Month: April 2011

Categories
Chocolate Cheer Classic Favorites

Almond Joychas (Or, Sad Shibow Has A Dad)

So my cousin George (‘sup yo!) came up with THE. MOST. BRILLIANT. name for my next sweet treat. I know caps are obnoxious, but the Kanye just passed through me, so forgive.

Allow me to explain the awesomeness of this name. My dad, Sebastian, is known for a few things, including: 1. The mustache he’s had probably since birth that he refuses to shave “until one of you girls gets married” (so yeah, he’ll be mustachioed for while) 2. The catch phrase “Ok, time to go!” 3. His sweet dance moves (No joke. He wins the dance-off. Every time.) and 4. His pet name, Joy.

Many of the men, and some of the women, in my Indian-Catholic family have “good names” and “pet names.” My mom affectionately (I guess?) refers to Dad as Joycha. And so, George challenged me to come up with a dessert known as the Almond Joycha by Easter Sunday. As he stated,  “it could be a play on the classic Almond Joy with coconut, almonds, and chocolate or something entirely different. As long as it fits the name.” Now, in my mind, “fits the name” means the treat has to include two things: almonds and Joycha. What better way to honor the dance machine who made me than with a sugar and almond-filled concoction?

I decided to veer away from actual Almond Joys in order to fancy up the dessert a bit. Actually, let’s be honest: I’ve been craving rainbow cookies for, like, years and am too lazy to roll into my local bakery to buy a pound (also, they’re kind of expensive). Rainbow cookies–which I will be baking in a couple of weeks, so keep an eye out– are typically made with either almond paste or almond filling, and have a cake-like texture with a  sweet, subtly nutty taste. I tweaked the recipe to my liking.

Here’s the recipe, adapted from this recipe for rainbow cookies:

8 oz of almond filling*

1 cup of softened butter

1 cup of granulated white sugar

4 eggs, separated

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/4 cup of raspberry jam

1/2 cup of sweetened coconut flakes

1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips

1 tablespoon of butter

*Now, you could use almond paste for this recipe but a. it’s significantly more expensive and b. the texture makes it more difficult to work with and blend into your other ingredients.

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with enough parchment paper that the ends hang off two sides of the pan. In a large bowl, cream together the almond filling, butter, sugar and egg yolks. Have another bowl ready for your egg whites. Having some trouble separating your eggs? The easiest thing to do is to tap your egg lightly with a fork, then use your fingers to break the egg into 2 halves. Holding the halves over your egg whites bowl, toss the yolk between the two shells, letting the whites drip out, like so (yes, it will be gooey):

You gotta keep 'em separated.

When your egg yolk/almond mixture is fluffy, stir in your flour to form a dough. Now, move on to the egg whites. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer at medium speed, beat the egg whites until soft peaks begin to form. This should take about five minutes. It took me ten, but only because I don’t know how to properly attach the beaters and they flew off mid-mix. I spent two minutes saying words not meant to be uttered on Easter Sunday, and spent another three scrubbing those suckers clean. When puffy and peak-filled, fold the egg white mixture into your dough, and spread the mixture into your pan. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Taste-tested pre-frosting several times by my lovely sister Sylvia

While that’s baking, combine your chocolate chips with a tablespoon of butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat the chips in 15-second intervals, stirring after each nuke, until the mixture is melted and smooth.

As soon as my cakey cookie was done, I stuck the pan directly into the freezer for about 15 minutes. If you’re more patient– like, eons more patient– you can let it cool on a wire rack. Either way, when it’s cool to the touch, pick up the cake by the parchment paper flaps (See how handy those are?) and place it onto a cookie sheet or smooth surface. Cut out squares or rectangles (or both if you’re creative/geometrically challenged like I am).

Here’s where things get…complicated. I am positive that there is a neater way to accomplish this, but, well, I yam who I yam. I dunked one side of each cookie into my melted chocolate and placed it on a cookie sheet to cool. Then, I spread jam on the tops and sprinkled coconut over the sheet until each cookie was covered. Lastly, using a butter knife, I spread the rest of the melted chocolate over the top of each cookie, then placed them in the refrigerator to allow the chocolate to harden. Mess? Yes. Mess. Also, delicious.

I would recommend NOT doing what I did here. Use a knife to spread the chocolate on.
Half-finished product, before they were re-cut to near-perfection. Those are mustaches. So you know.

