The Porter house is:

• Jli and all the wonderful things that the very name entails
• A warmly lit front door with a Tomblesaurus leaning out with a welcoming grin and a giant wave
• Tacos
• Romping around and jumping on the most comfortable bed
• Sofa-side girl chats under blankets

In many ways, the Porter house is a hub of warmth and comfort. So when I set my mind on developing a recipe just for the lovelies at the Porter house, I knew I wanted something to capture the feeling of comfort I felt when I was there. It took some experimentation, but I think this is it: a moist pumpkin cupcake scented with cinnamon and a kick of nutmeg with a hidden sweet and tart apple pie filling in the center that surprises you mid-bite.

Jli, Tomblesaurus, Abdelsamad, Abaclig, and Mr. CIA, this one’s for you!

—

Pumpkin Spice Apple Cupcakes a.k.a. “The Porter House”
Makes 19 cupcakes (18 cupcakes for guests + 1 for the baker, of course)

Pre-work:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Bring the eggs for the cupcakes  to room temperature and lightly beat them
• Bring the melted butter for the cupcakes to room temperature
• Set out the cream cheese and butter for the frosting to soften
• If you are using cupcake liners, line your muffin tin with the liners. If not, lightly grease your muffin tin.

Prepare the apple filling first:

• 2 medium apples peeled, cored, and finely diced
• 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon grapefruit zest
• 1/2 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons butter

1. Soak the diced apples in a bowl of water with the tablespoon of lemon juice.
2. Then combine the brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, grapefruit zest, and vinegar in a bowl.
3. Mix the apples into the apple filling seasoning mixture.
4. Lightly sautee the apples with the butter until fork tender. Set aside.

Now prepare the cupcakes:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup unsalted melted butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

1. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg intended for the cupcakes in a medium bowl
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar butter, and eggs until smooth
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet as you continue to whisk until smooth
4. Add the pumpkin puree and whisk it in until combined
5. Fill the muffin tins 1/4 of the way with the pumpkin cupcake batter. Drop a heaping teaspoon of the apple filling in the center of the batter. Pour the pumpkin cupcake batter over the filling until the muffin tins are about halfway full.
6. Put in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tops of the cupcakes spring back when you gently push on them with your fingertips.

Prepare the cream cheese frosting as you wait:

• 1.5 packages cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1.5 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Cream together the cream cheese frosting and butter until smooth
2. Mix in the vanilla
3. Gradually add the granulated sugar
4. Pipe or smear onto the cupcakes once cooled

*I opted to top the cupcakes with a sprinkling of candied walnuts instead of a cream cheese frosting, but for those not worried about such a silly thing as calories, I would highly suggest topping these off with a swirl of cream cheese frosting, as it would be a lovely complement to the cupcakes.

Take a good look at this woman. She may look like the most wise, strong, and loving mother in the world. And, well, that’s because she is. But I’m sorry to tell you, she is a chronic “storer.”

Yes. A storer. She has the amazing resourcefulness to find the best deals within a 40 mile radius and an even more astounding ability to pack it all away … a great skill to have in post-war Korea, but not necessarily a survival tactic necessary in the land of plenty (and Costco’s). Nevertheless, so it is.

Many a times during my childhood did I pop open my mother’s trunk after a shopping trip to find totes upon totes of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and health foods galore only to have my mother reply to my gasp, “But they were on sale!” Well, there must have been a special on apples recently, because what I found upon opening the refrigerator on my recent visit home were not one, nor two, but three bags of apples sitting unapologetically on the shelf.

Others might have seen waste, but in my “fatty” eyes, all I saw were dancing visions of experiments with Fall recipes. To start with, I baked up a dependable Apple Crostata that filled our home with wafts of nutmeg and cinnamon that announced my arrival home to my Dad’s nose. The recipe is quick and easy, and the butteriness of the flaky crust and the sweetness of the filling are wonderfully offset by the splashes of freshly squeezed lemon and grapefruit zest added to the filling.

Apple Crostata

And the beauty of it all is that there are still plenty of apples and some other goodies to experiment with in the coming days! We have a can of pumpkin puree with an impending expiration date and a can of adzuki red bean paste sitting on the pantry shelf that are crying out to be used. So look forward to some fun recipes coming your way soon!

