Apple Cake (made with freshly picked apples!)...and apple picking

This past Saturday, Dave and I headed over to Parlee Farms for some apple picking.  Typically we go apple picking at the end of the season, and we always miss the early varieties.  I'm so happy that we remembered to go in September this year!  I made an amazing apple cake with some of the Ginger Gold apples we picked (we also grabbed some Jonomacs and MacIntosh.  (1/3 of the cake is missing in the photo above, because Dave and I were too impatient to wait for me to take a pic!  We scarfed a few pieces down when it was hot out of the oven)

Fist a few pics of our outing, followed by the recipe:

On the hayride

 

The fresh cider donuts- absolutely incredible, although they're no Lakeside donut :)

Above you'll see about half of the apples we picked- we only picked one peck (about 10 lbs).  I've been eating apples all week, but we still have a bunch left over- I hope to make some cinnamon apple ice cream this weekend!

note: Sorry there's a mix of US and metric measurements- I adapted an existing recipe, and have not gone back yet to figure everything out. I'm hoping that I can get everything in grams, because I much prefer to weigh than measure!

Ingredients
Cake:
140 grams unsalted butter, softened
150 grams firmly packed soft dark brown sugar
2 eggs
225 grams self-raising flour (or make your own- 1 ¾ c flour, 2 ⅓ tsp baking powder, ⅝ tsp salt, then measure 225g)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoon milk
500 grams apples (about 2-3 apples), peeled, cored, diced.

Streusel Topping:
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
½ stick unsalted butter
½ tsp ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Heat oven to 320 degrees, and line a 8 in square cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, then gradually add the eggs, one at a time, continuing to beat until fully combined.
3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. 
4. Add the milk and apples, then fold everything together. The batter will be very thick!!
5. Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth surface. 
6. Place the topping ingredients in a food processor and pulse until crumbly.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. 
7. Bake for 1 hr 10 mins, until a skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 mins, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Oh my....super moist, not to sweet, and totally delicious.  I will be making it again soon!

Recipe adapted from Cakelets and Doilies

Food Crawl - 30th Birthday in Boston

Yep...I'm 30!  It was my birthday yesterday, so the friends took me out for high tea downtown!  It was a fancy afternoon :)

Before we met up with the gals, I tried to pose real cool in my bday dress.  I'm sure you can imagine how that turned out...

 

posing

falling

Yea. Real cool (see Dave's successful attempt at coolness at the bottom of this post).

After a quick trip to Hotel Chocolat for my favorite salted caramels, we popped over to L'Espalier. 

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Totally fancy-schmancy, with a cool elevator guy.  I was with Theresa, and when we got upstairs, we were greeted by the hostess- she then directed us to the salon to wait for Leah (she got trapped near the Commons because of the Jimmy Fund walk!).

The first tea that we received upon arriving at our table was this hand-tied little ball of tea/flowers:

You plop it into hot water (although I doubt "plop" is the technical term)...

 

...and wait for it to bloom:

Below is the menu for the rest of the teas- they were all included, so we could try each one!

We chose the "Little Red Riding Hood" fantasy tea, which came with a delightful assortment of tea sandwiches and petit fours.

Lobster with herbed cream on a breakfast radish, Roasted guinea hen profiterole with garlic aïoli,

Jonah crab salad with gribiche and American caviar on a deviled egg (the best one!),

Smoked salmon on wheat with yuzu kosho crème, and English cucumber with candied lemon and sorrel creamcheese on citrus bread .

Theresa and Leah being all fancy (pinkies are up, if you can't tell)

When the dessert plate came out, mine had a special birthday treat!

Here is the Pâte à choux swan with espresso Chantilly cream:

...and here are the Almond apricot scone and chocolate cinnamon scone (hanging out with a delectable mango trifle!)

Not pictured is the Greek yogurt panna cotta- which was just heavenly!  It was an unassuming little patty of creamy, rich goodness.  Trust me.

We also got a few amazing accoutrements:

which we ate by the spoonful :)

Here's the view of Boylston street from our table:

I asked the hostess to snap a photo of us on our way out, but I think she didn't understand what I was saying when I explained how to focus on my camera (I think she MUCH preferred the girls who handed her an iPhone to take their picture!)

After we ate, we went out for pedicures. I told you...this was a fancy outing!

