As I mentioned in my last post, I’m moving to a new apartment in under two weeks. In preparation for the move, I’m trying to clear out my freezer and cabinets as much as possible . . . which led to me finding this box of cake mix that I’d pretty much forgotten I’d bought. So yesterday I decided to whip the cake out and bring it into work with me today, much to my coworker’s delight! Everyone loved the cake and assumed it was completely homemade, so that’s a definite win in my book. Read on for the step-by-step process of making this “box cake” to see the steps involved. I think this is a great item to have in your cabinet for those last-minute cake needs!

The box contains two bags of mix:

The one on the left is the topping and the one on the right is the cake batter. In addition to what comes in the box, you will also need milk (or water), butter, and an egg to make this cake.

The first step (well, after setting the oven to pre-heat) is to butter the cake pan:

As I was buttering and flouring the pan I had a total flashback to prepping cakes with my maternal grandmother — it was kind of shocking how intense the memories were! I learned most of my cooking skills from my dad, but baking definitely came from my grandmother. I remember many a holiday prep where she sang as she showed me how to properly flour a pan or beat a cake . . . speaking of which, I think I’m going to do a quick how-to video for buttering and flouring a cake pan, as I think my method is very straight-forward and quick. I have a buddy who’s a videographer who’s offered to help me produce some cooking videos, so stay tuned for that!

Anyway, I digress. After you butter and flour the pan, you quickly mix up the batter:

I quite liked how the instructions not only told you not to overmix in this step but actually said to only mix for 15 seconds if using a stand mixer. I think that’s brilliant because most people using a box cake mix are probably not expert bakers and so “don’t overmix” probably means next to nothing to him/her. Giving a specific time drives the point across very nicely!

That said, I thought the instructions were missing one helful bit of information: While the butter needed for the batter and the topping are given in separate measurements, which is good, if I were the one writing the ingredient list I would also have specified that the butter for the batter is to be melted while the butter for the topping should be refrigerator-cold and cut into small bits. If you know this upfront it’s easier to get everything set up before you actually start mixing things up!

After the quick mixing, you pour the batter into the pan and smooth it into the corners:

The instructions give you two options: put all the crumbs on top or put a layer of crumbs inside. I went for the simpler “all crumbs on top” option so all the batter went into the pan first. Next I poured the topping bag into a bowl and put the cut-up butter on top:

And used my fingers to work the butter in until the whole thing was nice and uniformly lumpy:

The very last step is to put the topping on top of the cake batter in the pan:

And when you have it all on there, smooth it out a bit so it’s evenly distributed:

Then pop it in the oven for about 45 minutes and that’s it!

The resulting cake is moist, fluffy, and delicious:

I highly recommend this “box cake” for the next time you’re in a rush or haven’t planned ahead! Or actually, anytime really. It was that good!

I’m on Martha Stewart’s “daily cookies” mailing list and that probably explains why I make cookies several times a month (sometimes even more than once a week!). I end up bringing the majority of every batch into work with me to avoid eating them all myself, and luckily I have coworkers who not only love cookies but who aren’t watching their weight too much . . . and therefore are still happy to have me bring in fattening snacks at 8:30 am on a Monday.

For this batch of cookies I needed a recipe that didn’t call for eggs because, as mentioned in my last post, I somehow managed to run out of eggs and repeatedly forget to buy some. In fact, here it is two weeks later and I’m still out! I’m not sure I’ve ever gone two weeks without eating eggs . . . but I digress. No-egg cookie = shortbread to me, and I had pecans in the cabinet so these Pecan Shortbread cookies from Martha were the perfect solution. They actually taste better a day later so they’re perfect for bringing along to work or a party!

Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Adapted from Martha’s recipe

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 ounces pecan halves
• 2 tsp almond extract

Cream together butter, 1/2 cup sugar, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until mixture is light in color, 3 to 4 minutes. Add flour, pecans, and almond extract, plus a pinch of salt, and mix until combined and the pecans start to break up.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour (or longer). Heat oven to 325 degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out cookies with a round cookie cutter and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Bake until lightly browned, about 15-20 minutes.

