White Chocolate and Raspberry Ice Cream

With this crazy winter we've been having over the past few weeks in NY, it feels like V-day has really crept up on us out of nowhere. Can you believe it's this upcoming Saturday? Neither could I until I saw different shades of red and pink taking over my Instagram account last week. It looks like I forgot all about it (again) but hey. There's still a full week before the big day and that's plenty of time to bake up, or in this case, freeze up, something tasty and special to share with someone special.

With all the messy winter weather we've been having, enjoying a scoop of ice cream may be the last thing on your mind. I don't blame you- I'm craving warm, comforting dishes all the time now, but even so, personally, I don't think I'll ever be able to refuse a bowl of that creamy frozen goodness.  Even in the dead of winter, ice cream is still one of my top choices for dessert and comfort food in general. It makes me feel like a kid again, and homemade ice cream is always a special treat. It's creamier and richer than any ice cream you'll buy in the store, and if you make it yourself, the flavor combinations are endless. With Valentine's Day just around the corner, a white chocolate and raspberry ice cream couldn't be a more fitting flavor for the occasion.

Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta

If I had to pick a non-chocolate dessert to eat for the rest of my lift (I say non-chocolate because a chocolate dessert will easily beat out any other), it would be panna cotta.  I tried panna cotta for the first time a few years back when I was helping my cousin make one for a family gathering, and I remember thinking that this was a really, really strange dessert.  I just couldn't understand how combining milk and cream and sugar could be good (clearly I hadn't attempted to make ice cream yet), and adding gelatin into the mix just seemed like a recipe for something really funky. I wasn't convinced that we had a winning dessert on our hands, but my cousin assured me that this was something special.  Needless to say, she was completely right. I hadn't tasted anything quite like it before, but my mind had been changed- cream, milk, sugar, and gelatin are a recipe for something DELISH!

I like playing with variations on the traditional panna cotta, just to see what other interesting flavors are possible.  I've made a buttermilk panna cotta that I thought was delicious, and this particular recipe for a panna cotta made with Greek yogurt is one that I've had my eye on for quite some time. I was inspired by Chobani's  #MadeWithChobani project, and I figured that with the holidays literally around the corner, now would be the perfect time to finally try out this recipe. 

Rugelach with Raspberries and Walnuts

I don't think there's a cookie that I enjoy more than a well-made rugelach. Its only competition would probably be a freshly baked, still warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie, but aside from that, I can't think of a cookie I enjoy more.  They're more than just cookies; they're delectable little pastries filled with all kinds of delicious things.  My favorite rugelach are filled with apricot preserves and pistachios, but rugelach filled with raspberry jam and walnuts are also perfection.  So, when the Baddish Group reached out to me and asked if I wanted to try out Dorie Greenspan's famous rugelach recipe from her newest book, Baking Chez Moi, I couldn't say no. 

The challenge wasn't just to make Dorie's rugelach recipe- I also got the chance to work with Driscoll's raspberries to prepare a delicious filling for my rugelach, a perfect match! I normally use ready-made jams and preserves when making rugelach, so I was excited to try out this new approach.  I first started by preparing the raspberry filling.  I took beautiful ruby-red raspberries and cooked them with a little sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice. As the fruit cooked down and broke apart, it thickened just slightly.  After cooling and chilling in the fridge, the fruity mixture transformed into a thick spreadable filling. Once the filling was done, it was time to tackle the rugelach dough. 

PB+J Blondies

Hello, hello, hello!  The blog has been a bit quiet this week...much too quiet for my personal liking, but this little thing called life has been getting in the way.  You see, work has been busy and I've been getting home late. Then, since we're getting closer and closer to summer and I happen to run a blog that features desserts that emphasize the use of real butter, sugar, and chocolate in generous amounts, I've been kicking it into high gear at the gym during the week after work.  My attempts at getting to the gym after work have me coming home sometimes at 9:30 at night, and after I scarf down a quick dinner, it's time for my favorite activity of all, GRE prep. I can't even tell you how many irrelevant new vocabulary words that I will never ever use I've had to learn, and how much I can't wait until this stupid test is finished with.  There's literally only four weeks left until it's over and done with, so the end is near!  After doing an hour of GRE prep a few times a night, I'm usually pretty pooped and ready to just go to bed, meaning that my blog work has been taking a back seat.  Good thing I also caught the spring cleaning bug and have been doing lots of random projects in my bedroom, as if work, the gym, and GRE work weren't enough.  But I digress.  I've been busy, and I've missed getting to work on the blog.   

