My Top 10 Favorite Recipes of 2011

The end of 2011 is getting awfully close.  This time of year always makes me get really nostalgic and reflective on everything that happened during the year.  As I get older it feels like time goes by faster and faster (dislike!), but it also feels like more and more exciting things happen every year (like!).  2011 was definitely not an exception.

During the final days of the year, I also get excited thinking about all the things I want to accomplish during the new year.  I say this every year, I'm not one for resolutions, but I do love myself a good to-do list.  Maybe it's the same thing, but I feel better calling it something else :)  Last week I made a list of 33 things I plan to do before my 33rd birthday (next December), so I'm gonna go ahead and also use this as my 2012 list.  What do you want to do in 2012?

I've talked about my love of lists more than a few times this year, so what better way to close out 2011 than with some lists!  Here's my Top 10 Favorite Recipes of 2011:

10. Spaghetti Vongole

9. Vegetable Fried Rice with Tofu

8. Raspberry Big Crumb Coffee Cake

7. Mushroom Quinoa Soup

6. Caramelized Sea Scallops with White Wine & Ribboned Asparagus

5. Strawberry & Goat Cheese Bruschetta

4. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

3. Salted Caramel Apple Pie

2. Poached Eggs with Polenta, Braised Kale & Pancetta

1. Peanut Butter & Fleur de Sel Brownies

 There were so many delicious things to come out of the kitchen this year that it was sooo hard to narrow this list down!  It's not going to get posted until January, but last night I made an amazing Lamb Ragout....easily in my Top 5 favorites of the year.  Not photos yet, so it didn't make the official list, but I figured it at least deserved some honorable mention.  And, on that note, some other stellar honorable mentions of the year.... Fennel-Leek Soup, Maple Almond Granola, Milk Chocolate Pudding, Pineapple-Mango Chili Popsicles and Bacon Wrapped Dates with Goat Cheese.

Sweet Fingers

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas filled with family & friends, and lots of hugs, and an over-indulgence of good food & wine & cookies, and presents!  In a nutshell, that pretty much sums up my Christmas.  It was grand, and it was one of the best Christmases I've had in a while.  This year for the first time in years and years and years, all of us were together on my Dad's side of the family....it was the highlight of my day.  I feel so lucky & blessed to have such an amazing bunch of family and friends!  The second highlight of the day was the addition of a beautiful, shiny KitchenAid Stand Mixer to my kitchen!

If you feel like I've bombarded you with cookies over the past few weeks, I apologize.  And, you'll be thrilled to know this is my last post about cookies for 2011....and maybe for a bit into the New Year.

Apparently, I was on a bit of an almond kick with my Christmas cookies this year...Greek Almond-Anise Cookies, Orange-Almond Drops and now these almond-y, chocolate-y Sweet Fingers.  Totally unintentional, yet all really delicious.  I love these cookies because they're buttery, not too sweet (which is where the chocolate coating makes an awesome addition) and they're full of nutty, almond flavor.

Print Recipe

Sweet Fingers

(Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies, 2003)

Makes approx. 3 dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate, for dipping

1/2 cup shredded coconut, for garnish (optional)

1/2 cup chopped almonds, for garnish (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder & salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter & sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and almond extract, and beat until completely combined.  Mix in flour in three additions.  Fold in chocolate pieces and chopped almonds.  Refrigerate dough at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Scoop a tablespoon of dough and form into a log.  Place on parchment-lined baking sheets, and bake 12 - 15 minutes, or until the bottoms of the cookies just turn golden.  Move cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.

Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave, stirring occasionally.  Lightly dip the top third of the cookie in chocolate, then sprinkle with coconut, chopped almonds or your topping of choice.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter & Fleur de Sel Brownies and My 33 Before 33

Some days call for dessert for breakfast.....like birthdays!  But before we talk about birthdays, we should talk about Peanut Butter & Fleur de Sel Brownies.  I think the name of these scrumptious little squares and the photos pretty much speak for themselves, but just to be on the safe side, I want to tell you that these are the best, the most amazing brownies I've ever had in my 32 years of existence!  They're the perfect blend of sweet and rich and peanut buttery goodness with the tiniest hint of salt.  I had one, ok I actually had two (and it's more than possible I'll have another one before lunchtime) for breakfast today.  Being that it's my birthday I feel like I have free reign to do pretty much anything I please today....and sometimes that includes having brownies for breakfast and lunch.

