The Petit Four

Because it’s Thursday and Thursdays always need some sprucing up to help us get to the weekend faster, here are some things in the last few days that have made me unbelievably happy:

Nerd awesomeness number one –
My weekly Econundrums newsletter from Mother Jones was safely delivered in my inbox on Monday, equipped with a carbon calculator for my food!

Why is that important?  Well, Kiera Butler from MJ is here to explain -

Cows have become famous for trampling the planet: A four-ounce serving of steak creates 10.6 pounds of greenhouse gases, the same as a 95-mile car trip. But foregoing meat that once mooed without considering the carbon impact of the rest of your diet? That’s a little like telling someone who’s counting calories that the bacon explosion is off limits, but corn dogs, pizza, and chocolate cake are all fair game.

With books and movies like Fast Food Nation, Food, Inc., The Omnivore’s Dilemma, we’ve all thought (or at least pretended) to think about where our food comes from and what has to happen for it to get into our bellies.   And by now, we’ve heard the basic message – eat less meat, eat more plants. But it isn’t always that simple. Bon Appétit (the catering company, not the Condé Nast publication) has served up a calculator that can help you make ethically-minded eating choices.

The calculator’s not entirely accurate, but it gives you a gist of how many carbon points are in a generic piece of food. You choose a category and a food item, drop it in the frying pan and voilà! You have a general estimate of how much carbon was produced to make your lunch.

And what’s this thing about carbon points? Econundrums explains:

Foods are assigned point values based on their greenhouse gas emissions—one point equals .035 oz. of emissions. Researchers took into account both the agricultural and shipping emissions associated with each food—for a detailed account of their methodology, click on “What do these points mean?”.

And I say it’s a general estimate because there are some inaccuracies in that it doesn’t factor in certain environmental elements…and it’s produced by a catering company. But then again, it doesn’t tout itself as the end all be all. But I still think it’s pretty neat and that it can help people to make more environmentally-conscious (and healthier) food choices.

Nerd awesomeness number two. NPR time!

NPR is pretty great. You get great reporting, interesting stories that actually mean something (see any local TV news broadcast at 5 to see the opposite), and a way to continue learning about the world around you – all for free! Plus sometimes you can get pretty sweet swag if you donate. And now one of my favorite NPR news shows, All Things Considered, just released a cake cookbook, All Cakes Considered. Political news with baking? Be still, my beating heart.

Melissa Gray, an ATC producer, wrote this book after bringing a cake to work every Monday. It has a focus on American-style, comfy, down-to-earth cakes with recipes for things like the bundt cake of all bundt cakes, The Tunnel of Fudge, and others like the Brown Sugar Pound Cake. And I’m not only excited about the different kinds of cakes in the book, but also because of the writing that goes on in between the recipes. Gray has produced some of my favorite ATC stories.

I haven’t gotten my hands on a complete copy of the book, but I’ve secured a few of the recipes and am anxious to try them out.  But I’m pretty confident that NPR + Cake = Great.

And bonus - I found this on Flickr. Man, does it make me miss my dog.

Nelson! *I have no idea what is on his tongue. I don't really want to know.

There needs to be an amendment on the “There’s nothing as American as apple pie” statement. It’s just not true. The English gave us our version of apple pie.  The Dutch make a mean apple pie too. And those francophones have their tarte tatin.

Instead, I propose it should be “There’s nothing as American as chocolate chip cookies and brownies.”

Nobody makes a tray of chocolate chip cookies or a pan of brownies like an American. In Brussels’  grocery stores, they have a brownie mix in a box. The cover is vaguely 1970s in a horrifying outdated sort of way, which makes me wonder if it has been sitting on the shelf since 1973. The picture of the brownie itself is also pretty scary. It resembles a square form of… number two, to put it politely.

So this weekend, after my students started to get twitchy and unfocused as they’ve begun to go through their Mexican food withdrawal and started to bemoan the lack of brownies in their life, I found several bars of chocolate in my grocery basket and a task to bake.

