Posts Tagged ‘sweet’
peanut butter granola
Let’s face it. Granola like this is basically crumbled up cookies under the guise of being healthfood and thus it is glorious in its deception and deliciousness. I whipped this up late Sunday night when a craving for peanut butter/oatmeal cookies hit me and I wanted to change things up. I threw in a couple handfuls of raisins and half a can of mixed nuts I had sitting in the freezer and voila! Tasty, terrible-for-you granola! Enjoy!
roasted applesauce
Do you smell it? Do you feel it? The refreshing, crisp wind. The shutting down of the AC. The first morning where you can see your breath walking to your car.
Autumn is finally arriving after a brutal summer here and with it brings all the glorious weather changes along with some great personal changes for me as well.
I got a new job at a new company (well, old company I used to intern for) as a full-time food stylist last week and things are going very well. I’m still in the same city (thank the heavens a move wasn’t necessary) and now get to spend all my time either in the studio or prepping in the kitchen, which is fantastic for my spirit (but definitely hard on my feet!) I feel so revived and ready for this next step in my life, and combined with this glorious weather, my zest for cooking has returned tenfold.
A friend of mine texted me the other day asking if I knew how to make applesauce. I rattled off a recipe to him and then seeing honeycrisp apples had arrived the next day was instantly inspired. Fall is the time when I feel most alive and excited about life, and it’s food like this that makes me love the season more than any other.
mint julep cupcakes
I attended a very special wedding this past weekend. Let me stand you to a mint julep and tell you all about it.
During college I was notorious for getting floormates and friends addicted to my favorite television shows. Buffy, LOST, Firefly. Only one person joined me in my addiction to a 1980′s TV miniseries about pre- and post-Civil War America, and that was my best friend and roommate Rach. We were addicted to North and South and watched it every time we moved into a new room. Every time we moved out. On weekends. On sick days. We loved Orry and George, their friendship, the ridiculous accents, the costumes. Everything.
We even made a trek out to Charleston, SC to visit the houses where they filmed it and had one of the best vacations ever.
So when Rach got engaged to a fellow North & South fan (the only other person we ever met at Cornell who a) knew what North & South was and b) loved it – obviously a match made in heaven!), she asked me to make cupcakes with a perfect little nod to their favorite miniseries. Mint julep cupcakes.
I was honored to be asked to make the “wedding cake” for them, and I wanted to do it right. Knob Creek in the batter, silver cupcake liners (to represent those gorgeous silver glasses the drink is normally served in), and fresh mint leaves on top. Both the batter and frosting were a gorgeous pale green due to copious amounts of créme de menthe, but the balance was there. They were rich but refreshing, and had that bite of liquor without the aftereffects. I was incredibly proud to serve them and even prouder that they were served at an unconventional wedding done the bride and groom’s way – which is what every wedding should be.
So congrats to Rach & Brandon! May your love be as everlasting as Orry and George’s Madeline’s.
chocolate-dipped macadamia nut cookies
The Test Kitchen is swamped with cookies right now. Every few hours it feels like a new batch appears. Millionaire’s shortbread. Madelines. Pear bars. A new cookie book is in the works and you’d think it would make my desire for cookies wane, but oh no, the exact opposite has been happening. I just want cookies more now.
I whipped these together after reading the recipe in Everyday Food. I love macadamia nuts and the idea reminded me of one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the Sausalito cookie from Pepperidge Farms. Toasted macadamia nuts, bittersweet chocolate, and just the right texture of a moist inside with a delicately crisp bottom.
The chocolate is pretty thick so I didn’t dip so much as paint on the portion that is chocolate. I was tempted to break out the pastry bag and tips and do pretty designs but yeah, delusions of grandeur and laziness got the better of me. Lack of frills aside, these are still delicious and soul satisfying.
rhubarb fool
The last time I visited home my mom gave me this recipe torn out of a magazine (along with a pile of newspaper articles and miscellaneous bits of reading materials she thought I’d be interested in), so it seemed only fitting I would make it on Mother’s Day.
A fool is a British dessert traditional using layered whipped cream and egg whites with fruit puree, but this healthier pseudo-breakfast version is just as tasty. Instead of whipped cream you use thick Greek yogurt and the fruit is a quick rhubarb preserve with that perfect sweet-tart tang. This is one of those dishes that can’t decide if it’s dessert or breakfast and is deceivingly “healthy” (trust me, with all the sugar, it’s not), yet it’s still easy and delicious — two things everyone can love.
