Honey Cake Heaven

Last week I bought some beautiful buckwheat honey (made from the blossom of the buckwheat plant). Buckwheat honey has a fairly strong flavor with darker more molasses-like and malty tones. It is dark in color, and darker honeys tend to be higher in antioxidant compounds and mineral content than lighter ones.

I was excited to use my new purchase in a simple yet delicious honey cake based on a recipe that I have been wanting to make from Deb Perelman.  This cake is full of flavor from spices, honey, brown sugar, coffee and bourbon.  A fantastic combination. Making the cake is actually fairly easy.  You do not even need to use a mixer. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, pour in the wet ingredients, mix well by hand, and you are already 1/2 way there.  

I have to say that I was even more impressed with this cake once I bit into it. It was moist, full of flavor and not as sweet as I expected (a good thing). Buckwheat honey is also partially responsible for that. 

I used a Virgin olive oil (rather than the original recipe's vegetable oil), since it is healthier, but does not have the intense flavor of an Extra Virgin. This cake also has the perfect amount of bourbon flavor.  Not so strong that you want to refrain from eating it at work, (lest your colleagues will think that you have been hitting the bottle), but then not so hidden that you would never know it is there.  I took Deb's optional advice and sprinkled the top with chopped almonds. The toasted crunch is a perfect balance to the moist cake. 

Brian ate a piece with large scoop of french vanilla ice cream for dessert, while I had mine with my coffee in the morning.  (He has been known to eat ribs for breakfast, but I have yet to ever see him eat cake in the morning.) Which makes this the perfect cake for us...You can dress it up, or dress it down.  

  

 If you have a jar of honey in your cabinet that has been sitting there for far too long (and who doesn't), you need to jump up and make this.  In less than an hour you will have the perfect breakfast, dessert, snack and everything in between....

 

 
Honey Cake  (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

3 1/2 cups (440 grams) cake flour
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 teaspoons (about 8 grams) ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup (235 ml) light olive oil
1 cup (340 grams) honey
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (95 grams) brown sugar
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 cup warm (235 ml) coffee
1/4 cup cointreau
1/4 cup bourbon
1/2 cup (45 to 55 grams) slivered/sliced/chopped almonds (optional)

Fits in three loaf pans, two 9-inch square or round cake pans, one 9 or 10 inch tube or bundt cake pan, or one 9 by 13 inch sheet cake. I made mine in two 9-inch round cake pans.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour your pans.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and allspice. Make a well in the center, and add oil, honey, white sugar, brown sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee and alcohol, if using. 

Tip: (If you measure your oil in the same measuring cup before measuring your honey, it will be easier to get all of the honey out.)

Blend well with a strong wire whisk or spatula- making sure that the batter is perfectly smooth before finishing.

Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and sprinkle the top of the cake(s) evenly with almonds.

Bake until cake tests done (it springs back when you gently touch the cake center). For angel and tube cake pans, this will take 60 to 75 minutes, loaf cakes, about 45 to 55 minutes. For sheet style cakes, baking time is 40 to 45 minutes.

Corn Cookies

Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC is one of the most interesting (and delicious) bakeries in the city.  Their goal is to recreate some of the favorite All-American flavors.  For example, their Cereal Milk ice cream is one of their top sellers.  They also commonly use pretzels, fruity pebbles and their own incredibly popular "Cake-Mix"  in many of their recreations).  I admire them for doing a fantastic job at what they do and everything is very good, but due to my mother's Italian-ness, I never really developed a taste for those All- American flavors.  I really never had an actual bowl of lucky charms until I was a freshman in college.  I remember loving the creaminess of those powdery little horseshoes melting away in the cool milk...for about a week until I could no longer stand the sugary film that coated my mouth immediately after.  

Momofuku does make one cookie that peaked my interest.  Their corn cookie.  Due to the use of  2/3 cup of ground dehydrated corn, these cookies taste exactly like fresh corn...with the added addition of a little butter and sugar.  

The recipe calls for a very long creaming method of almost 10 minutes, which creates a very light, fluffy and almost cloud-like transformation of your butter, sugar and egg.