I've seen something similar posted on a few other blogs, and I really, really love the idea, so I'm snatching it!  I've always been one for making lists and setting goals, so this is right up my alley.  So, here is my "33 before 33".  A list of 33 things I plan to accomplish before turning 33 (1 year from today).  Believe it or not, putting this list together was more difficult than I imagined.  About halfway through I hit a wall and my mind went blank.  Certainly there are more than 15 things I hope to do in the coming year, so I let it go and came back to the list a few days later.  This time I had the opposite problem....it was so hard to cap the list at 33! 

1. Graduate from culinary school

2. Change my career
3. Visit Colorado

4. Get new pillows
5. Run another half marathon

6. Do another triathlon

7. Read at least 20 books

8. Create a blog page that conveniently lists all my recipes (long overdue!)

9. Take a photography class

10. Run a trail race

11. Visit Tampa....or more accurately, visit my friend L who moved to Tampa :)

12. Go to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden
13. Blog at least twice a week
14. Make homemade jam
15. Learn to crochet
16. Successfully use my camera in manual mode
17. Go kayaking
18. Make marshmallows
19. Instead of email, send cards & letters, just because
20. Learn a few good Thai recipes
21. Visit the Guggenheim
22. Buy coffee for the person in line behind me 
23. Hit 100 blog followers.....this one is a little bit out of my hands, so maybe you can help me out a little...
24. Visit the Brooklyn Museum
25. Run across the George Washington Bridge
26. Spend a day at the beach
27. Plant an herb garden
28. Make cake pops
29. Watch the sun rise
30. Write a short story
31. Meet a fellow food blogger
32. Do 100 push ups in a row
33. Find my perfect lipstick color

I'll keep you posted on my progress over the coming 12 months!

What do you want to do before your next birthday?

Print Recipe

Peanut Butter & Fleur de Sel Brownies

(From Love & Olive Oil)

For Brownies:
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus

2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cold large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

For Frosting:
6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) softened butter
3/4 cup peanut butter (I prefer chunky)
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon Fleur de Sel

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil.

Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a heat-proof bowl and place over a large pot of simmering water.  The bottom of the bowl should rest in the pot but not touch the water.

Stir over medium heat.  When the butter is just about melted, remove the bowl and let the residual heat continue do the rest.  Stir until smooth.  At this point the mixture should feel warm, not hot to the touch.  If hot, wait until warm to add the eggs.

Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring until each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. Stir in the vanilla.  Add the flour, and stir about 40 times until the flour is completely incorporated and the batter is smooth and shiny.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Let cool completely on a wire rack.

To prepare the frosting, cream the butter and the peanut butter until combined. Slowly stir in the powdered sugar until completely incorporated. Spread over cooled brownies and sprinkle with Fleur De Sel.  (I like to chill the brownies in the fridge for a while....makes cutting them much easier and less messy).  Cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Orange-Almond Drops

I have good news and bad news for you.  The bad news first....I you came over here today hoping to find a post about ideas for Christmas dinner, possibly something savory and hearty, perhaps something healthy, I'm sorry to say you're out of luck.  Which brings me straight to the good news.....MORE COOKIES!  And that's pretty much what you'll be finding over here straight on through Christmas.  Cookies, cookies, cookies and more cookies....and maybe some brownies, too.

I found this recipe in Better Homes & Gardens waaaay back in 2003, I dog-eared the page with plans to make these that year.  Leading up to Christmas that year I concocted a crazy  plan to make all of the holiday cookies in the magazine.  I truly though this was viable plan.  I  bet you're not surprised to know that my plan didn't quite work out.  As the years went by the Orange-Almond Drops got lost in the shuffle.....until now.  I'm so glad I found this recipe again, these cookies are so delicious!  They're soft and sweet, and the orange and almond flavors bounce off each other perfectly.

One of my favorite parts of making these cookies was using my Microplane Zester!  Seriously, I love this thing!  Sometimes I wonder if I seek out recipes just to use this wonderful tool....it's possible.