I realize it’s been a month since I posted and I admit that’s pretty shameful. That said, I’m sure it’s obvious to anyone reading this blog over the last 6 months or so that I’ve been going through some gigantic life changes. I think I’m on the other side now and intend to GET BACK TO BLOGGING! The last month has been full of “tying up loose ends” and getting settled into my new place, and I’m happy to say that I’ve been cooking again. This month’s issues of Martha Stewart Living and Bon Appetit had inspiring recipes in them that lit a fire under my ass . . . hopefully some of you are still reading this and will enjoy!

What you see above is the very last cookie out of this batch of Blueberry “Scone” Cookies. I absolutely adore this recipe and literally every single person who’s tried them has taken a bite and then immediately looked up and said “what’s IN these!?!” (and yes, in a good way). They’re super easy to make and the fact that there’s fruit in there instead of, say, butterscotch, makes you feel less guilty eating way too many of these (which you totally will). Keep in mind that these take longer than regular cookies to bake so if you’re making them last-minute plan ahead. Click to the “continue reading” link for the recipe . . . and stay tuned for carnitas in the next post!

Blueberry “Scone” Cookies

• 12 oz blueberries, washed and slightly smashed (use a spoon to crush them a bit)
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine blueberries, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and remaining sugar. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in cream until dough starts to come together, then stir in berry mixture.

Drop tablespoons full of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until golden brown, 24 to 25 minutes. Let cool. Cookies are at their peak served immediately, but if you store them in an airtight container they get softer and chewier, which is also delicious.

I happened to be in Brazil for my dad’s birthday and I wanted to make him a cake, but there was one big problem: he doesn’t really like cake. I wracked my brain for a cake that he’d actually get excited to eat and that’s when I thought of cheesecake, which literally doesn’t exist in Brazil. When I proposed it to my dad his eyes widened and his face lit right up! I knew I’d come up with the perfect cake for the occasion. Only problem was, I’d never made one before . . . and for some reason I was under the impression that cheesecake is hard to make. Add that to using foreign ingredients, in the metric system, in someone else’s kitchen, and you’ll probably get how nervous I was to try this. But I’m here to tell you it was totally easy and incredibly delicious! Read on for the recipe for this Simple Cheesecake and make it next time you want to wow someone.

There are two disclaimers I have to include before I go any further though:

1. This is not a cheap cake to make
2. You need a springform 9″ cake pan (I would assume that most people don’t own one of these)

That said, everything else about this cake is super easy. You do need to start the day before you want to eat it because it requires overnight refrigeration, but other than that small bit of planning everything else is completely straight forward. I found that the easiest way to get cookie crumbs was to put the cookies into a gallon-sized freezer bag and then smash the bag with a heavy jar. It did take longer than I expected but using the bag contained the mess very nicely!

I chose to shave chocolate on top but you can easily change that to some other topping, like something with strawberries or maybe caramel? Or just serve it plain with whipped cream on top . . . the options are endless. Enjoy!

Super-Simple Cheesecake
Adapted from Raspberry Cheesecake from foodnetwork.com

For the crust:

• 1.5 cups graham cracker or some other cookie crumbs
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 6 tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

For the filling:

• 2.5 lbs cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 5 whole extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sour cream (or you can substitute heavy cream if you don’t have sour cream on hand)
• 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract

For the topping:

• Good-quality chocolate bar, frozen

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. For crust: Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter until moistened. Pour into a 9-inch springform pan. Press mixture into the bottom of the pan and about 1-inch up the sides. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Raise oven to 450 degrees. For filling: Beat the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer, using paddle attachment, on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (appox. 5 minutes). Reduce speed to medium and add the eggs and egg yolks, 2 at a time, mixing well. Scrape down the bowl and beater as necessary. With the mixer on low, add the sour cream, lemon zest, and vanilla. Mix thoroughly and pour into the cooled crust.

