Bites of chocolate peanut butter bliss

Although I truly relish the opportunity to flex my culinary muscles and try something new, there's something about the simple and familiar that has recently been more tempting to me…breaded chicken and a touch of seasoning, sautéed spinach with garlic, chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. Now, these cookies are not to be confused with an earlier recipe, peanut butter chocolate chip. The cookie recipe I made last night merely rearranges the flavors, but the end result is, in my opinion, far from the standard peanut butter cookie. This recipe, though basic enough was truly refreshing, producing a cookie that is amazingly soft and chewy (after baking for 10 minutes on a nonstick tray), and maintains a perfect balance between the two flavors. The chocolate and peanut butter come together even more fluidly when a small teaspoon of the dough is eaten…although I should not recommend this, due to the raw eggs. I found these cookies to be scrumptious both before and after baking. My taste-tester only got the baked version, but he concurred that they were a chewy, comforting cookie.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups peanut butter chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. In a second medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Blend in the eggs and vanilla and then blend in the flour mixture. Finally, fold in the peanut butter chips. Drop cookies by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until set. Cool on wire racks.

Berry Strata

To say that the heat of New York City was unbearable this past weekend hardly gives a full impression of just how hot the sun was, how heavy the air was, how the temperature reached unhealthy levels and forced many into the artificial air conditioning of whatever store or café was nearest. It was horribly, disgustingly hot, and the mere act of breathing was an unpleasant chore.

These are the summer days that are so easy to forget about when, in the midst of a cold February, one wistfully imagines July days spent lakeside drinking lemonade and dipping strawberries into freshly-made whipped cream. These fantasies do not transition into reality in New York City, or if they do, I certainly have never seen them.

No matter the weather, though, summertime is a lovely time to sample all the fruits that the season has to offer (even if certain recipes use the frozen variety of said fruits). Which is why I decided to brave the oven and try this recipe for a mixed berry strata. I, of course, stayed far away from my kitchen while this was baking, but once the strata cooled and I took a bite, I decided that it was well worth it.

Stratas are generally considered a brunch dish, which are usually made with layers of ingredients placed over a base of bread and cheese and baked in an oven. These components are found in this dessert strata, as well. The final result is something less cohesive than a pie or a tart, as there is no crust, and once plated, looks similar to a crumble.

I brought it into my office, and one person told me that it reminded him of the French Clafouti, with a custard-like consistency (in order to achieve this, make sure that you use both whole milk and ricotta). Other co-workers were pleased with the berry tartness combining with the sweetness of honey and juice.

Berry Strata

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. honey
4 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk ricotta
3 tbsp. sugar
1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup orange juice
4 slices of bread, torn into 1-inch pieces (about 4 cups)
1 16 oz. bag frozen mixed berried, thawed and drained

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Turn off the heat, add the honey, and stir to combine.
2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs. Then combine with the ricotta and sugar. Add the milk, orange juice, butter and honey mixture, and bread. Stir to combine. Gently fold in the berries.
3. Place the ingredients in a 10-inch round baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 12 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake the strata until golden on top and baked through, about 40 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving. Spoon into dishes and serve.

Rice Krispies Tiffins

When I was in Ireland a few weeks ago, I fell in love about a dozen times over the course of the trip — with the landscape, with books, with one or two of the Irish boys I met. Of course, I also fell in love with a dessert: specifically, the simple, delectable Tiffin slice: a baked bar of shortbread, caramel, and chocolate. I tasted several of these while I was there, and though they may be on par with a brownie or a blondie in America, to me, they were just exotic enough to declare them a grand “discovery.”

I hadn’t thought about the Tiffin slice in days (with my birthday this past weekend, I’ve recently been seduced by the more local treats of cupcakes and chocolates), but then I was wondering what my next dessert would be. With the Fourth of July approaching, I wanted to do something fun and light-hearted, but without decorating a cake as a flag or cutting out star-shaped sugar cookies. Although I have no barbeque plans, my mind jumped to typical picnic desserts, and with a display of marshmallows in the supermarket, I decided that it has been much too long since I’ve made Rice Krispies Treats. Right up there with apple pie and S’mores, these easy bar desserts are, in my opinion, another staple of American family cuisine. What kid didn’t sample these growing up, at picnics or birthday parties or school bake sales?