Print Recipe

Orange-Almond Drops

(Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens Christmas Cookies, 2003)

Makes approx. 3 dozen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest

1/2 cup orange juice

3/4 cup almonds, finely chopped

Orange Frosting

2 tablespoons butter

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons orange juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Finely grated orange zest (aprrox. 1 large orange), for garnish (optional)

To make cookies:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time, fully combining with each addition.  Mix in the grated orange peel and orange juice (the mixture may looked curdled, which is fine).  Mix in the flour, until just combined.  Fold in the chopped almonds.

Refrigerate dough at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Drop a tablespoon of dough on parchment-lined baking sheets, about one inch apart.  Baking 8-10 minutes, until the bottoms are lightly browned.  Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack, and fully cool.

To make frosting:
In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients together until frosting is smooth.  Add more orange juice for thinner consistency.  Spread frosting over cooled cookies and top with orange zest.

Enjoy!

Candy Cane Thumbpints

I ate myself into cookie oblivion this weekend.  It wasn't pretty.  At least the aftermath wasn't pretty....the rest of it wasn't pretty darn spectacular.  Aside from small bits of "proper food" here and there, my diet this weekend more or less consisted of cookies and brownies.

These Candy Cane Thumbprints were some of my favorite cookies this Holiday season!  It boils down to two things...chocolate and peppermint.  Mmmm! 

Despite my sugar coma, this weekend was hugely productive!  Holiday baking is done!  I didn't do a good job of keeping track, but if I had to guess, somewhere around 17 dozens cookies, 2 batches of fleur de sel brownies (de-lish!) and 3 batches of granola came out of my oven in the past couple weeks.  Phew!  Holiday shopping is close to done!  Almost there, just 2 more gifts to go.  Packages of tasty treats for my not so local family and friends are in the mail (the post office is out of control in the week leading up to Christmas!).

Print Recipe

Candy Cane Thumbprints

(Adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies)

Makes about 2 dozen

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling

1 egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses

 

Sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Set aside.

Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, stirring until smooth.  Set aside to cool.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Mix in egg yolk, vanilla and chocolate.  Mix in flour mixture until just combined.  Refrigerate dough at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  

 

Scoop out about a tablespoon of dough and form into a ball.  Roll dough in granulated sugar to fully coat.  Place 1-inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes, until cookies just start to crack.

Remove from the oven.  Move cookies to a wire cooling rack and immediately place (and press down) a Hershey's Kiss at the center of the cookie.

Enjoy!

A Very Foodie Christmas

Have you finished your Christmas shopping yet?  Or maybe, for some of you, I should ask, have you started your shopping yet?  The clock is ticking and just 9 shopping days remain until Christmas.

I usually like to have all of my shopping done by early December.  I hate the last minute rush of scrambling to find gifts.  I'd much rather be spending my time sipping eggnog, baking cookies and going to holiday parties.  I'm a little behind this year, and I was starting to get a little nervous until I hit up the Union Square Holiday Market during lunch today.  It was a major success!  I wish I could tell you all about my purchases and show you photos, but some of the recipients are likely to be reading this, and I don't want to spoil the surprise. 

If you're stumped on ideas for what to get your favorite foodie, I have a few (ok, maybe more than a few) ideas for you!  These are all a combination of my favorite kitchen items, as well as things I'd love to add to my kitchen (are you reading, Santa?).

You can never go wrong with cookbooks!!  I love giving cookbooks, just as much as I love receiving them.

Here's some of my favorite kitchen items, along with a few I'd love to find under my tree (hi again, Santa!)....

How about a pretty set of measuring cups?

I LOVE aprons, and Anthropologie has a great, super cute selection!!  You definitely couldn't go wrong with an adorable apron and matching oven mit!  I have this set at home, and it's one of my favorites! 

I'm still rocking with a hand-held electric mixer.  It's cool, it gets the job done....but oh, how I'd love a KitchenAid Pro Series Stand Mixer

Le Creuset French Ovens are pretty lovely

Grill pans are awesome!

Whether it's 10 degrees or 100 degrees, you'll find me eating ice cream.....it's even better when it's made at home

I bet one of these bright-colored Bodum French Press Coffee Makers would liven up your morning!

Laduree Macarons....mmmm, de-lish!

The Mini Chopper is a kitchen must-have!

Don't forget about stocking stuffers!  Here are some of my favorites....

I LOVE these peelers!!

