Carrot Cake Cookie Sandwiches

I bought the Martha Stewart's Cookies Cookbook several years ago and have been wanting to try these carrot cake cookie sandwiches for only the last 7 years (!!). Yes, that's what happens when you follow too many food blogs and bookmark 10 recipes a day to try. In any case, I'm so glad I finally made these because they were a huge hit at a summer BBQ with friends and then the next day for my staff at the office for breakfast...oops. My advice: Get some in your face asap.

Ingredients:
Cookies

·               1 cup packed light-brown sugar

·                     1 cup granulated sugar

·                     1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

·                     2 large eggs, room temperature

·                     1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

·                     2 cups all-purpose flour

·                     1 teaspoon baking soda

·                     1 teaspoon baking powder

·                     1/4 teaspoon salt

·                     1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·                     1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

·                     1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

·                     2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

·                     1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)

·                     1 cup raisins

Cream Cheese Frosting:

·                     8 oz cream cheese

·                     1 stick unsalted butter

·                     2 cups confectioners sugar

·                     1 tsp pure vanilla

 Method:

1.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.

2.     In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.

3.     Using a 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned and crisped, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process with remaining dough. Once cooled completely, use an offset spatula to spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1.     Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

Banana Rum Birthday Cake!

My treat to my staff on their birthdays is to make them any kind of cake they would like. My receptionist hates chocolate (What??? How???) so I decided to make a cake from the Joy the Baker cookbook. The other recipe that I have posted on here (Trail mix cookies) was fantastic so I had high hopes. I did substitute my own cream cheese frosting for Joy's brown sugar frosting because Teresa loves cream cheese frosting. The cake did not disappoint. It was moist and very flavorful. Like fancy frosted banana bread. Perfect for those weirdos out there that don't like chocolate.

Ingredients:

3 cups AP flour
2 1/4 tsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
4 ripe medium bananas mashed
3 Tbsp Rum
3 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these because I accidentally forgot them in the oven and burnt them...fail!)
Frosting ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp Rum
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Method:

• Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.  Set aside.
• In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar.  Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Add mashed bananas and rum and blend for another minute, until thoroughly combined.  Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition.
• With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Add the buttermilk and beat on low until the mixture just begins to come together.  Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until the mixture is almost entirely incorporated.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish blending the ingredients with a spatula.  Fold in the pecans.
• Divide the batter between the cake pans.  Bake for 30 minutes on alternating racks, switching the cakes halfway through baking.  When a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven.  Let cakes rest in the pan for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

• Beat Cream cheese, butter, rum and vanilla together until smooth and gradually add powdered sugar until smooth. Try not to eat with a spoon. Frost cake and enjoy!!

High Tea

I hosted some lovely ladies on Saturday for my first High Tea. We had the obligatory English breakfast tea with egg salad and cucumber and cheese tea sandwiches. I also served espresso-banana bread, molasses spice cookies and cream scones with raspberry preserves and whipped cream. It was so much fun and everything was so delicious, I can't wait to do it again!

Happy Australia Day

I've been missing Australia a lot lately so it was nice to spend Australia Day with a bunch of other Aussies even if we were thousands of miles away in Seattle. We enjoyed Aussie favorites including sausage rolls, pavlova, a sausage sizzle and of course, Lamingtons. Most people outside of Australia and New Zealand aren't familiar with these delicious treats. They are cubes of cake, covered in chocolate icing and rolled in dessicated coconut. I used a recipe from Joy of Baking which turned out a lovely result that took me back to my childhood.

Dessicated coconut is just unsweetened shredded coconut that is easily available in most grocery stores in Australia but in Seattle it's a bit harder to find (most of the coconut is sweetened). Normal people would get it from a Whole Foods or Natural Market but after a very busy week I thought I would relax with a bit of kitchen DIY: Home made dessicated coconut! Essentially it involved cracking a coconut, getting out all the meat, peeling the thin brown peel away and shredding the meat in a food processor. The shredded coconut is dessicated in a 250F oven for about 30 minutes.

Ta Daaaaaaaaa!!! Worlds most time consuming Lamingtons. So yummy though. Serve to Australians and skeptical American friends.

Marathon Training Cookies!

Aka Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocoate Chip Cookies

I was looking for a cookie that had a bit of nutritional punch. My sweetie is doing a lot of running right now and the running hungries beg for a cookie like this. Protein from the peanut butter, fiber and complex carbs from the oats, and get-in-my-mouthiness from the chocolate. I found the recipe at Bake or Break and the only modification was to slightly decrease the sugar and increase the salt. Nom Nom Noms.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups AP Flour
2 cups rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter (I used Crunchy)
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F and line baking tray with silpat
Whisk together first 4 ingredients in separate bowl
Cream butter and sugars together in a Kitchen Aid until light and fluffy
Mix in Peanut butter thoroughly then add eggs and vanilla extract
Add flour mixture until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips by hand.
Using an ice cream scoop portion out even amounts of dough
Bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are just beginning to brown
Cool on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy after a nice long run :)

Peach and Huckleberry Crostata

 

I adapted this recipe from one of Ina's recipes. The lady knows how to wield a stick of butter!
The peaches were bought from the Yakima fruit stand and the huckleberries were given to me by my wonderful father in law. It was a perfect summer dessert. And maybe a perfect summer breakfast the next day :)

The crust is buttery (duh), flaky and crisp and the filling was really bright from the lemon zest and lemon juice. I think I'm going to try this with pears and cranberries in the fall. Stay tuned!