Fortunately, there's only a month left until the GRE is over with, so by then I'm sure that I'll have some more free time on my schedule and things around here can be a little more lively and dessert-filled.  Until then, just bear with me.  Recipes and photos will come up sporadically, but if they're a little far apart or my writing is reading a little wonky, just rest assured that this is only a temporary phase.  For now though, let's focus instead on these PB+J blondies.  When life gets too busy to handle, you need easy desserts to keep you sane, and these blondies are the simplest of desserts!

Crepe Cake with Raspberries and Cream

So it seemed like spring had sprung and all was finally well with Mother Nature.  The weather was getting warmer, the birds were chirping in the morning, and tiny little green buds began to speckle all the trees around my neighborhood.  I was seeing more kids playing around outside, and just the other night, I even heard the ice cream truck driving around playing its catchy little tune (I still get excited about this).  Then, in a completely sudden change of events, it snowed two nights ago.  Snow.  In April.  In spring.  Not ok.

To be fair, the snow that fell was really just a light flurry, but still. It's the principle!  The fact that my mom had to use an ice pick to get that layer of ice off the car windshield in the morning was a bit depressing.  I thought we had moved past this!  Here I am posting a lovely recipe for a delightfully springy Crepe Cake with Raspberries and Cream, and there were sprinklings of snow on the ground just yesterday.  Fortunately, the weather is supposed to improve slightly over the weekend and by then, spring will hopefully be here to stay!  In the meantime though, we can continue to pretend that it's really spring with this crepe cake.

Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake

We're halfway through Breakfast Week, and today's newest installment is this seriously delicious Raspberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake.  There's all kinds of delicious-ness confined within this 9-inch square baking pan.  Coffee cake is one of those cakes that everyone happens to like.  Even my dad, who's not the biggest fan of cakes and sweets, loves coffee cake.  As soon as he learned that I was making coffee cake, he brought up the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Newman have an interesting conversation involving Drake's coffee cakes.  Then, my dad tells me that when he was working at the Ronzoni Macaroni factory way way wayyy back in the day, he would always look forward to having a Drake's coffee cake during his break.  I always find it so silly when my dad tells me stories like these, because it's so surprising to hear him say how much he actually likes a particular sweet cake or dessert, which is so out of character for him.  Then again, how could anyone not like coffee cake?  Is that even possible?

I loveeee coffee cake.  I love all kinds of simple cakes and snack cakes, but coffee cakes are in a league of their own.  They're extra special.  The cake itself is typically super moist and perfectly fluffy, and is actually rather plain, and I mean that in the best way possible.  There's no flavors trying to disrupt my cake eating experience, and I can just enjoy the cake for what it is, which is delicious.  The crumbs are a whole other story though.  While I love the cake part of coffee cake for its plainness and simplicity, I love the crumbs for how over the top they are. They're rich and tender and buttery and almost cloyingly sweet, which is the perfect element to balance out the simple cake.  Coffee cake is classic and perfect as it is, so there's little reason to mess with it...except that I decided to just that.  

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

This past weekend, on Saturday, to be specific, I made you guys a tart.  Not just any tart, but a really good, over the top kind of tart.  The kind of tart where there's lots of chocolate and raspberries, and a good amount of mascarpone whipped cream to balance everything out.  This tart is the stuff dreams are made of, I tell you.  

Valentine's Day is this Friday, and I'm ready.  I'm embracing the holiday like I've never embraced it before, at least in a foodie sense.  I spent a good amount of time contemplating good Valentine's desserts, and I actually had a hard time with it.  All I could think of involved copious amounts of chocolate, strawberries and raspberries, and anything that was originally white turned into varying shades of pink and red.  While there's nothing wrong with any of that, I couldn't help but feel that resorting to something in one (or more) of those categories seemed a little uninspired.  Was I really about to end up making yet another chocolate overload dessert kind of creation?  As much as I hated to admit it at the time, I ended up doing just that.  But then, I decided to just get over myself, and accept this tart that I had just made for what it was.  Pretty. Damn. Good.  Very damn good, actually.

