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.

Firecracker Brownies

My brother graduated early from high school and to celebrate I decided to make him firecracker brownies. The recipe is largely inspired from Chuao Chocolatier who makes a bar named “Spicy Maya” which is essentially the yummiest dark chocolate you’ve ever had coupled with cayenne pepper. To make it even more confusing, Chuao actually makes a bar named “Firecracker” but it’s more of a milk chocolate with pop rocks embedded in it- it’s quite an eating experience, but I prefer complex flavor over bizarre tactile-tongue sensation.

My brother is essentially my taste preference twin. We both slather our burritos in hot sauce, drown pizza in tapatio, spruce up soups with chili garlic sauce, and love the ridiculous in just about everything both food-tastic and beyond. Plus, I’ve made these brownies for him before and he likes them, so I felt fairly comfortable and confident about making brownies with a bang.

I got the stamp of approval from Profe also, because of the following three things:

1. The name
• Firecrackers, fireworks and gunpowder were invented in China approximately 2,000 years ago. And, because of the Professor’s not-so-distant heritage, we find a modicum of spice to be quite efficacious.
  
2. The spice
• Probably, my favorite thing about Asian cuisine is you can always crank up the heat. Think: wasabi, chili paste, & curry
• Actually, scratch that. It's tied …sushi is just about the greatest invention ever.
  
3. The color
• Profe’s spots are a rich chocolately brown. Especially his heart-shaped one.
  

Special thanks to Epicurious for the baseline for a great recipe!

Happy Monday! Here's the Recipe:

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, plus more for greasing pan

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

6 tablespoons crushed red pepper

(I used some incredibly hot Bhutanese pepper that I bought at a farmers market in Bumthang, Bhutan last July)

6 tablespoons instant coffee

3 tablespoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons nutmeg

2 large eggs, chilled

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Position rack in bottom third of oven; preheat to 325°F. Line 8 x 8 x 2-inch metal baking pan with foil, pressing foil firmly against pan sides and leaving 2-inch overhang. Coat foil with butter. Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking until butter stops foaming and browned bits form at bottom of pan, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; immediately add sugar, cocoa, 2 teaspoons water, vanilla, chili pepper, instant coffee, cinnamon, nutmeg, and 1⁄4 teaspoon (generous) salt. Stir to blend. Let cool 5 minutes (mixture will still be hot). Add eggs to hot mixture 1 at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add chocolate chips. When mixture looks thick and shiny, add flour and stir until blended. Beat vigorously 60 strokes. Stir in nuts. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

Bake brownies until toothpick inserted into center comes out almost clean (with a few moist crumbs attached), about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on rack. Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan. Cut into 4 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 4 brownies.

Ginger Cheesecake

Last week I attempted to make a batch of cookies that resembled Profe. If the cookies failed in capturing the earth-toned, warm, multi-faceted, and playful coloring of my cat, at least they were delicious- devoured by my family in less than forty-eight hours.

Tonight I set out to do something a little different: cheesecake with spices from the home of Profe's ancestors: wild cats from Southeast Asia.

If you open a cookbook featuring Southeast Asian cuisine (for example, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, etc... ) you're liable to find a wealth of recipes that contain ginger. Hailed for it's medical properties, especially in eastern medicine, ginger seems to be abounding with newly discovered medical benefits. With all of the other members of my family sick with three different illnesses, which I seem to have narrowly escaped, what better way to soothe their minds and bodies than with ginger cheesecake. Now, I know that you’re thinking, “sugary dessert can’t be good for colds, influenza, lost voices, and strep throat”, but I beg to differ. Psychologically, a protein-rich dessert with the delicate balance of spicy, sour, and sweet, may be the key to providing some happiness and relief from the stress of illness.

With the power of ginger and a little bit of lemon on our side, Profe (pictured right) and I were ready to create a new recipe: a dessert to give my family the energy to fight off their mid-January ailments.

Without further adieu, here is a general cheesecake recipe I have perfected over the years with a yummy Southeast Asian twist:

Ginger Cheesecake

1 cup finely crushed Trader Joe’s Ginger Snaps

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger root

3 packages Philadelphia cream cheese (or 24 oz)

3/4 cup sugar

2 1/2 tablespoons all purpose or pastry flour

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons grated lemon peel (zest)

2 tablespoons fresh ground ginger root

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

4 eggs

Crust: mix ginger snap crumbs, 3 tablespoons of sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, and 1 tablespoon of butter. Press against the 9 inch pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes.

Filling: mix cream cheese, 3/4 cup sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons of flour, 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons zest, 2 tablespoons ginger root, 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla, and the four eggs.

Bake at 325 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes.

Let pie cool for ten minutes, then refrigerate for four hours.

Happy Baking!