Brownies, like chocolate chip cookies, have a mythical beginning. Nobody really knows who invented them or what the real Creation Story is behind the brownie. Some say it was created in the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago at the Palmer Hotel.  The ladies who luncheon needed a chocolate cake dessert but also needed it so they could eat with their fingers while viewing the expositions. Some say Fannie Farmer created it for her cookbook. And my personal favorite - a certain Mrs. Brown forgot to add baking soda to her chocolate cake destined for a bake sale. Not having enough time to make another cake, she cooled her flat chocolate cake, cut it in squares and took it to her church bake sale. And brownies were born. (Interestingly, here is a website that compares the evolution of the brownie recipe.)

Brownies can come in many forms – swirled with caramel, dotted with macademia nuts, topped with ice cream, fudgy, chewy, cakey. There are whole cookbooks devoted just to brownies and a person would be very hard pressed to find a brownie version they didn’t like.

I decided to try out these “Adult” brownies banging around the Serious Eats message boards. And hello! Fudgey brownies are really, really delicious. The heady combination of intense chocolate flavor and coffee is decadent enough to make you want a cigarette afterward. Thank god my students are getting all of these – they lead to bad decisions. And me being about 50 pounds heavier.

Some tips for baking brownies –

In general, if you want your brownies (or cookies!) chewier, try reducing the amount of flour by a ¼ cup or add 3 tablespoons of corn syrup. But since the latter is a little nasty and not as good for you, try reducing the flour first.

If you want a light, slightly crackly crust on your brownies and one that isn’t tough, ditch your mixer and beat by hand.

Metal pans bake things quicker than glass. In general, recipes give you a wide range of “done” times because it depends on what type of pan you are using. Metal conducts heat a lot quicker than glass, so your goods will be done much quicker. Also, to be on the safe side, you should start checking for doneness (metal or glass) every five minutes after 20 minutes.

It helps to mix your sugar and vanilla together first before adding it to the rest of the ingredients.  This ensures an even distribution of the vanilla and gives your baked goods a smoother, subtler taste throughout.

Butter-Brick Brownies with Coffee and Salt
Adapted slightly from Tam Ngo

2 tablespoons (1 1/2 stick or 6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
8 ounces milk chocolate (41% cocoa), coarsely chopped
8 ounces dark chocolate (64% cocoa), coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 cup all-purpose flour, sifted (you can go for 1/2 cup here if you want. I did just a 1/4 cup though and they were fudgey fudgey fudgey. Mmmm.)
1 teaspoon fleur de sel or sea salt
1 tablespoon dark coffee grounds, like mocha or dessert coffee

Preheat over to 325F.  Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper so that there is enough overhang to work as handles.

Create a double boiler on very low heat by placing a large metal over a pot of simmering water, place the chocolate and cubed butter. Stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and stir until smooth.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine sugar and vanilla.  After the chocolate mixture has cooled to touch, pour the chocolate into the vanilla-sugar.  Next, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour, salt, and coffee and mix vigorously by hand for 5 minutes.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and tap the pan on a counter top to even out the batter. Bake for 22 minutes, take out the pan, and tap the pan on the counter twice to further even out and condense the batter. Rotate and reinsert the pan to bake for another 22 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out moist but free of uncooked batter. You made need to adjust baking time and bake longer. The less flour you use, the more time it takes to bake.

Remove the pan from the oven and place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove the brownies from the pan using the parchment handles and place the brownies on the rack. Cool completely before cutting.

Tam Ngo based these off of brownies at Andronico’s in Berkely, California, which are famous for the brick-like texture.  Tam emphasizes that to make the brownies more brick-like, you need to let the brownies condense and collapse onto itself.  The way to do this is to let the brownies “stale” for a little bit.  I let them stale for about a day and a half and they worked beautifully.  Brick-ish and easy to handle.  The brownies might also seem a bit oily as they come out of the oven.  As they cool, the brownies will reabsorb the oil and work to make the brownies more condensed and fudgey.