Linzer Cookies

Linzer Cookies are Cookie Week Cookie #4...and I'm running out of steam.  I don't know what to write about (bad food blogger, bad!).  Let's see what updates about my life I can give you.  All my Christmas shopping is done!  I put up Christmas lights outside my house!  I have my baking schedule fully planned!  I have somewhat figured out my Christmas Day menu (oh yeah, have I mentioned that my sister and I volunteered to cook Christmas dinner?  I have no idea what we were thinking when we blurted that decision out).  Aside from that, things are the same, except that now, Linzer cookies are on da blog.  If you've never had a Linzer cookie...who are you?

They're only like my favorite cookie EVER.  

I know I'm a die-hard chocolate fan, whether in cake, brownie, cookie, or ice cream mode.  However, if there's one thing I love more, or as much, at the minimum, it's raspberry preserves.  Man, I just LOVE the stuff.  It's sweet and slightly tart at the same time, and pairs so beautifully with chocolate (see this example for proof).  Whenever I see cookies with both raspberry preserves and powdered sugar together, like in these thumbprint cookies, I can hardly contain my excitement.  Linzer cookies are no exception.  They're one of my favorite cookies to eat, but also to make and give away.  They're not only delicious, but are also elegant and beautiful, making them a great hostess gift or a perfect option to bring for the conclusion of any holiday party. 

Lemon-Raspberry Cupcakes

Alright, I promise that this will be the last sour-citrus/berry flavor combo recipe for a while (I think so anyway, I'll be honest and say I haven't planned that far ahead yet).  I've already posted two blackberry-lime recipes (see here, and here), and one of them was the post directly before this one.  At least this time it's a different citrus and a different berry!  And, more importantly, the flavor combination has manifested itself in the form of a beautiful, delicious, and summery cupcake.  

It's been a long time since I posted a cupcake recipe.  The last batch of cupcakes I made for the blog were these fabulous Banana Caramel Cupcakes, which ended up being a really popular post (hooray for awesome and unconventional flavor combinations!).  Hopefully this cupcake recipe will be as popular.  I can't see why it wouldn't, though.  Picture it: fluffy and tart lemon cupcakes, with a surprise raspberry center, topped off with bright, lemony buttercream and finished off with a fresh raspberry.  Too cute.  Too yummy.  Too perfect. 

These cupcakes are a perfect summer treat, and speaking of summer, I really cannot believe it's August already. When did that happen!?  I've been living at home as a college graduate for a little over TWO months now, and it's really really really bizarre.  Time has just been flying by, and I can't believe that we're already in the last month of summer.  I feel that there's still so many summer treats that I want to make, and with only a month of so left of the season, I better get moving.  I have to take advantage of all the fresh berries that are around, summer is the perfect excuse to churn up some ice cream, and I better get my grilling fix on.  There's no time to lose!

Red, White, and Blueberry Profiteroles

The Fourth of July is tomorrow, weeee!  I'm going to a barbecue with some of my friends in the afternoon, and then going to see some fireworks action at night, and I'm super excited, if the "weeee" at the beginning wasn't a hint. I'm ready for some serious hot dog/hamburger/potato salad/pasta salad action, followed by some pie and vanilla ice cream, and hopefully some old fashioned s'mores.  It's gonna be a gooood day, provided that it doesn't rain! Everyone, cross your fingers and toes, please. 

In honor of the upcoming holiday, I'm sure you've noticed the Fourth of July-appropriate desserts that I have posted in the past few days (and if you haven't, I'll make it easy for you: click here for some red, white, and blue velvet whoopie pies, and click here for a classic cherry pie.  You're welcome!).  Both of those desserts were good old American classics, but, I did want to throw in something that was equally delicious and appropriate for a Fourth of July barbecue, but also something a bit more unconventional.  Enter red, white, and blueberry profiteroles!

Profiteroles may sound fancy and annoyingly complicated to make, but I promise you, they're anything but that! A profiterole is simply a cream puff that's been filled with a scoop of ice cream instead of pastry cream/whipped cream, and then drizzled with chocolate sauce.  Since it is the Fourth of July though, I decided to swap out the chocolate sauce for some fresh blueberry and raspberry sauces, in order to keep the color scheme going to some degree.  I thought that profiteroles would be a perfect option for a barbecue, as the puffs themselves are really not difficult to make, and everything can be made and assembled in advance.  All you'll have to do when you're ready to serve them is take them out of the freezer for a few minutes and pour some of the berry sauce on top, and dessert is done!

