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.

Cinnamon Rolls

Food and friends go hand and hand. When my friends and I want to catch up, our first suggestion is to grab a coffee at Andyman’s and try whatever pastry looks good—apple turnover, asiago bagel, or even a fresh, gooey chocolate chip cookie. So that’s why when my old friend and I had a sleepover, I brought all of the ingredients to make a treat to keep us occupied and to keep our stomachs satisfied.

 Now, our creation was nothing like the doughy rolls you pull out of that familiar blue tin can and drizzle with that questionable white-stuff they call “icing.” These were cinnamon rolls in their most delicious form. Soft, cinnamony-sweet, and coated with a layer of rich vanilla frosting; these rolls were extraordinary.

We prepared the dough during the commercial breaks of our late night movies, and when we awoke to a full fledged snow storm in the morning, these cinnamon rolls were a warm and sweet treat that quickly disappeared before we ventured out in the storm to shovel my car out of the snow bank.

I got my idea from this recipe, and after tweaking a few of the ingredients to my preference (which I show later), I have finally ended my quest for the cinnamon rolls who reign supreme. Enjoy!

Ingredients for dough

• 2 C whole milk
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 tbsp active dry yeast
• 4 C flour
• 1/2 C flour
• 1/2 heaping tsp baking powder
• 1/2 scant tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tbsp salt

Ingredients for filling

• 1 scant C melted butter
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1/2 C cinnamon

Ingredients for frosting

• 1 bag powdered sugar
• 1/2 C milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• pinch of salt

Directions:
The night before the treats will be served:

1. Mix whole milk, vegetable oil and sugar in a pan until it reaches 150 degrees.
2. Let cool until room temperature. (be careful, this is important if you want the yeast to rise for light, fluffy rolls)
3. Sprinkle in yeast and let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Add 4 C flour and stir together.
5. Cover with clean towel and let sit for one hour.
6. Add 1/2 C flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
7. Stir mixture together.
8. Cover again with towel and allow to sit overnight.

The big day:

1. Seperate the dough into two pieces.
2. Sprinkle counter surface with flour.
3. Mold each piece into a rectangle.
4. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough thin, maintaining a long rectangular shape.
5. Pour melted butter over dough.
6. Sprinkle with sugar.
7. Finish by sprinkling with cinnamon, be generous!
8. Starting from the end furthest from you, roll the dough toward you.
9. Once done, pinch the seam to seal it.
10. Cut rolls 1 inch thick and lay in greased foil pans.
11. Cover the rolls with towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
12. Bake on one rack at 400 for about 15 minutes.

The finishing touches:

1. Combine all frosting ingredients in a bowl and mix.
2. Generously drizzle frosting over warm rolls right after they come out of the oven.
3. Try not to eat them all in one sitting…trust me.