meringue cookies

you probably have your christmas/holiday whatnots all put together, baked and packaged. but if you don't and you just need one quick (but impressive) treat to throw together, consider the meringue cookie.


in case you read the word "meringue" and immediately tuned me out in fear of beating egg whites  and sugar syrups and gasp using a candy thermometer! trust me. nothing could be more simple. plus, you most likely have everything you need on hand anyway!

meringue cookies


2 egg whites, preferably at room temperature
pinch of salt
pinch of cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tb corn syrup
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
-or-
1/4 tsp vanilla extract plus 1/4 tsp peppermint extract


add the egg whites to the bowl of your stand mixer. beat the egg whites on medium until they begin to appear frothy, add the salt and cream of tartar.

continue to beat until the egg whites form soft peaks. once you have soft peaks, turn off the mixer.

meanwhile... add the granulated sugar, corn syrup and 1/4 c water to a small saucepan. stir to combine. put a lid on the saucepan and set it over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble.

remove the lid and turn the heat down to medium to medium-high. clip on your candy thermometer and let the syrup cook until it reaches 236 F (soft ball stage).

remove the pan from the heat, turn on your mixer to medium and carefully add your syrup to the beaten egg whites. be careful not to pour directly on to your mixer beater or you could find yourself in the very uncomfortable position of having melted sugar all over you. that would be bad.

once all the syrup has been added turn up the mixer to medium-high and beat for about 5 minutes or until the egg whites are thick and shiny and have cooled to room temperature. add the vanilla and peppermint extract. if you wish to color your meringue, now would be a good time to do that.


to get the swirl, scoop half of the meringue into a piping bag. color the other half then scoop it into a second piping bag.

then, place both bags inside a third bag fitted with a big star tip. squeeze it all together for perfect swirls! 

heat the oven to a low 200 F. on parchment lined baking sheets, scoop or pipe your meringue into little shapes.

bite sized is best, i got carried away and made these too big! once you have them shaped, put them in the oven for 1-2 hours (depending on their size). shut off the oven and crack the door open to let them continue to dry and harden, about 30 minutes to an hour.

these are melt in your mouth delicious and basically not bad for you! it's definitely a treat you don't have to feel bad about eating or giving away.


merry christmas to all!

a blog post in which i show off my mad skills

and by show off i'm talking croissants. more specifically, pain au chocolat. ah, we must credit the french for making food sound so dreamy. i'll preface this recipe by saying croissants require butter. loooots of butter and for that they make no apologies. but, when you put so much effort into making something, surely you've earned it.

stonehenge-o-butter

also, i'm hardly advising that you actually make these. i do like to be considered the awesome baker amongst my friends. and if word gets out that croissants really can be made by anyone... well my awesome baker status might falter a bit. so... you should probably just watch, okay?


brace your arteries ladies. these are not for the faint of heart. (and i mean that literally)

chocolate croissants or pain au chocolat
yield: 12 croissants
source: cooksillustrated.com


dough
15 oz (about 3 cups) ap flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/4 c sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 c whole milk, cold
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces


butter square
24 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 24 pieces
2 tablespoons flour


chocolate filling
8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped fine
or 12 or 24 sticks of chocolate (1-2 sticks per croissant)


egg wash
1 large egg, lightly beaten with a splash of water


begin with the dough. mix the flour, yeast, sugar and salt together in your stand mixer. add the milk and mix on low speed, increasing to medium. once the flour and milk is mostly incorporated, add the butter one piece at a time. knead the dough by machine until it is smooth. the dough should be slightly sticky. turn the dough out onto the counter top and form it into a ball. wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

time to make the butter square. begin with your chilled butter, cut into 24 pieces. mash the butter with a metal scraper.

when you get tired of doing that just go in with your hands to finish it off. dust the butter with flour and continue mashing until it is all incorporated.

form the butter into a 7" x 7" square and wrap it in plastic wrap or parchment and stash it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

after the dough has refrigerated for 1 hour, roll it out on a lightly floured counter until it is an 11" x 11" square. yes, the measurements matter. once you have done this pull out your butter square and and place it on the dough as seen below.

