Easy Sticky Buns

Just call me a sucker for delicious morning pastries. This one is sure to please the crowds (especially my niece and nephew!). These cinnamon buns are so delicious and easy; plus, you probably already have all the ingredients in your pantry. Serve with a tall glass of milk. I will be making this for company in the coming weeks...

Easy Sticky Buns
Barefoot Contessa 2008, Ina Garten

Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup pecans, chopped in very large pieces
1 package (17.3-ounces/ 2-sheets) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
For the filling:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup raisins
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place a 12-cup standard muffin tin on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the 12 tablespoons butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar. Place 1 rounded tablespoon of the mixture in each of the 12 muffin cups. Distribute the pecans evenly among the 12 muffin cups on top of the butter and sugar mixture.

Lightly flour a wooden board or stone surface. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry with the folds going left to right. Brush the whole sheet with the melted butter. Leaving a 1-inch border on the puff pastry, sprinkle each sheet with 1/3 cup of the brown sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of the raisins. Starting with the end nearest you, roll the pastry up snugly like a jelly roll around the filling, finishing the roll with the seam side down. Trim the ends of the roll about 1/2-inch and discard. Slice the roll in 6 equal pieces, each about 1 1/2 inches wide. Place each piece, spiral side up, in 6 of the muffin cups. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry to make 12 sticky buns.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the sticky buns are golden to dark brown on top and firm to the touch. Be careful - they're hot! Allow to cool for 5 minutes only, invert the buns onto the parchment paper (ease the filling and pecans out onto the buns with a spoon) and cool completely.

Raspberry and Passion Fruit Mousse Verrines

My friends T & M are coming over for dinner tonite and since they just recently returned from a tropical getaway, I wanted to surprise them with a tropical-y dessert so that no one would notice that it's actually cloudy and chilly outside. What could be more tropical-y than passion fruit and raspberries? Nothing. I couldn't help but top them with the handful of blackberries and kumquats I had leftover from making fruit tarts. Whether the flavors would marry or not was not the issue (although they did!). The verrines just needed a nice pop of color and these did the trick. It also helps my campaign of getting the word out about kumquats!

Fruit Tarts

Over the weekend, my friend R hosted a girls' nite filled with creativity, cordials, and crafts. And although I couldn't be a part of it, I wanted to contribute to it. So I sent over some fruit tarts topped with my new favorite find--kumquats! I see them all the time,  had no idea how to eat them, but  remembered my friend G talking about working with them when she worked at Pierre Herme. Because I love the bright orange color, I decided to just buy a batch of them and see what they were all about. They are spectacular--anyone who likes citrus will dig these. They have a sweet outer skin and a tart inner flesh so you're supposed to eat the whole fruit.  They're packed with vitamins A&C, and have traces of calcium and iron. They really complimented the strawberries, blackberries and pastry cream I put into the fruit tarts. Because some of them have seeds, I recommend eating them sliced.  Hope the ladies' enjoyed them as much as I do!

Chocolate Macarons

What do I do when I have an excess of egg whites? I make macarons of course! These are so tricky to make. I could make 3 perfect batches and then the next batch will be a complete flop. Since I haven't made any in a couple of months, I thought I better not get too rusty so I hunkered down to make a couple of batches. I also thought they would make nice little favors to give to friends I will be seeing this weekend.
I churned out some chocolate macarons and filled them with a peanut butter concoction (recipe is courtesy of Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille) http://cannelle-vanille.blogspot.com/2008/08/chocolate-macarons-and-tropical-storm.html. My next batch will be coffee macarons filled with milk chocolate ganache...pictures to come!

Spring Break & JC Dinner #3

After this harsh winter, I was desperate to escape to somewhere warm during spring break. Since my friend C is leaving the hot Florida weather soon for a bigger city with brighter lights, I thought it appropriate to visit her in Miami one last time where we like to indulge in the hot weather and our favorite Taiwanese restaurant (Mr. Chu's in Coral Gables). I literally counted the minutes until I could run onto the beach.  The sand between my toes did not disappoint!

