new york doughnut map launch party

Last night, All You Can Eat Press held a launch party for their latest publication – the New York Doughnut Map! The event took place in the Project No. 8 space at the Ace Hotel.

The line wrapped around the corner on 6th Avenue well before the 6pm start time. Inside, you could puchase a copy of the map itself for $10. It’s also available online.

Doughnuts represented included Van Leeuwen, Doughnut Plant, Peter Pan and Dun-Well Doughnuts. There was also someone onhand making cocktails as well as serving coffee. Fun idea for an event for a Thursday night and a lovely finished product with the map itself!

 

kara’s cupcakes

Throughout my whole trip to San Francisco, I was in hot pursuit of sweets. Namely cupcakes. Perhaps it was where we happened to have plans, but I never seemed to come across anywhere selling this (or anything worth stopping for, that is). After brunch at 15 Romolo, my friends drove us around the city a bit and we saw some of what we hadn’t seen yet. Along the Waterfront. Over and down Lombard Street (windy windy and oh so packed with tourists) and we weren’t far from a spot they said was good – Kara’s Cupcakes. I was thrilled!

They have different types. There’s there signature flavors, including the likes of “sweet s’mores”. There’s their filled cupcakes, such as passion fruit, meyer lemon, just to name a few). And then there were some seasonal options, such as key lime or their latest – “royal biscuit”, which is a nod to the London Summer Olympics.

While it might have been smart to have gone with their mini cupcake options (and they had quite a few), I felt since I’d looked for days for cupcakes, I’d earned the real deal. I went with the key lime, since I wanted to make sure to try at least one of their filled options. It was a graham cracker crust vanilla cupcake with a key lime curd filling with cream cheese frosting. Pretty good, though the cake part was a tad on the dry side for my taste.

I also had to get the sweet s’mores, which was a chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker crust and a toasted marshmallow frosting. This was good though, again the cake was a bit dry and warning! If you leave this one in the box to eat for later and oh, maybe walk around in the Haight for a bit thumbing through dresses at Ambiance and various vintage stores, you might (ooops) find that gorgeous frosting has slid off the top.

Kara’s Cupcakes – 3249 Scott Street (@ Chestnut), San Francisco – 415.563.2223

 

macaroons from heaven at dominique ansel

I admire friends who come in from out of town and know their food enough to have their hit list. Nikki, my friend who lives in Detroit, does just that. Sometimes, she even puts me to shame, knowing more about new and hot spots in my supposed forte – desserts. She’s been raving about Dominique Ansel for months now, and I’ve never managed to make my way over. To be honest, I thought it was in a completely different area – more on the Bowery side of SoHo than bordering on Tribeca. But yesterday, I happened to walk by it. Sure I was just imagining it was the spot, I went through my email on my phone with what little bit of battery I still had and found out it was indeed the spot!

Dominique Ansel – SoHo

When I first walked in, I saw the basic pastries. “What’s so great about this?” I wondered. There was a lady in front of me who seemed to be overanalyzing the puffiness of each croissant. I was a little antsy. I almost walked out. I walked around her and made my way down the rest of the display case, which went on for much longer than I’d originally realized. What looks like an eclair with a bow tie on, below, caught my eye – their “Sugar Daddy Eclair”. It’s chocolate bourbon cream with a caramel glaze and dark chocolate mustache decorations. Cute, catchy, and what I’m getting next time…

Bakery Display – Dominique Ansel

I talked to the girl working behind the counter a bit, explaining to her that my friend in Detroit had commanded that I add them to my “to do” list, a fact that made her smile. The other guy behind the counter turned around to face us and looked at her when she sounded surprised to say “oh yeah, if you didn’t realize it yet, people in other places know about us too.” He said it with a smile – in a non-cocky manner that made me realize my yammering on had kind of made his day.

I was tempted by some of the other options, but in the end I had to go with the five macaroon assortment. They had so many from which to choose. It was a tough decision, but in the end I went with raspberry, passion fruit, coconut, earl grey, and lemon poppyseed (just because when do you ever see that?). They were all so thick and fluffy that I almost wondered if they were the proper macaroon consistency. Fret not. Take one bite, and they crumble in a perfect fashion. So flavorful and soft. On par with what you’d naturally expect from the former pastry chef at Daniel.

