Lemony Lemonies

Lemony Lemonies - made June 28, 2014 from Bakerella

I did a bunch of baking before I started my new job and I'm still catching up from those posts. This is one of them. I had a family barbecue to go to and (as always), lemons to use up so I went with this version of a lemon brownie. At least that's what they would seem like.

I actually would consider these more of a lemon cake, perhaps a bit more dense than a cake but "dense" is a strong word because they weren't really dense. They don't have much leavening in them either though so cakey also seems like a strong description. Let's just say they were somewhere in the middle.

But whatever you want to call them, I'd call them good. The texture was nicely chewy (yet cakey - and round and round I go on the descriptors) and the lemon flavor was perfect for a summer occasion. Lemons are most abundant in the winter but my lemon tree didn't get that memo and still keeps growing lemons so I keep doing lemon desserts in the summer. What made this cake/brownie particularly good was the lemon glaze. It was both sweet yet also had some tartness from the fresh lemon zest and lemon juice. Don't make the glaze too runny or it won't be thick enough and you want enough powdered sugar to let the icing set when it cools completely. Easy to make, slice and serve - enjoy.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon lemon zest
3/4 cup unsalted butter, almost completely melted then cooled
2 eggs
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square pan or line pan with foil and lightly coat with cooking spray to easily lift brownies out of pan.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and zest together using a wire whisk.
3. Add melted butter, lemon juice, eggs and vanilla and stir until completely combined.
4. Pour into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until done.
5. Remove from oven and cool.
6. For lemon icing, sift powdered sugar in a medium bowl. Add lemon juice and zest and stir until completely combined and smooth. Pour over lemonies and let rest until icing sets. 
7. Cut into 16 or 25 small bars only right before serving.

Bakery Review: Three Babes Bakeshop

Three Babes Bakeshop - bought pie on July 3, 2014

At my new job, I discovered an unexpected perk - something called "Pop Up Shop". Pop Up Shop was essentially when local businesses of all kinds set up a temporary shop at a designated, advertised day(s) and time(s) on campus and peddled their wares.

I haven't been there long enough to know all the different types of businesses who show up in the Pop Up Shop. Sp far we've had business offering rentals to apartments nearby, a local CSA (community supported agriculture), and Benefits Cosmetics from San Francisco. During my first week, it was Three Babes Bakeshop. A bakeshop, you say? I think I started just in time.

Buttermilk Pie

They set up on the day before the 4th of July so right before our company holiday and before all those Independence Day barbecues might need some pies. Brilliant timing. According to the announcements posted in our campus Facebook page, you could also preorder a pie and the different flavors were listed of what they would be bringing.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

I had never heard of Three Babes Bakeshop but had to go check out their Pop Up Shop during lunch. I'm not big on pies unless it's apple pie (preferably a la mode) and that wasn't one of the flavors offered. It's not fall yet and they pride themselves on organic, seasonal produce so it's not surprising apple pie wasn't on the menu yet. Still, how often does a bakery come to me instead of me driving to them? I couldn't pass it up.

Peach Pie

They were set up in a little room near the middle of campus with their sandwich board outside to proclaim their presence and the flavors being offered. A woman (one of the Three Babes? No, I found out later) sat at a table with the pies on display. Since I'd never heard of them before, I felt justifiably nosy curious enough to pepper her with questions. Where did they sell? Did they have a commercial store front? How long had they been in business?

Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie

According to her patient answers, they'd been in business for 3 years, worked out of a commercial kitchen, didn't have a storefront but had a stall at the Ferry Building in San Francisco at certain times. And, in checking out their website, I also discovered that technically, there weren't THREE babes but only two. Still, it seems like they're looking for a third babe so there'll be truth in advertising in the future.

