Blueberry White Chocolate Chip Dumplings

Yep, that's a fresh, warm, gooey, ever-so-slightly-lemony (and really messy!) blueberry white chocolate swirl.

Cinnamon rolls [if you're wondering why I'm talking about cinnamon rolls when the post is clearly titled "Dumplings", and I just called them "swirls", well, we'll get to that... ] are one of those things on a list of about ten foods that I absolutely can't stand. I think it has to do with the fact that
1. usually, they're cloyingly sweet
2. there was a brief period in my childhood where I ate a lot of really unhealthy food, but we'll get to that's a story for another post.
I have this habit, though, for better or for worse, concerning cooking, eating, and really everything, of trying to find something to like about a given thing when I really dislike it. When I saw Ashley's unique take on cinnamon-less cinnamon rolls (which she received third place prize for the BC Blueberry contest! ), and being that everything else I've cooked verbatim or adapted ever-so-slightly from her blog was so wonderfully incredibly delicious- I thought I'd give it a shot.

Seriously, Ashley's blog has opened up a whole new world of baking joyfulness, and she has enlightened me about so many new good cookbooks, and the best way I can think to give back is to make this transitionary week from February 28th to March 7th an eat me, delicious tribute week. Thus, I decided to journey into the uncertain lands of cinnamon rolls sans cinnamon.

Now, the multiple names: my cinnamon rolls ended up more like sweet blueberry dumplings than cinnamon rolls, but I am certain that's probably my fault because I added too much liquid by virtue of mistaking my 1/3 measuring cup for a 1/4 measuring cup (whoops!). To try and compensate, I added a tablespoon of flour and asked someone around me if they thought that was alright. In retrospect, 1 tablespoon was definitely not enough flour to right my wet ingredient wrong, but hey, it was a learning experience! Additionally, one of the reasons I think these turned out more like dumplings than cinnamon rolls was that when I cut through the log to make the nine little rolls my knife wasn't sharp enough and ruptured some of the layers. Regardless, they were still demolished, and the flavor was perfect, but the rolls didn't have the consistency I was looking for.

I struggled with whether to post this recipe or not. I like the idea of posting only recipes that I think are really tasty (and that I've been successful in making), but I also like the idea of posting about how I messed a recipe up, for authenticity's sake. I think it's important if something doesn't turn out absolutely perfect not to get discouraged (and maybe even find something to like about it!). Most importantly, I like sharing good food. Despite my numerous errors, this recipe was good. For my eat me, delicious tribute week at least, I'll post every thing I bake from her blog. After this week I promise to find other amazing websites and blogs. Find something good and share it, right?! What are your favorite food blogs/cookbooks/websites?



Blueberry White Chocolate Swirls with Lemon Glaze

Adapted, accidentally, and very poorly from eat, me delicious (whose rolls look beautiful and mouth-wateringly good! Definitely deserved at least third place!)

Makes 9 rolls

Ingredients
2 cups and 1 tablespoon flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk
(I used 5/6 cup)
1/4 cup oil
(I used 1/3 cup)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 heaping cup blueberries, washed and patted dry (or 1 cup frozen blueberries)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
juice of one, really juicy lemon
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter an 8"x8" square pan.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl combine milk, oil and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry, and stir just until the flour disappears and you have a nice dough.

Lightly flour a work surface. Roll out the dough to a 9"x14" rectangle. Sprinkle the white chocolate chips and blueberries, and gently press them into the dough. Starting from the long side, roll up the dough into a log. Cut it into 9 biscuits and place them in the prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, prepare the lemon glaze by mixing together the lemon juice and icing sugar.

Once the rolls are done, invert them onto a plate, and drizzle the glaze over top. Serve while warm, but also good at room temperature.


My little blueberry white chocolate dumpling :) intact this time!

