Apartment Dining

I took my second foray into candy making on Sunday afternoon. My first was with chocolate truffles for a New Years Eve party and this time around, I decided to take on salted caramels. The inspiration came from a Barefoot Contessa episode I saw a few weeks ago, during which Ina Garten made Fleur de Sel Caramels rolled into small circles and topped with a sprinkling of salt. They looked delicious and easy to make, as long as I had a candy thermometer and kept a close eye on things. » Read the rest of this entry «

Winter is a difficult season for produce-based sweet pies. With no local fruit in season and any fruit that is on the shelves of Brooklyn stores shipped thousands of miles and zapped of flavor, options are limited. Thus, we turn to the sweet potatoes, harvested in the fall and now stored in cool, dark cellars and bottom cupboards. 

The flavor of sweet potatoes has always summoned a sense of warmth for me, making them perfect for a winter dessert. The recipe I created for this pie was pulled together from reading through a number of different recipes, then seeing how far I could simplify them and still preserve the flavor and texture of a classic sweet potato pie (not counting crust preparation). The results after the jump. » Read the rest of this entry «

On the rare occasion I’m dining out and not in the mood for a chocolate dessert, a fruit tart is always my choice. They’re delicate, refreshing, and give a false sense of being much healthier than a slice of chocolate cake. Fruit tarts are also one of the most beautiful desserts out there, full of rich colors and carefully laid patterns. 

After enjoying Angela’s apple tart on New Year’s Eve, I decided to try making a tart of my own with Mark Bittman and Epicurious as my guide. » Read the rest of this entry «

As I was finishing up my holiday shopping in SoHo in early December, I sensed my blood sugar levels taking a turn for the worst. The answer was pit stop at Kee’s Chocolates on Thompson Street for a few truffles and a lychee macaroon. While not the healthiest afternoon snack, it was the perfect indulgence for a Friday afternoon in Manhattan. 

Kee’s Chocolate’s got me thinking about truffle making and how involved it may be. It’s really just chocolate ganache with a few flavorings dipped in melted chocolate, right? How difficult could it be? I decided to find out last week. » Read the rest of this entry «

There are many benefits to cooking with alcohol. Wine adds an extra depth of flavor to certain meat dishes, a splash of brandy brings a special zing to a fruit tart, and when it comes to Christmas cookies, Irish cream is the perfect addition. Case and point: Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies, which I first experienced a few years ago when my aunt made them for the post-Christmas dinner cookie platter. If you consider your holidays incomplete without enjoying a Baileys on the rocks at some point during the party season, then these are for you. Even if you’re not a big Irish cream fan, the slight hint of whisky makes them worth a try.  » Read the rest of this entry «

I spotted some ramekins at the store over the weekend and was inspired. What better way is there to indulge on a budget than with a chocolate soufflé? All of the required ingredients are inexpensive and are probably in your pantry already, plus it’s a fabulous way to end a pre-holiday dinner party. Plunking down individual soufflés topped with raspberries in front of each of your guests will earn you the reputation of a master cook, while all you did was melt some chocolate and beat some egg whites. » Read the rest of this entry «

You can tell it’s mid-December by looking at most streets in Manhattan. They’re crowded with shoppers laden with gifts, tourists blocking foot traffic in front of window displays, and all manner of other manifestations of “Silver Bells” song lyrics. You can also tell it’s mid-December by looking into the kitchens of most apartments across the city and finding people baking dozens upon dozens of cookies. The traditional cookies and bars in my family range from Seven Layer Bars to Bailey’s Irish Cream Cookies to the dreaded Snowball Cookies (pecan cookies rolled in confectioner’s sugar), which I ate ten too many of when I was a child and proceeded to toss in the bathroom soon after. 

I got into the baking spirit last week and as I was deciding on the kind of cookies I would make that afternoon, I was torn between peanut butter, chocolate chip, and oatmeal. The result was just throwing them all together to create Indecision Cookies, the first in a series of recipes for holiday treats I’ll be sharing over the next few weeks. » Read the rest of this entry «

While apples, pumpkins, and squash are the stars of autumn, pears seem to be one of the most overlooked harvests of the season. I picked up a bunch of Bartlett pears over the weekend and decided to try out a recipe for poached pears I’ve been meaning to make since last winter » Read the rest of this entry «

I decided to bake a test pie on Sunday to see if I could/should enter the Enid’s Apple Pie Bake-off next week. I’ve never made a pie from scratch on my own before and learned that it may be one of the most labor intensive kitchen activities one can engage in. This also makes it one of the most rewarding kitchen activities when the pie is successful, unlike some previous baking exploits documented on this blog.

If you’re not sure if you should bake a pie, here’s a quick questionnaire to review before picking up a pound of apples and getting coated in flour:

-Do you have nothing else to do for the next three hours?
-Do you have a sufficient playlist on your portable music device to get you through that length of time?
-Do you plan on going out for dinner tonight?
-Are your fully caffeinated with additional iced coffee at the ready?

If you answered yes to all of the questions above, then you may be ready to make a pie. Grab a rolling pin, a whole bunch of apples, and check out this recipe. » Read the rest of this entry «

I made Ramsey a birthday cake from scratch today, complete with chocolate frosting, a hamster, and decorative writing comparable to a fifth grader’s (which is just like my normal handwriting on paper). The photo above makes it look like a fairly successful cake, but a select few know the truth of the trials and tribulations of its creation.

It’s time for me to share a perfect example as to why I rarely bake cakes from scratch. Muffins are fine, cupcakes are easy, even pies are less daunting than a vanilla cake. » Read the rest of this entry «