Apple Crostata

For the crust:
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar*
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter chilled and diced
2 tablespoons ice water

For the egg wash:
1 egg white
3 tablespoons turbinado sugar

For the filling:
3 small apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 teaspoon grapefruit zest
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the crumbles:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar*
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
4 tablespoons butter, chilled, and diced

*I substituted each unit of sugar with half a unit of Splenda brown sugar blend, and everything baked up just fine

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Give the flour, sugar, and salt a quick mix to combine
2. Add the chilled butter to the dry ingredients, and use the back of a fork to crumble the butter into the dry ingredients until small clumps form
3. While continuing to mix, add the ice water in a steady stream and continue to use the back of the fork to incorporate everything. Stop right before the dough becomes a solid mass.
4. Wrap the dough and refrigerate for 1 hour and up to 1 day
5. As you wait for the dough, prepare the filling by tossing the apples with the lemon juice and grapefruit zest. Set aside.
6. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmet. Add the butter and use the back of a fork to make the butter crumble into the dry ingredients once more.
7. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the chilled crust dough out on a  lightly floured surface into an 11 inch round
8. Transfer the crust dough onto a baking sheet. Add the apples to the center of the dough, leaving a 1.5 inch border along the edges. I like to create a small mound, so there are more apples in the center of the dough.
9. Sprinkle the crumbles atop the apple filling
10. Fold the crust over onto the apples along the edges of the mound, pinching as necessary to cover up holes
11. Brush the egg white onto the crust edges and sprinkle the turbinado sugar over the crust
12. Pop in the 450 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until the apples are tender and the crust is golden
13. Cool and serve warm or at room temperature

… and they’re perfect. Just perfect.

The sorry state of my first batch of macarons yesterday was rather underwhelming. But thanks to yesterday’s disappointment, today’s success is even more of a joy! I am so happy to share that after a couple changes to the recipe and to the technique, my second try at macarons was much more successful than the first. I picked up some great tips on technique along the way, which I will share with you as soon as I have a moment. In the meantime, please cheer with me! Now I can sleep at night!

Chocolate Hazelnut Macarons

Can I share a secret with you? These didn’t turn out quite as I had wanted them to be. Most cracked, and some burned. Some were far too crunchy. But some were not cracked, some did not burn, and some had just the perfect texture (in my opinion) of being airy and light in the center (with the slightest hint of chew) with a crisp outer shell.

These macarons were from the first experiment of my many experiments to come with making macarons. And this less than successful first venture has only made me even more determined to get the perfect recipe down. So just as a warning to my taste-testers out there, get ready for a deluge of macarons, because they’ll be coming your way steadily and soon. In addition to producing (hopefully) many delightful treats, this series of experimentation with macarons will be good for building up technique as well. Because the key to making these macarons is really the technique.

In addition to experimenting in the kitchen, I’ll be doing some secondary research. And if I run across any helpful tidbits of information, I’ll make sure to send them your way via this blog. So stay posted. I’m determined to come back with a success story sometime!

Red Velvet Cupcake

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Today’s events have left me feeling particularly exhausted. And there is yet more to do. But before I tackle the next task, let’s take a break, yes?

In moments like these, baking becomes more than just a fun and easy way to make a yummy treat for myself or others. And it becomes something more therapeutic, because anyone who enjoys baking can tell you that there’s something incredibly ritualistic, comforting, and calming about baking. There’s something special in the measuring out of the ingredients, in the creaming of the butter and sugar, and in the gentle folding of egg whites that calms your nerves, slows your heart, settles your nervous fingers, and assures you that everything will be okay.

A simple pound cake seems suitable for a day like this – something not too demanding that is comforting, and delicious. Maybe I’ll throw some cream cheese in there as well!

As you may know, D and I have been in pursuit of the best chocolate chip cookie recipe for quite some time now. We chanced upon a recipe (detailed in an earlier post) that we deemed perfect. Since then, it has been our go-to recipe for our chocolate fixes. But in recent days, I must admit that we’ve “stepped out” on our recipe as we’ve been sampling some others. Admittedly, I feel terribly guilty for being unfaithful to our dependable and age-old recipe. But a girl has needs! You understand, don’t you?

We recently tried out two recipes: the self-proclaimed perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe (courtesy of the NY Times) and a crispy, chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe (courtesy of Artisan Sweets). This past weekend, we got to try out both of them.

The crispy, chewy chocolate chip cookie had a texture to die for. Crispy on the circumference and along the bottom edge, but chewy and meltingly tender throughout, it surely lived up to its name.

But the “perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe” ultimately won out. The cookies from this batch are so distinct and superior in their taste and texture that they are a bit difficult to describe. Like the crispy, chewy chocolate cookies, the perfect chocolate chip cookies had a multidimensional texture. But while the crispy, chewy cookies were crispy in a “snap when you crack the cookie in half” type of way, the perfect chocolate chip cookies, while giving you that satisfying crisp upon first bite, still gave way meltingly gently. More importantly, the flavor of the cookie was well-rounded with toffee, almost caramel-like undertones and was accented by sweet bursts of chocolate and hints of sea salt in every bite.

We have a huge batch sitting in the fridge that we cannot – must not – should not finish on our own. So please do drop by and I’ll bake some up fresh – just for you. For those of you who are not in close proximity to 1d41, apologies! But do not fret, I will post recipes ASAP with some insights of my own. In the meantime, you can find the original recipes here:

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies – NY Times

and

Crispy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enjoy!