pull up the corners and firmly pinch the dough together. make sure it is securely sealed then begin rolling it out.

take your rolling pin and tap the dough from the middle out to the edges. this will get the butter to soften so you can roll it out evenly. the key here is to keep an even layer of butter within the dough being careful not to break through the butter. once the butter has softened slightly begin rolling the dough into a square 14" x 14". check the dough often to make sure it isn't sticking to the counter.

once you have reached 14" x 14" make your first turn by folding the dough into thirds. (like a letter. you know, before email...)

then in thirds again for the second turn. immediately wrap it in plastic and stash in the fridge for 2 hours.

after 2 hours roll out the dough again to 14" x 14" and repeat the turns as before, for a total of 4 turns. wrap it and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. since i like my croissants in the morning and not as a nighttime snack, i leave it overnight and finish it off the next day.


once the dough is properly chilled dust your counter top and gently roll the dough out to a 20"x 20" square. an overnight chill does have the disadvantage of having extra time for gluten development making the dough a little harder to roll out. it's okay to start rolling then walk away for a few minutes to let the dough relax. do make sure the dough stays cold. any melting of the butter and the whole thing might as well go in the trash. not kidding. if you feel the dough is getting too warm cover it and throw it back in the fridge for 15 minutes.

so once you have your square, use a pizza cutter to divide it into fourths, then cut each into thirds so you have 12 pieces total.

now for the chocolate! this is where the sticks of chocolate come in handy. lay one or two toward one end of the piece of dough and roll it up. if you don't have the sticks, just use about 1 heaping tablespoon of chopped chocolate and carefully roll it up.

place the rolled dough onto two parchment lined baking sheets seam side down. cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them rise at room temperature until puffy, 45-60 minutes.

yes, there are two regular croissants... i'll explain in a bit.

in the meantime, heat the oven to 400 degrees adjusting the racks to the upper and lower middle positions. when the dough is done rising, use a pastry brush and brush them with the egg wash.

bake for 20-22 minutes or until they are a nice deep golden brown, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom halfway through.


cool the croissants on a baking rack for at least 20 minutes. serve warm or at room temperature.

now, let's say perhaps you ate a few of the chocolate sticks before making the croissants and perhaps you were two croissants worth of chocolate short... no worries, just form them into a traditional croissant shape. i took that fourth quadrant of dough and cut off one third then made a diagonal cut to form the last two thirds into triangle shapes. then starting at the wide end, roll it up and let it join the others for the final rise and baking.

so, what to do with the odd regular croissant? make an egg sandwich, of course. with cheese. yup, that's american cheese on there and i am not ashamed. i'm only sad i didn't have any bacon or sausage to add.

you're better off not counting the calories in this picture

pain au chocolate— delish? yes. impressive? yes. difficult? NO! yes, very. so, don't run off and try to make these, you just may end up with amazing praise-worthy pastries something awful and disappointing.


you've been warned.


*photos mostly by my awesome lil' sis, monica who happened to be in town for a visit.

as american as... well, you know...

steve jobs passed away yesterday.


it's always weird when a well-known person dies. you can't really mourn over it, it's not like you actually knew the person. yet, you know some things just won't be the same... i wasn't an apple lover until my husband introduced (read: forced!) an imac into my life when we got married. it wasn't long before i completely fell in love with the brand and their products. somehow steve jobs created solutions to problems we didn't even know we had (hello, ipod)! he was an american innovator whose products are integrated into my daily life; and so in his memory, how about an apple pie?

3-2-1 pie crust:


don't be intimidated by pie crust. it's not hard. plus, homemade tastes far superior to anything that comes in a tube or a box.


i have used the following method for a while now and it really never fails. i learned it from michael ruhlman's book "ratio." seriously, get this book! the ratio (by weight) for pie crust is 3:2:1 (flour:fat:liquid). for a double or latice topped crust, you will need 12 oz of flour, 8 oz fat (i use half butter, half crisco) and 4 oz of water. the beauty of the ratio method is that you can scale up or down as needed and never have to go in search of that random piece of paper that has a recipe on it.


