Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

My friend Shannon doesn’t like cupcakes. She thinks they are too sweet, too icing-y, and too hyped up. Really though, I bet you have at least one bakery where you live dedicated to selling only cupcakes--cupcakes, where the frosting is taller than the cake itself. And although I do love baked goods, I kind of agree that the cupcake obsession that is taking over TV shows and bakeries is a little much. Cupcakes are great, but there are so many other baked goods to be obsessed about. Anyway, just as I am sitting here bashing cupcakes, Sara came to my house the other day and said that all she was craving was a fluffy delicious cupcake. That got me thinking, and seeing as all of Sara’s cravings/food ideas inspire me, I had to make the perfect cupcake, to my standards. This meant a fluffy moist cake, with just enough frosting to make it slightly sweeter than it should be. As far as flavors, this cake was my initial inspiration for these cupcakes because it looks simple but elegant.

Homemade Rye Boule

Right now I’m reading the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I’m not really looking to lose weight or anything; I’m just obsessed with food (obviously) and very intrigued by the obesity epidemic plaguing America. It’s astonishing and just plain sad how so many people struggle with their weight here in the United States. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me it seems that some just don’t realize what they are doing to themselves (my hypothesis come from working summer jobs in the food industry). It makes me so sad to see people gorging on processed sweets and candy, when food really is so much more.

I’m only about halfway through the book, but it has made me laugh and cry and think about my own interactions with food. The French way is quite simple: quality over quantity.

Lemon Macarons

HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!!! Can we please all jump up and down for joy?! I am getting closer and closer to mastering the French Macaron. We are jumping for joy because tonight, in this very batch of lemon macarons, I figured out the exact time I need to bake these pesky little treats in my oven! Since day one, under-baking my macarons has been a SERIOUS PROBLEM. They always came out with the bottoms slightly stuck to the parchment. On my second tray, however, (I like to bake each tray one at a time)  I stopped my macs between the 20 and 21 minute mark and they were perfect! No opening the oven, and no checking on them until then, and woohoo they turned out great. My tip for mac makers out there would be to not hesitate to bake them for longer than the recipe calls for if they keep coming out under-baked. My recipe said they would take 18 minutes tops, but that time never worked for me. It will take a few batches to learn the habits of your oven, but I have faith in you, you will figure out how to make the perfect macarons!!

One more tidbit…the second tray ended up being a lot more beautiful because the macarons rested for longer…I would say at least 40 minutes…definitely doing that for next time!!

For these macarons, I used the basic french macaron recipe that I used for the Macarons with Blueberry Mascarpone Filling . I just added 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest and a small bit of yellow gel food coloring to the meringue before mixing in the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture.

I filled them with my 5 Yolk Lemon Curd , and yum yum yum, were these beauties delicious.

Peach Crumble Pie

Summer = pie season. Enough said. I know fall season is associated with pies, and no one can argue with a tasty pumpkin pie, but equally important are the tart cherry and peach pies that are at their finest in the heat of summer. A few weeks ago we made a small cherry pie (different from the one that Sara posted), but because it was so small we had leftover crust that I froze. Next on the list of summer pies was peach pie, so using the leftover crust I made a peach crumble pie. This is a great recipe if you have leftover pie crust, and don’t have enough for the top crust!

Remy's Ratatouille

I have always loved the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille.  For those who have seen the film, you can probably see why I love it so much. For those that haven’t, it’s about this tiny little rat with a keen sense of smell that has a secret dream of becoming a chef. When Remy is separated from his rat family at the beginning of the story, he finds himself at a famous restaurant in Paris. He ends up helping a young boy, Linguini, who has absolutely no idea how to cook, work his way to the spot as top chef at the restaurant. 

The part in the movie that always resonates with me is when Remy tries to get his rat brother Emile to taste the magic of food.

The French Laundry: Salad of Hericot Verts, Tomato Tartare, and Chive Oil

Sorry about neglecting to post in a while, but have I been in a baking/cooking storm lately. As a matter of fact, the sweet aroma of my lemon macaron shells baking is wafting through my house at this very moment.