Spinach Walnut Pesto-ey Pasta

One of my favorite all time foods is pesto, so imagine my delight when I found this recipe on eat me, delicious who adapted from Quick-Fix Vegetarian. Walnuts, spinach, and flax seed? I couldn't have been happier. I love fixing my family healthy delicious food and this recipe looked (and absolutely was!) amazing. We recently unearthed our food processor too, after years in hibernation, when I made baklava. The food processor is great, especially for finely uniformly chopped foodstuffs. Ours is super tiny, but it makes cooking so much easier! I digress, back to the pesto: my dad said it could have used parmesan cheese (it's vegan as is) and my brother said that reducing the amount of olive oil made it a lot drier than normal pesto but that he thought normal pesto was too oily, so next time I might add somewhere between 1/4 cup of olive oil and 1/3 cup of olive oil.

Serves 4-5

makes about 2 cups, serves 4 with pasta

Ingredients
3 cups fresh spinach
4 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed fresh parsley leaves
1/3 cup walnut pieces
1 cup fresh basil
2 tbsp ground flax seed
(whoops! looking over this I realized I didn't grind the flax seeds.)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil or walnut oil
(I might add more oil next time, the pasta was a little drier than normal pesto)
1 block of baked tofu (mine was 7 oz)
(I couldn't find smoked tofu, which the recipe originally called for, at either TJ's or our local health food store. Where do you get smoked tofu?)


Meanwhile, steam the spinach over boiling water for 1 minute, or wilt it in a covered bowl in the microwave for about 3 minutes.
(I really struggled with this step for some reason. I've made gyoza before by frying then steaming them but for some reason, without a special steaming device, I felt like I needed a solution that wasn't provided above. Does this ever happen to any of you- where you have a cooking block that you just can't seem to get past? I didn't want to blanch all the flavor and nutrients out of the spinach, but I also wanted to have a good consistency for the sauce. What I ended up doing was really ridiculous: I rinsed baby spinach in a colander, and then dipped the bottom of the colander into the boiling water I was preparing for the pasta for about two seconds. Then I tossed the wilted spinach with the fresher spinach while still in the colander).
Mince the garlic with the salt in a food processor. Squeeze any moisture from the spinach and add to the food processor along with the parsley, basil, flax seeds and walnuts. Puree until smooth. Add the olive oil gradually and process to a smooth paste.

Cut up baked tofu into squares or small strips. In the pot that you cooked the pasta in, add the pesto and the tofu. Heat over low until tofu is hot.


so healthy and tasty!

Thai Chick-Un Pizza

I guess I'm on a peanut butter kick. After devouring the remainder of those peanut butter cookies, and most of a box of Tagalongs, I decided that the main course for tonight's dinner should be Thai pizza. Luckily, Ashley, author and baker extraordinaire of "eat me, delicious", has adapted recipes for some of my favorite breakfast, lunch, and dinner foods. I'm so happy I could throw a parade. Instead, I'll just have to start cooking with profe more than once a week.

So, we set to work. As an asian-american cat, he always approves of asian food. And as an enlightened being, he enjoyed the irie coloring of the pizza.

I hope you like jammin' [while eating this yummy pizza] too.


Thai Chick-Un Pizza
Adapted from eat me, delicious who adapted from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan

makes 8 large slices on a 14 inch pizza pan. Feeds about 5.

Peanut Sauce*

2/3 cup organic creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (I used Bragg's)
4 large cloves garlic, quartered
2 heaping tbsp fresh ginger, chopped
1/4 cup soy milk
(I might use coconut milk next time)
1 tsp agave nectar/syrup
(note: I would add maybe 1/4 - 1/2 c. of crushed red pepper next time because I just ended up dumping 3 tablespoons on my slice of pizza anyway)


1 14-16 inch whole wheat pizza shell for thin crust (see recipe below)
(my pizza pan is either 14 or 16 inches)

1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
(I used canned)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cup fresh pineapple, chopped
(I used precut pineapple from Trader Joe's refrigerated section)
3/4 cup snow peas, chopped
1/2 cup green onions, sliced
peanuts, chopped (garnish)
fresh cilantro leaves (garnish)

To prepare peanut sauce:
In a food processor, add peanut butter, ketchup, rice vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, soy milk and agave nectar/syrup, and puree until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Prepare a pizza pan with 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil and a sprinkle of flour (I used Kamut flour) the pizza pan. Roll or stretch the ball of dough to fit your pizza pan. (Note: for a short cut, I frequently use Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough. For thin crust on a 14-16 inch pan, use about half of the bag of dough. For thick crust use the whole bag)


Spread peanut sauce evenly on pizza crust. In a bowl, lightly flatten chickpeas with a large spoon (or in palm of your hand), and distribute evenly over sauce. Distribute bell pepper, pineapple and snow peas evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on crust thickness), sprinkling on green onions for last minute of cooking, until the crust is golden and toppings have heated through. Serve sprinkled with chopped peanuts and cilantro if desired.




