12 oz flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 T sugar (omit for savory applications)
8 oz butter/crisco diced and very cold
4 oz ice cold water


in a bowl, combine the flour, salt and sugar. add half to the food processor along with half of the butter/crisco. pulse until crumbly. add remaining flour and butter/crisco and pulse.

pour into a large bowl and sprinkle about 3/4 of the water over and mix with a spatula. if the dough is still very crumbly, add the rest of the water a little at a time. you don't have to use all the liquid.

once the dough begins to stick to itself when pressed together, turn out onto a floured surface and kneed gently until you can form a smooth ball.

divide the dough into two rounds and wrap with plastic wrap. refrigerate for a minimum of 30 minutes.

apple filling:


3 lbs apples, peeled and thinly sliced
1 T lemon juice
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2-1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp salt
2 T ap flour
2 T cornstarch


in a large bowl, toss together sliced apples and lemon juice. 

in a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and whisk together to incorporate. add this to the apples and mix until it is coated evenly.

take one disk of pie dough from the refrigerator and roll out large enough to fit into the pie plate with about 1" of overhang. gently move the crust to the pie plate (do not stretch the dough!!) and trim.

give the apples a final stir and pour into the crust. arrange the apples so there aren't any sticking out funny.

roll out the remaining crust and place over the apples. trim so that the edge of the crust will just come to the edge of the pie plate (the bottom crust will be longer). bring the bottom crust up over the top edge and press together gently. then crimp with your fingers or the tines of a fork to seal the edge. brush the top with egg whites mixed with a splash of water and then sprinkle sugar on top for a shiny crisp crust. (my camera battery had the audacity to die on me as i went to take a picture of the last steps here. my apologies.)


cut a few slits through the top of the crust and place on a cookie sheet. bake in a 425 F preheated oven for 20 minutes. then, decrease temp to 375 F and bake for an additional 40 minutes, or until the apple filling is bubbling and thickened. check often to monitor how brown your crust is. if it looks like it is browning too much, move it to a lower rack and/or cover it with foil.

let cool completely before serving. if desired, warm individual slices in the oven at 350 F for about 10 mins. and, of course, top with vanilla ice cream.


here's to the american creative spirit. thanks steve!

apple muffins!

lest you thought i have become one dimensional and stopped baking/cooking... here are some fab apple muffins! i've been anxious to dive into some fall baking, but the weather keeps alternating from hot to cold and back to hot! right now it's cold again... i'm ready for all the warm cozy sweaters and the hot apple cider and long simmered stews. i bummed this recipe off the king arthur flour website—an awesome resource for anything baking related—and headed to the kitchen.

apple muffins, adapted from king arthur flour*


2c (9 oz) ap flour (you can sub half the flour with whole wheat or whole wheat white flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 T cinnamon
1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 c granulated sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
1 lg egg, lightly beaten
1 c (8 oz) buttermilk
1 1/2-2 apples, peeled, cored and diced
1/2 c coarse raw sugar


*note: i made only minor tweaks to this recipe and it's directions. the original calls for 3/4 c brown sugar, 1/4 c for the muffins and 1/2 c for the topping. i like the crunch from the raw sugar but if you don't have it you can follow kaf's directions!


preheat oven to 375 f and prepare a 12-cup muffin tin by greasing and flouring each cup or using muffin liners. if using muffin liners also give them a spritz.

mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.

in a standing mixer, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. add the egg and mix until completely incorporated.

slowly add the buttermilk and dry ingredients, alternating: 1/3 of the liquid, 1/2 of the dry, 1/3 of the liquid, remaining dry then remaining liquid. doing so will help keep the buttermilk from curdling and help incorporate the ingredients more evenly.

gently fold the diced apple into the batter.

divide amongst the prepared muffin cups and top with a generous sprinkle of the coarse sugar. don't skimp here, it may seem like a lot of sugar topping but it's soooo crunchy and yummy!

