This is Mr. Kahn's favorite ice cream that we've made in our shiny new-ish ice cream maker.
Simple Syrup:
1 cup (200 grams) sugar
¾ cup (50 grams) water
1 pint (454 grams) sour cream (We also substitute greek yogurt if we don't have enough sour cream)
fresh lime juice from 1 lime
1. In a small saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the water and bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat and cool completely. (Or, skip this step and use corn syrup so you dont have to wait for everything to cool down!)
2. Whisk the sour cream in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in the sugar syrup, lime zest, and juice. Refrigerate until cold (or not, if you have an impatient husband like I do).
3. Put your ice cream maker to good use!
This would probably also be good with any kind of fresh fruit.
(Recipe adapted from Momofuku)
Monday, May 30, 2016
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Pumpkin muffins
Mr. K's grandparents live outside of Zürich on a couple acres of farmland in the middle of a small Swiss city. In the back, there are apple and walnut trees; in their driveway, they have a low-walled garden full of sunflowers, cherry tomatoes, and pumpkins. As we were leaving after a visit a few weeks ago, Mama handed me a pumpkin.
We got home and the pumpkin sat in our kitchen. For days. Finally, I looked up a recipe for making pumpkin puree, which involves roasting and scraping and draining and turning everything in your kitchen a kind of light orange. I made puree out of 2/3rds of the pumpkin; the rest became a pumpkin soup for our pre-yom kippur meal, and a pumpkin risotto with the last of our parmesan. And now the question became, what do I do with this puree?
I've been on kind of a cupcake kick lately, but Mr. K's family hascomplained mentioned that the frosted cupcakes are too sweet. So I made pumpkin muffins based on this recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction, with minimal adjustments (no pumpkin spice here! No second cupcake sheet!).
Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour (Sally warns us not to overmeasure-- I used my digital scale)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (227 grams) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
We got home and the pumpkin sat in our kitchen. For days. Finally, I looked up a recipe for making pumpkin puree, which involves roasting and scraping and draining and turning everything in your kitchen a kind of light orange. I made puree out of 2/3rds of the pumpkin; the rest became a pumpkin soup for our pre-yom kippur meal, and a pumpkin risotto with the last of our parmesan. And now the question became, what do I do with this puree?
I've been on kind of a cupcake kick lately, but Mr. K's family has
Ingredients:
1 and 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour (Sally warns us not to overmeasure-- I used my digital scale)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (100 grams) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (227 grams) pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar and eggs together until combined. Add the pumpkin, oil, milk, and vanilla until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do NOT overmix the batter.
Preheat oven to 350F (175C) degrees. I used my silicon cupcake sheet, so no need to spray or butter anything, but if you have a metal one, either use liners or spray carefully.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together until combined. Set aside.
Spoon the batter evenly into 12 cups. Bake for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar and eggs together until combined. Add the pumpkin, oil, milk, and vanilla until combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Do NOT overmix the batter.
Preheat oven to 350F (175C) degrees. I used my silicon cupcake sheet, so no need to spray or butter anything, but if you have a metal one, either use liners or spray carefully.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together until combined. Set aside.
Spoon the batter evenly into 12 cups. Bake for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Monday, September 22, 2014
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
When I was a kid, my mom made carrot cake for special occasions. One year, for an end-of-the-year party with my little brother's tennis team, she decorated the whole thing with frosting tennis balls. Her recipe comes from the Frog and Commissary cookbook, which came from a restaurant in Philadelphia that she used to eat at in college. When I started collecting cookbooks, it was the first one she gave me.
The real cake is this kind of spicy, dense thing, with caramel frosting in between the layers, and a cream cheese frosting on top. If you want to make the authentic version, you can look it up here. But when I've made it in my tiny kitchen, I've made them into cupcakes, left out the caramel layer, and topped the piped cream cheese frosting with a couple tiny homemade marzipan carrots. I leave out the pecans and raisins and instead throw in more carrots than originally called for-- because then it's healthy, right?