Homemade Oreos

Think about some of your favorite childhood memories, and odds are that one (if not two or three) will have something to do with an Oreo. Don’t believe me? Give it a try. In my case, I remember …

… those commercials of kids and grandparents making airplane Oreos, zooming them around, dunking them into glasses of ice cold milk, giggling, and biting into them as the kid and granddad share a secret smile.

… that game gracie and I always played, where we would  each twist off a side of an Oreo, hoping to get the most cream, because that would ensure that our crush was crushing on us, too – obviously.

… and sneakily twisting open an Oreo, eating the filling, sticking the cookies back together, and running away with the sweet taste of victory lingering in my mouth.

So when I ran across this recipe for homemade Oreos, a wave of whimsy rushed over me, and I just knew I had to try it out. The recipe produced a cookie that was reminiscent of an Oreo, but the strong form of cocoa powder I used gave the cookies a more mature twist. After having done one trial run with the recipe, I think I’ll modify it the next time around in two key respects: 1) reducing the amount of sugar used, and 2) using the slice and bake method used on refrigerator cookies instead of dropping the dough so that I can better control the thickness of the cookies (if they get too thick, they get too intense). Additionally, I might consider shaving off a couple minutes from the baking time to produce softer, chewier wafers that might complement the creaminess of the filling even better.



Homemade Oreos
Adapted from SmittenKitchen
Serving size: 24-36 cookies

Chocolate Wafers
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 tspn baking soda
1/4 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg

Filling
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 tspns vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar together.
2. Cut the butter into the flour mixture and mix until just combined. The dough should be crumbly. Add the large egg. Continue mixing until a mass of dough forms. It will be very dense.
3. Roll the dough into a log 2 inches in diameter, and slice the cookies to 1/4 inch in thickness. Place cookies on parchment paper. about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-9 minutes for crispy cookies, and 6-7 minutes for chewier ones.
4. While the cookies are baking, prepare the filling by creaming together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract. Start on low and gradually increase speed.
6. Transfer the filling to a piping bag. Once the cookies are baked, let cool. Then put a dollop (or two) of frosting on one cookie. Sandwich it with another cookie.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

M, J, K, and E visited the East Coast this spring break, bringing with them a bit of Cali sunshine and tons of “home.” It was such a treat to see them again as we rediscovered favorite haunts and made new memories. We wreaked havoc on the streets as we frightened passerbyers with our alarmingly fast walking paces, and we ate our ways through three states over four days. In short, it was a fantastic time.

The cozy hotel we called home for a night – the Hudson – was conveniently located next to one of the best bakeries in town – Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery. We didn’t waste any time hitting it up and sampling their caramel macaron and chocolate torte. The chocolate torte with its silky and rich ganache did not disappoint. And as we settled down on a wooden bench on the outskirts of Central Park to share our treats, I was so happy I was sighing all over the place.

After a romp in Central Park and a “visit” to the Met, we refueled at Sofia’s (or Serafina’s for that matter) before we headed out to 60th b/w 2nd and 3rd for some frrozen hot chocolate that was served to us by the creator of the delicious strawberry fields sundae, himself!

And as if that wasn’t enough, we set off for midtown for some korean fried chicken at Bonchon on 5th ave. We rounded out the night over some chicken (and lamb) and rice from the halal guys on 53rd and 6th, where K discovered just how hot their hot sauce was, and D managed to outeat all of us combined. I, just like nearly every tourist and New Yorker, have always loved the halal guys, but the chicken and rice from that night after we had torn apart the city on foot was even more special than usual. My mouth waters just writing about it.

Day 2 was just as sweet and savory as we walked our way downtown, stopping along the way for cream puffs from Cafe Zaiya, sushi from Chiyoda Sushi, a slice of Chocolate Pizze from Max Brenner, a NY slice from the one and only genuine Famous Ray’s of Greenwich Village, a bag of amarettis and pignolis from Caffe Roma, and ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory.

New York’s a great city, made even sweeter when discovered over delicious food, laughs, and good people. I’m looking forward to calling it home soon.

Growing up in perpetually sunny ca, my vitamin-d enriched young self always wondered why the weather was the cliche conversation starter. I mean, how many shades of yellow and gorgeousness can the sun take on? It was only after I survived my first Boston winter, shivering, ghostly-pale, but more or less intact, that I realized just how many variations the weather could take on.

The weather’s an even more capricious tease these days. Winter apparently didn’t get the notice that spring’s taking over on March 21st and in a (hopefully) last act of protest will be blasting us with snowflakes on the 23rd. It’s hard to imagine bundling up in winter attire again as I sit here, writing outside, bathing in the sun in flip flops and a light sweater (God bless 55 degree days). But they say it will be so.

I don’t know about you, but this whole fickle weather pattern deal has thrown me in a tizzy. So I’m in the mood to bake something just as complex, fickle, and capricious. I’m thinking something lemony-tart, but sweet … something velvety smooth with hints of crunch. What to do? Suggestions are welcome. Winning suggestion gets honorary tasting of baked good!