The highlight of this current baking/cooking storm has to be this beautiful salad I made out of Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry cookbook.

Butternut Squash Carbonara

Another carbonara recipe for you to enjoy!!

Carbonara is always delicious and never a bad choice. This is a different take on Carbonara; it still has the creamy element to it, just a little less fat. Compared to a traditional Carbonara recipe this is much much healthier for you because the sauce consists of vegetables and chicken broth. This doesn’t exactly scream summertime but I find it very light and refreshing, with a homey feel to it. Enjoy!

Butternut Squash Carbonara (Adapted from Bon Appétit)

Carbonara with Mushrooms and Basil

I had the most delicious lunch ever today. I used some leftover egg yolks from my macarons, and made this lovely carbonara. We had this absolutely gorgeous pasta…I mean look at it?! Isn't it marvelous…

This good quality pasta made this dish, so if you can get your hands on some, I recommend it.  I also went to the farmers market today and got some fresh cherry tomatoes and basil, which made two great additions.

Carbonara with Mushrooms and Basil:

Cilantro Hummus

If you all don't already know, I love fresh herbs. I swear they are the answer to all of life's problems. Just spice a boring dish up with some parsley, or some dill, and bam, food suddenly becomes exciting. 

Today we are going to do just that with some cilantro and hummus. Now I'm not saying regular homemade hummus is boring, I just felt like making mine a little green tonight. 

*If you're not a fan of cilantro, you could always do the same with parsley. 

Cilantro Hummus:

Macarons with Blueberry Mascarpone Filling

Hey everyone, guess what.

I did it.

I made really yummy macarons!!!!!!!

So the story starts back when I went to NYC a few weeks ago and had some macarons from Ladurée.

Ivan Ramen Yakisoba

This is exciting...the first main course savory dish for the blog! Although it seems like this is solely a baking blog, we really love cooking and want to include savory recipes too! 

Anyway, for Father's Day I got my dad the book Ivan Ramen by Ivan Orkin. This book details Ivan's life and journey of becoming a ramen chef, and because my dad is always trying to perfect his own ramen, I figured this would be the perfect gift. Not only does this autobiography/cookbook have Ivan's famous 35 page ramen recipe, but it also has other Japanese recipes. Tonight I was inspired flipping through the pages and decided to make his breakfast Yakisoba, for dinner. 

Cherry Bomb Pie

The short cherry season is passing and I just got the tail end of it. Last Saturday I went to the farmers market in search of fresh tart cherries to turn into a scrumptious pie. I found one vendor with only a few cartons left, so I snatched them up! One of my good friend's mother passed from cancer recently and what better thing to cheer her up than a homemade pie made just for her?  I got the recipe from the cover of the June Bon Appetit magazine. The crust is one of my favorite and easiest crusts I have ever tried. It stayed together very nicely but still had the flakey texture to it. 

5 Yolk Lemon Curd

I am taking on the task of making macarons. If I ever become happy with how they turn out, I will post the recipe and many many pictures. Because I have used 10 egg whites already throughout my endeavors, I had to find ways to use the yolks. I decided to make Sara's favorite: lemon curd. She already posted a wonderful recipe for lemon curd when she made her Rosemary Lemon Cake filling, but I decided to post this recipe because it only uses yolks.

Mr. B's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies

We are headed back to the old school classic kid dessert: a wonderful soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. This is still my twenty-year-old brother’s all time favorite dessert ever since I first made them. Growing up we would simply follow the cookie recipe on the back of the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip bag, but these are a huge step up from those cookies. I discovered these cookies from one of my good friend's father; he would always make them for Christmas and I would go coo-coo over them. So naturally once you fall in love with a baked good you will do anything to track down the recipe. It took some finagling but I finally got the recipe out of him and it was from Cook's Illustrated. (Which is a really awesome magazine and website, foolproof recipes!) The major differences I noticed from this recipe to more traditional recipes are that the butter is melted, the brown sugar to granulated sugar ratio is different, and instead of two eggs you have one plus an egg yolk. Once you have these cookies though I guarantee that you will never try another recipe.