Poker Face

Another simple out-of-the-box sheet cake from me. I think the theme of the party this cake is going to is obvious. I was trying to recreate her classic look when she tied her hair into a bow.
This was a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. I flipped the cake out of the silicon cake pan for a flat surface to work with. I first frosted the cake with the frosting, and then used a butter knife to cut out the shape. If you cut first and frost second, chocolate crumbs from your cake will mix with the frosting giving you a kind of 'oreo' look, which I didn't want for Miss Gaga's face. The colors were made by adding food coloring. I added the texture of hair using a fork. For the sunglasses and lips, I put the frosting into Ziplock bags, cut a tiny hole in the corner of the bags, and piped on the details. The end result: Ga-ga-ohh-la-la!

"Spanakopita" "Caprese" "Quesadillas"

Lots of quotes because this dish had several multicultural influences. This recipe about spanakopita pesto inspired me because I had a ton of spinach sitting around, and what's better with pesto than tomato and fresh mozarella? That said, I didn't want to put it all in a grilled caprese sandwich because bread felt too heavy, so I decided to go with tortillas instead. Phew, that's a long chain of thought. Anyway, the whole meal turned out delicious! I'm happy to have lots of leftover ingredients so I can make these again!

Pesto Ingredients (makes enough pesto to generously layer in ~5 quesadillas)

2 c. baby spinach leaves, packed

1/2 c. mint leaves, packed

3 Tbsp walnuts

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp dried minced garlic

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp lemon juice

Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until combined. It's that simple!

For the quesadillas, I just heated up a lightly greased griddle, placed one tortilla on, smothered it in the pesto, the chopped some tomato and mozarella slices on top, and put another tortilla on. I absolutely LOVE the griddle for this sort of this. It's basically a big pan with no sides to worry about! Anyway also, I tried trader joe's handmade whole wheat tortillas, and they were incredible! I love that place! Also, next time, to go with the spinach, I'm going to try making these quesadillas with feta...mmm!

Happy Mother's Day!

Just a little shout out to all our moms! :)

Simple Guacamole & Hummus

Guacamole: California + avocados = awesome. For reals. The easiest way to entertain is to have a bowl of fresh, homemade guacamole and some chips, so that's just what I did. I forgot to take pictures that time, but decided to make another batch for a BBQ with friends - they spread it on the hamburgers to make guacamole hamburger - that was absolutely delicious. :)

Ingredients
3 ripe Hass avocados
2-3 fresh Roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 onion, diced (I used white, but I'm thinking red would be better).
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp black pepper

1. Cut the avocados in half, slicing around the pit. Remove the pit. Make horizontal and vertical cuts into the avocado shell, making sure to not pierce the shell itself. With a spoon, scoop out the meat in cubes. Mash with the lemon juice to keep it from turning black. You could also keep 1/2 an avocado separate from the mash, cut it into smaller cubes, and mix it in to make the guac chunky.
2. Mix in the tomatoes and onions, adjusting the amount to your taste and based on the size of your tomatoes and onions.
3. Add the spices. Adjust amount to your taste. I personally prefer a little more cayenne pepper and sometimes also a dash of paprika. Serve with chips.


Hummus: Along with guacamole, I also like making a simple hummus. I thought about adding roasted peppers, but decided to leave that for next time. I don't like garlic, so I didn't add any of that. Turns out this is a very simple dip to make, and is both healthy and cheap. I don't know why store-bought hummus is always so expensive, when the ingredients are so cheap and the process so effortless. I forgot to bring cayenne pepper & paprika when I made the BBQ's hummus though, and that changed the flavor a lot - I recommend not skipping that.

Ingredients
2 cans 16oz chick peas, or garbanzo beans
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp tahini (optional)

1. Drain the garbanzo beans. Reserve the liquid from 1 can.
2. Put the garbanzo beans and lemon juice in the food processor. Blend for a few minutes, using a spoon at intervals to mix it and make sure all the skins are being minced. Add the olive oil, spices, tahini. Add the reserved liquid a little at a time, blending in between, until you get the thickness and consistency you want. Adjust spices to taste.
3. That's it! So simple!