5 Piece Box of Macaroons – Dominique Ansel

The raspberry one was heavy on the filling, but that’s not a bad thing in the least! The coconut one was so unique that I almost had to remind myself that I was eating a macaroon – and the way the macaroon began to flake with each bite almost made me feel like it was breaking down into coconut flakes itself. So good. And I decided, seeing as it is a tea and all, that the earl grey one was more than justified to be my breakfast selection today – and oh was it good. If you’re nearby – or even if you’re not – I recommend a trip to this fabulous little SoHo bakery. As suspected, Nikki did not steer me wrong.

Close-up of the Raspberry and Coconut Macaroons

Dominique Ansel Bakery – 189 Spring Street – 212.219.2773

 

italian cookie baking at milk & cookies

Last weekend, a friend and I cashed in on our cookie making class at Milk & Cookies in the West Village. The class was a special offered through Thrillist but owner Tina Casaceli said she’d be open to doing more if there’s interest!

Milk & Cookies Bakery – West Village

I’ll admit, that Sunday was a rare day where I wasn’t really in the mood for sweets – least of all cookies – but that soon changed. Their kitchen in their main West Village is cozy. We wound downstairs behind the bakery counter to the kitchen area.

I was really excited though to see what kinds of cookies we were going to be making. Rather than making cookies that we could also purchase up front we were instead baking her family recipes – all traditional Italian cookies you’d more likely find in an Italian bakery.

There was Grandma Connie’s Anise Toast – perfect for dunking in your morning coffee and far better, IMHO, than biscotti. Easy and only five ingredients: flour, baking powder, eggs, sugar, and a bit of anise oil. Dont love anise? You can replace the anise with pure vanilla or pure almond extract, or another flavor that strikes your fancy.

Shaping the log

Slicing up the cookies

Finished Anise Cookies

Next was Grandma Tina’s Chocolate Drop cookies. We used bittersweet chocolate, which led to a chocolate cookie that wasn’t super sweet. All in all, this one only used 9 ingredients! After baking, we lightly iced these and added a walnut on top. So good.

Baked Cookies – Pre-Icing

Finished Chocolate Cookies

The third kind we made was Aunt Annie’s Sesame Seed Cookies. This also was only 9 ingredients. You could do the recipe with standard sesame seeds or even black sesame seeds. The cookie portion crumbles slightly in your mouth and the sesame seeds added a fun crunch.

Dough & sesame seeds, ready to go

Rolling out the cookies

Coating the cookies in sesame seeds

Finished cookies

Finally we made Viscotti or Aunt Rose’s Famous “S” cookies, which Tina explained her aunt made every day fresh for her uncle. I was surprised how easy it was to form the dough for each cookie into an “S” shape. Like the anise toast, I found the “S” cookies paired nicely with coffee.

Fresh out of the oven

Dusted & finished

So many fabulous cookies!

We had a blast in the class. Tina made us feel completely at home and I walked away with four recipes I can’t wait to make on my own. I haven’t tracked it down yet, but looking forward to checking out her cookbook (look like we got a nice taste of chapter 7!) – and maybe returning back to their store for their whoopie pies, which looked delicious!

Milk & Cookies – 19 Commerce Street - 212.243.1640

 

baked zeppole – another taste of puglia

Another favorite dish of Laura Giordano’s from the Zagat Presents: Taste of Puglia event was the zeppoles. I’m a big fan of zeppoles/beignets/whatever slight rendition someone serves up. The nice thing about these ones below is that they are not fried, which gives them a slightly lighter flavor. The black cherry jam worked well since it had a darker, heavier flavor in contrast to the pastry. This recipe has me convinced I just might be able to conquer pastries yet!

Ingredients for the pastries (choux)

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• A pinch of salt
• 2 cups of water
• 3/4 stick of butter
• 6 large eggs

Ingredients for the custard filling

• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 cups milk
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• Confectioner’s sugar
• Black cherry jam

In a heavy saucepan, heat the water. Add the butter and the salt and remove from the stove once melted. Add the flour all at once. Beat with a wooden spoon. Return the pan to medium heat and beat the mixture until it becomes sort of a ball. Remove the pan from the heat again. Put the ball in a mixing bowl and add the eggs in one at a time, beating the dough with a wooden spoon or hand mixer. Note – make sure to blend in each egg well before proceeding to add in the next one. Using a pastry bag, squeeze out 1/4 inch puffs about 1/2 inch apart on a cookie sheet. Bake the cream puffs about 15 minutes at 392 degrees and then for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Transfer the cream puffs to cooling racks.