Bake for 15 minutes. Turn the oven down to 225 degrees and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes more. Turn the oven off and open the door wide. The cake will not be completely set in the middle. Leave the cake in the open oven for 30 minutes. Then cool cake at room temperature for 2-3 hours until completely cool. Wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Carefully run a knife around the outside of the cake to release it from the pan. Remove the cake from the pan, leaving the bottom of the springform pan for serving.

To make the chocolate shavings, use a paring knife to shave strips off the end of the chocolate bar as if you were peeling an apple. You can do this directly onto the cake and use as much chocolate as you like.

Have I mentioned before how much I love puff pastry? So far I’ve only used the stuff that comes frozen in a box and the results are so consistently good that I about faint thinking about how much better these things will taste when I make the pastry from scratch . . . something I forgot to put in my Cooking Goals for 2010 post but which has been on my list ever since I got the Michael Roux Pastry book. But anyway, that’s neither here nor there, I’m supposed to be talking about the dessert my friend Shana and I made on Saturday night!

This Spiced Stewed Apples in Puff Pastry recipe comes from the Spanish home cooking book La Cocina de Mama, a book I’ve posted from before when I made Cinnamon and Lemon Scented Cookies. The success of both these recipes is making me think I’ll be cooking through this entire book and loving every minute!

The ingredients for this dessert are quite simple and almost healthy (well, except for the puff pastry part). There is only 1/2 cup of sugar in the whole recipe, which feeds 4. When we originally picked this recipe I intended to skip the white wine because I didn’t have any on hand but we ended up picking some up at the store . . . and I can now say without a doubt: don’t skip the wine! It added an incredible depth to the flavor and made the dish more adult and complex.

The first thing you do is make a syrup with all the ingredients except the apples. The smell in the kitchen at this point is enough to make you weak in the knees. You’ve been warned!

Then the apples are added to the syrup and cooked down. That delicious smell in the kitchen became absolutely intoxicating at this point. It was hard work to keep myself from eating this stuff straight out of the pot! But it was well worth the wait, because the combination of soft, syrupy, intense filling with the crispy, light-as-air puff pastry was simply divine. And since it takes less than an hour to make, I see this becoming a regular treat around these parts!

Spiced Stewed Apples in Puff Pastry
Adapted from La Cocicna de Mama

Serves 4

• 6 oz puff pastry
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
• 8 tbsp apple juice
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Peel of 1/2 a lemon, yellow part only
• 1/4 tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
• 5 cloves
• 2 large Golden Delicious apples, cut into approximately 1/4 inch x 3/4 inch pieces
• Confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Tip: Make it easier for yourself by using a spice bag for the lemon/cloves/cinnamon! I didn’t think of doing this until it was too late but it would be totally worth it. Simply take a piece of cheesecloth and tie it around the lemon/cloves/cinnamon. When it comes time to fish them out you’ll only have to find the bag, not each individual clove!

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll puff pastry out to 1/8 inch thickness, then cut into 4 pieces (approximately 4″ x 3″ each). Spray a cookie sheet with spray oil and place pastries on sheet. Bake for 8 minutes or until puffed and golden. Turn off the oven and leave the pastries inside with the door slightly ajar (I place a wooden spoon in the door to keep it open) and wait about 5 minutes for pastry edges to crisp further.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, combine sugar and 3 tbsp of apple juice and stir constantly until syrupy. Turn heat off and carefully stir in remaining apple juice, then add the next 5 ingredients. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer 10 minutes. Add the apples and bring to a boil again, then lower heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, uncovered. Check that apples are tender at this point. If they are, raise the heat and gently boil down for about 2 minutes to thicken the syrup. Cool mixture and pick out the lemon peel, cinnamon stick, and cloves (or the spice bag if you used one).