Sometimes I have this weird ability to make myself insanely busy. Or overcomplicating things. And I don’t always match said weird talent with a companion talent like say, being able to balance everything.

So when I feel like I’m trying to dodge an impending ball of work (think opening scene of Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark), nothing clears my head and calms me down quite like baking. The methodical sifting, stirring, pouring, folding massages out the lines of frustration etched onto my day. No matter how many times I mess up a verb conjugation or my tired brain says “garbaaage” instead of détritus, I can’t really mess up baking if I just follow the directions.  What matters is that I bake chocolate chip cookies while listening to This American Life.

The chocolate chip cookie has a certain allure to it. It’s a basic combination of flour, butter, sugar and chocolate, but it somehow has managed to create this certain je ne sais quoi that gets people up in arms about the perfect cookie. Some people, like the New York Times, think they have the Chocolate Chip Cookie’s “come hither” taste down to a science, claiming that it is the ultimate chocolate chip cookie. Others have certain rules and procedures they follow when making the “perfect” cookie. But I say to hell with it. Part of the reason why the Chocolate Chip Cookie is great, why it has that certain je ne sais quoi quality, is because it’s true essence lies in its simplicity. You, a bowl, and a wooden spoon. A powerful combination that can result in something that will make most men weak in the knees. If you try and deconstruct the cookie you’re missing the point. So, I won’t claim this is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe, I’ll just say that it’s just damn good and the act of making it is therapeutic perfection.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Dorie Greenpan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2/3 cups brown sugar
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment or spray with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together.

In a large bowl, beat butter on medium speed for about 1 minute until smooth (you can use a wooden spoon if you want.)  Add the sugars and beat for another 2 minutes until well blended.  Beat in the vanilla.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each egg is added to fully incorporate into the batter.  Reduce mixer speed to low to avoid spraying, and slowing add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing only until each addition is fully incorporated.

With a wooden spoon, mix in chocolate and nuts if you are using them.

Dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Spoon the dough by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between spoonfuls.

Place the cookies in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. At the midway point during baking, rotate the baking sheet.  The cookies will be done when they are brown around the edges and golden in the center.  Pull the baking sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for 5 minutes before transferring to cool on racks.

Sometimes you have to take one for the team. Sometimes, taking one for the team means doing math. Lots of calculated leaps and jumps. Lots of converting and realizing that it’s really pointless to not function on the metric system sort of math.

So it was my birthday. And on birthdays, you make cakes. And even though I’m here, in one of the culinary capitals of the world and there are hundreds upon hundreds of sensory overloadingly delicious tartes, gateaus and pastries that await me, I wanted to make my own birthday cake. To connect with the kitchen again (albeit a very college boy one – my mixing bowl was a stock pot with a missing handle) and also because my birthday was on a Sunday and nothing – including the patisseries – is open on Sunday.

But it was ok. I purchased Nigella Lawson’s Feast as a birthday present for myself and already picked a cake to tackle. But there were a couple of obstacles to overcome.

1. I purchased a cookbook written by a Brit and purchased in Europe. I’m American. I think in cups and ounces. Not grams or milliliters.
2. My aforementioned kitchen. I’m in temporary housing (read: an open student apartment, one that is usually reserved for boys.) and while the kitchen is functioning, it’s not really designed for students who really like to cook. So my supplies are limited as they aren’t here or broken.
3. My neighborhood grocery store supplies dozens of different types of sugar (albeit, all of the non-confectionary kind) but absolutely no flour. I was on a hunt.

The challenge was on. It was Emily v. Honey Chocolate Cake in Europe. Or really, Emily v. mathematical conversions. Or, Science Math Cake.

The result? Well. Here are my notes from converting the recipe into categorical measurements that made sense to me (I am now a staunch supporter of a Metric Revolution in the States).  This page was consulted more than the cookbook itself.