I bought the Bittersweet Chocolate Pecan Pie which also touted itself as gluten free. That wasn't a consideration for me since I can embrace, madly hug tolerate gluten just fine. But out of all the pie flavors, that was the one most compatible with my taste buds. If I couldn't have apple, chocolate would do, even though I'm not big on pecans in a pie. It had a graham cracker crust, a creamy chocolate filling and a layer of pecans just underneath the baked chocolate crust. It was pretty good but also pretty rich so eating slowly and taking small bites were key. My niece and I split the first piece and I had to give away and freeze the rest. The pie was $35 which I think is rather steep for a pie. I'm not enough of a pie aficionado to be enthused about spending $35 on a pie, even on a delicious pie, so I chalked it up to both "research" on a bakery and another way to support a local, small business. If Three Babes ever comes back on campus in the fall, I'll be on the lookout for their apple pie and yeah, I'll fork over another $35 to try it. That's just how I roll.

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies - made June 28, 2014 from Averie Cooks

I get a lot of my baking recipes from trolling pinterest and many of the pins I add to my baking pinboards turn out to be from Averie Cooks. Matter of fact, I have so many pins from Averie's blog that I don't know why I don't just go directly to her blog and cut out the pinterest middleman. Probably because that would be too easy. Oftentimes a luscious picture would catch my eye on pinterest and even as my trigger finger clicks on the pin to go to the source recipe, I just know it's from Averie Cooks. Some bloggers have a distinct look and feel to their creations. I've come to associate Averie's look and feel to thick, chubby cookies, moist cakes and just mouthwatering. 

Thick and chubby bursting with white chocolate chunks sucked me into this recipe for White Chocolate Cream Cheese Cookies. I was going to a family barbecue at my cousin's and there were 3 active boys in the family mix so I knew some sort of chocolate chip cookies needed to be in the mix. Plus, really, you can't go wrong with a cookie recipe from Averie's blog.

This one didn't disappoint either. As with all her cookie recipes, make the dough ahead of time, portion it into golf-ball-size dough balls and freeze first. And underbake them. That's how you get them to be thick with the perfect moist, chewy, dense texture. I didn't have white chocolate chips so I chopped up Guittard white chocolate baking wafers. Don't worry if you don't like cream cheese (I don't) because the cream cheese just adds to the texture, not the flavor. I loved these cookies; they're hearty and sturdy but also tender and chewy. If you like white chocolate chip cookies, these are a winner.

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 ounces (about 1/4 cup) cream cheese, softened 
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
one 3.5-ounce packet instant vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
10 ounces white chocolate chips

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, cream cheese, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, dry pudding mix, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
3. Hold back a handful of the white chocolate and add the rest.  Beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, form approximately 13 to 14 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Strategically place a few reserved white chocolate chips right on top of each mound of dough.
5. Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days or place in the freezer in a freezer bag.
6. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat liner or parchment paper. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for about 11-13 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked, pale, and glossy in the center; don't overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. 

Lemon Meltaways

Lemon Meltaways - made dough May 30, 2014 from A Cook's Quest

My lemon tree that can't stop growing lemons

Someone forgot to tell my dwarf lemon tree that dwarves don't grow to 9 feet tall. I've been pruning (ahem, cutting with dull scissors) the branches before they start peeking into the neighbor's yard but given my lack of a green thumb and that I only make myself go out to my backyard when I realize, "hmm, feels like it's been awhile since I watered the trees" it feels like the lemon tree gets inspiration from Jack and the Beanstalk and defies its dwarf designation every time my back is turned. Whatever I prune seems to grow back tenfold. It's mocking me, I just know it.

The orange tree that doesn't like to grow oranges, just leaves

But I have to give it props because, unlike my orange tree which seems to think its sole purpose is to produce leaves and branches rather than actual oranges, my lemon tree keeps popping out lemons. Good-sized lemons too, not sickly little ones. It does seem to take forever for the lemons to actually turn bright sunshiny yellow but there are plenty of them there. I like to think of them as lemon-bars-in-waiting but I do try to mix it up a bit on how I use the lemons.

For summertime cookies, I try not to get too fancy. Actually, year round I try not to get fancy because fancy takes time. Of which I don't have much. So this recipe was perfect because you just mix up the dough, roll into a log, chill then slice and bake. Simple. My only issue with it is the cookie itself wasn't very lemony. It's a good shortbread cookie but simply dredging it in powdered sugar didn't highlight the lemon flavor. Instead, I would recommend making a simple lemon royal icing glaze for it: sifted powdered sugar with a tablespoon or two of fresh lemon juice until it's the consistency you want. For added lemon punch, grate some lemon zest into the icing, spread over the cooled cookies and let it set.