And even though their straightforwardness is a major aspect of their appeal, I felt the need to dress these up a little for the holiday weekend. Enter the Tiffin slice: caramel and chocolate rarely, if ever, detract from the quality of a baked good, and so it seemed clear that the Rice Krispies Treats would only benefit from these additions.

I almost wish I could bring these to a bbq, or maybe start my own impromptu bake sale in the park with a tray of these treats: they just look too good not to be on display.

Rice Krispies Tiffin Treats

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. margarine or butter
1 (10 oz.) package regular marshmallows - or -4cups mini marshmallows
6 cups Rice Krispies® cereal
1 (8 oz.) jar caramel ice cream topping
3 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Melt margarine in large saucepan over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until well coated. Using buttered spatula, press mixture evenly into 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan coated with cooking spray. Place the tray in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to cool.
2. Once the Rice Krispies treats are cool, warm the caramel topping in a small saucepan over low heat until the consistency is smooth and spreadable. At the same time, place 1 cup chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt in the microwave for 1 minute, then stir to completely melt chips. Repeat for the next 2 cups. Or, melt chocolate over the stove in a double boiler.
3. Spread the warmed caramel topping over the cooled Rice Krispies so that the treats are covered with a thin layer. Then, spread the milk chocolate over the caramel for a slightly thicker layer.
4. Decorate with candies, nuts, or other toppings.

Lemon Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies

It wasn't until this batch of cookies was riding with me on the subway to work did I realize that I hadn't taken any pictures to showcase the final product of my Sunday afternoon baking. I figured that asking around the cubicles for a camera in order to take a photo of the tupperware container might have seemed a little crazy, so I wasn't able to capture any photographic proof of these Lemon Chocolate Chip Cookies. By the end of the day, there was not even a single cookie remaining, which could have been taken home and then later, eaten happily by me.

That's the kind of reaction I like out of my cookies, though; and not to brag, but the foot traffic through my work area was pretty heavy the other day, as was the praise following the first bite of these cookies. Actually, I should just credit the recipe, which I found and adapted slightly from Mrs. Fields and her vast wisdom of cookie-dom. The most surprising thing, I was told by my co-workers, was the hint of spice in these otherwise straightforward cookies: the cumin mixes well with the tartness of the lemon and the sweetness of the chocolate, making for a unique and delicious taste. Soft-baked and small, it's possible to eat a whole cookie in one bite, allowing all of the flavors to work together.

I was quite happy to bring the joy of Mrs. Fields into the office, considering what pleasure it gave me to bake these cookies over the weekend. As is the case, I'm sure, for so many around the city and the country, a good part of my Sunday routine has been given over to cooking; I make a large batch of my meals for the week and divide it into day-by-day portions; I peel and chop vegetables and wash fruit so that I'll have something to snack on; and, inevitably, I bake some sort of dessert that I will later share amongst my co-workers or my friends (however the week turns out).

Maybe this seems overly domestic, maybe it sounds positively dull, but for me, nothing is more relaxing and rejuvenating, and nothing begins my week as solidly, than a kitchen full of fresh, fragrant food. And the memory of having a table top covered with cooling cookies, the scent of lemon rising with the heat, is most definitely helping me get through this week.

Lemon Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) salted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 F.
1. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and cumin; set aside.
2. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed.
3. Add eggs and lemon extract, and beat well. Blend in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Drop dough by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 14 - 15 minutes. Do not allow tops to brown. Immediately move cookies to a wire rack to cool.

WTF at our advertising

When I was a junior in college I took a Communications class with a professor named Robin Andersen.