Pizza dough recipe from epicurious

Ingredients

1 cup (or more) warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3/4 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten*
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

Preparation

Whisk 1 cup warm water and yeast in small bowl; let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Using on/off turns, mix both flours, wheat gluten, and coarse salt in processor. Whisk 2 tablespoons oil into yeast mixture. With machine running, gradually add yeast mixture through feed tube of processor. Process until dough forms ball, adding more warm water by teaspoonfuls if dry, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to floured work surface; knead until dough comes together.

Brush large bowl with 1 tablespoon oil. Place dough in bowl; turn to coat. Cover bowl with kitchen towel. Let rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch dough down. Divide in half; form into 2 balls. DO AHEAD: Place each ball in separate resealable plastic bag. Chill up to 4 days or freeze up to 1 month. Let chilled dough stand 1 hour or frozen dough stand 4 hours at room temperature before rolling.

*The sauce tastes a little salty by itself, but it evens out nicely with the sweetness of the fresh pineapple and red bell pepper.

nom nom nom :)

Peanut Butter Cookies

This week, and honestly on a craving for eating peanut butter cookie dough, I decided to make peanut butter cookies. Since I came back from New York, Profe has been following me around nonstop and curling up in this circular pseudo-fetal position in my lap, on my bed, and burrowing into the blankets to snuggle with me on the couch. Drawing my inspiration from his warm, endearing, and cuddly shape, I decided to return to cookies as a comforting expression of our reciprocal love.

Also, in both weird and awesome news: I found my doppelgänger. We both write food blogs, prefer vegetarian food, particularly enjoy baking desserts, post pictures of our cats, have or are working on a bachelor's degree in psychology, and talk about how our food was received by our significant others and family in our posts.

Scrolling through her blog, I found the recipe for these cookies, adapted from Dana Treat, which she got from Baked (phew!). I actually stumbled upon "eat me, delicious" after googling the recipe for a lemon coconut cake, wishing to emulate the incredibly moist and delicious lemon cake a woman was sampling at the farmer's market yesterday. What I found was even more irresistible. These are certainly the best peanut butter cookies I've ever made, maybe the best that I've ever tasted, and oh man, they are incredibly addictive. Normally I can stop at a sliver of pie or a half a cookie, but I think I've eaten roughly about eleven cookies, not including delicious heaps of dough I ate, of course. I forlornly gaze every couple hours at the dwindling cookie supply, which is down to single digits in the jar. This recipe is amazing. Please try it for yourself and succumb to inevitable cookie overdose with me.

Recommended beverage: unsweetened soymilk and/or coffee with a dash of cinnamon. (Dipping the already soft peanut butter cookies in unsweetened soymilk is heavenly.)

Makes 30 large Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
(make sure you have really fine salt. I used fancy larger-clumped salt and as a result the first cookie I bit into was a little salty)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch pieces
(I used salted butter)
1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
(I used 1/4 cup of light brown and 1/4 cup of granulated)
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
(I used about 1 tbsp vanilla extract)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
(I always buy the peanut butter with the fewest possible ingredients. The peanut butter's label I use reads: "dry roasted organic peanuts, salt")

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together until fluffy. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. The mixture will look light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and peanut butter and beat until just incorporated.

Add half the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat baking mats.
(I didn't grease or line the baking sheet, used a very thin spatula to transfer the cookies to the wire racks, and had absolutely no problems)

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared sheets, at least 2 inches apart. With the palm of your hand, very gently press each cookie down so it forms a very tall disk shape. Do not press too hard and do not press it flat.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with granulated sugar (I eliminated this step) and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time (I didn't do this either), until the tops of the cookies just begin to brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the individual cookies to the rack to cool completely (Ashley of "eat me, delicious" said "although they are delicious warm" and I completely agree: I always prefer freshly baked cookies).