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake

So here we have it.  A dark chocolate raspberry truffle cake.  The title is a mouthful in itself, and the cake is as well.  I promised you guys on Monday a much more over the top post this week, and this is it.  This beauty consists of three layers of intense dark chocolate cake, filled with both ganache and raspberry filling, and is finished off with lots of dark chocolate fudge frosting, real whipped cream, and fresh raspberries.  It's perhaps one of my favorite cakes that I've ever made...or eaten, for that matter!  

I've been wanting to make a big, fancy, bakery-style layer cake for some time now, but coming up with a flavor combination was giving me a really hard time.  Part of me wanted to go simple and classic, and maybe just make a really delicious yellow cake with chocolate frosting and rainbow sprinkles.  The other part of me wanted to go with a more unique approach, like Neapolitan, or chocolate and salted caramel.  I just couldn't decide! All I knew was that it had to somehow involve chocolate, because, well, you should know by now that chocolate and I share an inseparable bond.  Given this tiny requirement, I chose a sort of middle of the road option, and went with a classic flavor combination that I love, but one that isn't necessarily a classic flavor profile for cakes. Dark chocolate raspberry truffle cake- how could you not love this?!

This cake was absolutely perfect, in every single way possible, in my own opinion.  The chocolate cake was dark and intense, and was mildly sweet.  I actually had a very hard time not eating the cake that I cut off when I was leveling the cake layers, and I ultimately decided to give up, and allow myself to eat the cake bits as they were. They were delicious, and I just can't say no to plain cake!  I then decided to make a tiny cake "sandwich," and took two small pieces of the cake that had been cut off, and spread a little chocolate ganache and raspberry filling between them, to get a "preview"of what was to come.  I was so excited after having that tiny mouthful of cake with the fillings I had prepared, because I knew that if that little cake sandwich tasted that good, it was only going to taste even better with an outer layer of chocolate fudge frosting...and it did.  Oh man, did it taste good.

Chocolate-Raspberry Rugelach

My mom and I have had this running joke for the past couple of years.  A couple of years ago, she decided to try out this new recipe for rugelach that she had found, so she did, and they were amazing.  I had never been too much of a fan of rugelach, but that was probably because I was too stuck in my "the-more-chocolate-contained-in-the-recipe-the-better" phase, so I would usually skip over rugelach found in holiday cookie platters, and instead go for rainbow cookies, chocolate chip cookies, or anything chocolate dipped.  It was not until I was a little older and my cookie taste palate had refined a bit that I learned to appreciate rugelach for the delicious little cookies that they are.  Now, they're one of my favorites!  In any case, I'm not exactly how the joke between my mom and I started, but it involves a little old lady who lives on the corner of my block.  For some reason, my mom started saying that the rugelach she made were actually made by the little old lady on the corner, even though I knew this was obviously untrue, because I had helped to make them myself.  It's been a very long while since my mom has made another batch of rugelach cookies, so I always end up asking her, "what's going on with the old lady, and why hasn't she ever made us any more rugelach!?"

My mom simply rolls her eyes at me, laughs a bit, and says she's probably just busy.  Sigh.

It was up to me to make the next batch of rugelach.  Rugelach, in case you're curious, aren't technically cookies, but rather, are traditional Jewish pastries.  Traditional rugelach come in a crescent shape, with a filling in between the rolls.  Rugelach can be made with either sour cream or cream cheese, and fillings generally include raisins, walnuts, fruit preserves, and chocolate, and they are very popular during Hanukkah...or in my case, any time of year!  I can't get enough of these cookies and their delicious, cream-cheesey pastry.  

Peanut Butter, Jelly, & Cocoa Thumbprint Cookies

It's back to school time!  For some it's a good thing, and for some, it's a bad thing, but I think that for most, it's somewhere in the middle...or at least it is for me!  I'm super happy to be back on campus and getting to live in an awesome apartment for my senior year, and my classes all seem to be really great, so I'm definitely looking forward to the challenges that they will bring.  On the downside, school of course means getting re-adjusted to going back to work, having deadlines and responsibilities, and of course, the inevitability of an all-nighter at some point during the semester (although, now that I'm not enrolled in a studio class, perhaps the frequency of these events will be greatly reduced this semester...I'm crossing my fingers and toes for this to be true!).  Sigh, oh well.  There's nothing that can be done!  It's just a matter of reality that homework comes with school, but at the same time, so does fun!  It's all a matter of achieving a sense of balance. 