It didn’t actually turn into the disaster that I was expecting it to become. The cake that came out of the oven is a dense, slightly gooey affair. If chocolate cake and baklava had a baby, I imagine this is what it would be. It’s not a subtle cake. The chocolate and honey are very present (surprise, right?), and as a bold, dark cake, it pairs really well with coffee. You don’t need a lot of it, which is nice. I can freeze and have birthday cake for the whole summer!

_

And I really like the frosting. It’s more like a chocolate glaze than your traditional birthday frosting and since it’s consistency comes from the honey, you want to wait about an hour after you top the cake before serving so it can harden a bit. I’ve been having all sorts of visions and ideas about other baked goods that would benefit from donning this glaze. And there are a lot. It’s an exciting new discovery.

Honey Chocolate Cake from Nigella Lawson

I was going to post two versions of the recipe.  One in metric and typed verbatim from the book.  The second was going to be my calculated version.  But I looked at the math calculations and realized I didn’t actually mark what was what, so I would have to do it all over again.  And you know?  It’s still within 48 hours of my birthday so I’m pulling the “It’s my birthday, I can do what I want” excuse to just…not do it.  At least for now because I would be really interested to see if the cake comes out wildly different.

Nigella’s Version:

For the cake:
100g dark chocolate
275g light muscovado sugar (think brown sugar on steroids.  I just used the darkest brown sugar I could find)
225g soft butter (at room temp)
125ml runny honey
2 eggs
200g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking soda (or bicarbonate of soda if you’re British.  Curiously, baking soda isn’t sold in grocery stores here, but in pharmacies.)
1 tablespoon cocoa
250ml boiling water

For the sticky honey glaze:
60 ml water
125 ml runny honey
175g dark chocolate
75g icing sugar

Preheat oven to 180C and butter and line a 23cm springform pan.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a boiling pot of water. Set aside to cool off just a bit.Beat sugar and butter until creamy, and then add honey.  Add one of the eggs, mixing it in with one tablespoon of flour, and then the other egg with an additional tablespoon of flour.  Fold in the melted chocolate along with the remaining flour and baking soda.  Add the cocoa (sieve it if it’s clumpy) and finally the boiling water.  Mix well so it becomes a smooth batter and pour into tin.  Cook for up to an hour and a half, though check the cake after 45 minutes.  If it still needs baking, check every 15 minutes by sticking a toothpick or fork in.

Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack.

While the cake is cooling, make the glaze.  Bring the water and honey to a boil in a small saucepan.  Once it reaches boiling, remove from heat and stir in the chopped chocolate.  Once it’s melted, whisk in the confectioners sugar until smooth.  Pour the icing over the cold honey chocolate cake and smooth down the sides.

Wait at least an hour for the glaze to harden or you are going to have a dark, sticky, gooey mess on you. And the table. and the counter.  And maybe even your walls.  Don’t stay I didn’t warn you.

I’ve been such a tease lately. Here I go, promising things like ice cream and donuts, and then play hard to get.  And now it feels like I can’t even seal the deal on the donuts.  My brain has just been so scattered lately that I haven’t been able to focus.

I know it’s just plain rude to act in such a manner, and I’m sorry. But like all good relationship lines, I want you to know it’s me. Not you. I just haven’t been able to give you my all in the last few weeks, but there’s a reason. A damn good reason.

I’m moving to Belgium.

In two weeks.

Everything has been put into a frenetic pace and nothing has gotten done.  The massive amount of dirty dishes in my sink can attest to this.  It hasn’t quite kicked in that I will be living in one of my favorite places in the world. The beer. The chocolate. The fries. The beer! Be still, my beating heart.

Needless to say, I’m incredibly excited. It’s a great opportunity and I can’t wait to get over there. So I hope you can understand why I have waited so long to seal the deal. But like all good things, this is worth the wait.

