealthy obsession.)

I began experimenting with different ways to incorporate this fabulous flavor combination into many different recipes like cupcakes and cheesecake. However, nothing can compare to the simple, sweet, chewy, and light coconut macaroons. I dug through my cookbooks and found this simple recipe in one of the oldest and dustiest cookbooks I own, but the recipe was impressively simple and delicious. A hybrid of the light meringue of french macaroons combined with the chewy and rich texture of traditional macaroons, this recipe is truly the best of both worlds. Containing literally five ingredients, adding these treats to your cookie repertoire will impress even the toughest critique. I made these for my class to cure the Monday morning blues, and these chocolatey-coconuty-puffs-of-goodness received rave reviews.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 C sweetened coconut shavings

2 egg whites

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. vanilla

2/3 C sugar

1 bag of dark chocolate chips (Ghirardelli 70% Caico was fantastic)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover cookie sheet with aluminum foil and no-stick spray.
2. Combine egg whites, vanilla, and salt with an electric mixer on high speed until they create stiff peaks
3. Slowly add in sugar (about a tbsp. at a time)
4. Fold in coconut
5. Drop tbsp. sized rounds onto the cookie sheet (make sure to keep them equally distributed). Put in oven for 20-25 minutes on top rack until they’re golden.
6. While the macaroons are in the oven, melt chocolate in a double boiler
7. After macaroons have cooled, dip into chocolate and let harden.
8. Enjoy!

Popovers in Portsmouth NH

Over the weekend, I trekked up to Kittery, Maine, to check out all of the pre-spring sales at J.Crew and Ralph Lauren. After hours of picking through pressed cardigans and starched white jeans, we decided to take a break and head towards Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for a delicious lunch and a walk around Prescott Park beginning to bloom.

Portsmouth is essentially a larger version of the town I live in, with its brick buildings and sidewalks, green trees, quaint shops, with music and art around every corner. Except here, I have about 20 different restaurants to keep me coming back to try something completely new. For lunch we decided to try this restaurant called “Popovers,” can you guess what they served? Everything on the menu was piled inside and on top of warm, fresh, and light popovers. My mom, who prides herself on her popover-making-talents, was even impressed.

She eventually decided on the curry chicken salad, which was pretty good, but my choice was definitely the pick of the day. They happened to have my all time favorite salad in the world, poached pear and gorgonzola salad, and I was blown away with how the complex web of flavors complimented each bite. Atop a crispy bed of mixed greens, chunks of earthy and pungent gorgonzola cheese were sprinkled along with Craisin’s and walnuts. Soft caramelized onions were placed alongside a whole poached pear which had been cooked in a heavenly mixture of cloves and cinnamon. Fresh mango shavings for garnish, all drizzled with a combination of poached pear compote and thick and sweet balsamic vinegar, this salad was absolutely fantastic. As if it couldn’t get any better, this heavenly concoction was all served inside of this warm and flaky popover. I have never tasted a more delightful salad in my life.

On our way out of the door, my sweet tooth kicked in as the bakers were pulling sugary coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate, out of the oven. We couldn’t resist the urge, so we took home a dozen of these sweet treats and polished off half of the bag before we reached my driveway. Needless to say, it was a perfect lunch that I will surely revisit with my friends literally as soon as possible. (If the J.Crew Spring collection isn’t enough to get them there, I’m sure this picture will.)

Buffalo Chicken

It seems as though every person is on an unconscious search for the perfect version of a certain dish. The perfect hamburger, coffee, chocolate chip cookie, we’ll go almost anywhere to see if the next version we try will be the best. For me, that is to find the perfect spicy, juicy, and tangy buffalo chicken fingers. Perfect as an appetizer at bar-type restaurants, or the perfect addition to pizzas, calzones, salads, or sandwiches, this warm and spicy chicken is a versatile dish that gives any meal a mouth-watering kick.

I always find myself attracted to this dish whenever I see it on the menu. However, I am usually never pleased upon ordering this delectable creation. Why? Restaurants are always serving either too spicy, too bony, too dry, not flavorful enough, or lack-luster chicken drenched in sauce. So when my brother came home from college, we decided to perfect our favorite meal together and this is what we came up with; they are absolutely fantastic, if I do say so myself.

