Cupcakes and Hot Chocolate

Today was a fun food-filled day in NYC! I started off shopping for a New Years Eve outfit but couldn't find anything I liked. I was invited to lunch at a good friend's apartment uptown so I stopped off at Batch to pick up some cupcakes for dessert.

Batch is Pichet Ong's bakery which is right next door to P*ong, his restaurant. I have heard good and bad about Batch, but I have to say that the cupcakes and service was amazing. The young lady who helped me was beyond friendly and answered all my annoying questions. I was bringing the cupcakes to a friend who is allergic to pretty much everything on the planet so I was asking ingredient-related questions. She was more than happy to help me. I ended up picking out about a dozen cupcakes of varying flavors.

We went out for lunch at a fantastic diner (standard diner fare, not really worth going into) on the UWS and went back to the apartment to enjoy the cupcakes. Though small, they were incredible. Dense and moist, and fantastic. I had a vanilla-vanilla cupcake with pastry cream filling. Unbelievable is all I can say about it.

I drove home with my dad and on the way we stopped in DUMBO at the Jacques Torres Chocolate Shop and got some of their "wicked" hot chocolate--spiked with chili. Very thick, yet delicious. Not really "hot", but deliciously spicy and smokey. There's a bit of a kick in the back of your throat which actually helps cut through the richness in both consistency and taste. It was a nice snack as we sat through traffic on our way home. It definitely took the full hour-and-a-half for each of us to finish a small 8oz cup. Totally worth it, and not very expensive--about $3.00 each.

Recipe: Hanukkah Shortbread Cookies

These are by no means exclusively for any occasion, but in honor of Hanukkah, I made them in fun Hanukkah-related shapes–dreidels, menorahs and Stars of David. Tonight my mom is frying potato latkes and my dad picked up sufganiyot from our local Israeli market, which are fried jelly donuts topped with powdered sugar.

These are a little different than traditional shortbread recipes because of the addition of cornstarch, which makes them very hard to mess up. Cornstarch is a thickening agent, and is best used cold, then heated, and thickens as it heats up. Because of this, it is best to wait for a few hours until after they’ve cooled to eat, if you can keep prying hands off of them for that long!

Shortbread Cookies (makes around 40 cookies):

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature but not melted (2 sticks)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 tsp lemon or orange zest

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whip butter on high speed of electric mixer for 5 minutes. It should be lighter in color and smooth.

Stir in remaining ingredients, and mix on medium for 3 minutes and high for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from bowl onto plastic wrap and place in freezer for 10 min and move to refrigerator for 15 min.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly flour counter and rolling pin, and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

From here cut cookies from cookie cutters or slice into squares or desired shape.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet, leaving at least 1 inch space between cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool on wire rack. If desired, add frosting or glaze, but they are fabulous as is.

Enjoy, and Happy Holidays, whatever you celebrate!

Recipe: Pumpkin-Spice Marshmallows

Note: This post appeared here in my previous blog.

I made pumpkin pie marshmallows!

Actually, they are more like Turkish Delight (or Lokum, as us who have been to Turkey and are extremely cool for that will call it) than anything else. Marshmallows are traditionally airier than is lokum, but made similarly with starch, corn syrup and sugar. I think mine were supposed to come out nice and light but I probably didn’t mix it for long enough. EDIT: After a few days, they are infinitely better and actually taste like marshmallows now!

The recipe I got is from Serious Eats, a favorite source of mine for everything food and foodie. The recipe, found here, is surprisingly easy to make. It’s an original recipe found in the book Marshmallows by Eileen Talanian. They came out so fantastic, I’d love to try other recipes from her book!

The marshmallows themselves only took about 30 minutes for me to make, and I let them set for about 2 hours before I gave up and cut them. I simply couldn’t wait! So sue me. They do taste exactly like pumpkin pie, although I added 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice instead of the varying amounts of individual spices. The recipe seems pretty small to yield the amount that it did; I came away with 135 slightly-larger-than-mini marshmallows by cutting a 12.5×8.5 cake pan’s worth into 15 rows and 9 columns (or 9 rows and 15 columns, depending on how you hold the pan). This recipe is great for those with limited baking supplies because all you really need is a stand mixer. I had to go out and buy a candy thermometer for $15, but that’s about it. And all of the ingredients are pretty much something everyone has at home; even if you don’t, they are things that every grocery store should carry, like gelatin and corn syrup. It’s one of those things where everyone thinks you’re a master for staying home and slaving in the kitchen, and no one has to know what it really took!

My dad’s a huge fan of them so far (I see him sneaking one each time he walks by them!) and my sister said they were ok but I think she’s afraid to admit how yummy they really are.

Hello!

Hi, I'm currently a senior in college and recently decided to disregard the fact that I'm getting Bachelor of Science in Psychology and turn my life around and go to culinary school. As I'm preparing for my spring semester of senior year, I'm going to be chronicling my experiences with the food industry and sharing recipes and tips.