Brioche Donuts with Chocolate Ganache
From Hot Chocolate in Chicago, adapted from Time Out Chicago

The real recipe is really complex and overwhelmed me, so I didn’t use their brioche recipe.  If you want, check it out here.  Otherwise, do as follows and you’ll get moan-worthy results.  Trust me.

I just used Mark Bittman’s recipe for Brioche and went from there.

Brioche
4 cups all-purpose flour, and more if you need it
1 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsps. instant yeast
8 tablespoons cold butter, cut into chunks, and some to grease your pans
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup milk, plus 2 tbsps.
1/3 cup water, plus more if necessary

For Ganache:
10 oz 64% chocolate
1 cup heavy cream

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a food processor and blend for 5 seconds. Add the cold butter chunks and the three whole eggs and process for ten seconds.

With your food processor running, pour the 1/2 cup milk and the 1/3 cup water through the feed tube. Make sure you don’t drizzle because you want the dough to be wet enough to spin, not clunk around your food processor. Process for about 30 seconds.

The dough should be batter-like. If it’s too dry, slowly add additional water, 1 tbsp. at a time. It’s also ok if your butter doesn’t completely blend. I actually like have little tiny chunks of butter in the dough because when it bakes, you get these beautiful, tender little pockets dispersed throughout the loaf.

Grease a large bowl with butter and scrape your dough into it. Cover and let rise until at least doubled in size, about 2 to 3 hours. Deflate the dough and use just enough flour to handle the dough. Divide the dough into two lumps and shape them into rectangles. Place each loaf into a buttered loaf pan, cover, and let rise for another hour.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough approximately a half-inch thick. Cut doughnuts with a cookie cutter and cut hole in the middle of each doughnut using a smaller cookie cutter. Or you could cut them out using a glass and then cut out the center with an apple corer, which is what I did. Set aside to rise in a warm, draft-free space until they’ve risen and are slightly puffy, about 30 minutes.

While doughnuts are rising, make ganache. Roughly chop chocolate and place in a medium mixing bowl. Set aside. In a small sauce pot, bring heavy cream to a boil. Pour over the chopped chocolate, coating entirely. Let sit one minute, then whisk cream and chocolate together to form a smooth, shiny ganache.

Attach a deep-fry thermometer to a heavy pot, and heat about three inches of canola frying oil to 350 degrees. Fry the doughnuts two or three at a time, about one minute per side, until golden brown. Remove from oil, drain on paper towels and toss in granulated sugar to coat while still warm. Serve warm with a small bowl of chocolate ganache for dipping.

In my mind, cinnamon rolls = truck stops. And not just any truck stop, but The Wheel Inn. Growing up, The Wheel Inn was the place to go to hide in the back booths, consume massive, plate-sized cinnamon rolls or pineapple-strawberry milkshakes on seventies-orange Formica tabletops, and indulge in an illegal cigarette or two…or pack. And since it was open 24 hours, it was always there to welcome you with open arms.

I spent an embarrassing amount of time there in high school.

In a brief claim to fame validating The Wheel Inn’s existence (and the number of hours I spent there), Jeff Goldblum stopped there one fated summer night mid-road trip.  Legend has it (on the authority of my friends Marisa and Elyse who had the nerve to sit and drink coffee with him) he, like many who came before him, rustled up some late-night driving energy on The Wheel’s famed cinnamon rolls.  I’m sure he dove into the heaping, swirly pile of warm gooeyness with reckless abandon.  It’s hard not to.  The crispy dough encircles a fragrant mixture of cinnamon and sugar, topped with oozing frosting that dribbles down the sides and onto the edges of the plate.  Paired with a cup of truck stop coffee and it’s enough sugar and caffeine to keep you up all night.  The stuff crack is made of.

I don’t really know if The Wheel Inn still holds the same appeal to angsty teenagers in my hometown.  I rarely go back when I’m home. Partially it’s because I’m afraid that the kids who sat underneath the “No Smoking” signs lighting up cigarettes will still be there, still lighting up but slightly more paunchy and possibly balding. But also because the place isn’t the same. Since I left, they’ve replaced the orange formica table tops, waitress skirts and printed menus with…puce. Now, instead of walking into a den of 70s whitetrash nostalgia, you walk into…well, a place where Jeff Goldblum would never stop in order to fill up on caffeine and sugar. It’s sort of sad really.

