I've got the blues

Where I'm from mid July means blueberry season is officially on, so I wasn't surprised when I came across a nice full basket of local blueberries at the organic market. I was really glad to see them. I haven't had a chance to go blueberry picking at my local U-pick farm yet this summer because I've been working a lot, but I'm definitely itching to go. My head is full of visions of canned blueberry syrup and blueberry pie. The farm where my mother and I pick blueberries also has apple and peach orchards so when we go up there its kind of like one stop local fruit shopping. It's a foodies paradise, and considering that all of the fruit is 75 cents a pound it isn't to bad on the pocket book either. So I encourage all of you to find your local U-pick farm and live it up. Your tummy will be well rewarded for all of your hard work. Plus a little sweat always makes the fruit taste better.

blueberry boy bait
recipe adapted from cook's country

For the Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 teaspoon
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon table salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup whole milk
½ cup blueberries
For the Topping:
½ cup blueberries
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1. For the Cake: preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13×9-inch baking pan.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside. With a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together on medium-high speed until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until it just comes together. Reduce speed to medium and beat in one-third of the flour mixture until just mixed; beat in half of the milk. Beat in half of the remaining flour mixture, then remaining milk, and finally remaining flour mixture. Toss the blueberries with remaining 1 teaspoon flour. Using a rubber spatula, fold in blueberries. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
4. For the Topping: Scatter the blueberries over top of the batter. Stir the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and sprinkle evenly over the cake. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then turn out and place on serving platter or storage container.

how to beat the heat

It has been scorching hot here in the mid Atlantic all week. On top of that I work in a kitchen all day. We have no air conditioning and we run a griddle, a microwave, and a panini grill all day so its at least ten degrees hotter int he kitchen than it is outside. it's unpleasant. At the end of the day I'm in need of some serious relief. Sometimes I just want to curl up in the chest freezer, but doing so would be extreme and unsafe. So I usually just settle for the pool but ice cream has to be the best and tastiest form of relief. Home made ice cream is worth the work even on a hot day. It's so much better that anything that's going to come form a cardboard tub form the grocery store. This brown sugar ice cream is an especially worth the work.

Brown sugar ice cream
adapted from Bon appetit

1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, divided
1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
6 large egg yolks

In a large sauce pot combine heavy whipping cream, whole milk, and 1/2 cup sugar. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and add bean. Bring cream mixture to simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly.
Whisk yolks and remaining 1/4 cup sugar until very thick.

Slowly whisk hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan and heat over medium heat until custard thickens and thermometer reads 180°F. Strain custard through a sieve into large bowl. Cover and chill overnight.

Process the custard in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Transfer ice cream to container. Serve immediately as soft serve or cover and freeze until firm.

a change of pace

So far all of my recipes have been sweet. I started thinking it might be time for something a little different. I got inspired by Diners Drive ins and Dives. The other night Guy Fiere was at a place that made the most amazing looking chicken a la king. I love chicken pot pie and to me chicken a la king is basically chicken pot pie with out all that pesky crust getting in the way. This recipe from Americas Test Kitchen was everything I wanted chicken a la king to be. It's creamy and rich and comforting.


Chicken A la king
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion , diced
8 ounces white mushroom , sliced thin
1 red bell pepper , diced
1 cup frozen peas and carrots
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 tablespoons fresh parsley , finely chopped

1. Whisk together cream, lemon juice, and in bowl. Combine chicken and cream mixture in large bag and refrigerate 30 minutes.
2. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion until golden. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, salt, and pepper and cook until vegetables have softened. Stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add wine, scraping up any browned bits with wooden spoon, and cook until thickened. Add broth and remaining cream and cook until sauce is very thick and spatula leaves trail when dragged through sauce.
3. Stir in chicken mixture and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer, stirring frequently, until chicken is no longer pink, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in remaining lemon juice and parsley. Serve with toast or over biscuits.

regarding hobbits and tea cakes...

Before I left school in May I decided I was going to read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series while I was home for the summer. As I started reading I realized that hobbits are my kind of people. They eat six meals a day, they love to throw parties and give away presents. There's always a kettle on the fire and pantries full of food. As I read the description of the food that Bilbo served the dwarfs I started to get hungry. Visions of vintage tea pots and dessert trays full of little cakes were dancing in my head and so I did what any girl would do. I opened my cook books and double knotted my apron strings.
I used Dorie Greenspan's recipe for Swedish Visiting Cake but I baked it in muffin tins instead of a skilled and viola a tea time treat perfectly paired with a cup of Earl Gray. Now if only I had a fire place and a cushy chair to curl up in so that I can continue to enjoy The Lord of the Rings series. Oh well it is July so I suppose I don't really need a roaring fire.