bake for 25-30 minutes... you know the drill. if you used muffin liners, remove from the pan after 10 mins. if not, allow to cool in the pan before removing.

i still had to fight with these beauties a bit before wrangling them out of the pan. they don't rise to a nice dome quite like they are pictured online, but they're delish nonetheless. so, definitely use the muffin liners if you have them. my guess is that there is too much apple and/or moisture in this recipe, so 1 1/2 smallish apples is probably sufficient.


hope you give these a try, enjoy!

ricotta, ham & salami calzone

i've had calzones on my mind lately... my mom asked me for a calzone recipe the other day and i haven't stopped thinking about them since!! this is mostly because of one amazing calzone i always have at a little dive on boston's north end, the italian part of the city. the north end is littered with heavenly pastries, smooth espresso, pasta and gourmet pizzas. but the place we always come back to is galleria umberto.

a picture i snagged off the interwebs

it is an unassuming place, one you'd pass right by if you weren't paying attention. the lines are long. you have to snag a table as soon as one is available. the menu is short. the food is cheap and is served on paper plates. and the food is cheap. i mean, really cheap. 

another picture i snagged off the interwebs

now, maybe a $4.00 calzone sounds expensive as far as cheap food is concerned, but it is a calzone the size of your head. i have yet to finish one myself! their sicilian-style pizza isn't a paper thin cracker (though i do love a good thin crust) but a thick, sauce and cheese laden square slice. and while that is amazing, i can't resist the ricotta, ham & salami calzone.


so, when calzones were mentioned to me the other day my mind immediately wandered to umberto's and me being me, i decided it was high time i made my own version to hold me over in between trips to boston.

ricotta, ham & salami calzone
yield, 4 over-sized calzones


24 oz of pizza dough, see below
16 oz ricotta
4 oz mozzarella, shredded
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 egg yolk
8 oz sliced ham, thinly sliced
4 oz salami, thinly sliced
1/4-1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper


full disclosure here, i forgot to get salami when i made these. don't be like me, double-check your ingredient list before heading to the store! or, if you don't do ham, chopped sauteed mushrooms and some defrosted and drained spinach would be pretty delish too.


i prefer to make my own pizza dough but you can certainly acquire it from other sources these days. divide the dough into 4 portions, about 6 oz each, and set aside.

i made extra dough than this recipe calls for and refrigerated it for later

to make the filling, combine the ricotta, mozzarella, garlic, egg yolk and salt & pepper and stir until thoroughly combined.

slice the meats into 1/4" strips crosswise and mix together, separating the strips with your fingers. add the meat to the ricotta mixture and combine.

take one of the balls of pizza dough and roll it out into about a 10" circle (amoeba-shaped is perfectly fine) and top with 1/4 of the ricotta meat mixture.

fold the dough over the filling and pinch around the edge to seal. brush the tops with olive oil, then with a sharp knife, make 2-3 small slits in the crust. repeat with remaining dough and filling. you can make these an hour or so ahead of time if necessary, just keep them refrigerated until ready to bake.

i put mine on foil since i decided to take them out to the grill.

since it is summer and it was a nice day outside i grilled the calzones. there is something about grilled dough that is just awesome. if you do this, place them over indirect heat until the dough looks cooked through, then move them over to the flame side for a little char. keep an eye on them, the dough will burn if you're not watchful!

otherwise, preheat the oven to 450 and bake for 12-15 minutes. feel free to slide these onto your pizza stone if you have one, just make sure it has preheated for at least 30 minutes.

pizza dough


15 oz flour
1 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 T sugar
9 oz warm water
2 T olive oil, plus extra for greasing bowl


in a standing mixer, add the flour, yeast, salt and sugar and stir together. fitted with the dough hook, add water and olive oil and mix until the dough just begins to come together. turn off the mixer and let it rest for 10 minutes. after it has rested, turn on the mixer to medium and knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic. place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover. let it rise until about doubled in size, 1-1 1/2 hours. remove dough from bowl, knead for a minute then divide dough into four 6 oz portions and shape into smooth balls. let rest for 10-15 minutes before using.