While the beignets (zeppole) are cooling, go ahead and start the custard. In a small bowl, mix the corn starch and sugar for the filing. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk over medium-high heat until it’s almost boiling. In a mixing bowl combine the 6 eggs with the sugar and the corn starch and gradually add a couple of large spoonfuls of warm milk. When it’s well-blended, pour it into the pot until the mixture reaches the right thickness.

To serve, use a small knife to cut each zeppola in half. Fill each zeppola with some custard, replace the halts and put the zeppola on a serving dish. Add a teaspoon of jam to each zeppola and dust them with confectioner’s sugar.

 

double ice cream day at ample hills

While we’ve had a few days here and there that have been nice, yesterday was one of the first truly nice days where I was out and about on the weekend. As I mentioned earlier today, on Sunday I went to brunch with the gang of Google Places Power Users at Cafecito Bogota. left craving a little something sweet. Blame it on my having eggs and not french toast.

It was nice that from there my boyfriend and I decided to go on a walk. We continued on through the rest of Greenpoint into and through Williamsburg, winding back into Bushwick, making sure to stay on the sunny side of the street since it’s the time of year where that makes all of the difference.

Blame it on the weather, but along the way that dessert craving became more focused. Ice cream. Only ice cream. We passed some ok looking places, but why settle for ice cream dispensed from the corner of a convenience store when you can keep going a bit more for the real thing – Ample Hills.

Ample Hills Creamery opened last summer on Vanderbilt in Prospect Heights. I didn’t get to try it for a bit -scared off by the likes of them selling out of all of their ice cream during their first four days they were open, causing them to have to close and replenish their stock. That’s no joke!

I finally got to try their ice cream, but never on-site. One cold, gross day my boyfriend surprised me with a pint for us of their Black Cow Float - root beer ice cream with a swirl of milk chocolate. So good. Root beer ice cream? Yes please. And for a friend, we had one of their ice cream cakes – tasty but heavier than other ice cream cakes I’ve had.

Fun with seasonal flavors

Yesterday though? I went inside. Ok. I may have gotten ice cream not only once but two times in the same – once before dinner and another time after dinner. Both at Ample Hills. That’s okay though. Being able to do things like that make all the downside of being an adult a bit more bearable.

First, I had their PB&J ice cream. I sampled it first as I thought that sounded like it could be amazing or disgusting (note after sampling a few flavors here, I think even the most extreme flavors here end up working). It was really good – not overwhelming peanut butter ice cream base with a grape jelly-esque ribbon running through. Unique and so good.

Oh hey hey, PB&J

The other flavor I’d been eyeing was Nona D’s Oatmeal Lace – brown sugar and cinnamon ice cream with bits of oatmeal cookies sprinkled throughout.

They’re about to start ice cream classes and they also often accommodate parties. Have an idea for a flavor? Tack it up to their flavor board and maybe you’ll get your wish. Let’s just say I’m thankful I don’t live around the corner from this place or else I know where you’d find me all summer long!

Ice cream doodles from the suggestion board

Next visit? Shake time. Yes, that’s happening.

Ample Hills Creamery – 623 Vanderbilt Avenue (at St. Marks Avenue) – Prospect Heights, Brooklyn – 347.240.3926

 

apple fritter rings

Every year for my dog’s birthday I throw a brunch. It’s just a nice excuse to have people over, cook up some great food, and catch up. Perfect. I’d found this recipe for apple fritter rings in Martha Stewart’s Everyday magazine around the holidays and had been waiting to try it.

I learned how to core an apple by hand (not hard – just takes a bit of time and patience). I also learned that an apron with bubbling oil is a wise choice (ooops) and that coated fried apples? Kind of amazing. One friend said I’d brought the county fair to my apartment in Brooklyn. Yes!

In Mid-Fry

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon group cinnamon
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 4 teaspoons vegetable oil plus 2 cups for frying
• 2 large eggs lightly beaten
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 4 medium tart apples – cored, peeled, & cut info 1/2 inch thick rings

In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, 4 teaspoons oil, and eggs. Slowly stir in the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a large, heavy, high-walled skillet (I used a tall cast iron one), heat 2 cups oil until it registers 375 degrees on a deep fat or candy thermometer. You’ll know it’s there because it’ll rapidly boil once you drop the batter in.

In batches, coat the apple rings in the batter and fry them until they’re a golden brown. This will vary a bit but should be around 4 minutes per batch, with you flipping the apples midway through the cook time.

