Meyer lemon, rosemary, black pepper mousse & chocolate-dipped ginger shortbread

Posted on May 8, 2012 by Magpies

Meyer lemon mousse & ginger shortbread cookie

When I was 12 or 13, my friend and I made dinner for our parents. The whole meal – cordials, a main course, dessert. Our parents gave us complete freedom in the kitchen, and bravely agreed to eat whatever we set in front of them. I think I had just stopped eating meat at the time, but apparently I wasn’t averse to cooking it for others, because we boiled a whole chicken with copious amounts of dried thyme. (The smell of dried thyme still makes me think of that day!) We boiled a whole chicken! I can’t claim to know how to cook chicken, to be honest, but that just doesn’t sound right! We made little cordials with (our parents’) brandy and crushed blackberries. I’d drink that in real life! And for dessert we combined whipped cream, lemon juice and sugar, and then we froze it. That’s right, we made lemon ice cream. I made a meyer lemon mousse, yesterday, and the whole process reminded me of that day.

I like anything that combines lemon and cream. It’s such an unlikely combination – surely the cream should curdle! But no, it’s like magic! It all stays together, and the tartness of the lemon is such a nice contrast to the, um, the creaminess of the cream. As you may recall, I was very excited the other day to have discovered a method of making non-chocolate mousse without gelatin. The secret was pastry cream, my new best friend – so satisfying to make, so fail-proof, so thick and creamy when it’s done. Is this really the same substance that I found kinda gross in cream donuts all these years? Could it be? I infused the pastry cream with a couple of rosemary branches…I think I may have been inspired by a recipe for rosemary apple ice cream that Liz kindly left in the comments! And I added black pepper, for a little kick. I’ve made bread with rosemary, lemon and black pepper, and I like the fact that all three ingredients comfortably straddle the sweet/savory divide. They’ve taken a little leap over to the sweet side, in this dish! The rosemary is quite subtle, because I didn’t leave any actual bits of rosemary in. Maybe next time! And now we’re wondering, here at the test kitchens of The Ordinary, when a mousse is actually a mousse. This was thick, it was creamy, it was light, and it was delicious. It wasn’t exactly frothy or airy, though. Need it be, to be a mousse? Is it a pudding? A custard? Questions to be set before the creamy dessert division of The Ordinary.

Lemon syrup

The cookies are thin, crispy ginger shortbread rounds, coated in bittersweet chocolate. I made a ginger shortbread crust for a tart the other day, and I’ve been determined to try it in cookie form ever since. Very nice dipped in coffee, very nice dipped in meyer lemon mousse!

Here’s Gene Krupa with Lemon Drop
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Isaac’s ultimate nutella-filled pretzels

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Magpies

Isaac had strep throat twice this winter. It’s almost a relief when you get the diagnosis, because you know what it is, and you know how to treat it. There must have been a time before antibiotics were discovered that it would have been such dire news. The medicine usually kicks in right away, but you can’t send the kid to school for another twenty-four hours. I like that grace period! I like spending a day with one of my boys, when it almost seems like they’re playing hooky, because they feel well enough to do (quiet) fun things. We’re always both a little tired, from nights of staying up feeling ill or worrying (I do a lot of that!), so it’s nice to cuddle on the couch and read, or draw, or sit in the sunshine. Or bake! It seems to have become a tradition that we’ll bake cookies, usually based on some idea of the boys’ clever little brains.

nutella-filled pretzels

This nutella-filled pretzel cookie, though, is something I’ve been scheming about for a while. Over the summer it was all the rage to dip skinny little pretzel sticks into a giant jar of nutella. (An invention of their cousin, Evan) It is an oddly perfect combination. Mild and salty meets almost-too-sweet. So that’s what we decided to do here. I wasn’t sure if the nutella would stay inside the pretzel, what with all the baking and the boiling. I was delighted that it (mostly) did! On a few of the pretzels, the nutella leaked out and somehow melded with the salt and the butter and lord knows what else to form completely delicious little crispy chips. Someday…I will find a way to make them.

We mixed up the dough, and then we had to let it rest for an hour, so I suggested Isaac have some lunch while we wait. “A lunch break!” he declared. “This is the first job I’ve ever had where I got a lunch break!”