Plus, now I’m older and can make my own cinnamon rolls. Not the plate-sized extravagant offering from The Wheel Inn, but a homemade extravagance in its own right. I decided to make these one night when I was suffering from some intense anxiety over recent life developments and needed to mellow out. And after I pulled these out of the oven and smothered the rolls with the maple frosting, I had just the right amount of sugar and gooey, warm carbs in my system to put my life in order. I think Jeff Goldblum would have approved.  Now I just need to figure out the milkshakes.

Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Frosting
Adapted from Pioneer Woman

2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 package active dry yeast
4 + 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 heaping teaspoon baking powder
1/2 “scant” teaspoon baking soda
1/2 heaping tablespoon of salt
2-3 cups melted butter
1 cup sugar
generous sprinkling of cinnamon

Mix the milk, vegetable oil, and sugar in a pan and heat on the stove until just before boiling.  Take off burner and leave to cool 45 minutes to 1 hour.  When the mixture is lukewarm to warm, but NOT hot, sprinkle in the package of Active Dry Yeast.

Let this sit for a minute.  Then add 4 cups of all-purpose flour.  Stir mixture together.  Cover and let rise for at least an hour.

Add 1/2 cup of flour, the baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Stir together.  At this point, you can cover the dough and put it in the fridge until you need it.  It can keep overnight to day or two later if necessary.

Sprinkle a rolling surface generously with flour.  Take the dough and form a rough rectangle.  Then roll the dough thin, maintaining a general rectangular shape (this will help later when you’re making “the roll”).  Drizzle melted butter over the dough.  Now sprinkle sugar over the butter followed by a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.  And I mean generous.  Just dump it on there.

Starting at the opposite end, begin rolling the dough in a neat line toward you.  Keep the roll relatively tight as you go.  Pinch the seam to the roll to seal it.  Spread melted butter in round, foil cake or pie pans.  Make sure the bottom and sides are covered.  (You can use spray, but really, the melted butter makes these magical.  You want the butter. You need the butter.  You deserve the butter.)  Begin cutting rolls approximately 3/4 to 1 inch thick and laying them in the buttered pans.  Repeat this process with the other half of the dough.  Let the rolls rise for 20 to 30 minutes, then bake 400 degrees until light golden brown, about 15 to 18 minutes.

Maple Frosting
1/2 bag of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon maple flavoring (like syrup)
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 tablespoons strongly brewed coffee
1/8 teaspoon salt

For frosting, mix all ingredients and stir well until smooth.  It should be thick but pourable.  Taste and adjust as needed.  Generously drizzle over the warm rolls.  Use all the frosting.  You won’t be sorry.

Ladies and gentlemen, there is an undeniable truth among us and the secret can no longer be kept.  The telltale signs are everywhere, from this weekend’s croquet/bourbon-fueled Kentucky Derby extravaganza to an accidental porch and barbeque party.

Chicago can be warm.

And there are two signs that prove this more than anything else.  The ice cream trucks and the jingle jangle from the bells on Puerto Rican push carts, filled with frozen horchata and other icy treats.

When I saw the chubby older man standing on my block this week, resting on the curb as he leaned against his ice cream push cart, I wanted to rush up and hug him.  Instead, I refrained myself and thought back to the ice cream I made over Easter and have been promising ever since.

Frozen Desserts from Williams-Sonoma

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup room-temperature mascarpone

in a small saucepan, whisk together the whole milk and 1 cup of the heavy cream with the sugar. Stir in the seeds from the vanilla bean. Warm over medium heat, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves and small bubbles form around the edes. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, and the remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream until blended. Whisk one-fourth of the milk mixture into the yolks to warm them. Then whisk the yolk mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk mixture. Heat over medium-low heat, sitrring constantly, until thickened, 4-5 minutes.