Speaking of balance, it's important to be able to find a sense of balance in all aspects of life, not just between work and play.  Cookies are, of course, no exception to this rule.  For instance, a chocolate chip cookie needs to have the perfect balance of crisp exterior and gooey center, while at the same time having just the right amount of chocolate chips.  I'm a huge chocolate person, but even I will admit that a chocolate chip cookie can't be completely consumed by chocolate chips...it just wouldn't be right I think.  I'm getting a bit sidetracked though.  Balance is important, but chocolate chip cookies are not the cookies we have at hand at the moment.  We must discuss peanut butter, jelly, and cocoa thumbprint cookies.  Let's try to stay focused, please.

Pavlova with Mixed Fruit

If there is one thing that I really, really, REALLY hate doing is unpacking.  I really just can't stand it.  I spent so much time today unpacking, it was ridiculous.  Yes, I know I moved home on Friday, and that it's been several days past that already, but I just didn't "get around" to unpacking until now.  I haven't even been busy doing very much of anything.  I've been doing a lot of nothing and a lot of Mad Men-watching, so there really just hasn't been any time left to unpack.  I've just been too caught up with other things. 

Ok, ok, ok.  Clearly the things that I have been doing instead of packing are clearly not that important.  I mean, doing nothing is actually doing "nothing," and watching Mad Men, while fun and a good way to spend time, is not exactly the most productive way I could be spending my days.  My priorities may seem to be out of place, but I think it's ok.  Just give me like a week to chill and do nothing post-final exams, and then I'll get back into super-productive mode...or I'll attempt it at least.  Take today for instance.  It may have taken me eight hours to unpack and put away two suitcases full of clothes (one of which was half full with puffy winter jackets), which seems like an unreasonable amount of time for accomplishing that sort of task, but it's ok.  My closet is unbelievably organized, with clothes sorted according to type and color coded, and my shoes neatly arranged in rows along the bottom.  My closet, in short, looks beautiful.  It was an eight hours well spent. 

Breakfast Quinoa with Almonds and Mixed Berries

It's that time of year again when I write "ok, time for a short and easy post."  The time has come where I am beginning to get swamped with projects, papers, and other random work that somehow needs to get done.  If eating, exercise, and sleep can also be thrown into that mix and done at some point in my life, then I would think that I've done a pretty good job.  If not, then that's just life...sigh.  It's crazy to think that the semester is almost over, but it really is!  Classes end in two and a half weeks, and I'll be done with finals and back at home in exactly a month from today.  I can't wait!  But for right now, I'm going to have to get back to the present and finish writing this up, feeling super sleepy after my third legitimate all-nighter since Sunday, and feeling kind of hungry since I chose to sleep for a half hour instead of getting something for breakfast.   I wish I had some breakfast quinoa right about now...

Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownies

Brownies are one of those types of desserts that people seem to form strong opinions over.  Some like cake-like brownies, and others like dense fudgy brownies.  Personally, I love rich dense brownies, simply because I feel like the chocolate flavor comes through much better, since fudge brownie recipes call for real chocolate as opposed to cocoa powder.  Regardless of this fact, I will never turn down a brownie of any sort.  I mean, it would be silly to do such a thing.  Brownies are so easily adaptable and come in so many different flavor combinations that choosing a fudgy brownie over a cake brownie would simply be unfathomable.  Yes, just unfathomable.

There's something about the combination of brownies and cheesecake that people really seem to love...including me, obviously.  I may not be the biggest fan of cheesecake itself (although I do enjoy a small slice of plain cheesecake with raspberry topping every now and then), but when cheesecake gets baked into anything else, whether it's a muffin or a cupcake, or a brownie, like in this case, I think the combination is really just outstanding. 

Mixed Berry "Tiramisu"

Tiramisu is one of those desserts that I had to grow into.  I never really appreciated its coffee flavor, as I have never really liked coffee, and still don’t, so it just wasn’t a dessert that excited me, or that I ever wanted to have. 

Fortunately, I grew out of that phase, and tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts.  It’s so creamy and rich, and the flavors are simply delicious.  Even that silly coffee flavor.

This is obviously not a traditional tiramisu.  Sorry if I have been leading you on.