Since I like cookies to be a bit firmer, rather than soft and floppy, I decided to adjust the recipe a little to include a little more corn flour.  They turned out just a bit more stable than those from the bakery, and the flavor was spot on.  (The recipe below, will give you an exact replica of those from the Bakery,)       

 These would make the perfect addition to a Salty-Caramel ice cream or, for Spring, a Strawberry Buttermilk.  It is only February and I am already really ready to start making (eating) gelato again...I guess I didn't get it out of my system last summer.  

Corn Cookies

By Momofuku Milk Bar

Makes 18 cookies

225 g butter, at room temperature OR 16 tablespoons (2 sticks)
300 g sugar OR 1 1/2 cups
1 egg
225 g flour OR 1 1/3 cups
45 g corn flour OR 1/4 cup
65 g freeze-dried corn powder OR 2/3 cup
3 g baking powder OR 3/4 teaspoon
1.5 g baking soda OR 1/4 teaspoon
6 g kosher salt OR 1 1/2 teaspoons

1. Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the
paddle attachment and cream together on medium-high for 2 to 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egg, and beat for 7 to 8 minutes.

2. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, corn flour, corn powder,
baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dough comes together,
no longer than 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Using a 2 3/4-ounce ice cream scoop (or a 1/3-cup measure), portion out the
dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Pat the tops of the cookie dough
domes flat. Wrap the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at
least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Do not bake your cookies from room temperature--
they will not bake properly.

4. Heat the oven to 350°F.

5. Arrange the chilled dough a minimum of 4 inches apart on parchment- or
Silpat-lined sheet pans. Bake for 18 minutes. The cookies will puff, crackle,
and spread. 

Philadelphia On The Palate

Over the weekend we took a last minute day trip up the Eastern Seaboard to Philadelphia, PA.  We left DC at about 8:30 am on a cold and gray Saturday morning. There was not much traffic on the road, so after a stop to fill up the gas tank, and $13 in tolls, we were pulling up to our first stop by 11 am ...The centrally located Reading Terminal Market.  For those of you that have been, you know that this place is a huge indoor market with food sellers of all sorts.  From American BBQ and famous Philadelphia sub sandwiches, to gourmet local cheese producers and even an Amish diner serving up stacks of pancakes to the masses.  

Brian decided to wait in a 20 minute line for a thinly sliced  BBQ pork sub sandwich topped with roasted broccoli rabe and melted provolone.  I did not really realize just how much of a "sub" city (as in submarine sandwich) Philly really is.  They absolutely just love their french rolls and will just about put anything on them to make a sandwich.  I have to say I did not mind watching those strong tattooed arms working to build each sandwich to perfection while we waited.   

The bread was incredibly fresh and the meat perfectly moist.  The broccoli rabe and the provolone just sealed the deal.  Everyone was loving it!

Next we headed over to Valley Shepard Creamery, which is a fairly local farm just up the road in New Jersey.  Again some very nice tattooed arms served us as a load of samples to help us understand their offering and choose some cheeses that we might like.  The guys at Valley Shepard were so friendly and so knowledgeable.  Below we tasted a Jersey Cows milk cheese with nettles.

But we ended up getting this aged goat's milk cheese below, and another smoky cave-aged sheep's milk cheese (smoked over applewood embers).  

 

It was all amazing and I would go back in a second.  I can not tell you how nice it is to have a cheese shop that really knows cheese, AND is willing to teach you and help you, so that you can enjoy it as much as they do.  I love Whole Foods, but often times I end up getting more information from other customers than I can get from the staff.  

After some further ramblings around the city, passing the freezing afternoon as the light snow began to fall, we decided it was time for a refill.  We crammed ourselves into a very popular bar called Monk's Cafe.  We sat at the back bar and were lucky enough to taste some really rare beers that we could not get down in DC.  My favorite was Damnation by Russian River Brewery in California.  (Philadelphia is the only city on the East Coast than has access to the Russian River Beers on a regular basis).  Damnation is similar to a strong golden Belgium ale. It is medium-bodied, has a slightly fruity/banana aroma, and a dry, spicy finish.

After warming ourselves with those delicious libations, it was time for one last stop before hitting the road again.  Iron Chef Morimoto's Japanese restaurant, serving some of the best Japanese food in the nation.  Morimoto actually has a few restaurants in different cities, but this one in Philadelphia just seems to be particularly good.  I also like how the menu is diverse, allowing you to really choose your own style.  There is everything from exotic sashimi and elaborate lobster dishes to soba noodle bowls and sushi rolls.