These cookie pretzels are very popular in my family at the moment. Although for some reason David keeps saying, “you shouldn’t have done this!” They are dangerously good!!

We went to the doctor twice, and both times, this song was playing when we drove back down the flower-lined streets of our town. Isaac said, “this is one of my favorite songs at the moment.” Which is funny, cause it’s one of my favorite songs of all time. It’s Barbara Dane with Ramblin’ Round. I’ve heard it a million times, and it makes me weepy every single time I hear it, as though I’ve never heard it before.

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crispy lacy almond cookies

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Magpies

crispy almond cookies

I’ve always wondered if I could smell or taste or feel in a dream. It’s all a little vague, but I’m fairly sure I can see and hear. Exactly how much are dreams like movies, anyway? Surely since smell and taste are so closely related to memory, and dreams are fantastical jumbles of memory, these senses should play some part? I just didn’t know. Well, last night, my dream provided solid and concrete evidence that I have a sense of smell in my dreams. I dreamt that I was making black beans (as one does in one’s dreams, right?). In my dream, I went to sleep, but woke up hours later with the house on fire, and the terrible smell of burnt black beans in my nose. The panic! The guilt! Well, I woke up in real life, after waking up from the dream in the dream, and I was sure that I could smell smoke! But I couldn’t, and the sense of it passed, and I went back to sleep. Have you ever smelled or tasted anything in a dream?

The other day my friends Treefrogdemon and SpottedRichard asked about a thin crispy cookie. I made one, with rum and coarse salt. But Spotted Richard said she’d imagined something with almond. And so, to be honest, had I. So I tried again. I had two leftover egg whites, and I decided to use them to make a light, thin cookie with almost no flour. (I was worried that this would be one of those occasions that I waste a whole cupboardful of ingredients trying to use up two egg whites, but luckily these turned out very tasty!) They’re thin and lacy and crispy, almost like almond toffee.

Here’s Yellow on the Broom, by Jean Redpath, because I think Treefrogdemon and SpottedRichard will like it, and because springtime is here again!!
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Cadbury creme egg tarts

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Magpies

Cadbury creme egg tarts

Here at The Ordinary, we are done baking with cadbury mini eggs (until the next time!). We’ve used the milk and royal dark mini-eggs in cookies. But we hadn’t used the mini creme eggs. That was a bridge we’d have to cross. Some might say a bridge too far. As you are no doubt aware, I am a scholar of savory pastries, and It has come to my attention that throughout the world you find some variation or a pastry with a crust, a soft yet firm inner layer, and a hard-boiled egg hidden inside. This would be the starting point for our mini creme egg experiments. The jumping-off point from that bridge too far. So I made little tarts, with a paté sucrée crust (kind of shortbread-y) a blackcurrant-almond filling, and one mini-egg hidden in each one. I was very curious to see how the creme eggs would fare in a hot oven. They sort of melted, but they’re still recognizable as creme eggs, I think. I like them! My boys love them! David thinks they’d be better without the cadbury creme egg, because what the heck is that cremey stuff made out of, anyway?!? My one regret is that I mixed the blackcurrant jam with the almond paste, rather than including it as a layer. But only because it turned the inside a bit grey, not because it doesn’t taste good. I think if you used raspberry jam, the whole thing would be pink and pretty. I don’t know for sure – I might have to try it!

Here’s The Smiths with Sweet and Tender Hooligan. Because these are tender, and decidedly sweet. And we’ll never never never do it again…
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Salted rum crispy cookies

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Magpies

Salted rum cookies

My friends Treefrogdemon and Spotted Richard (yes, those are their real names!) made a lovely dessert containing mango and coconut. They thought it would go nicely with a thin, crispy biscuit. (They’re in England, so I’m going to say biscuit instead of cookie). They asked me to create such a biscuit. I was thrilled! I love a challenge.

I wanted something simple, because too much flavor would detract from the main dessert event. So no spices, no chocolate. I thought about rum, because it goes nicely with coconut, and it’s a sweet, subtle flavor. And then I thought about salt. Perhaps because Treefrogdemon drinks margaritas on Friday evenings! (But does she salt the rims? I don’t know!). So this is what I came up with. They’re crispy on the outside, but they’re chewy on the inside. Good – but not exactly what I had in mind. I’ll just have to keep trying until I come up with something crispy all the way through. In the meantime, these were a very big hit in my house. Malcolm liked everything but the salt, which he said was too strong of a flavor. And Isaac liked the salt the best.