Now, I am sure you are all wondering: what did Joycha think? And why isn’t his proud mug to be found anywhere in this post? Well, sadly, Joycha is perhaps the only member of the family who is not a fan of my venture into blogging. I can’t say I am not disappointed, but I can say that he is OLD. My guess is that he knows not what a “blog” is. Someone hand the man a dictionary and a cupcake, because he is a grouch. Fortunately, the rest of the clan–including George– seemed to love them. Ok, time to go!

Categories
Desserts with Fruit Holiday desserts

I Got Happy. Then I Made a Bunny

..cake. I made a bunny cake.

Before I introduce my next creation, I feel I must clear up an issue that’s been causing quite a bit of confusion. Because I’ve lived with the name Shibow for so long, I’ve come to assume that pretty much everyone knows how to pronounce it. Wrongsauce. Here’s how it goes: “Shib” rhymes with “rib.” “Ow” rhymes with “cow.” Ribcow. Shibow. All set? Schweet!

So, the storm’s passed. Literally, it looks like the rain’s decided to calm its behind down and bounce for a bit. Also, things have been looking up for Sad Shibow. Friday, I stalked, met and photographed Academy Award-winner and lead singer of The Swell Season and my hero and lead actor in Once, my favorite movie and lead singer of my favorite band Glen Hansard. If you can’t tell, I sort of adore him. You can’t see the picture I took because I am in it and I have a case of the crazy eyes. I’m sorry Glen. Really I am. I’m not going to explain that apology in this post, but just know that it is necessary.

Glen Hansard. Swoon.

Anyway, that experience gave me the serious boost I needed in order to get baking for Easter Sunday. I’d been looking for a fun, kid-friendly dessert that wouldn’t be terribly difficult to pull off. I failed and decided on this cake instead. Yes, it was a PAIN to bake and construct. No, I am not an artist. These two facts together basically equaled, in my case, the fattest bunny ever. Seriously, I am pretty sure this thing was knocked up with cupcakes. That’s cool to say, right?

So, here’s the recipe, from Delish.com. If I were you, I’d pay little mind to the reviews. Hey, Internet Mom, mayyyyybe it’s not the cake’s fault that your son didn’t want to eat a bunny. And maaayyyybe it’s not the cake’s fault that your son’s allergic to coconut. I mean, that sucks, but really, you’re going to blame Good Housekeeping, lady?

As usual, I am stubborn and tweaked the recipe to my liking. Here’s my version (really only the frosting is different):

Cake

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of cream of coconut

8 oz of crushed pineapple, in juice

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup of white sugar

1/2 cup of butter

3 large eggs

(Coconut)-Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz of cream cheese or neufchatel cheese

1/4 cup of butter

1 cup of confectioners’ sugar

touch of lemon juice, optional

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla or coconut extract (depending on how overt you want the flavor to be)

1/2 cup of sweetened coconut flakes

jelly beans for decorating

Preheat your oven to 350°F, and line a 9×13 inch pan with enough parchment paper to be able to lift the cake out of the pan once baked. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, salt and baking powder. In a separate bowl, mix together cream of coconut, pineapple chunks and vanilla. In a third large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until fully blended and fluffy. Incorporate eggs into the butter mixture, one at a time, and beat until completely mixed.

Alternate between beating the flour mixture into the butter/sugar/eggs and beating the pineapple/coconut mixture in, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. By the way, this is when I knocked over my just-purchased bottle of vanilla extract and wept silently into the mixture. Just kidding. I cried in the sink.

Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. I’m kind of getting tired of using that phrase over and over again. It’s a necessary step, but it needs more pizazz, no? Anyway, once it’s baked, let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before moving it onto a wire rack to cool completely.

While that’s happening, get started on the frosting. Cream together the cheese and butter until fluffy. Add in the vanilla, then the sugar a bit at a time until fully blended. Squeeze in a bit of lemon juice if you prefer a tangier frosting. Now, this isn’t technically a coconutty frosting, hence the parentheses above. After the bunny is cut and frosting, coconut is pressed into the frosting to create “fur.” As you will see, my overweight bunny needed a lot of coconut to cover him.

So here’s where I got “creative.” Good Housekeeping kindly offered this diagram as a guide for bunny cutting. There is definitely a better way to phrase that. Anyway, I printed out the diagram, cut out the bunny outline (body and ears separately), covered the cake in foil,  and carefully cut around the outline to create what I prayed would be an acceptable-looking animal. I came away with this, which really isn’t terrible:

Naked bunny!