To serve, split each pastry puff in half and fill with 1/4 of apple mixture. Dust with confectioner’s sugar. Would also be great served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (but let’s face it, what isn’t?!?).

One of the birthday gifts I received this year was a lovely collection of spices from Penzeys Spices. Inside the package I was happy to find several recipes for the included spices! One of the packs was the “Baker’s Collection” and includes things like minced lemon peel, two kids of cinnamon, whole nutmeg, etc. These lemon poppy muffins were in the packet and the recipe features the lemon peel as well as the Dutch blue poppy seeds . . . they’re super easy to make and come out subtle-yet-delicious. My coworkers enjoyed the loot and I hope you enjoy them, too!

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Makes 24 muffins

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 tbsp lemon extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp minced lemon peel, rehydrated in 1tbsp water
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup blue poppy seeds
• 2 cups AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake lines in pans and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In a larger bowl, beat together sugar and butter until well blended, then add the lemon extract, vanilla extract, and eggs and beat until fluffy. Mix in lemon peel, sour cream and poppy seeds. Add the flour mixture and milk in alternating increments, beating and scraping after each addition. Batter should be thick and fluffy.

Fill cupcake liners approx. 2/3rds full. Bake for 20-24 minutes, rotating pans half-way. Allow to cool on rack before diving in!

I’m so sorry I’ve been MIA folks! There has been a lot going on in my life and I haven’t even had the desire to cook in the last few months, let alone take photos and write up a proper blog post. This past Saturday was the first time in a while that I felt like baking something, so maybe that’s a good sign. I came across this biscotti recipe in the current issue of Real Simple magazine and immediately ripped the page out and ran out to buy the ingredients! I’m so glad I did, too: baking cheered me up immediately and having a big stack of delicious biscotti didn’t hurt, either. My coworkers appreciated the bounty, too!

The recipe in the magazine actually calls for Almond extract, not Amaretto, but I had Amaretto on hand and I thought that sounded like a nice twist. The flavor is really subtle and delicious!

I’ve never made biscotti before but I knew the basic idea: you bake a big cookie, then slice it up and bake the slices again. As my coworker said to me when I brought them in, “aren’t biscotti basically like dried-out cookies?”

Next time I make biscotti I plan to make each “log” bigger so that the individual cookies are longer once they’re sliced. These came out a bit on the stumpy side and it’s kind of awkward to dip them in coffee (which is the best part of a biscotti IMO!).

After slicing the logs, you lay out all the cookies in a single layer on the same sheet:

Don’t they look awesome like this? I had a lot of fun photographing them and I think they would make an awesome print! I lucked out when it came time to take these pictures, there was tons of light streaming into the window so all the pictures came out great.

How’s this one for a print?

Next time I make these I’ll bake them for a bit less time after slicing so that they don’t end up so dark. The texture and flavor is totally fine even though they’re dark, they’re just not as pretty! I wanted the green of the pistachios to come through (the way it does in these pictures) but they came out so dark that you can’t even tell what’s in them. That is, until you bite into one! I lucked out with this batch of pistachios from Trader Joe’s, they’re some of the most delicious pistachios I’ve ever tasted! I keep sneaking a handful of the leftovers whenever I go through the kitchen . . .

Amaretto Biscotti with Cranberries and Pistachio
Adapted (slightly!) from November 2009 issue of Real Simple

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp Amaretto
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup shelled roasted (non-salted) pistachios

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first 3 ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In stand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add Amaretto. Add flour mixture and mix only until just incorporated. Fold in cranberries and pistachios.

Divide the dough in half and shape each piece into a log about 2″ thick and 10″ long. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving a few inches between logs (they will spread!). Bake for 22-25 minutes, until just gold around edges. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes.