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup powdered sugar, for dredging

1. Cream the butter the the 1/3 cup powdered sugar. Beat in the lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. 
2. Whisk the flour, cornstarch and salt into a large bowl. Add to the wet ingredients until just combined. 
3. Roll the dough into a 1 1/4"-diameter log. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.
4. Slice the dough into 1/4" thick slices and place evenly spaced on a baking sheet, 1 inch apart. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven until just lightly golden brown, about 12-15 minutes.
5. Let cool on a wire rack for 4 minutes. Dredge cookies in powdered sugar to coat.

Restaurant Review: Thaiphoon

Thaiphoon - lunch on June 26, 2014

I met my friend Jenny for lunch here on the last day at my old job. It was my way of ensuring I actually left the building early on my last day. I'd been putting in 11- to 12-hour days in my last two weeks; clearly I failed at short-timers' disease so my last day was my only chance. I kept telling my coworkers I was only staying until the mall opened (at 10 am). I didn't quite make it out that early since I was still working on emails by then but I did make it out in time to meet Jenny for lunch.

I don't know if there's much I can say about Thaiphoon. It was okay. It wasn't bad but it wasn't particularly distinctive either. I think they're slightly hampered by their location. Although located on a busy main street, there's not much in the immediate area except car dealerships so you have to drive here or walk over if you work nearby. I don't know if I would be pulled here for any particular reason. However, Jenny worked nearby and it was in the area where I could run errands so it was a perfect meeting place.

Soup

Other than that, I'd say it was a bit ordinary. I'd recommend it if someone was in the area and wanted Thai food but it doesn't stand out in my head as spectacularly unique. Jenny got the green curry chicken and I got the pad thai (of course). The pad thai was a tad oily but I've had worse. I've had better so this falls into the average category for me. Fortunately, my standards for savory food are lower than my standards for sweets so this was just fine.

Green Curry Chicken

The restaurant was bright from natural lighting, the service was okay and the prices were under $10 for lunch so it was cheap. It's a very typical Thai restaurant for my area.

Pad Thai, no bean sprouts

Nutella White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Nutella White Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough June 22, 2014 from Averie Cooks

This was one of the cookies I made for my last week at work at my old job. I knew I didn't have a lot of time that week so I needed a cookie dough I could make ahead of time, freeze and just bake off at the last minute. Averie Cooks is a perfect blog for that kind of recipe. Her blog is full of amazing recipes and my favorites are her cookies because they're always thick, chubby and bursting with goodness. I've rarely had something not turn out from her blog so I figured this would be a safe bet since I couldn't afford any baking failures that last week.

My only comment is mine didn't turn out as dark as hers appeared to. I used the same amount of Nutella as recommended in the recipe but the dough still turned out milk chocolate-light. I was afraid of adding more in case it changed the composition of the cookie and I really wanted chubby, puffy cookies.

Which, as you can tell, I got. This is like the perfect size, texture and appearance in cookie to me. It wasn't super chocolaty or super Nutella-y though so if you want a stronger flavor, try substituting a tablespoon or two of dark cocoa and decreasing the flour by the same amount. Because cocoa powder is a drier ingredient and can suck out moisture, that gives you some leeway to add a bit more Nutella. I may try that next time.

The white chocolate chunks and the semisweet chocolate chips paired well together in this cookie as well. You definitely want to freeze this cookie dough and bake the cookies from frozen dough so plan ahead. This isn't the type of cookie you make because you have a craving that has to be satisfied immediately. But it's worth the wait.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)
heaping 1/3 cup Nutella (stir well before adding)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, Nutella, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 4 minutes
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 1 minute.
3. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the white and chocolate chips, and beat on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
4. Using a large cookie scoop, 1/4-cup measure, or your hands, form approximately 11 equal-sized mounds of dough, roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Tip - Strategically place a few chocolate chips right on top of each mound of dough by taking chips from the underside and adding them on top.
5. Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days. Do not bake with unchilled dough because cookies will bake thinner, flatter, and be more prone to spreading.
6. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper. Place dough mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just set, even if slightly undercooked and glossy in the center; don't overbake. Cookies firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before serving. 