We did venture out onto Ocean drive a couple of times where we enjoyed dinner and music....and a couple of mojitos...

When we returned home, we had the third JC dinner to look forward to at S and M's lovely abode. I made a cream of mushroom soup with garlic croutons, parsley, and a dash of brandy; our gracious hosts made a pork loin with sauerkraut and potatoes (my FIRST encounter with sauerkraut and it was delish); N had the kid friendly dish of chicken and rice, healthy veggies, and chocolate graham crackers; and R topped it off with Pastry Cream enhanced with fresh strawberries and sugared almonds. The nite was topped off with beautiful easter decorations, hide and seek, lots of laughter, really good czech beer, and a champagne that is parenting friendly! We had so much fun we all lost track of time and rolled out of there way past our bedtimes. Thank you S and M for a wonderful meal and for hosting!

Lemon Cream Scones and a Jam Fetish

Anyone who knows me knows I have a thing for jam. If I were to ever be known for having a fetish of any kind, it would be a jam one. No matter where I travel--Rome, Madrid, San Francisco, New York, I always have jam on my mind--always on the lookout for a different or exotic flavor I haven't tasted before.  My luggage is always packed with jam finds (this is where extra underwear comes in handy). The picture depicts my latest batch of jams that I must try.  Among the flavors include champagne, green tea, red bean, strawberry with violet, mango lime (my open jar right now which is DA-licious), apricot lavendar (my other open jar right now--also DA-licious), pluot, and passion fruit.  I get giddy thinking of different ways to incorporate some of these flavors into my desserts.  But at the end of the day, the way I enjoy them most is with a scone and a cup of tea.  I am constantly on the lookout for great scones and great scone recipes.  Most of the time, the scone is too sweet for me and doesn't require jam.  That's why I'm so excited to share this scone recipe. They are so light, not overly sweet, and a great vehicle to carry any jam. They're also good on their own too.  The other thing that is so great about this recipe is that there's no butter!  Well, almost none. Only a little butter brushed on the top before baking (yes there is some whipping cream in the recipe but somehow, that doesn't feel as bad). The lemon zest is the key to happiness in this recipe--do NOT omit it!! I also substituted in dried cherries and they were fantastic. Lastly, be sure to serve this with your favorite jam. Sitting down to some afternoon tea as I write....

Lemon Cream Scones
Bon Appetit, 1996

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped dried apricots (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 1/4 cups whipping cream

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in large bowl. Stir in apricots and 1 tablespoon lemon peel. Add whipping cream and stir just until dough forms. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Knead gently just until dough holds together. Form dough into 10-inch-diameter, 1/2-inch-thick round. Cut into 12 wedges.
Transfer wedges to large baking sheet, spacing evenly. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon peel in small bowl. Brush scones with melted butter. Sprinkle with sugar mixture. Bake scones until light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool slightly. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cool completely. Wrap in foil; store at room temperature.) Serve scones warm or at room temperature.

A longing for spring and Meyer Lemon petit fours

Apologies for my lack of posting recently. This dreary winter weather saps a lot of motivation out of one's mind and soul. Everything can become quite gray if you let it.  Well, I'm fighting back this gloom by filling myself up with thoughts of spring, thoughts of the colors and fruits I'll soon be seeing at the farmers markets, thoughts of life.

Another rainy day called for A and I to spend a Saturday in the museum.  A loved the miniature collection that featured miniature furniture, miniature wall furnishings, even miniature table settings. He kept saying "it's so cute, it's so cute!" So I decided to surprise him by making miniature desserts tonight--desserts that I wanted to fill with spring flavors and spring thoughts. Tart shells that I filled with lemon cream and fruit. He loved the way they looked and couldn't wait to pop one in his little mouth. (The big tart was for me). With a dessert like this on the table, spring is already here.