Über Super Ultra Lemony Lemon Bars

First, Happy Valentine's Day!
To celebrate Valentine's Day, and the inherently tart-sweet nature of relationships, I set out to make my boyfriend's favorite dessert: lemon bars. Lemon bars are amongst the most delicious desserts, and everyone I've ever offered one to has declared that these ones in particular are amazing.

Disclaimer: I love sour. I drank about a half a cup of straight, fresh squeezed, leftover lemon juice while I was making these lemon bars. As for the recipe, I squeezed about six lemons for these desserts (you probably need only three if you follow the recipe exactly), and added way more lemon zest, limoncello, and lemon juice that the recipe requires. This dish, taken from Emeril Lagasse, is already entitled "Super Lemony Lemon Squares", but given the way I’ve altered it the more fitting title should probably be “Ultra Super Lemony Lemon Squares”. If you didn’t like warheads as a kid and if you don’t crave ascorbic acid in the morning, then I’d stick to your angel food cake. However, in the spirit of balance, and knowing that I was cooking for people other than myself, I made these bars more lemony than the recipe, but not quite as lemony as I would have if I was cooking for just Profe and I.

Sadly, Profe and I couldn't cook together this week. I went on a trip to investigate potential graduate programs and am having quite a chilly sojourn with some friends. So, to give us all a little energy to brave the cold (it's eleven degrees Farenheit right now), I decided to make lemon bars for Valentine's Day. Profe did, however, give me his blessing to make lemon bars, because both his and lemons’ ancestors are originally from Asia. And, when you sprinkle the powdered sugar over the lemon bars at the end, they both have spots :) .

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks), plus 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

• 1 3/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar, plus more for garnish

• 1/4 cup cornstarch

• 3/4 teaspoon salt plus a pinch

• 4 eggs, lightly beaten

• 1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

I only used one cup of organic granulated sugar

• 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

I used 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon zest

• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, strained

I used 1 cup of lemon juice

• 1/4 cup whole milk

• 2 tablespoons limoncello, or other lemon-flavored liqueur, optional

I used 3 tablespoons

Note: if you follow the recipe exactly how I made it then your lemon bars will come out a little more gooey than Emeril's. To compensate for this you could use the entirety of the crust (once prepared I only use about half) or you could use xanthan gum, arrowroot, egg, or any thickening agent. Be careful, though: using thickening agents requires a little extra love and care.

Directions

Lightly butter a 9 by 13-inch baking dish with 2 teaspoons of the butter and line with 1 sheet of parchment or waxed paper. Butter the top of this sheet of paper with 1 teaspoon of the remaining butter and then lay a second sheet of parchment or waxed paper crosswise over the first sheet. The parchment should be cut large enough so that the sides are even with the top of the baking dish; this extra paper will function as handles to help you remove the lemon squares from the pan later. Set pan aside.

In a large bowl combine 1 3/4 cups of the flour, 2/3 cup of the confectioners' sugar, the cornstarch, and 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and mix thoroughly. Cut the remaining 12 tablespoons of butter into small pieces and add to the flour mixture. Using your hands, 2 forks, or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour mixture until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer the butter-flour mixture to the prepared baking dish and press into an even 1/4-inch layer along the bottom and partly up the sides of the pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

While the crust is chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Bake the crust until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

While the crust is baking, assemble the filling by combining the eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and lemon zest in a medium bowl and whisking until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, milk, limoncello, and remaining pinch of salt and mix well.

When the crust is golden brown, remove it from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Stir the lemon mixture again, then pour onto the warm crust. Bake until the filling is set, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Grasp the waxed paper that lines the 2 longest sides of the baking dish and remove the bars from the pan by pulling up gently. The entire dessert should easily dislodge and come away from the pan. Transfer to a cutting board and, using a clean knife, cut into squares, wiping knife after each cut. Place a small amount of confectioners' sugar into a small sieve, and sprinkle the bars with the sugar. Serve immediately, or refrigerate, wrapped with plastic wrap, up to 2 days, until ready to serve. I garnished them with sliced heart-shaped strawberries.

