Lovely Lavender

Try this deliciousness in your afternoon tea.




Lavender Simple Syrup

several Tablespoons of dried laveder
1 cup white sugar
1 cup water

Add ingredients to a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and allow to seep for an hour or so.

Tip: When making your morning tea in a teapot or coffee in a coffee pot, keep a pitcher in your fridge to put the excess so you can have delicious iced beverages whenever your heart desires it.

Seasonal Fruits

Yesterday was Exchange Studios end of summer BBQ. This one is different b/c the meat and beer is c/o our property manager. Yay free food!

He has a crazy smoker grill, and made some of the best pulled pork I've ever had.

For this BBQ, I decided I would test out my new oven* and bake some cookies.

I've gotten Figs twice now in my box. I didn't know what to do with them, so the first batch got moldy by the time I made a game plan. Thankfully, the recipe I created only needed 1 pint.

These are the different kinds of figs. I used Mission Figs.

Fig stuffed Sugar Cookies

based on the traditional Italian Treat Cucidati

Dough

4 1/2 c flour

1 t salt

1 t baking powder

1 1/4 c cold cubed butter

1/2 plus some 1ce water

Filling

1 pint figs diced

water to cover

2 heaping T of honey

1/2 cup white sugar

3/4 c ground almonds

1/4 c ground pine nuts

1/2 c rasins

Glaze

Confectioner's sugar

milk

extra powder to top

Method:

Cube the figs and set in a sauce pot with a nice layer of water to cover. Add honey and sugar. Bring to boil and simmer until an almost jelly is formed. This takes a considerable period of time so be prepared. While that is boiling grind the nuts to a powder. Leaving some larger chunks is also nice, but most of the mixture should be gorund fine, but not to a paste.

Make the dough in a traditional pastry sense. Sift dry, add butter, pinch with fingers to pea size, add 1/2 c water, add remaing water to form the final dough. If your fig misture is not ready place the dough in the refrigerator to keep solid and cold.

When the fig saice has reduced to a thick, wonderful jelly, remove from heat and add the nuts and rasins. The mixture should be moderatly moist and moderatly dry. You want it to be moist enough to be yummy, but firm enough to hold up as a filling. So keep this in mind when reducing the fig sauce.

Preheat the oven to 275

Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8- 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 3" strips and place filling down the center of each stip. Fold over the sides and crease with a fork. Cut into 1" squares. Place on a baking sheet with parchment and bake until the bottoms are golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Add glaze as they leave the oven. Place on cooling rack. Sprinkle with more sugar. Comsume.

*yes, i got a new oven the day after the crows flew. Still electric, but thankfully new.

Edit: My sister informed me I neglected to say how they came out! They were so good! Ultimate success. I couldn't believe it. I half expected them to be less than palitable, but they were good! Most of them were gone before dinner :)

muffins in mtl!

bonjour from montreal! la belle province!!

when it comes to cooking, i am definitely a baker, so naturally, all my overripe (and underripe for that matter) bananas go into banana bread! whenever i spy a browning banana i throw it into the freezer for later use. i find, however, that when i re-visit these frozen fruits, they've often times turned completely brown and to a frozen mush in the freezer...don't be afraid! thaw those puppies out and squeeeeeeeeeeze them into you mixing bowl, they're already mashed!! i have found, however, that bananas of the frozen type never seem to pack as much flavor and i generally add extra.

for this recipe, i only had 2 bananas and none in the freezer, what's a girl to do!? i modified my goto banana bread recipe, reducing ingredients and adding roasted almonds and coconut to produce 10 muffins! breads and muffins are great modifiers in that you can add and subtract fruits and nuts to your liking.

coconut almond banana muffins:

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

4 tbs softened butter

2 ripe bananas

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup nuts

1/4 cup coconut

preheat oven to 350F

sift dry ingredients.

mix wet ingredients.

add dry to wet, then add coconut and almonds.

scoop into muffin cups and top w/a little bit of coconut

bake in preheated oven 20 min and voila!

Experiments with Agave Nectar and Sweet Breads

It's summertime, and that means in the Bay Area, produce boxes are HEAVY on the fruits. I get so much fruit, I can't eat it all, and I'm about 3 weeks backed up on plums, nectarines, and peaches. These two breads, are my attempt to use up some of the fruits I have that are about to turn.

Recently, I was exploring a new neighborhood of Oakland and came across a silly hippy natural foods store called The Food Mill, that reminded me of the ass-backwards "health foods" stores that exist in the Northeast, and have existed there since before the dawn of Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. You know the type, fresh peanut butter, more aisles of suppliments than food, and the origional pay-by-the pound grains, psices, and teas. I like the first and the latter, but the suppliment ailes both scare and piss me off. And for some reason the people that work/own these stores tend to have a bit of the creepy jesus stare in them, but I digress.

I LOVE PAY BY THE POUND

I especially love pay by the pound olive oil and honey. This time around I bought some pay-by-the-pound Agave Nectar. I have never had it before, but in my attempt to move away from refined sugars as sweetners, I figured I should give it a try. At room temperature it is way less viscous than honey, and therefore, baking was quite easy with it. It scooped right into my measuing cup with ease.