Lower oven to 300 degrees. Slice logs into 1/2 inch slices using a serrated knife. Be deliberate and go slow so that you don’t break the cookies! Lay out cookies in a single layer on the baking sheet. Bake until dry and crisp, 15 to 18 minutes per side (I did 15 minutes per side and mine came out quite dark, keep an eye on them if you want them less brown!).

Enjoy with a nice cappuccino!

This pie recipe from September’s issue of Gourmet Magazine caught my eye immediately. I’d never heard of a pear pie before but it sounded like a great idea! Pears and apples are pretty similar so it seemed reasonable to swap pears in for the expected apples. And the idea of butterscotch pie just made it all that much better!

I’d only ever made one pie (from scratch) before this one, so I was hoping to improve on my previous performance. I have to admit that the crust on this pie really needed work: it turned out too dry and a bit stiff, and definitely needed more salt. I’m finding that I almost always think crust recipes need more salt . . . but I’m not sure if it’s just me or if it’s really true. We grew up eating more salt than my American friends, so I tend to second-guess myself a lot about how much salt to put in because I worry everyone else will think it’s too much!

Breaking down the pears was definitely harder than breaking down apples is: pears are much more slippery! I found that peeling them with a vegetable peeler worked well enough as long as I did it slowly and methodically. No rushing through on this one! The recipe called for cutting each pear into 6 pieces, so I first sliced each in half, then sliced the half into thirds. Then I cut off the core from each slice. It went much faster once I established a method of attack.

The filling for this pie is full of absolutely delicious things: brown sugar, butter, nutmeg, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Once I’d mixed all the ingredients together and mixed up the pears to let them macerate in the mixture:

It was all I could do not to dig right in! I seriously considered scrapping the whole pie idea and just eating delicious pears coated in good stuff. The smell alone will test your willpower, I promise you.

Because my dough wasn’t up to par, it was a bit of a pain to cover the pie. I had to frankenstein it together in places to make it fit and cover all the edges. I was afraid it wasn’t sealed well enough and would be ruined in the oven, but it turned out to be good enough to be presentable.

The whole family tried it a few days later at the end of Yom Kippur and everyone loved it, so I call this one a success! Iffy dough apparently is not a deal-breaker in our family . . . good to know!

Butterscotch Pear Pie
Adapted from September 2009 Gourmet magazine

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 2 1/2 pounds firm-ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears (about 5), peeled, each cut into 6 wedges, and cored
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Double recipe all-butter pastry dough
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon warm water
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar

• Equipment: small (1-to 3-inch) leaf-shape cookie cutters (optional)

print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation

Put a baking sheet on middle rack of oven and preheat oven to 425°F.

Whisk together flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, then whisk in brown sugar, breaking up any lumps. Gently toss pears with brown sugar mixture, lemon juice, and vanilla and let stand 5 to 15 minutes to macerate fruit.

Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining disk chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Roll out remaining piece of dough into a 13-inch round. Reserve scraps.

Transfer filling to shell. Dot with butter, then cover with pastry round. Trim edges, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang (reserve scraps). Press edges together to seal, then fold under. Lightly brush top crust with some of egg wash, then cut 3 (1-inch-long) vents.

Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining disk chilled) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 13-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Roll out remaining piece of dough into a 13-inch round. Reserve scraps.

Transfer filling to shell. Dot with butter, then cover with pastry round. Trim edges, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang (reserve scraps). Press edges together to seal, then fold under. Lightly brush top crust with some of egg wash, then cut 3 (1-inch-long) vents.

Roll out dough scraps about 1/8 inch thick and cut out leaf shapes with cutters (or a knife). Arrange decoratively on top of pie, pressing gently to help them adhere. Lightly brush top crust and cutouts with some of egg wash and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake pie on hot baking sheet 20 minutes. Reduce oven to 375°F and bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes more. Cool to warm or room temperature, 2 to 3 hours.