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies

Lofthouse Sugar Cookies - made dough June 21, 2014 from Stella B's Kitchen

I've never heard of Lofthouse but from the prevalence of its recipe for sugar cookies on pinterest, I'm going to guess they have quite a devoted following as many people seem to want to duplicate their baked goods. Particularly their sugar cookies.

These are similar in appearance to the Knockoff Swig Sugar Cookies I've made earlier (I don't know what Swig is either or why people want to copy their sugar cookies). Their similarities are probably helped by the fact that they're both similar is size, color and pink frosting that I used.

But I will have to give the nod to Lofthouse over Swig because I liked these cookies more. They were sweeter but not too sweet, had more vanilla flavor, I liked the texture that was a perfect cross between chewy cookie and slightly dense cake. Plus the vanilla buttercream was much better than the sour cream frosting of the Swig knockoffs.

The dough for these was also easy to make and great to work with, not too soft or sticky but not hard or dry. Make the cookie dough balls into generous sizes, like the size of golf balls. Then flatten slightly into thick discs. They don't spread very much and will remain thick. Baking them as discs instead of as golf balls will ensure you have cookies of uniform thickness instead of mounded in the middle and spread thinner at the sides.

I tinted the frosting pink with a couple of drops of red food coloring (hey, I'm a girl) but you can omit the food coloring and use colored sprinkles instead to dress these up for any occasion. With 4th of July upon us, these lend themselves well to being patriotic cookies just with some red, white and blue sprinkles.

2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened 
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 heaping tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
up to 1/4 cup milk (skim is fine)
1 teaspoon vanilla
food coloring of choice
desired sprinkles

1. Sift dry ingredients and set aside.  
2. Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Then add sour cream and vanilla.  Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Chill dough thoroughly, at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  On a lined baking sheet, roll balls of 2-3 Tbsp and place 2 inches apart.  Wetting fingers slightly, press balls to about 1/2 inch thick, molding to keep nice round edges.  
4. Bake for 11-12 minutes until centers are no longer shiny.  Cool on pan for a few minutes.  Remove to cooling rack until completely cool before frosting.
5. For the frosting, beat butter and vanilla.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time.  Add a couple Tbsp of milk and beat again.  Continue to add milk until the desired spreading or piping consistency is reached.  Add food coloring.
6. Pipe or frost cookies and top with sprinkles.  Allow to set open to air for several hours before storing in sealed container.  

Restaurant Review: King Egg Roll

King Egg Roll - lunch on June 16, 2014

Before I left my last job, I went out to lunch with one of my coworkers. We originally meant to go back to Honey Thai, her favorite place for Thai food, but we went on a Monday and we forgot that many small business restaurants, particularly Asian restaurants, are closed on Mondays. It's like their Sabbath.

Not to be deterred, we decided to try out King Egg Roll, which was nearby and on the way back to the office. Another coworker had mentioned it before and neither one of us had ever been there so it seemed like a good chance to try it out.

I had no idea what to expect but when we walked in, it felt like a Panda Express that served Chinese food entrees as well as dim sum. Like Panda, you could get rice or noodles then your choice of entrees. You could also order dim sum as a side order. The person behind the counter took your order and dished it out then you paid at the cash register at the end of the counter. The price points are also similar to Panda, under $10 for rice or noodles with 2 entrees.

Unlike Panda Express though, each order comes with a cup of egg drop soup which I thought tasted pretty good.

And true to its name, each order also comes with an egg roll. I wouldn't have ordered it otherwise since I knew it would be full of veggies and, even if I ate cooked vegetables, it always seemed contrary to have vegetables deep fried in an egg roll wrapper. Lumpia, I can handle. Deep fried vegetables? Nah.

I got the Orange Chicken to play along with the Panda vibe and the barbecue pork. The Orange Chicken was just okay; Panda's is better. But the barbecue pork was delicious, a little fatty but good flavor.

Steamed Pork Buns

My coworker also got an order of steamed pork buns which we split. That was good too. This is definitely not gourmet Chinese food but for a quick lunch, it's a decent alternative, especially if you don't mind simple and not fancy.