The following two breads are in the oven, so I don't know if the proportions are correct or not. I'll be sure to update when I taste...I'm hoping for a t least a 1 out of 2 here..

Orange Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup agave nectar
2 eggs, beaten

2 mashed overripe bananas
1 h applesauce
zest 1 orange

Mix everything in the usual baking manner- wets with wets, dry with dry. Bake in a buttered and floured pan- shape and size of your choosing (I did 4 X 9) at 350 until the skewar comes out clean.

Plum Cardamom Bread

1 c. fresh plum cubed

1/2 c applesauce
1 yogurt cup
1/2 cup agave nectar
2/3 cup white sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
11/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 tsp. fresh salt

1 tsp. cardamom
1/2 t cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix everything in the usual baking manner- wets with wets, dry with dry. Bake in a buttered and floured pan- shape and size of your choosing (I did 4 X 9) at 350 until the skewer comes out clean. If you feel like it make a sweet decoration of plums on the top of the bread- I recommend this as the top crust wasn't as hearty as I had hoped for.

Crows Before Bros

One of our favorite Bros, Matt Studner, celebrated a birthday yesterday! Naturally, I took this opportunity to bake delectable treats and to show off my goodies to you fellow crows. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cupcakes

Cake Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 cup boiling water

1 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 lg. eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Frosting Ingredients:
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup butter
1 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla




CAKE!

>Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the boiling water and cocoa. Se aside and allow to cool to room temperature.
>In a separate bowl, beat the sugar and butter. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and mix.
>Sift all the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and blend. Add the cocoa mixture and mix!
>Fill each cup with batter (about 2/3 full) and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Allow to cool before frosting.

FROSTING!

>In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.
>In a separate bowl blend sugar and butter until smooth. Add vanilla. Mix in chocolate and blend until smooth and glossy.

Chocolate. Chocolate. Chocolate.

Momma always makes the best brownies so when I had a sweets craving one night, I immediately reached for her recipe. Unfortunately, I was out of Baker's chocolate and had to rely on the internet for a solution. That's when Martha Stewart showed up. She may be crazy, but hot-damn that woman can bake!

8 tbs. (1 stick) butter
1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted*
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
8 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs


*For a long time I thought sifting was totally unnecessary. I was wrong! The texture is less dense and it removes any lumps in your dry ingredients.


--Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the baking pan with butter (I'll sometimes flour it, but its not necessary).
--In a small bowl whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; set aside.
--Put the butter and chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Heat, stirring occasionally until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
--Remove bowl from pan. Add sugar, mix to combine. Add eggs, mix. Add flour mixture-be careful, overzealous mixers! You want to stop when the ingredients are just moistened. Add chocolate chips.
--Transfer batter to pan. Bake for about 50-60 minutes. I always stand by the toothpick test-if you stick a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean, its done! When they're done, let them cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before you dig in!

Sweeet Treats

I have more sweets to share. I don't know whats happening to me!

I never used to obsess about desert, but the meals I've been making lately don't seems as share-worthy as sweet treats. Not to mention, my camera has an uncanny ability to make the most appetizing plates look grotesque. (re: the dumpling shot)

So my box this week was superb! It has finally reached the right time in the growing season to get truly fresh, local veggies. This week was my first sampling of beautiful red heirloom tomatoes. There were also some sweet Italian peppers that I enjoyed two ways. First with sausage on a bun with caramelized onions and homemade mustard. Second, as transformed leftovers in a Tomato based pasta sauce!

That being said, the fruits were the stars of this weeks delivery.

Bananas, watermelon, strawberries, avocado, wow!


Strawberry & Banana Coffee Trifle

Ladyfingers
Whipping cream
sugar
cocoa powder
bananas
Strawberries
Strong brew coffee or espresso

Brew coffee and allow to cool to room temperature (or as I do, brew it, and stick it in the freezer until you need it). Meanwhile, whip the cream, sugar, and cocoa powder until you have whip cream. You can add the chocolate and sugar to your taste.

Pour coffee into a cup and dip the lady fingers in. Allow them to soak up a good amount of coffee and place them along the bottom of your dish. Break them up if need be.

Now you can just layer Ladyfingers, whipped cream, fruit, whipped cream, ladyfingers, fruit whipped cream! Allow it to sit for an hour or so so all the flavors can meld together.


Fruity breakfast bars

Crust:

1 1/4 c flour
1/2 c butter- room temperature
sugar to taste
salt

Filling

2+ c fruit (I used strawberries, rhubarb, and raspberries)
2 eggs, lightly beaton
1/4 c flour
sugar/honey to taste


Crust: Mix all ingredients together and push into the bottom of your 9 X 9 pan. A tart pan would also work, although it would then be a fruity tart, not fruity bars.

Filling: Mix all ingredients, and pour over crust

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes, until crust is golden brown.
Serve at room temperature or cold as little bars. So delicious!

For the Love of Parchment!

In an effort to tame my sweets obsessed boy man, I have been on a kick of making slightly savory desserts that please the both of us.