For some reason, once I frosted it, the bunny gained a ton or so. To frost, use a flat, rubber spatula or wooden spoon to spread evenly. Press coconut flakes into the frosting to create a furry little monster. Use jelly beans to make eyes and a button nose, and use anything but licorice to make whiskers. Licorice is gross.

Fat bunny!

So, would I make it again? Probably. This cake was delicious, especially with the cream cheese frosting. Still, I don’t think I’d try to get crazy with the animal shapes, if only because, um, see above.

Categories
Classic Favorites Muffins

Sad Shibow and the Quarter-Life Crisis Muffins (Now With Bananas!)

Yup. Eyeore. Were going there, guys.

You guys! Saturday morning I was brushing my teeth and found what I am desperately trying to convince myself was a blond hair sticking out of my scalp. I am brown. I have black hair. It’s black. It’s just black, and it doesn’t turn any other colors because I am not a mood ring. And yet…this.

Anyway, I had a weird weekend. Saturday was Record Store Day, which I like to check out despite the fact that I am, sadly, record player-less. I met up with a fellow vinyl enthusiast who owns an umbrella with a flashlight on the handle and who also has what is easily the most hooked-up entertainment system I have ever seen. I was florescent-green with envy. I have met my nemesis, and he carries a flashlight umbrella. Ella. Ella… oh also, my umbrella gave out pretty quickly in this weekend’s monsoon (I suppose since I cannot go to India, India has decided to come to me), which only brought me further down.

In all seriousness, I can’t really pinpoint why I got the blues, but it looks like it’s hit: the quarter-life crisis.

I am a nerd. Always and ever shall be. I’m used to blueprints, instructions and steps. Cramming + writing + timidly raising my hand once in a while + homeworking + stressin’ like whoa= diploma and honors and stuff (nerd!). It’s gotten me through high school, college, and graduate school, and I’m darn proud. But now…now what? There aren’t any more guarantees. There aren’t any more sure things. There are only muffins.

That was a poor segue. Still, this is a baking blog, so, you know…go with it. I’d promised my cousin Jenny, who is pregnant with her second child (Hi Jen! Yay!), something banana-and-chocolate-chippy. A couple of days post-freakout, I walked into the kitchen, breathed in the scent of hella-ripe bananas, and got cookin’. I’m kind of picky when it comes to recipes, and since I was in sort of a mood, I decided to go with a recipe I’ve trusted for years (also the very first entry in my recipe book), and build upon it. Here’s what I say you need, which means here is what you need:

4 very ripe mashed bananas

3/4 cup of brown sugar

2 eggs

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon of unsweetened applesauce

1 tablespoon of softened butter or vegetable oil

1 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Angrily sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar. Once it’s blended, mix in the eggs one at a time, then throw in your applesauce, butter or oil and bananas. Fold in the mini chips, but try not to overmix. You want the mixture to be mushy and lumpy. Sounds attractive, right?

FYI, if youre in more of a bread mood, switch to a 9x5 jelly roll pan

Leave them in for 12-15 minutes. Mine were done in exactly 13 minutes, because I am Eyeore and the number most New York City buildings try to avoid seems to visit me pretty often. Uhh… anyway, take them out when the tops are slightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out just a bit moist.

I kept a couple of these behind, just to test them/cheer me up. Here’s what the inside looked like before I devoured it.

Om nom nom.

Who am I kidding? Just looking at this picture makes me feel better. I’m going to go listen to some Phoenix and eat another muffin. Deuces, homies.

Categories
Strange and Yummy Vegan Desserts

Magic Food! It’s Quick, it’s Healthy, and It’s All From Scratch.

Tuesday was Free Cone day at Ben & Jerry’s. It was also rainy and miserable here in New York City. I love free stuff. I love ice cream. And yet, I declined to attend this glorious occasion (see: rainy and miserable). I was sort of disappointed and seriously have been craving ice cream ever since. I could a. Continue to wallow and refuse to spend money on a scoop of deliciousness, b. Uh, go to Ben & Jerry’s or…

Holy Fake Out Batman! There’s a way to get my Chunky Monkey on for a fraction of the calories, price AND time?! Sorcery!

Ok, it’s not “magic food,” it’s bananas. More specifically, frozen bananas. Which always makes me think of George-Michael Bluth’s Frozen Banana Stand.

Add Arrested Development to your Netflix queue, peeps!