Recipe
- 1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- About 1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 12 cup muffin tin or a 9-inch cake pan.

2. in a medium bowl blend the zest and sugar together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the eggs one at a time until well blended. Add in the salt and extracts. Use a rubber spatula to stir in the flour. Finally, fold in the melted butter.

3. use and ice cream scoop or 1/3 cup measure to evenly distribute the batter into each muffin cup, smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Scatter the sliced almonds over the top and sprinkle with a little coarse sugar.

4. Bake the cakes for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are golden and a little crisp on the outside. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cake cool for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack.

A productive day

I usually work five days a week and one of my days off is usually a Sunday. My Sundays are pretty much booked up in advance. First its church then my grandparents house for lunch then cleaning and what not. So I get one full day to sleep in chill out and just do what I want. Oh how I love that day. On my most recent day off I woke up with a plan to bake. I just had no idea what I wanted to make. As I sat sipping my coffee I thought. "hmm coffee cake would be good...no no sticky buns. Maybe lemon curd." I couldn't make up my mind so I decided to turn to my stock pile of internet recipes. I logged into my TastyKitchen account on The Pioneer Woman's website. That's where I found it. Italianfoodforever's recipe for chocolate chip cream cheese pound cake. I quickly set to work preparing my mes en plas. As I was going to get my chocolate chips I thought "what if I used white chocolate chips?" And that's when things got interesting. I proceeded to tinker and this was the resulting cake.


White Chocolate Coconut Pound Cake

2 cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1 pinch Salt
1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
¾ cups Softened Butter
8 ounces, Cream Cheese, Softened
1-½ cup Sugar
1-½ teaspoon Coconut Extract
4 Eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter and flour a medium bundt pan. Combine together flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. In a stand mixer beat together the butter and cream cheese with the paddle attachment. Add the sugar and cream until light and fluffy. Add the coconut extract and then the eggs one at a time. Add the dry ingredients and continue to mix on low just until combined. Then add the chocolate chips. Do not over mix. Scrape the mixture into your prepared pan, the batter will be very stiff, and bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Nutella Chocolate chip cookies

It has been one heck of a week. After working five straight days in a row I have two off. Hopefully I can catch up on my baking. I know for a fact that there is mint Oreo ice cream in my future but hopefully there will also be a pie. After a crazy week like this I need some comfort and a little pampering. That's where the nutella comes in.

I love nutella. It's the perfect balance of chocolate and hazelnut and the texture is so creamy and smooth. I could eat it by the spoonful but I prefer to incorporate it into recipes. These cookies are amazing. The cinnamon is a perfect compliment to the nutella and the chocolate chips just make the cookies that much more decadent. The best way to enjoy these cookies is to spread nutella between two cookies while they're still warm.

Nutella chocolate chip cookies
Recipe: Adapted from Alpineberry
Yeild: About 24 - 30 cookies
Ingredients:
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 7 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temp.
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2/3 cup Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/4 cups chocolate chips

Directions
1. combine flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
2. Cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add Nutella and vanilla extract and beat until combined. add in egg beat until incorporated and then scrape down the sides.
3. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add chocolate chips.
4. Chill for 1 hour.
5. Drop tablespoons of dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake at 350 for about 11 minutes until the edges look set. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then move to cooling racks.

a cookie on steroids: a.k.a chocolate chip cookie cake

The food in my school cafeteria is pretty bad. It's hard to find anything even remotely healthy. The only things that really taste good are the things that are seriously unhealthy like corn dogs, french fries, and chicken tenders.
The desserts though, the desserts are consistently good. The best of all is the chocolate chip cookie mush, that's not its official name that's just what my friends and I have come to call it. It's warm and gooey and chocolatey essentially perfect. I've been home for about a month now and I started to crave chocolate chip cookie mush and so I sought out a recipe to fill the void and boy did this one do the trick.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake :
(from Dam Good Sweet by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel)
1 stick (113g) butter
1 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (58%-62% cacao)
1 cup plain flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
Preheat the oven to 175′C.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, cream the butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla and almond extracts on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat for 15 seconds. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg. Blend on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the dry ingredients and combine on low speed until just a few dry streaks remain. Add the chocolate chips and mix for a few seconds until combined.
Scrape the batter into a greased and lined 10-inch round cake tin. Press the batter into a smooth and even layer in the pan. Bake until lightly golden and puffy around the edges (the center should still feel quite soft), 18 – 22 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes and then run a paring knife around the edge of the pan to release the cake. Cool for at least 4 hours before turning the cake out of the pan and onto a large plate.