We decided to have some small plates in the lounge, since the dining room was completely booked.  The swanky little lounge was filling up fast, so we were lucky to even nab table.  

On our drive back to DC, Brian slept.  Sailing down the lowly lit highways, stopping only at the bright toll-booths to dole out another $7, I realized that even though Philly has a lot going for it, and many people absolutely love it (so don't get me wrong)... personally, it will never really be one of my favorite cities.  It just feels a little too quintessentially North-eastern American city to me... Even though there are places like Monks Cafe and Morimoto's Japanese, this is a city that truly prides themselves on the foot-long sandwich piled high with meat and oozing with orange cheese.  

Dick Taylor Craft Chocolate

I absolutely love trying new craft chocolate bars.  While the prices are a bit higher, I like supporting small producers that are doing business ethically and using quality ingredients.  Also the chocolate is unquestionably superior to your average chocolate.  

I am already a huge fan of the magnificent Dandelion Chocolate, from The Mission in San Francisco.  If you haven't tasted this bean to bar maker, hurry online (or in person) and check them out.  But this past week Brian introduced me to a new chocolate producer that I had never heard of.  

 Adam Dick and Dustin Taylor are the chocolate makers, hence the name, running their operation in the most Western city of Arcata, CA.  These two guys have an interesting background in that they met at Humbolt State and went into furniture making (and the restoration of old boats), before starting the chocolate business just a few years ago.  They create not only really delicious, pure organic chocolate bars, but they also make some bars with some really interesting combinations of ingredients.  Two of my favorites are the Black Fig bar and the Maple Coconut bar.  Both are dark chocolate bars of 72%+ with the ingredients stuck right into the back of the bars so that you can see it, plain and clear.

The front of each bar is a beautiful and delicate design that reminds you that the true art of chocolate making is really just that, an art.

  

The perfect dessert is just to break off a piece and place it in your mouth.  Ignore the temptation to bite into it...which is SO hard for me.  But, be patient and let the chocolate melt on your tongue.  The flavors will blossom and bloom,  much more so than they would have had you ground the chocolate down by chewing it with your teeth.

I only wish that many more companies would put the same patience into their ingredients and processes as these guys do.  I am such of supporter of craft producers, whether it is chocolate or beer or most any other product, I continually find that the added care from the craft producer is incredibly evident in the final product.
Do you have any favorite craft chocolate makers? 

Croissants At Home

 Being on a French kick for the past few months, I have been dreaming of a perfectly flaky croissant.  In addition, there have been a few new cafes that have opened around the city toting their fresh croissants.  Since they are just far enough from me, I have not been able to try them just yet, but instead only read the few early (yet good) reviews that have made it on to Yelp.  I decided that since I know what a really good croissant should taste like, I would try my own hand at making them first.  However, the last time I even looked at croissant dough, was when I was 18 years old.  The last time I even attempted to transform a little triangle of dough into a fluffy croissant was when I working at my part-time bakery job at a little well-known French bakery in Oakland, CA.  So, I would have to warm up a little first...

  

I read what seems like fifty different recipes...cook books and Internet alike...and decided that I liked the one I found from America's Test Kitchen.  It uses a very simple, yet scientific method... if you like that sort of thing.  If you follow it step by step it is pretty straight forward and fool proof.  They even have a video. (check out their site, because I won't be reposting the longest recipe ever.)

   

I started my croissants after work on Thursday evening.  The most difficult part about croissants is really just the time that it takes.  Between all of the rolling and working the dough and then cooling the dough, it will take about 7 hours to complete a batch.  

So by the time Brian arrived home, he was a little shocked to see the kitchen covered in flour and dough.  He said that I needed to warn him next time.  Since he is a little OCD, I usually try to keep my messes under control.  This time I just told him that it will be so worth it. 

I finally got them all shaped and slid them into the freezer, where I left them until 6:30am on Saturday morning.  At that time they needed to come out... so that they would be ready to eat some time around 10am.  I know, you are probably thinking that you must be crazy if you will get up at at that time on a Saturday to proof your croissants.  Well, yes, you are right.  

But it was so worth it.    

Nothing beats a hot, flaky, buttery, home-made croissant.  We ate them warm out of the oven, just sitting in warm winter sun that was shining through the window onto the living room carpet.  We dusted our fingers of the buttery flakes, and took another bite, in the sun, happy.