This recipe makes about 42 cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting is the right amount if you're piping the frosting just in the middle of the cupcake, but if you like a ton of frosting on your cupcake, feel free to make half again as much.
The real cake is this kind of spicy, dense thing, with caramel frosting in between the layers, and a cream cheese frosting on top. If you want to make the authentic version, you can look it up here. But when I've made it in my tiny kitchen, I've made them into cupcakes, left out the caramel layer, and topped the piped cream cheese frosting with a couple tiny homemade marzipan carrots. I leave out the pecans and raisins and instead throw in more carrots than originally called for-- because then it's healthy, right?
This recipe makes about 42 cupcakes. The cream cheese frosting is the right amount if you're piping the frosting just in the middle of the cupcake, but if you like a ton of frosting on your cupcake, feel free to make half again as much.
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups corn oil
(or canola, or sunflower, whatever you have) (272g)
2 cups sugar
(400g)
2 cups flour (280g)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
(7g)
2 teaspoons baking powder
(7g)
1 teaspoon baking soda
(3+g)
1 teaspoon salt
(6g)
4 eggs
6 cups grated carrots (almost a kilo-bag's worth of carrots, grated in the food processor)
Cream Cheese Frosting
4 ounces soft unsalted butter
(100g)
4 ounces soft cream cheese
(100g)
1/2 pound of powdered sugar
(225g)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (2g)
Make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175ºC). Have ready a cupcake mold with the cupcake liners inside (I like to use a silicon form, because then the cupcakes are easy to push out).
In a large bowl, whisk together the corn oil and sugar. Sift together the
flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift half the dry
ingredients into the sugar-oil mixture and blend. Alternately sift in the rest
of the dry ingredients while adding the eggs, one by one. Combine well. Add the
carrots. Pour into the prepared cupcake mold and bake for about 20-25 minutes-- keep an eye on the cakes and take them out when the tops look domed, set, and a little golden. If you are not using the
cakes that day, they can be removed from the mold, wrapped well in plastic wrap and
stored at room temperature. They also freeze really well, frosted or unfrosted.
Make the frosting:
Cream the butter well. Add the cream cheese and beat until blended. Sift in the
sugar and add the vanilla. If too soft to spread, chill a bit. Refrigerate if
not using immediately, but bring to a spreadable temperature before using.
Wednesday, September 10, 2014
Quinoa, almonds, dried fruit, lentils, rice, a poached egg, and the kitchen sink
This recipe is kind of a non-recipe. Hubby offered to boil potatoes for dinner, so I gently turned him down and pulled together this doctored mix of leftovers. And unfortunately (or fortunately), it disappeared too quickly to take pictures. It's nothing too impressive, but worth remembering for next time there's lentil and quinoa soup in the fridge.
1/2 cup rice
1/3 cup quinoa
2 small potatoes
parve chicken soup mix
3-4 cups water
1/2 cup lentils
4-5 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
more garlic :)
1/4 cup quinoa
handful dried fruit
handful chopped almonds
3 eggs
The first step is to combine the first group of ingredients into a soup and eat it for dinner the night before. You can also skip this step and just cook it all together in a small pot, which would take about half an hour to get everything cooked. Make sure there's leftover liquid, that it's not too stew-y.
Toast almonds over low heat in a dry pan until they smell nutty. Then, pour in a bit of olive oil and saute the garlic for a minute. Once it's all sizzling, add in the (cold or hot) soup. Sprinkle on the quinoa and add the dried fruit. Cook 10 minutes uncovered, and add a bit more water if you need to. Crack the eggs, check them, and pour them onto the mixture, shakshuka style. Cover the pan and let cook 5 minutes. Serve hot! some bread would be a nice touch, but not necessary.