Can you tell which color is mine? I'm sure you can, and I'm sure you're not surprised

Post nails, we shopped at a few boutiques on Newbury street, where I picked up a clearance skirt and necklace, Leah got a cute shirt, and Theresa purchased 2 shirts! Success!

It was time to meet up with the boys, and when I was asked what I wanted to do for dinner, I had a hankering for hot dogs.  Ha!  Not as classy as the rest of the day, but boy did they hit the spot!!

Of course, we went to Spikes.


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Matt, Theresa, and Adam

Chili Cheese dog:

Junkyard dog:

And mine, the 57 T Bird (no, that's not grease...the oogy stuff is honey mustard, covering the melted cheese!!)

The boys apparently had a food crawl of their own while we were doing girly stuff- including Tasty Burger, Marliave, Thinking Cup, and a trip to Chinatown for pork buns.

At the beginning of the post I promised you Dave's attempt at cool-ness.  WAY better than mine! (but maybe that's because I captured the radical lens flare! hehe)

The drive home over the Mass Ave bridge

Thanks for making my bday so fun!

Simple Miso Soup

At the end of our recent family vacation to the Jersey Shore, Matt and Melissa mentioned that they wanted to make some miso soup.  Dave and I thought it was a great idea, so we looked up a recipe and made a big batch.

It makes quite a few servings of soup (probably 8-10), so you can always halve the recipe if needed.

Ingredients:
12-ounce block firm silken tofu
1 cup han tsuyu (we got this one from Hmart)
7 cups water
2 tablespoons dark or red miso
6 tablespoons light or white miso
4 scallions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Wrap the block of tofu in 2 layers of paper towels and lay on a plate. Invert a second plate on top of the tofu and weigh down.  Leave for 20 minutes then cut the tofu into 1/4 to 1/2-inch cubes. 
2. Heat the water and han tsuyu in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. When it reaches 100 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer, ladle 1 cup into a small bowl. 
3. Add the miso, and whisk until smooth.
4. Bring the remaining liquid to a bare simmer, approximately 10 minutes. 
5. Add the miso mixture and whisk to combine. Return to a slight simmer, being careful not to boil the mixture. 
6. Add the tofu and scallions and cook for another minute or until heated through. 
7. Remove from the heat, ladle into soup bowls and serve immediately. 

The soup was just as delicious leftover, but we wish that we had added the scallions fresh each time.  We'll try that next time!

Recipe adapted from Food Network

Mocha Tiramisu Cupcakes

This is another overdue post- I don't even remember how long ago I made these, and I've made them twice more since!  They are seriously amazing...moist chocolate-coffee cupcakes with coffee-infused ganache and mascarpone whipped cream frosting!

You definitely want to make these.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 strongly brewed coffee (or 1/4 cup water + 1/4 cup instant coffee powder - we used brewed)
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter -- at room temperature
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs

for Coffee Ganache and Frosting (** Please see note, below):
3 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup coffee beans -- crushed
8 ounces milk chocolate -- finely chopped
2 cups mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar -- sifted

**note: I ended up doubling the ganache and halving the mascarpone frosting.  I found that the flavors were more balanced, plus I didn't have to buy as much (expensive!) mascarpone cheese.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 30 standard muffin cups with paper liners.
2. Combine the milk, cocoa, and coffee in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, constantly whisking, until the cocoa has dissolved. Let cool and pour into a liquid measure.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. 
4. In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
5. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk mixture in three batches, ending with the liquid. 
6. Fill each muffin cup halfway with the batter. Bake 18 to 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.
7. Combine 1 cup of the heavy cream and coffee beans in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. 
8. Remove from the heat, cover, and let infuse for 10 minutes. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean sauce-pan and bring back to a boil. 
9. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl and pour the hot cream over it, stirring slowly, until the ganache is smooth. 
10. Spoon enough ganache over each cupcake to fill the liners to the rim.
11. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the remaining 2 cups of heavy cream to stiff peaks. Add the mascarpone and confectioners sugar and whisk until smooth. 
12. Spoon the mascarpone cream into a pastry bag fitted with a medium round tip and pipe the cream on top of the ganache in a circle.
13. Dust with cocoa powder

I also made cute little chocolate birds to go on top, hehe :)

I know that there are a lot of steps- and that these are more labor intensive than most other cupcakes...but c'mon...look at them:

Just glorious!  Dave has requested these for his birthday.  I'll see if I can make them when we are at the shore!