Sweet Potato Bacon Cakes

Sweet Potato Bacon Cakes - made June 21, 2014, modified from Paleo Leap

I love sweet potatoes. I haven't mastered how to make crisp sweet potato fries yet (mine come out too soft and never crisp enough unless I happened to burn them) but I thought this would be a good variation of a fried potato patty or something like a hash brown.

I'm not big on bacon but it was a nice addition to this for texture. The only issue I had with these is, once the egg was added in, the mixture was too soft and goopy to form into decent patties. It was also hard to turn these over and most of mine fell apart when I tried. I managed to get a couple of them to fry up whole but the others became more like hash than hash brown patties. Still, these were pretty tasty. Probably because I love sweet potatoes in almost any form. Next time I'm going to omit the egg and just try to fry them as mostly sweet potatoes, bacon and green onions and see if they hold up without anything to bind them other than the mashed sweet potatoes.

1 pound sweet potatoes, quartered
4 slices bacon, chopped (I used nitrite-free bacon from Trader Joe's)
3 green onions, sliced thinly
1 egg
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon butter (or use a paleo-friendly oil/fat if you want these to be paleo appropriate)

1. Place the sweet potatoes in a large saucepan. Add cold water to cover and bring to a boil; lower the heat and let simmer until the potatoes are fork tender, about 5 to 8 minutes.
2. Fry the bacon in a skillet over medium-high heat until crispy. Set aside.
3. Mash the potatoes in a large bowl. Shred and add the cooked bacon as well as the green onions and egg. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
4. Form 4-6 patties with the sweet potato mixture.
5. In a large skillet placed over medium-high heat, melt butter. Fry the potato cakes until the outsides are golden and the insides are heated through, about 4 minutes per side.

Chicken in Basil Cream Sauce

Chicken in Basil Cream Sauce - made June 18, 2014, modified from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Doesn't this look so nice and colorful with the sundried tomatoes and the basil? Such a nice summertime dish. Too bad I screwed it up. I like to think it wasn't my fault but of course it was. For one thing, I skipped the whole breading and frying of the chicken breasts. Instead, I repurposed a couple of chicken breasts from the Crockpot Beer Chicken. Since the sauce from that recipe was virtually tasteless, I decided to make a different sauce for the remaining chicken. Hey, they were organic, free range, pampered chickens; I wasn't going to let them go to waste. There was no point in frying breaded chicken for it so instead I just made the sauce and poured it over the already cooked chicken.

But something went wrong. The most likely culprit is I didn't have heavy cream. Technically I did but it had expired the day before. For a brief (mad) moment, I considered using it because, really, didn't they allow some kind of grace period with those use-by dates? What was a day? But in the end, sanity and fear of harming myself with dairy-gone-bad prevailed. So I substituted whole milk instead of using the heavy cream. That might've been a mistake. For some reason, instead of thickening, the sauce began to both clump and go runny. Oops. I can't explain why and I don't know enough about cooking to offer a plausible reason. I've got to think it takes some kind of talent to make a sauce that was both clumpy and runny - for you real cooks, bet you can't do that! I still ate it since it was already made and the flavor was there, just not the consistency of the sauce I would've liked. So if you want to make this, I'd suggest being a little more faithful to the recipe than I was. And hopefully it'll turn out for you. Add another one to my laughable forays into cooking.

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup dried Italian bread crumbs
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, pounded thin with a meat mallet
3 tablespoons butter 
1 clove garlic (1/2 teaspoon minced)
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1. Place milk and bread crumbs in separate, shallow bowls. 
2. In skillet, heat butter to medium heat. Dip chicken in milk, then coat with crumbs. Cook chicken in butter, on both sides, until juices run clear (about 10 minutes). Remove and keep warm.
3. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 30 seconds over medium heat. Add the chicken broth to the skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and stir to loosen browned bits from pan. Stir in cream and sun-dried tomatoes; boil and stir for 1 minute. Reduce heat.
4. Add Parmesan cheese, basil and pepper. Stir sauce and cook until heated through. Remember that for a thicker sauce all you have to do is cook it longer. 
5. Serve chicken with sauce poured over the top.