I keep talking about a BBQ, and thought it would be fitting to end this post with a picture of the BBQ, so here you go - open flame! (I'm starting to think I might have something of a pyro streak in me...)

Cream Puffs!

I originally considered making a whole croquembouche for my parents' anniversary, but then decided it'd be too hard to move and whatnot, so ended up just making the cream puffs instead. I also brought some to a BBQ with old friends, where it was very welcome. :) I like a richer filling than normal whipped cream, so I tried a cheese filling instead, and I gotta say, it worked out OK. After one bite, one of my friends declared I should start all dates by feeding the guy one of these.

Puffs
Ingredients
1 cup water
1 stick unsalted butter
1/2 Tbsp sugar
dash of salt
1 cup flour
4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Over high heat, bring water, butter, sugar, and salt to a boil. Turn off heat and mix in the flour; it should pull away from the edges of the pot into a ball of dough. Wait a few minutes for it to cool slightly, then add one egg at a time, mixing to incorporate the whole egg before adding the next. The batter should be thick, but thin enough to slowly fall from a wooden spoon - add another egg if it's still too thick.
2. Transfer the batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large, plain tip. Pipe 1" round, 1/2" high disks onto a foil or wax paper lined baking sheet, leaving some space in between each dollop. With a wet finger, knock down the tip of each dollop. Bake at 425F for 15min until puffy, then drop the temperature to 375F for another 10-15min, until golden brown.
3. Peel the puffs off the foil immediately; once the foil cools, it'll be hard to peel them off without peeling the bottom off the puff.

Filling
Ingredients
2/3 cup mascarpone
2/3 cup ricotta
3 Tbsp sugar (more to taste)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix ingredients together. I couldn't figure out a way to pipe it into the puffs, so just slice the puffs halfway in the center and spoon a dollop of the filling inside, then close.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today I made another great recipe from Lovin From the Oven, her Grandma's Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies (I cut her recipe in 1/4th since it makes an obscene amount of cookies).

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 and 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
15 oz dark chocolate chips
3 oz white chocolate chips
3 oz milk chocolate chips

Directions: Combine butter, shortening, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until well mixed. Separately mix flour, baking soda, and salt and add to butter-sugar mixture until mixed. Add chocolate chips. Drop in spoonfuls on cookie sheet, bake at 375 for 11 minutes or until lightly brown.
The recipe claims to make 3 dozen, although I've found it makes about 4 dozen (unless you like your cookies giant).

You might notice that this looks almost exactly like the Nestle Tollhouse Recipe. In fact, there are only two differences: 1) subbing out half the butter for shortening, and 2) using different varieties, and a larger total amount, of chocolate chips. Shortening is apparently really ridiculously bad for you (something or other about trans fats...psh) but I think it makes cookies so excellent, because it has a higher melting point than butter or margarine, so the cookies don't spread out very much! They stay nice and fat, just the way I like them :P I also like my cookies loaded with chips, but if you don't, you could cut that down a little.

Chocolate Butterscotch Brownies

I couldn't decide if I wanted butterscotch brownies (like these) or just plain old chocolate brownies, so i thought, why not mix them?? The result was pretty ridiculous--incredibly chocolatey and rich and gooey with a crispy crust on top and amazing and probably all eaten in the next two hours hahaha

1 1/2 Tbsp butter

1/4 c oil

1 Tbsp instant coffee

1 c brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c flour

1/2 c cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour an 8x8 baking dish.

Melt butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl. Stir in oil, instant coffee, and sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Sift the remaining ingredients into the bowl and mix to combine. Pour and spread into prepared pan. The batter will be really thick and sticky, so carefully spread it out in the pan.

Bake for ~30 min and then test with a toothpick. Remove from the oven and allow to cool to make cutting them easier.