1/2 cup rice
1/3 cup quinoa
2 small potatoes
parve chicken soup mix
3-4 cups water
1/2 cup lentils
4-5 cloves garlic
1 small onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
more garlic :)
1/4 cup quinoa
handful dried fruit
handful chopped almonds
3 eggs
The first step is to combine the first group of ingredients into a soup and eat it for dinner the night before. You can also skip this step and just cook it all together in a small pot, which would take about half an hour to get everything cooked. Make sure there's leftover liquid, that it's not too stew-y.
Toast almonds over low heat in a dry pan until they smell nutty. Then, pour in a bit of olive oil and saute the garlic for a minute. Once it's all sizzling, add in the (cold or hot) soup. Sprinkle on the quinoa and add the dried fruit. Cook 10 minutes uncovered, and add a bit more water if you need to. Crack the eggs, check them, and pour them onto the mixture, shakshuka style. Cover the pan and let cook 5 minutes. Serve hot! some bread would be a nice touch, but not necessary.
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Endive, mango, goat cheese and almond salad
For two people, I used:
1 endive
half a mango
whatever was left in the container of goat cheese
a handful of almonds, chopped with a rocking motion
some fresh parsley
And in case this wasn't enough goat for you, here you go:
 |
| St. Moritz, goat capital of the world (This is not factually true) |
Monday, September 1, 2014
Nectarine and Chocolate Tartlets
My mother-in-law makes pies everything. Apple pies, onion pies, rhubarb pies, chocolate pies, you name it. So when my husband announced that his parents were coming to visit and see our apartment for the first time, I decided to try my hand at pies, too.
My mother-in-law took a bite and affirmed, surprised, "It's milchig." (Well, of course. I know who raised me-- the lady who brings chocolate chip cookies to the dentist's office.)
I started with a Julia Child recipe for sweet short paste, threw a bunch of fruit inside, and drizzled the whole thing with chocolate. If that's not enough description for you, here it is broken down. This recipe makes 12 cupcake-sized tartlets.
For the shell:
1 1/3 cup flour, scooped and leveled (210 g)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (38 g) (I added a little extra-- she calls for 2 tablespoons, 25g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1g)
11 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces (Here Julia calls for vegetable shortening to be mixed in with her butter to make a flakier crust. If you have that, you can use 3 tablespoons shortening and 8 tablespoons butter. I didn't have shortening, so I went with an all-butter crust. You don't miss the flakiness, I promise.)
5 tablespoons cold water (75g)
For the filling:
3 medium nectarines
1 tablespoon sugar (13 g)
4 squares of whatever chocolate you like-- I used a Frey dark chocolate
If you have a food processor, put in all the ingredients except the water into the bowl, give it a good whirr, and then add the water and mix until it begins to mass on the blades. Then do the fraisage, which is when you use the heel of your hand to smear the dough and really get the flour and fat blended. After each smear, gather it up again. Then put it in the fridge to get cold.
I don't have a food processor, so I did it all by hand. After admonishing us to work quickly so we don't warm the butter too much, Julia tell us to place all the ingredients except the water in a bowl and "rub the flour and fat together rapidly between the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into pieces the size of oatmeal flakes." You'll mix it more later, no worries.
Add the cold water and blend with one hand while gathering the dough into a mass. If you need more water, add it. Then do the fraisage and refrigerate for two hours of overnight, or freeze for about an hour. I left mine in our tiny fridge for 2 days, and it was totally fine when I took it out Sunday morning.
To roll out the dough:
Preheat your over to about 400ºF (200ºC).
I worked on a floured silicone mat, which made the dough easier to handle. If it gets too warm, return it to the fridge for 15 minutes. Roll it out, always away from you, until it fills your mat. If you wanted to make one big tart, you could roll it until it was about 5 centimeters bigger than your tart pan, but I wanted to make small ones. So once my dough was rolled out, I used a glass to cut out circles and then pressed them into my silicone cupcake sheet. Use a fork to prick the bottom of the tarts to keep them from rising. Once all the dough was used up, and the tart shells were in their little cupcake homes, I used cupcake liners, turned them inside out, pressed them into the dough and filled them with rice. If you have pie weights, though, they will probably work better. I usually improvise. When your oven is ready, stick them in for 8-10 minutes, until they start to have a little color. This helps waterproof them a bit.