Baklava

Having blown through cookies, cheesecake, and brownies influenced by Profe, I needed something fresh and new to bake. Looking for inspiration, I pensively stroked Profe's fur, and admired the warm golden glow of his coat between his dark spots and stripes, laughing silently and lovingly at his ludicrous and almost maniacal expression. Suddenly, the idea came to me from his layers, color, and the mischievous shape of his eyes in that moment: baklava.

Hailing from the former Ottoman empire, and keeping with our South Asian theme, baklava is a dessert with an interesting texture that I think is partly an acquired taste. To illustrate this point, allow me to provide you with a conversation that took place ten minutes ago:

"Would you like some Baklava?!" I ask my brother as he walks in the front door.

"Is it good?" he asks.

"Try it for yourself. My taste buds are not your taste buds."

"I'll take this small piece-- I'm normally not such a huge fan of Baklava," he says as he reluctantly cuts one of the smaller pieces away from the baking dish. "It's actually pretty good," he says after several moments pass. "I like it more than I normally like Baklava."

To some extent I agree with him: baklava is incredibly rich, but on top of that it's made of flaky crust has a syrupy sauce that sinks to the bottom. I've had some horrendous baklava during my twenty-three years of life. It can be papery or soggy and overly sweet. Also, if chopped nuts as a texture bother you, then steer clear of this recipe.

That being said, baklava can be a wonderful dessert when prepared carefully and eaten by an enthusiastic audience. I'd never made anything with phyllo dough until last night and the prospect made me nervous, but I needed something that would keep without refrigeration, so that I could travel to school and share the dessert. I searched the internet for a recipe infused with spice and came up with this gem.



Ingredients

For the filling:
1 (5-inch piece) cinnamon stick, broken into 2 to 3 pieces or 2 teaspoons ground
15 to 20 whole allspice berries
6 ounces blanched almonds
6 ounces raw or roasted walnuts
6 ounces raw or roasted pistachio
2/3 cup sugar
(I left this out)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon rose water
(I left this out)
1 pound phyllo dough, thawed
(You will not need the whole pound)
8 ounces clarified unsalted butter, melted

For the syrup:
1 1/4 cups honey
1 1/4 cups water
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 (2-inch) piece fresh orange peel
(I used almost an entire orange peel and ended up using only half the syrup over the dessert)


Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the cinnamon stick and whole allspice into a spice grinder and grind.

Place the almonds, walnuts, pistachios, sugar and freshly ground spices into the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped, but not pasty or powdery, approximately 15 quick pulses. Set aside.

Combine the water and rose water in a small spritz bottle and set aside.

Trim the sheets of phyllo to fit the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch metal pan. Brush the bottom and sides of the pan with butter; lay down a sheet of phyllo and brush with butter. Repeat this step 9 more times for a total of 10 sheets of phyllo. Top with 1/3 of the nut mixture and spread thinly. Spritz thoroughly with the rose water. Layer 6 more sheets of phyllo with butter in between each of them, followed by another third of the nuts and spritz with rose water. Repeat with another 6 sheets of phyllo, butter, remaining nuts, and rose water. Top with 8 sheets of phyllo brushing with butter in between each sheet. Brush the top generously with butter. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and cut into 28 squares. Return pan to the oven and continue to bake for another 30 minutes. Remove pan from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and cool for 2 hours before adding the syrup.

Make the syrup during the last 30 minutes of cooling. Combine the honey, water, sugar, cinnamon stick and orange peel in a 4-quart saucepan and set over high heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Once boiling, boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and discard the orange peel and cinnamon stick.

After the baklava has cooled for 2 hours, re-cut the entire pan following the same lines as before. Pour the hot syrup evenly over the top of the baklava, allowing it to run into the cuts and around the edges of the pan. Allow the pan to sit, uncovered until completely cool. Cover and store at room temperature for at least 8 hours and up to overnight before serving. Store, covered, at room temperature for up to 5 days.