Transfer the apples to a towel-lined plate or baking sheet to drain. Toss them in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and serve. Yields about 20.

 

pb&j bars – so easy, it’s almost criminal to claim homemade

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I have so much to share here, which begins right about now. I’ve had a crazy last month, including a week long vacation to Cape Cod and packing up for my big move. I have some great food bites to share from my trip that will start to pop up shortly. I’m also finally moved into a new spot in Brooklyn – in with a fellow friend from Alabama (I noticed when moving in that there’s even Cafe du Monde mix in our pantry – love!), though I’m still somewhat surrounded by boxes. I’m excited though to finally have access to a real kitchen (photos to follow once I’m more moved in), which is why you’ll begin to see more cooking on here and not just restaurant reviews – and also why more of the restaurants may start to be Brooklyn spots. I’ll continue to mix it up though.

This past weekend, I was trying to figure out what to try to make for my boyfriend’s housewarming party. His prior roommates included one person with a nut allergy, so it was almost a requirement that whatever I made had to incorporate peanuts. I contemplated my PB&J cupcakes, but knowing they were a bit on the sweeter side for his tastes, kept looking for other options. My peanut butter cookies were sounding just too generic somehow.

Finally I found this recipe through MyRecipes for peanut butter and jelly bars that looked good and reasonably simple. And then I managed to to accomplish the unthinkable – find the beaters wrapped up in one of the yet-to-be-unpacked boxes, so I was set.

Topping the dough with the preserves layer

Ingredients

• 1 stick (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups strawberry preserves (or blueberry!)
• 2/3 cup salted peanuts
• 2/3 cup peanut butter chips (optional)

Click here for the full list of instructions. I’d say no more than 45 minutes to an hour tops to finish these. I ended up mixing preserves since I didn’t have enough of the one I bought. The recipe called for strawberry preserves, but I used blueberry instead. I also chose to leave out the peanut butter chips since I thought it might make it too sweet. I made it in the 13×9 pan, but might do 9×9 next time. This would give you more dough to spread across the preserves, which I think might make it better overall.

Final Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

These were a big hit though. Turned out great and didn’t even require a trial run to perfect.

 

new icing flavors coming to @butterlane in august

On Monday, Butter Lane invited me to stop by to taste test possible new icing flavors for the month of August. If you’re new to this blog, you might have missed out of all of the various times I’ve raved about Butter Lane. Let’s say I’ve been a fan for a long time. I love their varied icings, your option to customize the pairing of icing with the cake base (banana, chocolate, or vanilla), and they try to use as little processed items in their baking as possible.

So true...

The options were interesting – pistachio, peach, and cherry. What I like about icing shots at Butter Lane is that they don’t just give you a plain cup of icing. The shot is topped off with something corresponding to the flavor. Pistachio was topped with actual pistachios. The peach was topped with a peach drizzle. The cherry was topped by a big fresh cherry. And with the peach and cherry, there were little fruit bits throughout all of the icing.

Three August Icing Flavor Contenders

We each voted for which one we thought as the best and they were going to then compile the votes and choose August’s flavor. I had to go with peach, though I wouldn’t be disappointed if cherry came out the winner. So much fun to be able to participate in this with Butter Lane!

Butter Lane – 123 East 7th Street (at Avenue A) – 212.677.2880

 

la newyorkina – cooling down nyc’s high line

The other night the temperature was perfect. Slightly cooler but warm enough that a jacket wasn’t required … the ideal time to finally make it to check out the High Line, starting with the newly opened expansion piece.

AOL's Rainbow City - West 30th Street @ 10th Avenue

The sunset was amazing and it was just the right amount elevated to get an aerial shot of Manhattan.

Walking the newly opened second phase of the High Line

Looking at the Jersey side of the sunset

The flowers almost seemed to glow as the sun began to fade.

I was so thankful to come across La Newyorkina, where for $3-$4 you can buy wonderful flavorful fruit pops while you’re taking in the scenery. I went with their most popular – mango chili – complete with a dusting of chili powder. Mmmmm. The salty/spicy was the perfect contrast to the sweeter mango. Add in the sunset, and what’s there not to like??

Mango Chili Pop from La Newyorkina

La Newyorkina is also out and about at the Hester Street Fair and is soon to be appearing in Brooklyn!

To find out where La Newyorkina is at the moment, follow them on twitter – @lanewyorkina!