Strain the custard, then gently whisk in the almond extract and the mascarpone until the mascarpone is melted and the custard is smooth.

Fill a large mixing bowl halfway with ice cubes and enough water just to cover the ice cubes. Place the bowl with the custard into the larger bowl, nestling the medium bowl into the ice cubes. Let the custard cool, stirring occaisonally, until it reaches room temperature, 30-45 minutes. Once the custard has cooled to room temp, remove the medium bowl from the ice-water bath.

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard, which will prevent a coating, or ’skin,’ from forming. Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the custard is well chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. A well-chilled custard will freeze more effectively and have a better flavor.

Prepare an ice cream maker with at least a 1-quart capacity. Remove the plastic wrap from the custard and bowl. Pour the well-chilled custard into the mixing container of the ice cream maker and churn until the custard reaches the consistency of whipped cream.

The ice cream can be served immediately, directly from the mixing container, but it will have a very soft consistency and a mild flavor. For a fuller flavor and a firmer consistency, use a rubber spatula to transfer the ice cream to a plastic freezer container. Cover tightly and freeze until the ice cream is firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days. It is best served 6 - 12 hours after being transferred.

The ice cream was pitch-perfect for the weekend and I’ve honestly been craving some ever since April.  It’s smooth and dense, and tastes like cheesecake.  If only I could steal my dad’s ice cream maker.

My life has been all over the place as of late.  I’ve started an exciting new venture where I’m working at an organic, all-local, punk-rock themed bakery on the weekends, but I’ve also mysteriously found myself with many, many other things on my plate.

One of these things includes a very sudden, very surprising trip to the US Virgin Islands - starting tomorrow.  So from Wednesday to Sunday, you’ll find me hanging out with monkeys, iguanas and oh-so-much rum.  And maybe a mango beer or two.

So, until I get back, you can look at these pictures of what’s to come when I get back - the lowdown on my Easter festivities.  Why Easter stuff now?  Well, I was the smart kid who left her purse with her wallet, apartment keys, bike lock key and most importantly for you, my usb cable back in Michigan.  Trust me, that will not be happening again this week.

Secrets, secrets – everybody’s got one.  Sometimes they’re dirty and they’re painful.  Sometimes they ain’t no big thing.  Well, here’s a little secret about me that only my family and everybody I grew up with knows – I’m a recovering clown.  I’ve even been in the circus.

There.  Now it’s typed up and going to be on the Internet for ever and ever.

But you want to know something that’s even more secret?  Something I think everybody’s blocked out of their memory?  My sister was a clown too.   Really!  She may act all cool and nonchalant about it and make references about my clown days, but I know the truth.  I know her dirty little secret.  And I’ve got her old make-up case to prove it.

Ok, so now that you know my dirty little secret, you’re probably thinking that I’m a freaky creepy little thing.  While I agree with most people that yeah, Ronald McDonald is one creepy spokes…thing, and that most clown art is disturbing, I don’t think that clowns are naturally creepy.  I could go on a whole rant about how most of those disturbing clowns aren’t clowns at all and they’re giving the rest of us a bad wrap by purposefully putting their make up on so it IS creepy, I’m not. I swear.  And I’m sure if you saw me as a clown, you would think I was friendly and want me to make you a balloon animal.  ‘Cause I can make some sweet balloon animals.

And no, just because I was a clown does not mean that I smell like cabbage (at least, nobody’s ever told me…) and I feel like my hands are medium-sized.  So I’ve got that stuff going for me.  But I’ve also got some sweet face-painting skills and a large repertoire of games for little kids and skits to do at the drop of the hat if the need ever arises.  Hopefully these things will never be utilized at office parties.