I made a sort of promise to myself never to post a recipe without a picture and a song. I’m going to make a temporary exception for this one, because I’d like Treefrogdemon and Spotted Richard to pick one song each, that they think goes with this post. And then I’ll add the songs!! Guest DJ!

Treefrogdemon’s wonderful choice is Sally MacLennane, by the Pogues. Love it!

And Spotted Richard chose Sara, by Bob Dylan. I love this one, too. It makes me weepy. Memory and regret!
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Dulce de leche blondies

Posted on March 14, 2012 by Magpies

Blondies

We, here at The Ordinary, ate too many brownies some time in midwinter. As we lay with a glazed look in our eyes and crumbs on our bellies, we said, “I’m never eating brownies again.” Oh, I know, we’ve all said it, after a rough bout of brownie eating. But this time we meant it. Cakes and cookies and tarts? Sure. But no brownies. Fortunately, we didn’t say anything about blondies! So here we go! I had a half a can of sweetened condensed milk leftover from my almond quince cake. What a strange and magical substance sweetened condensed milk is. Who thought of it? How was it invented? Or was it discovered, like a rare and elusive natural phenomenon? For some reason it always makes me think of those 50s food ads from magazines, with the oddly fascinating coloration. The truth is, it’s a really nice taste. There’s something so comforting about the sweet, thick milkiness.

I seem to have made some indelible connection between dulce de leche and sweetened condensed milk. I didn’t use it when I made dulce de leche, but I bought a can then, just in case! Once again, I didn’t actually use dulce de leche in this recipe, but I melted brown sugar, butter and sweetened condensed milk to start it out, and that’s what I thought of.

The result is complete deliciousness. I’ve never made a brownie or a blondie with a more crackly top. And the inside is delightfully chewy and fudgy.

Here’s Blondie with Atomic. Wouldn’t you like to be Deborah Harry, living in NYC when this came out?
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Alfajores

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Magpies

I suppose this is the first stop on the super bodega express. I had thought about making this series well-planned and carefully organized. It’s not going to be that way. It’s going to be how I actually travel – vague and meandering. Wandering. The exciting thing about food, for me, is that one thing leads to another – one flavor makes you think of another, and combining them sends you off in different directions entirely!

I bought some guava paste at the Super Tropical Food Market. I’m very taken with it! I’ll tell you why. I’d read that when the Portuguese had trouble finding quince in Brazil, with which to make their membrillo, they fixed upon guava instead, as an acceptable substitute. I love quince paste! And I’m fascinated by the way foods changed as people moved throughout the world, according to the ingredients available and their needs at the time. That’s partly why I’m so intrigued by savory pastries, after all. And guava paste is lovely. It’s glowing and rosy and pretty, and I can think of a million ways to cook with it!

guava paste

Let’s start with these cookies! First of all, they’re not officially alfajores, they’re just my odd version of them. It all started when we watched a beautiful Uraguayan movie called Gigante. It made me curious about Uruguayan food, of course! And I read about a pastry that combines quince, dulce de leche and chocolate. Which sounds perfect, doesn’t it? And then I read about this cookies – alfajores, which are thin shortbread discs, connected with dulce de leche and enrobed in white or dark chocolate. Well! I had to make some! The description reminded me of the empire biscuits that my scottish mother-in-law makes, so I adapted her recipe for the cookie part – adding a bit of cinnamon and vanilla, because I thought they’d be nice with the guava paste and the dulce de leche. And then when I found the guava paste at the good old super tropical, I knew that would be in there as well. I made them tiny, because they really do combine a lot of very sweet flavors, if you think about it! They’re almost like little candies. And they taste wonderful! Everything combines to some mysterious taste that’s much bigger than the sum of its parts.

dulce de leche

I made the dulce de leche myself. (And very proud of myself I am, too!) I’ve always loved dulce de leche…it seems to combine elegance with the childish pleasures of warm milk and sticky caramel. I’ll include the recipe for that after the jump.

Here’s Carita de Alfajor by Fidel. I like the song a lot, but I don’t know what he’s saying. I should learn some languages!
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