We broke down what makes a buffalo finger mouth-wateringly satisfying. First off, good quality chicken. (We chose organic and plump chicken strips to prevent too many bones from getting stuck in our teeth, gross). The frying process is so important, because who would want a dense, thickly coated deep fried chicken breast? Not I! We chose a three step method for preparation: a salt and pepper flour mixture, egg wash, and a spicy blend of Panko bread crumbs mixed with various spices.(For those of you who haven’t been enlightened by Panko, it is a Japanese breadcrumb that contain fine crumbs that are light and they fry nicely). Then, of course, the buffalo sauce is the key to make or break this dish. We bought our favorite sauce, Texas Pete Buffalo Sauce, but added a few ingredients to make it even more rich and delicious (which are shown below). We found a cool and creamy blue cheese dressing and added a little lemon juice, and voila! The perfect, most ultimate buffalo fingers were right at our fingertips in under an hour.

 

Ingredients:

1 package of organic chicken strips

3 C vegetable oil

1 C flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

3 eggs

2 C Panko bread crumbs

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

dash of paprika

dash of sage

Fresh parmesan cheese (grated to preference)

1 ½ C Texas Pete Buffalo Sauce (or any buffalo sauce of choice)

1 tbsp. ketchup

1 tbsp. unsalted butter

Directions:

1.      In a large saucepan over medium heat, let oil heat.

2.      Rinse chicken strips in hot water and drain on paper towel

3.      Assemble two paper plates and one bowl. In one paper plate, mix flour, salt, and pepper. In the bowl, whisk eggs. In the last paper plate, mix Panko, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and sage.

4.      Check oil by dropping a dime-sized amount of egg into the pan. The oil is ready when the oil simmers and releases bubbles.

5.      Create an assembly line—Dip chicken in flour mixture, then egg, then Panko mixture, and pile them on a clean plate.

6.      Once all of your chicken strips have been assembled, drop strips into the oil 3 or 4 at a time. (you don’t want to put too many in at one time, or it will drop the oil temperature!) Let each strip cook in oil for about 5-8 minutes, or until they are a crispy golden brown.

7.      Once they are done cooking, let chicken strips drain on a paper towel. While they’re still hot, grate the parmesan cheese over the chicken on both sides. The cheese will melt.

8.      In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, mix the Buffalo sauce with ketchup and butter.

9.      Roll chicken strips one-by-one in the Buffalo sauce, making sure to evenly coat.

10.  Transfer onto a clean plate, and Enjoy!

Prosciutto and Goat Cheese Sandwiches

I don’t know about you, but my idea of an awesome Saturday consists of waking up mid-morning, having a delicious breakfast of fresh cantaloupe and Puffins cereal, going for a nice long run, and going to Whole Foods Market with some friends to make something healthy and delicious. Most would be deterred from venturing to Whole Foods since it is at least a 30 mile road-trip, but that hasn’t discouraged my friends and I because simply, nothing else can compare. It is heaven for health-food-lovers.

This particular Saturday, we were planning on going out to dinner for my friend Sarah’s 18^th birthday, and we decided to make her a plate of gooey, chocolaty brownies to go along with it. After walking into the sunny, eco-friendly store filled with the aroma of fresh picked apples and citrus, we got hungry. I remembered that I had read about this sandwich filled with prosciutto, fig jam, and spicy greens. Yum, right? My family are, well, food snobs. So when company expects to find the typical crackers and cheese platters at gatherings, they will instead find a platter filled with interesting cheeses, pates, fig spreads, and a bottle of wine from our vintage wine-cellar. So the flavors in these sandwiches are right at home for me, and are a delicious and creative alternative to the average turkey and cheese sandwich.

Once we arrived back home, we turned on some Jack Johnson and jammed out while making a yummy lunch for us while the brownies were in the oven. I took one bite of this little piece of heaven sandwiched between ciabatta bread, and knew that my days of classic turkey sandwiches were over. Even my friends, the pickiest eaters in the universe, loved these. The combination of the fresh greens, the saltiness of the prosciutto balanced with the sweetness of the fig jam, and the creamy goat cheese all wrapped up in warm, toasty ciabatta, these sandwiches were absolutely scrumptious (and kept us away from the warm brownies fresh from the oven).

 

Ingredients:

1 Package Prosciutto

1 small goat cheese log

fresh leaf lettuce

1 container good quality fig jam

1 fresh roll of ciabatta bread

Directions:

1.      Slice the ciabatta bread along the sides so you end up with a top and a bottom. Then cut sections in the bread to need.

2.      Spread fig jam on one side of the bread

3.      Spread goat cheese on the other side of the bread

4.      layer pieces of Prosciutto and greens to fill the sandwich

5.      Enjoy! The classic turkey sandwich will never taste as good ever again.