So bananas tend to ripen and over-ripen rather quickly. If you live alone like I do, you end up with browned, bruised fruits that you absolutely must use to make muffins or bread because you live on sugar/waste nothing. Or, you decide to use your brain and your freezer, which is what this utterly brilliant blogger has done. Just in time for summer! This is also probably a great way to get your kids to eat more fruit, too. Tell them they’re eating ice cream. That’s right…LIE.

If you don’t feel like clicking over, all you have to do for two servings is puree three bananas in a blender until they’re smooth and start to resemble frozen yogurt/ice cream. Then, add your toppings. Smithfield recommends topping with heart-healthy walnuts and dark chocolate chips.

I’m but a small woman trying to conserve bananas for, um…my own frozen banana stand? For one serving, I pureed one banana with a touch of soy or regular milk. I’d suggest throwing in some blueberries and adding a bit of cinnamon to the finished product too.

Here’s what I created. The Smithfield version is much prettier, and I’m sure whoever made that bowl didn’t drop her glasses into her bowl in a fit of glee. Even that really didn’t stop me from polishing off this yummy creation and congratulating myself for eating healthy. I’m awesome.

To your health!
Categories
Muffins

Lemon Ricotta Muffins…Because I Never Use Ricotta

Every few weeks I convince myself that it’s time to put my big girl pants on and cook myself some actual meals. I make a pretty mean turkey burger, and have thrown some grade-A dinner parties, if I do say so myself…and I do. But I am a creature of habit, and unless I’m dining out, I am happy to eat the same five things every week, as long as one of those things involves peanut butter and another involves chocolate. So I’m not really sure why I bought a massive tub of ricotta cheese. I think I was intending to whip up a pasta dish of some variety, but I live alone and therefore cook for a party of one, and this particular eater is not a huge fan of the ricotta in the pasta. I’m pretty sure it was on sale and I am aspiring to be on Extreme Couponing. Man those ladies are clever.

So, the ricotta was due to meet its maker soon. Wait…that doesn’t really apply I guess, because the ricotta was going to expire and hit the trash can, not meet the cow from whence it came. Whatever…I just needed to use it because I hate wasting things. While browsing through some cookbooks on my shelf, I found a recipe for Lemon Ricotta Muffins in a copy of Good Housekeeping Great Baking: 600 Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Breads, Pies and Pastries. 600! You will totally be seeing more recipes from this book. Anyway, I happened to have every ingredient needed at my disposal, and, if you’re a fan of ricotta (or cottage, which works as a nice sub), you probably do too.

I also tweaked this recipe just a bit, because I am stubborn/cool like that.

Here’s the original recipe, with my humble suggestions in parentheses. You’ll end up with a dozen delicious muffins.

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 cup of granulated sugar (I used 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of granulated white because the brown sugar has a richer taste to it), plus 2 tablespoons of brown or white sugar for sprinkling

2 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 cup of ricotta cheese (mine was part-skim)

1/3 cup of milk

6 tablespoons of melted butter (I melted it in the microwave in 15-second increments)

2 eggs (I used 1 whole egg and 1 egg white)

2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest

Preheat your oven to 400°F and grease your muffin tin. That is not a euphemism. Really, grease the tin.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together ricotta, milk, melted butter, eggs and lemon peel. Now, I know the recipe says to use two teaspoons of the zest, but as I have mentioned before, I am messy and have no idea how to measure this out properly without wasting zest. I went a little bit nuts and probably added more, which turned out to be a really great thing. I say zest at your leisure. My lemon ended up with a couple of bald spots.

Mid-zesting. It has a fade! I probably zested about half of this one.

Now, make a well in the middle of your dry mixture, and pour in your ricotta mix. It’s not going to be a pretty, perfect well, so don’t fret. Stir the mixtures together just until all of the flour has been moistened. You should end up with something that looks a little lumpy and smells very lemon-y. Yum.

My lovely lemon lumps. Inappropriate! Please don't flag this post.

Divide the mixture evenly among the cups of your muffin tin. Sprinkle your remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar (I used brown)  over the cups and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the muffins are golden brown. Remove them from the pan as soon as you’re able to without inflicting third-degree burns on yourself. I mean, these are good, but nothing’s worth a trip to the burn unit. Really though, these should be served warm. If you’re not going to eat them right away, microwave them before serving. Also, you can freeze them for your inevitable and eventual muffin craving.

Your (well, my, unless you feel like coming over) finished product.

In my humble opinion, these were outstanding, and pretty filling. To make them even more filling and up the fiber content, you could replace half of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour. See, I care about your health! You’re welcome.