Something, however, I do not have skill in is having pie on my face.  Instead, I have lots and lots of experience in having pie IN my mouth.  Which I think is a better skill to have, no?  And what better way to gain experience in the time-honored tradition of eating pie than delving into a Banana Cream Pie?  And hopefully when you’re eating it, you won’t have to worry about it messing up your make-up.

Banana Cream Pie, from Dorie Greenspan

For the Custard:

2 cups milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into bits

3 ripe, firm bananas

1 9-inch single pie crust - fully baked and cooled

For the topping:
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sour cream

To make the custard:
Bring the milk to a boil.  Meanwhile, in a large-heavy bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks together with the brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt until well blended and thick.  Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk.  This will temper, or warm, the yolks so they don’t curdle.  Then, while still whisking, add the remainder of the milk in a small, steady stream.  Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking constantly (make sure to get the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil.  Boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes before removing from the heat.

Whisk in the vanilla extract.  Let stand for five minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky.  You can either press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of hte custard to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the custard until cold.

When you are ready to assemble the pie, peel the bananas and cut them on a shallow diagonal into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Whisk the cooled custard vigorously to loosen it, and spread about one quarter of it over the bottom of the piecrust - it will be a thin layer.  Top with half of the banana slices.  Repeat, adding a thin layer of the pastry cream and the remaining bananas, then smooth the rest of the pastry cream over the last layer of bananas.

To make the topping:  In a lare bowl, beat the cream until it just starts to thicken.  Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream holds firm peaks.  Then, gently fold in the sour cream.  Spoon the whipped cream over the filling and spread it evenly to the edges of the custard.  Serve, or refrigerate until needed.

Chicago is a confused city right now.  Some days it snows.  Some days there are monsoons.  Some days the sky is so blue, the sun so brilliant that shadows sharply etch their shape onto the sidewalk.

Fortunately, yesterday was a day that Chicago weather and I were friends.  It was hard not to feel the itching call of warm weather as I walked home, scheming of future croquet parties and grilling escapades.  It finally felt like the city was shucking off the winter shackles and ready to leap into spring.  I couldn’t be happier. That is, until Renee called.

“Want to come over to bake and drink beers?”

Oh my, it’s a good feeling when friends speak your language.

After taking care of a nasty flat tire on my sister’s car, I found myself in her beautiful and oh-so-very-navy blue dining room ready to get down to business.  Billie Holiday was playing, there was a cold bottle of Steam Anchor Porter in my hand and chocolate was melting in the makeshift double-boiler we created.  People, these things are the makings of a perfect night.  All you need to make it better is a handful of Chocolate Espresso cookies.

These cookies will win hearts and minds.  You could subdue the nastiest of people, prevent unrest, and end wars with these cookies.  People will be powerless in the face of the fudgy, chocolatey insides and the hint of coffee.   Give me your weak, your tired.  I will give them cookies.

Chocolate Espresso cookies from Gourmet

Reading through the reviews of this recipe I knew it was going to be a winner when somebody gave it a bad review because they “felt they were too much like brownies.”  Trust me, this is no problem.  This is a delicious happenstance.

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 large eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons finely ground dark-roast coffee beans
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F and grease 2 baking sheets.

In a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup chocolate chips, and butter, stirring until smooth.  Remove from heat.

In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar, and ground coffee on high speed until very thick and pale.  The mixture will form a ribbon when beaters are lifted.  Beat in melted chocolate mixture.

Mix in flour, baking powder and salt until fully incorporated.  Stir in the remaining chocolate chips and walnuts if you’re using them.

Refrigerate batter for about an hour.  This will firm it up and make it easier to scoop up batter.  After chilled, you can drop batter by tablespoons about 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets.  Or you can hand roll the batter into little balls and place onto baking sheets.  Place in oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  The cookies will be puffed and cracked on top.  Cool cookies on baking sheet for a minute or two before transferring to racks to cool completely.

I would suggest underbaking the cookies just a little bit to make them extra soft and chewy inside.

Yield: Enough to turn an entire office into putty in your hands.