Ingredients:

Crust:
1 cup AP Flour
1/8 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt (I always add a extra salt because it makes everything taste better :)
1 stick butter cut into cubes (I store this in the freezer until I'm ready to use it)
3 Tbsp ice water (I needed a bit more)
1 egg and raw sugar for sprinkling on the crust

Filling:
1 lb firm ripe peaches (I left mine unpeeled) cut into 8 wedges each
1 pint of huckleberries
Zest and juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter cut into cubes


Method:
Note: I keep all the ingredients (including the flour) in the freezer until the last minute. It really helps on a hot day.
1) Pulse flour, sugar and salt in a food processor a few times to mix, add butter and pulse 12-15 times until the butter is the size of peas.
2) Add ice water all at once and keep hitting the pulse button until the dough barely starts to come together
3) Empty dough out on to plastic wrap, shape into a disk and refrigerate for at least 2 hours
4) Preheat oven to 450F and line a baking tray with parchment or Silpat
5) Roll dough out to an 11 inch circle on a lightly floured surface
6) Mix filling ingredients (except butter) together, pile into center of dough and dot with little cubes of butter, leaving a 1/2 inch border
7) Fold border of dough over fruit, paint with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar
8) Bake for 25 minutes until crust is golden, let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack (2 large spatulas needed!). Serve warm or at room temp.

Ice cream recommendation: Haagen Daaz Bourbon Praline Peacan. Vanilla is also acceptable

Capitol Hill Yummies

I made this list for my Brother's annual Summer in Seattle party and realized that it's a great resource for anyone out on Capitol Hill looking for a good place to eat or drink. It's obviously missing some fancy restaurants (Altura, Cascina Spinasse, Lark, Sitka and Spruce etc) but for a casual outing try one of these...

Breakfast/Brunch:

Wandering Goose (http://www.thewanderinggoose.com/) - Craze Amaze. I go here all the time (but limited seating). Might be good to pick up some stuff for a breakfast at home or in the park.

Monsoon (http://monsoonrestaurants.com/seattle/) - weekend vietnamese brunch)

Kingfish Cafe (http://thekingfishcafe.com/) - Soul food and amazing weekend brunch. Long lines but excellent red velvet cake make it worthwhile

Delicious snacks:

Wandering Goose - Southern biscuits and gravy place with an amazing bakery case. Can you say triple layer coconut cake ?!

Bakery Nouveau (http://www.bakerynouveau.com/welcome/) - Twice baked almond croissant. Best bakery in the city. A visit here at least once is a MUST

North Hill Bakery (http://www.northhillbakery.com/) - Small, cute, tasty. Small and minimal seating though. I usually get a pastry and coffee to go.

Crumble and Flake (http://www.crumbleandflake.com/) - Must get there early or stuff sells out and they close the store. It's usually closed by noon.

Pie Bar (http://www.piebarseattle.com/piebarseattle/):  Sweet and savory pies AND cocktails. Open late night. I suggest we go :)

Burgers:

Lil Woody's (http://lilwoodys.com/) - recently voted Seattle's best burger

8oz Burger Bar (http://www.8ozburgerbar.com/) - a fave of the Boyapati clan

Mexican:

Poquitos (http://www.vivapoquitos.com/Poquitos/VivaPoquitos.html) - yum

Barrio (http://www.barriorestaurant.com/) - fancy mexican

Fogon (http://fogonseattle.com/) - also very yum

Ghetto Fab:

Rancho Bravo (http://www.yelp.com/biz/rancho-bravo-tacos-seattle-2) - a taco truck that got a brick and mortar location. Fantastic, cheap, quick. Conveniently located next to Bike Polo hipsters.

Lalibela (http://lalibelaseattle.com/)- Ethiopian just outside of Cap Hill. $11 will feed 4 people. Big platters of tasty food. Lots of fun.

Ezells (http://www.ezellschicken.com/) - is there really anything to say here?

El Farol (http://www.yelp.com/biz/el-farol-mexican-restaurant-seattle) - fast, cheap, american mexican food. Seating for all of us though. Not fancy but a staple of House Burke (especially when we need a lot of salt)

Libations:

Von Trapps (http://www.vontrapps.com/VonTrapps/HOME.html) - Beer, Bacci, Brats.

Harry's bar (http://www.yelp.com/biz/harrys-bar-seattle)- part of olympia pizza. $5 Happy hour Manhattans will put you on your ass.

Liberty Bar (http://www.libertybars.com/) - best craft cocktails on the hill

Bait Shop (http://baitshopseattle.com/) - Fancy adult slushies, good fried chicken sammie