There are certain teachers who one will have the pleasure of encountering over the course of a lifetime, whether it’s the third grade teacher with long brown hair and a taste for gold pins attached to her lapel, or the woman whose lecture you sincerely anticipated, despite the start time of 10:00 a.m. Dr. Andersen was this latter professor, who never could recall my name, even though I had taken a total of three of her classes over two years, who once asked a student in the front row for a pen because she couldn’t find hers in her bag.

Her classes on media studies truly gave my eager undergrad eyes a perspective upon the world that I hadn’t thought of before—and what student does not wish for this precise thing in a professor?

Before this one specific class called “History and the Culture of Advertising,” I had looked upon billboards and magazine ads with a fleeting shrug. But when I was able to take a more thorough examination of what we are subjected to each and every day, and its subconscious ramifications, I feel as though my perspective of our American culture and everything that comes along with it did shift.

When I was in Ireland, I saw the billboard posted here. Now, this may not look like anything major, but when I saw it, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit, that I did the clichéd “stop and gawk with a wide eyed-expression look.” Now, why?

Because I would never, ever have seen this billboard in America. I don’t know much about advertising in Europe, but I feel confident that I do know advertising in this country.

In the U.S., this woman would be a “plus-sized” model. But in Ireland, this woman, whom I would venture to say is perfectly normal-sized, is a spokesperson for a diet regiment.

And then there's the ad of the diet plan, in the U.S., posted below.

Now, I really don’t want to get overly political, or talk about any specific interest group (cough, young American women who develop eating disorders and who are constantly being shown images in magazines, t.v shows, and commercials of skinny 96 pound women with the cursory tagline of how desirable they are and with instructions on how to become just like them.)

I really don’t want to.

But when I saw this billboard, I immediately saw how a woman of her—what? Curviness? Size? Proportions?— would not have gotten her picture up there if she were living over here (New York? Forget about it).

Also, I just love this guy staring hungrily at the stick woman in her apartment...because, unless we're all on The Special K Diet, where is our allure, really?

I do know that the notion of my food blog and this particular post paired together are quite amusing. It's been in the back of my mind as I've written this whole post. But the more important thing on my mind is the question of why the f*ck the second ad is even shown here, even in existence, something that that is being broadcast to women as something to aspire to, and why the Irish ad is not shown here, the one that makes my head hurt so much less than the American one.

Sadly, I know the answer is not simple, and it's something that one girl in Brooklyn will not be able to answer or to change the circumstances of, though she might desperately want to.

Maybe I should have just written an email to jezebel.com, but I'm riding on the hope that this is an appropriate vehicle of outrage, as well.

If not, please do let me know.

Delicious Ireland

I have discovered that arriving at JFK airport is something similar to having physical torture inflicted upon you; I could easily get more graphic, concerning long customs lines and aggravating people who decide to drop their 14-pound Louis Vuitton carry on onto ones (admittedly stupidly) sandaled foot, but since this blog is about food and eating, I think that it would be best not to. Anyway, I came into the airport late last night, after a severely delayed flight, with the fatigue that I imagine many travelers have felt before me, and many more will encounter in the future. Despite the long, long journey from the airport to my home, when I unlocked my door, and finally felt as though I could take a deep breath of air, I was overcome with joy. Joy that I had just spent the week in Dublin, joy that I was again in my apartment, joy that my cat wrapped herself around my legs and purred at an unprecedented decibel. And, clearly, joy that my belly had very recently been full of wondrously delicious Irish food.

Along my trip, as I walked from my hostel to the various castles and libraries and churches, I glanced at innumerable sidewalk signs with various food specials scrawled in chalk, and I became very aware that Dublin is no longer a city that cannot boast a rich culinary experience. It had been my naïve understanding that this was the case, and I only wish that I had had the means to more thoroughly dispel the notion. Even still, the food I ate on my vacation was positively incredible. I’m not sure where to begin; whether I should start with the steak and kidney pie, or the biscuits, or the cheeses.