You can never have too many mini spatulas

I'm in love with OXO cookie scoops....perfect cookies every time!

I bet your foodie would be thrilled to find a Puegeot pepper mill in their stocking!

How about a Microplane Zester?!

I think you should sneak in a container of Fleur de Sel

Happy shopping!!

FCI Update & Working on the Line at L'Ecole

So, it's been a reeeallllly long time since I've given you any sort of update on my adventures in culinary school.  And by "a while", that's to say it's been almost three months since my last update!  Oops, sorry about that.  While I haven't been talking about it, I am still in culinary school and it's going really well!  I had good intentions for more frequent updates, but time just kept getting away from me.  My last FCI update, was at the end of Level 3 and just days after the stressful night that was the midterm.  Wow, thinking back, it feels like the midterm was so much longer than 3 months ago, and what seemed stressful back then, doesn't quite so bad these days.

Over the past 3 months, I completed Level 4 (hooray!) and I'll be finishing Level 5 next week.  Looking back, Level 4 felt like a complete vacation compared to the hectic evenings in the kitchen during Level 3.  I spent the first half of Level 4 cooking family meal.  Each class my group and I prepared dinner for the rest of the students and chefs in the school, upwards of maybe 150 people.  Cooking for the masses was a nice change of pace, but the last three weeks of Level 4, working on two buffets was certainly the highlight for me!

Our first buffet was on charcuterie (yum!).  We got a half pig (sliced straight down the middle from head to tail) and the pig's head, and with the help of our Chef got to work with saws, cleavers and boning knives to portion out the various cuts of me.  Butchering the pig was the highlight of Level 4 for me, no question!  We used the meat from our pig to make a few different kinds of sausage, smoked bacon, pressed ham, a wonderful stuffed pork loin and last but not least, my favorite, head cheese.

The theme of our second buffet was a fall wedding, which morphed into a Halloween wedding since our presentation fell just a couple days prior to Halloween.  There was so.much.food.

  

The "carving station" included dried fruit stuffed pork loin with cranberry demi-glace, lamb chops, lamb curry

Half of the dessert line with an assorted cookie tray, nougat, bon bons and a floating island (yum!).  Aside from cooking, I also got busy carving some pumpkins.

Cheesecloth makes an excellent spiderweb decoration.

More dessert....candy apples and pear sorbet.

A Halloween wedding wouldn't be complete without a haunted house wedding cake!

Now, I'm nearly throughLevel 5, just five more classes to go.  I have been looking forward to Levels 5 and 6 since my first day at FCI, and now actually being here feels exciting and sometimes a little surreal.    During these levels (the last 3 months of our program), we spend our "class time" working in the kitchen at L'Ecole.  My class is now divided into small group of 3-5 people.  We rotate through each station of the kitchen - appetizer (garde manger), fish (poissoiner), meat (saucier), production & veg (entremetier) & pastry (patissier), spending 4 nights at each station.  With the exception of the entremetier station, each station has 4 dishes, two Level 5 dishes and two Level 6 dishes.  During Level 6, we'll complete another rotation through the same stations, with a new set of recipes. 

I spent my first rotation in garde manger, preparing savory, rich Smoked Duck Tatin and creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Quail Confit.

My second station was poisoinnier, preparing Monkfish Osso Bucco with Risotto Milanese and Steamed Halibut with Watercress Sauce & Seared Oysters

For my third rotation I moved on to saucier, preparing Truffled Poussin with Pommes Mousseline & Haricot Vert and Pork Loin with Braised Cabbage and Cranberry Demiglace

Simply amazing....Pistachio Macaroons and Earl Gray Macaroons with Salted Caramel Filling

I lost count along the way, but I ate no less than 10 macaroons last night....I like to think of it as quality control

I'm finishing up my rotation on patissier, preparing Pumpkin Souffle with Eggnog Creme Anglaise (yes, it's just as delicious as it sounds) and Chocolate Walnut Cake with Grand Marnier Caviar.

Since the beginning of Level 1 our chefs have stressed working clean and organized.  While I've always understood the importance of this, now that we're working on the line, where space is at a real premium, I really understand the value of this.  While there are ups and downs working on each station, the absolute highlight of Level 5 was a surprise visit at the restaurant (thanks again for making my night!)!!!