Recipe from Spoonful

Super Easy Vanilla Bean "Ice Cream"

"Why the quotation marks?" you ask?  Well, technically this isn't ice cream.  Real ice cream requires eggs to make a custard base and whatnot.  This is a cheap (and easy) knockoff that's just as satisfying.

I had seen MANY "3 ingredient" ice creams floating around the web, so I kind of made up this recipe based on what I had learned through my research, and according to my taste.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
vanilla bean, or vanilla bean paste- I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons (love that stuff!)

Directions:

1. Whisk together milk and vanilla bean paste
2. Add half and half, and sweetened condensed milk. Whisk.
3. Chill the mixture (I stuck it in the fridge for about an hour)
4. Add mixture to ice cream maker, and churn according the manufacturer's directions

Mine turned into soft-serve at about the 30 minute mark.  It was delicious, but a bit too soupy for me.  I threw it in the freezer, and about 2 hours later it was perfect!

Incredible as-is, but better with a pizzelle :)

Oh yea- and check out those flecks from the vanilla bean paste!! I told you that stuff was awesome:

"It's the beaniest!"

Food Crawl - Maine

Today I was SO happy to get out of the apartment and away from grad school homework (well, not really....I was working on lesson plans in the car! lol).

Dave and I were headed to the outlets in Kittery, and decided to stop for a few bites to eat.  The Bigos (mom's cousin and family) brought us to a great little Mexican joint the last time we saw them, and they also recommended a bakery in the area.  Check it out:

We started off at Loco Coco's Tacos.

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(sorry for the horrible photo above- I had forgotten to take one of the restaurant, so I snapped this from the car window as we drove away!)

The logo has a (somewhat racist) cartoon image of a Mexican man, and the colors inside remind me of a Taco Bell- not the kind of restaurant that I would expect to have great food.....so imagine our surprise when we tasted how good it was!

Dave and I ordered 3 things, and split each of them for the best variety.  First, shrimp ceviche:

I like the flavor of shrimp, but was never really a fan of the texture.  Luckily, the shrimp in the ceviche had a delightful texture!  It was served with some great (not to greasy) chips. Yum!

We also got some chicken and cheese enchiladas.....

....and some great beer-battered fish tacos:

We hope to go back to Coco Loco's again to try some of the other stuff on their menu!

After some outlet shopping, we went on over to the Beach Pea Baking Co.

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I satisfied my sweet tooth with a chocolate coconut cupcake, filled with some tasty buttercream:

Dave went with a tiramisu cream puff.  We kind of split them, and they were both tasty!  I preferred the cupcake though, because the pastry of the cream puff was not as good as some others that I have had.

We also grabbed a cookie to enjoy later tonight.  I'm totally just pretending to eat it below!  It's called a "Cowgirl Cookie," and it is an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut. Awesome!

"The Best" Cole Slaw

Okay, I know this has become a "thing" now- I don't post for a super long time, then I put up one thing and apologize for my absence.  I honestly want to post more over here, but I'm always busy with school, work, my other blog, my crafts, etc.

I was able to cross something off of my recipe blog to-do list today....I made a new header and watermarks! Yay!!

Well, on to today's recipe.  For 4th of July we had "the friends" over (Adam, Leah, Matt, and Theresa) and made some good food. Included among the dishes was this cole slaw- I had tried a new recipe, and tweaked it according to what we had on hand.  I don't remember who it was, but someone had said to me "Jen....this is THE BEST cole slaw!!"  Hence the name :)

Ingredients:

1-2 14oz bags of cole slaw mix (of course you can use fresh cabbage and carrots instead)

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 tablespoons milk (we used unsweetened vanilla almond milk)

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons vinegar (we used rice vinegar)

1 tablespoon dry mustard

2 teaspoons celery salt

freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Whisk together the mayonnaise, milk, sugar, vinegar, mustard, celery salt, and pepper in a medium bowl
2. Add mayonnaise mixture to the cole slaw mix to taste.  We ended up using 1 1/2 bags.  If you prefer more dressing on your cole slaw, you could probably get away with only one bag of cole slaw mix.  If you prefer dryer cole slaw, use both bags.
3. Mix well to combine and taste for seasoning (add more salt, pepper, or sugar if desired)

Recipe adapted from Food Network