Before this week, I had never experienced fresh cheese like the Irish can offer. While I was there, I found the most wonderful shop whose door displayed a sign saying that “the revolution will not be pasteurized.” I am not as witty as that author, and I have not been able to come up with a slogan as perfectly applicable. Maybe I’m awaiting some massive stomachache, but I really don’t believe so; I also believe that unpasturized cheese—the sharp cheddar I ate, specifically—is unlike anything I’ve tried on my side of the ocean before. The flavor was blunt and unapologetic, and even as it shocked my taste buds, I ate it gratefully. And the creaminess was another aspect in itself; maybe that was how cheese was meant to be tasted, as raw and authentic as though it just came from the cow. Later, for dinner, I had a plate of fresh cheese on brown bread with salad and fries (chips, of course) which was just as tasty.

Although I tried to be a thrifty traveler, one splurge was the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel I had for lunch at the end of my trip. The cream cheese was of the average variety, but the smoked salmon – well, I couldn’t have predicted something so flavorful. I hate to be redundant by stating how creamy this was, but that has been the most apt adjective I’ve been able to come up with. And unlike cheese, which one might expect to be creamy, I know that I was not anticipating the same for my smoked salmon. But it was, with such a velvety texture that I had to pause. This was simply not akin to the smoked salmon I’ve had in America.

Another treat that I experienced was of the sweet variety (of course, I could not leave the country without trying its pastries). A bakery near my hostel displayed for me, each morning as I walked by, a baking sheet of biscuit topped with chocolate. Now, this is a simple enough dessert, and perhaps the only reason that I bought a total of five of them throughout my stay was its transoceanic quality. If that’s the case, I’m totally fine with it. But its simplicity truly made it stand out to me, and I’m just happy to have eaten such a crumbly and chocolately dessert – much like the cheese I ate, there was nothing over the top about it, and I found myself enjoying it all the more for it. With raisins, it’s called a 'Tiffin' slice.

As I had mentioned before, Ireland is a country that is quickly growing in its culinary prowess. Though there are many, many things that I can now recommend to the Dublin traveler, I’m happy to state that the food ranks quite high on this list. I would even say that you really ought to try the steak and kidney pie, if only the one time – just because you’re in Ireland.

Early Summer Fun: Double Chocolate Cupcakes

This Saturday was a strange and lovely day for me; it began, as most days do, with a plan and the expectation that nothing unexpected would really occur. Much later, at around 7:00, the day had progressed to find me riding my newly acquired used bike through Prospect Park, past the lake, with the wind blowing through my hair and the sun preparing to set, and – I kid you not – a tin of homemade chocolate cupcakes sitting in the front wicker basket of the bike, ready for a friend’s impromptu get together.

As this perfect, serene lake-side moment unfolded, I paused and wondered what city and what time I had possibly found myself in, and how I had wound up there. Although I could go on for pages about the past two days, I’ll refrain; but everything that this weekend has surprised me with has also filled me with the kind of summer excitement that I haven’t felt since I was in school (way before college, of course), when the arrival of June brought the promise of such opportunity: for fun, for adventure, for the unpredictable.

Keeping with this accidental theme of youthful excitement, onto the cupcakes: I had extra buttermilk from the Irish soda bread I recently made, and this was a recipe from Cooking Light that I had wanted to try, but never wanted to go out and specially buy buttermilk for. When my friend invited me over, I gazed into my refrigerator, contemplating what to bring, and my eyes fell on the carton of buttermilk that I had been trying to forget about all week. How serendipitous! And these cupcakes are truly delicious: they’re airy and cakey (as opposed to thick and fudgey), and not very sweet. Because there’s not an obscene amount of sugar in the recipe, and because the chocolate used is so dark, they have a richer chocolate taste than the typical cupcake, which I believe gives them a more sophisticated flavor.

Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup 1% low-fat buttermilk
1 1/4 ounces dark (70 percent cocoa) chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk.
Place granulated sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well combined (about 3 minutes). Add egg substitute and vanilla, beating well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to granulated sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate. Spoon batter into 12 muffin cups lined with muffin cup liners. Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until cake springs back when touched lightly in center or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan; cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.