Meanwhile, pick your fruit. If you have peaches or plums or nectarines, it's probably best to peel them. (probably oranges too.) The easiest way to do this is to drop the fruit in boiling water for 15 seconds, fish them out and drop them in a bowl of cold water, then literally rub them with your hands. The peels should come right off. If it doesn't, you can also use a paring knife to help you. Slice your fruit. Watch your fingers.
Pull your tart shells out of the oven, take out the papers and the rice, and bake for another few minutes. Pull them out again and let them cool slightly.
Julia recommends putting sugar and butter in the bottom of the tart shells, piling the fruit on top, and cooking until they're syrupy. I have no doubt that it would be delicious. However, there's definitely enough butter in this recipe to get by without extra in the bottom. Instead, I put the slice fruit in the shell, sprinkle a little sugar on top, and bake it at 375ºF (190ºC). Julia recommends around 40 minutes for the full tart; I've found that 25 minutes is enough for these tartlets. But my gas oven plays a very hot and cold game with me, so it might be different next time.
For the chocolate drizzle, I took a regular bar of dark swiss chocolate and broke off 4 squares. We don't have a microwave or double boiler, so I improvised a bain marie.I put the chocolate in a little glass ramekin with a lid and put the ramekin in a bowl, then poured hot water around it (careful to keep the water out of the chocolate-- it will seize.) I stirred for a few minutes, put the lid on, stirred, put the lid on, and finally the chocolate was melted. I used a little kitchen brush to dribble chocolate over the whole cupcake sheet, and imagined myself to be Jackson Pollock. Then I popped the tartlets out of the silicon sheet, put them on long white plates, and served them to my surprised mother-in-law.
No idea how long these stay fresh for, but they're delicious for at least an hour after they come out of the oven. :)
My mother-in-law took a bite and affirmed, surprised, "It's milchig." (Well, of course. I know who raised me-- the lady who brings chocolate chip cookies to the dentist's office.)
I started with a Julia Child recipe for sweet short paste, threw a bunch of fruit inside, and drizzled the whole thing with chocolate. If that's not enough description for you, here it is broken down. This recipe makes 12 cupcake-sized tartlets.
For the shell:
1 1/3 cup flour, scooped and leveled (210 g)
3 tablespoons granulated sugar (38 g) (I added a little extra-- she calls for 2 tablespoons, 25g)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1g)
11 tablespoons cold butter cut into small pieces (Here Julia calls for vegetable shortening to be mixed in with her butter to make a flakier crust. If you have that, you can use 3 tablespoons shortening and 8 tablespoons butter. I didn't have shortening, so I went with an all-butter crust. You don't miss the flakiness, I promise.)
5 tablespoons cold water (75g)
For the filling:
3 medium nectarines
1 tablespoon sugar (13 g)
4 squares of whatever chocolate you like-- I used a Frey dark chocolate
If you have a food processor, put in all the ingredients except the water into the bowl, give it a good whirr, and then add the water and mix until it begins to mass on the blades. Then do the fraisage, which is when you use the heel of your hand to smear the dough and really get the flour and fat blended. After each smear, gather it up again. Then put it in the fridge to get cold.
I don't have a food processor, so I did it all by hand. After admonishing us to work quickly so we don't warm the butter too much, Julia tell us to place all the ingredients except the water in a bowl and "rub the flour and fat together rapidly between the tips of your fingers until the fat is broken into pieces the size of oatmeal flakes." You'll mix it more later, no worries.
Add the cold water and blend with one hand while gathering the dough into a mass. If you need more water, add it. Then do the fraisage and refrigerate for two hours of overnight, or freeze for about an hour. I left mine in our tiny fridge for 2 days, and it was totally fine when I took it out Sunday morning.