And yes, across the middle are the Himalayas made of crystalized ginger. Yum!

Cookie Monster

Generally, I am not a huge fan of cookies. On top of that, I absolutely abhor nuts in desserts, but these cookies completely changed my mind.

The backstory: I am at my boyfriend's Aunt's house talking about baking during the holidays when Aunt K. mentions that during the holidays she wasn't up to making a fancy dessert, she runs to the other room and retrieves a giant aqua colored tome enscribed with "Zov" in thin green lettering. The word "simply" sits nonchalantly in the "O". Aunt K. opens the book to page 341 to the much raved about recipe entitled "jumble cookies". The titles are all lowercase reminiscent of an e.e. cummings poem. I'm skeptical. There's several kinds of nuts, chocolate, and dried fruit. The combination sounds overwhelming, but Aunt K.'s sister, daughter, and husband all assure me that these are the most delicious cookies they've ever had. She photocopies the recipe and sends me graciously on my way.

About Zov: She's a proprietress of a bistro not so far from my home in California. Her middle-eastern inspired recipes have been called "brilliant"by the Zagat Guide according to the review of another cook book on amazon.com.

So, this evening, I set myself to the task of recreating Zov's recipe as best I could.

Here it is:

Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups whole almonds
[I used Trader Joe's Dry Roasted and Unsalted Almonds]
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
[I used Trader Joe's Raw Pecan Halves]
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature)
1 cup grandulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
[I used at least twice as much as this recipe recommended]
1 12-ounce package Hershey's dark chocolate chips
[I used Trader Joe's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips]
2 cups raisins
[I used organic raisins from a local health food store]
Parchment paper or nonstick vegetable-oil cooking spray
[I used salted butter- yum!]

Directions:

Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the almonds and pecans on a heavy, large baking sheet and bake until golden brown and fragrant, about 11 minutes, stirring halfway through the baking time to ensure the almonds brown evenly. [note: unless you have a gargantuan baking sheet, you'll probably have to toast your nuts in waves.] Transfer the nuts to a cutting board to cool completely. Coarsely chop the almodns and pecans, then set the nuts aside. Maintain the oven temperature

Stire the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Set the flour mixture aside. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a hand-held mixer), beat the butter sugar and brown sugar in the mixing bowl until well blended, about 3 minutes [it really helps if you can get someone to pour slowly as you beat your ingredients together]. Add the eggs one at at ime, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. With the machien on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating just until incorporated (do not overmix or the cookies willb e tough). Mix in the chocolate chips, raisins, and then lastly, the chopped nuts [note: I was short on nuts so I supplemented the last cup or so with raw walnuts, first baked in the cookies, from Trader Joe's.

Line 4 heavy, large baking sheets with parchment [again, I used butter between batches] or spray the baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray. Using 1/2 cup of dough for each cookie, mound the dough atop the prepared baking sheets, spacing evenly and forming 5 mounds on each baking sheet. With the palm of your hand lightly press down the cookie dough to flatten. Working in batches bake the cookies until they are golden brown all over and the very center is still pale golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool completely.

I hope these cookies are as much of a hit in your household as they were in mine!

Cooking with Profe

Oftentimes, when I'm feeling emotions other than happiness it's because I'm lacking sleep or a good meal. I love to cook food that I can enjoy with my family and friends. If for just those few seconds as the food hits their taste buds, I can make something that is so scrumptious it melts away the worries of the day, then I think that day has been a success.

I quite enjoy cooking in general, but baking is certainly my favorite medium for culinary creation. On meatless mondays, I'll post mostly recipes of the dessert. The recipes will mostly come from books, other awesome blogs, websites, and every once in a while my own wacky creation. Frequently, I won't have exactly the ingredients I'll need and usually I find that if I have a good idea of what ingredients may be even better alternatives then my cooking can come out more delicious than the original recipe would have. Also, bland food just isn't my calling. I'm one of those people that douses their food in equal parts food and hot sauce, triples the amount of lemon in desserts while simultaneously reducing the amount of sugar, and pours half a container of cinnamon in to apple pie. So prepare yourself for flavorful, spicy, and all around extra yummy food.

Ah, and before I forget, about the title: Profe is a very clingy cat. He follows me around like a duckling. Literally every room I'm in, he's there. When I wake up, he is staring at me, when I shower or brush my teeth he sits on the counter. He sleeps in my bed every night, and, of course, he's happiest when I'm cooking. He likes to sit on the kitchen counter and watch intently as I make food. Every once in a while, if he's lucky, he'll taste test. Profe is equal parts playful and wise, and is the kind of cat that makes you re-think your dislike of felines. He is an inspiration for the form and color that many of my dishes take. His Southeast Asian heritage will create the basis for my heavily spiced creations.

Enjoy!