• 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp fresh-grated nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 1/2 pounds firm-ripe Bartlett or Anjou pears (about 5), peeled, each cut into 6 wedges, and cored
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Double recipe all-butter pastry dough (although next time I will sub in Smitten Kitchen’s dough)
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon warm water (for brushing on top)
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (for sprinkling)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a baking sheet on middle rack.

Mix together first 5 ingredients, then toss pears with the mixture, adding lemon and vanilla. Allow to macerate for 5-15 minutes while you work with the dough.

Roll out 1 piece of dough into a 13-inch round. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Roll out remaining piece of dough into a 13-inch round.

Fill bottom crust with pear filling. Dot with butter, then cover with top crust. Trim edges, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang and tucking edges under to seal. Lightly brush top crust with some egg wash and sprinkle with some sugar, then cut 3 inch-long vents.

Bake pie on hot baking sheet 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 40 to 45 minutes more. Cool on rack to warm or room temperature.

These shortbread-like cookies are very easy to make and completely delicious! The recipe is from one of my newest cookbooks, La Cocina de Mama by Penelope Casas, which I only just picked up a few weeks ago and hadn’t had a chance to cook from yet. When I needed a cookie recipe on Sunday and found this one in the book I knew it was going to turn out amazing just from the description!

What makes these so good is the slightly-unusual combination of cinnamon and lemon. The texture is similar to shortbread and the cookies crumble nicely when you bite into them. I liked the twist of washing them with egg white and sprinkling sugar on top before baking and will have to try that on other cookie recipes in the future!

The original recipe in the book calls for using lard but I substituted butter (mostly because I didn’t have lard!). Since I was using unsalted butter I also added salt, but I didn’t add enough so I’ve upped the amount in the recipe here. I am definitely curious to find out how these taste with lard and may just have to get my hands on some good-quality lard sooner rather than later . . .

Cinnamon and Lemon Scented Cookies
Adapted from “Ruperto’s Cinnamon- and Lemon-Scented Cookies” from La Cocina de Mama

• 8 oz unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt (or 1/4 tsp regular table salt)
• 1 large egg, separated
• 1 1/2 tsp beaten large egg
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper. In mixer, beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Stir in sugar, cinnamon, zest, salt, egg yolk, beaten egg, and flour. Do not over mix.

Using a tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop out cookies and place them about 1″ apart on cookie sheet. Brush tops of cookies with egg white (beat slightly with fork if it needs to be runnier), then sprinkle with sugar. Bake until browned around the edges, about 13 minutes. Transfer to cooling rack to cool.

These cookies store surprisingly well in a sealed container!

I’m starting to do cookbook and product reviews on this blog for products I like or am trying for the first time. More and I more I find that I rely on online reviews before doing or buying anything, and I decided I should contribute to the online review community since I get so much out of it. I’ve been reviewing things on Yelp more often, especially new restaurants we try or stores I’ve visited, and then it occurred to me: I should put reviews on the blog! I do it in my knitting blog for yarns and patterns I like, why not this one?

So first up is a book I’ve been meaning to buy forever but only just got a few weeks ago: David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. I read David’s blog all the time and I think you’ll enjoy it, too! It’s filled with cooking, baking, and ice cream (of course!), but also with stories of an American living in Paris. I especially like when he muses on the differences between living in France vs. the US, particularly when he’s talking about food differences . . . which is almost always, as you probably would expect!

But anyway, this is supposed to be a review of his book The Perfect Scoop, not his awesome blog. Read on for the review and a recipe for Chocolate Chocolate French-style Ice Cream.

The Perfect Scoop is one of the few single-subject cooking books I’ve put down money for, and I can wholeheartedly say it was worth every penny. First off, the book itself is gorgeous and the pictures really make you want to try the recipes. Gorgeous pictures aren’t really necessary in a cookbook, but they certainly help! Maybe it’s just me, but if I see a recipe that sounds kind of interesting but has no picture, I probably won’t make it. The same recipe with a mouthwatering picture next to it? Definitely going on the to-make list!