To roll out the dough:
Preheat your over to about 400ºF (200ºC).
I worked on a floured silicone mat, which made the dough easier to handle. If it gets too warm, return it to the fridge for 15 minutes. Roll it out, always away from you, until it fills your mat. If you wanted to make one big tart, you could roll it until it was about 5 centimeters bigger than your tart pan, but I wanted to make small ones. So once my dough was rolled out, I used a glass to cut out circles and then pressed them into my silicone cupcake sheet. Use a fork to prick the bottom of the tarts to keep them from rising. Once all the dough was used up, and the tart shells were in their little cupcake homes, I used cupcake liners, turned them inside out, pressed them into the dough and filled them with rice. If you have pie weights, though, they will probably work better. I usually improvise. When your oven is ready, stick them in for 8-10 minutes, until they start to have a little color. This helps waterproof them a bit.
Meanwhile, pick your fruit. If you have peaches or plums or nectarines, it's probably best to peel them. (probably oranges too.) The easiest way to do this is to drop the fruit in boiling water for 15 seconds, fish them out and drop them in a bowl of cold water, then literally rub them with your hands. The peels should come right off. If it doesn't, you can also use a paring knife to help you. Slice your fruit. Watch your fingers.
Pull your tart shells out of the oven, take out the papers and the rice, and bake for another few minutes. Pull them out again and let them cool slightly.
Julia recommends putting sugar and butter in the bottom of the tart shells, piling the fruit on top, and cooking until they're syrupy. I have no doubt that it would be delicious. However, there's definitely enough butter in this recipe to get by without extra in the bottom. Instead, I put the slice fruit in the shell, sprinkle a little sugar on top, and bake it at 375ºF (190ºC). Julia recommends around 40 minutes for the full tart; I've found that 25 minutes is enough for these tartlets. But my gas oven plays a very hot and cold game with me, so it might be different next time.
For the chocolate drizzle, I took a regular bar of dark swiss chocolate and broke off 4 squares. We don't have a microwave or double boiler, so I improvised a bain marie.I put the chocolate in a little glass ramekin with a lid and put the ramekin in a bowl, then poured hot water around it (careful to keep the water out of the chocolate-- it will seize.) I stirred for a few minutes, put the lid on, stirred, put the lid on, and finally the chocolate was melted. I used a little kitchen brush to dribble chocolate over the whole cupcake sheet, and imagined myself to be Jackson Pollock. Then I popped the tartlets out of the silicon sheet, put them on long white plates, and served them to my surprised mother-in-law.
No idea how long these stay fresh for, but they're delicious for at least an hour after they come out of the oven. :)
Zaatar bread
Last time one of my friends was in Israel, she picked up a giant container of za'atar for me. I've been trying to figure out what to do with this mix of thyme, sesame seeds, and sumac, and came across a recipe for Manouche, a flat bread with an olive oil and za'atar topping.
Kids, it is delicious. Salty and earthy on top, soft and chewy inside. Not quite like what you buy in Mahane Yehuda, but it scratched the itch I had for some good za'atar.
Here is the recipe I used, heavily adapted from Chicho's kitchen.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Scant 1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup water
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp active dry yeast
For the topping
1/2 cup Zaatar mix
1/4 cup olive oil
1-2 tbsp salt (because I like my za'atar salty!)
Bloom the yeast in the water with a half teaspoon of sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix the oil with the flour and salt. Slowly mix in the yeast-water mixture. Knead for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is soft and elastic. Cover and keep aside to rise for an hour.
Begin forming the bread by flattening out balls of dough and spreading them on a tray using the tips of your fingers, about 4 or 5 inches in diameter and about half an inch thick. Top with the zaatar mix and let sit for 15-20 minutes to rise a bit, then bake in a preheated oven 15-20 minutes at 400ºF (200ºC).
Eat! Enjoy!
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