This week I got rhubarb and strawberries in my box. I had never cooked rhubarb before, but had tried it on occasion. I opted to try to recipe that came with my box for a Rustic Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart.

As I am not a baker, I often misread recipes, which then lead to disaster. Although I misread this one, fortunately, it was not a complete disaster. Although, still not worthy of a picture to post here due to a major burn-situation. I rarely remember that when baking, ingredients are often listed as the total quantity to be used for the entire process, not just one part as often is the case in a recipe for say, anything else.

For example, this recipes states that you need 2 1/4 c flour. Brilliant as I am, I assume that all 2 1/4 cups of flour go in the crust. The same went for the 3/4 c sugar. Again, wrong.

I wound up making a crust that much more resembled a cookie. Which completely defeated the purpose of making a sweet/savory dessert. Nonetheless, it was yummy, and probably one of the only cookies I have successfully made, so all was not lost.

I now share with you a perfectly seasonal recipe for :

Strawberry Rhubarb Tart
c/o Farm Fresh to You with my special edits and the crust you should make

2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 sugar
1/4 t salt
3/4 butter
1 pint strawberries
1/4 lb (1 good stalk) rhubarb
1/2 t ground cardamom

Combine 2 c flour, 1/4 sugar, and salt. Cut butter into flour and form tiny crumblies. Add 1/4 c cold water to mixture and form a ball od dough. This process can also be done in a food processor. Wrap in parchment or other material and put in freezer to harden while you work with fruit.

Cut strawberries and rhubarb to pie sized pieces. Mix with 1/2 sugar, 3 T flour, and cardamom. If you wish, as I did, replace some of the sugar with Honey, or maple syrup. It makes for a subtle yet concentrated natural sweetness.

Roll out pastry into ~14 inch round. I recommend some parchment paper* between your baking sheet and dough. Remember to be sure that your butter is cold and not mushy or it will be difficult to roll out the pastry. Stir the berry/'barb mixture well and spoon onto the center of the pastry. Fold the pastry over the border of the fruit while tucking in the excess pastry. Spread or brush some melted butter on the outside of the pastry, while placing a few chunks of butter in the open portion of the fruit. Sprinkle with sugar if you wish.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350-375 (you know your oven best).

* I highly recommend the parchment because if there are any cracks in your pastry, the sweet juices from the fruit will find their way out. Nothing is more difficult to clean than burnt to black sugar.

Grapeseed 101

So I am glad to have sparked an interest in a new type of oil!

As I previously mentioned I have been exploring the wonderful world of cooking oils more then ever due to the gaping void of nothingness that is my bank account. Straddled with my love for cooking is my love for value. I fantasize of a world where good food does not have to be something that is elite.

Delicious, nutrient packed food is something that should be accessible and affordable, if not a requirement for consumption. Cooking with grape seed oil will assist in this endeavor.

Grape seed oil is, of course, a vegetable oil (but not the bad kind) that is extracted from the seeds removed during the wine making process. When produced traditionally, it is an excellent use of a biproduct of something we all love-- Wine! However, when produced on a larger scale the oil is extracted using a nasty array of chemicals, so watch out for this when you are picking an oil to buy.

Its flavor can be described as both "nutty" and "neutral." The smoking point is significantly higher than a fruity, dark olive oil(my personal favorite) making it ideal for frying. I personally feel it fries the perfect tofu cube because it sincerely adds a subtle nutty flavor to an unseasoned cube, without changing the overall taste like a lighter olive oil would.

I still, and forever will, use olive oil when necessary, like on my salads, or with bread and pasta, but use grapeseed oil when I can. I have also found that it makes a great alternative to butter when baking. These delicious cookies below are made with no butter or eggs! They appear strange and biscut-like but are so rich in chocolaty flavor because the fatty content does not hide the true taste of quality cocoa.

I have tried this recipe a few times, as it is the first one I have written entirely on my own. All have been highly successful taste-wise, but I have achieved slight variations in density, texture, and appearance each time.

I was so excited when I made them that I wrote my sister telling her of my new achievements. You can read it below.

___________________

So, I made something tonight that I feel like sharing.

I made cookies!

Now, to proceed, I have never, not a-once, made a good cookie.

I usually cry after making cookies due to failure.
But but not tonight! I have found success.

Butter is usually the enemy. I don't like it, so I don't keep it in the house which prevents me from baking delicious treats. Tonight, I have finally found a solution. I have tried some vegan recipes before, but they just use veggie shortening, which is also yucky.

The solution: Grape seed oil!

Chocolate Treats

1 1/4 c flour

1/2 c cocoa powder

1 t baking powder

2/3 c sugar

1/4 t salt

some smashed walnuts
1/4 c soy milk

1/3 c grape seed oil*

1 T vanilla extract

*if the dough looks too dry add more soy milk not oil. This is a ratio I still have not perfected. I've been considering applesauce as a vehicle of moisture.

Make 1T to 2T sized balls and bake for 9-10 minutes at 350. Then, take them out of the oven, and smoosh them with a finger in the center creating a nice pool. They make a nice *squish* sound when you do this. Now add jam in the middle and bake for 4-5 more minutes.

Enjoy!