I’ve come to really appreciate the introductory chapters in cookbooks, and this book is no exception. In the introduction to this book, Lebovitz tells us how he came to love ice cream (I won’t tell you the story because it’s worth reading his writing and the surprise after the first few paragraphs!) and describes the difference between ice cream types. The book includes tons of recipes including French Style ice cream, Philadelphia Style ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and granita. He also explains that his French Style custard-based ice creams are lighter than traditional recipes, because he replaces half the cream with whole milk. While I personally tend to be against low-fat versions of fattening foods, I can tell you from personal experience that these custard ice creams are still decadent and creamy. I would never have known that an even fattier version existed after making his custard-based chocolate ice cream, believe me!

While this book was not my introduction to ice cream making, I kind of wish it had been. My previous experiences with making sorbets and ice creams were largely seat-of-the-pants operations and I never took the time to really learn what the terms meant. I credit this book for opening my eyes not only to the wide array of ice cream flavors I never would have though of (hello, Guiness Chocolate Ice Cream, anyone? That one’s getting made sooner rather than later, no double about it!) on my own, but also for educating me on what the basic differences are between the frozen desert categories.

But let’s face it, the best part of this book? Eating the evidence.

The first recipe I tackled from this book was a plain chocolate ice cream, titled (you guessed it!) “Chocolate Ice Cream.” Lebovitz says in the introduction to this one that his “search for the ultimate chocolate ice cream ended the day” he tasted this one . . . and I have to say a resounding DITTO!

The chocolate flavor is unadulterated and intense, but not so strong that it prevents you eating half the container in one sitting. And the texture? The texture is divine. Smooth, creamy, and very substantial. And it doesn’t freeze so hard that you can’t scoop it straight out of the fridge, a problem I often struggle with when making homemade ice creams and sorbets!

I added chocolate chunks to this recipe to give it a bit of a crunch (I love chunks in my ice cream!), so therefore I’m calling this version Chocolate Chocolate Ice Cream. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chocolate Ice Cream

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop

• 2 cups heavy cream, divided
• 3 tbsp Dutch-process cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 5 oz semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped (bittersweet is OK too)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 oz semisweet chocolate chips (to mix in as the last step)

Setup: Prepare a ice bath by putting ice cubes and water in a large bowl. Set aside for later. Put storage container in the freezer to pre-freeze it.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, warm 1 cup cream with cocoa powder, whisking to dissolve the cocoa. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove pan from heat and add the 5 oz chopped chocolate, stirring as chocolate melts to mix chocolate and cream mixture. Stir until smooth. Add remaining cup of cream and stir again. Pour mixture into a large bowl, scraping down pan sides, and set up a strainer on top of the bowl.

Wipe out pan and warm milk, sugar, and salt over medium heat in same pan. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks. When the milk mixture is warm, slowly add milk mixture to eggs to warm them, whisking constantly as you pour the milk in. Pour about half the milk mixture into the eggs, then pour the egg mixture back into the pan and put back onto burner. Using a heatproof spatula, stir the mixture constantly over medium heat (being sure to crape bottom of pan often). Continue heating until mixture thickens to the point of coating the spatula (running a finger through the mixture should leave a sharp line that doesn’t run).

Remove from heat and pour through strainer into the chocolate mixture. Discard anything caught in the strainer and mix chocolate mixture until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Put chocolate bowl in the ice bath and continue to mix until mixture is no longer hot. Refrigerate mixture for at least 1 hour, until thoroughly chilled. Then freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Once ice cream has set enough, to stop machine and fold in chocolate chips. Remove pre-frozen storage container from freezer (I use good-quality Tupperware but there may be better storage containers out there!) and smooth ice cream into it. Cover surface of ice cream with plastic wrap to prevent ice crystals on the surface. Freeze a few hours to get to hard-serve ice cream consistency.