Kee's Chocolates

     I remember a fellow blogger speaking very highly of Kee's Chocolates, so when we were looking for a snack downtown during a shoot I had to try it. We did a French Macaroon tasting. Erik, Jeremy and I tried Truffle Oil, Sesame, Ginger Peach and Cassis. The Truffle Oil was amazing. The truffle oil flavor was there, very subtle and combined curiously with the sweet chocolate. The Sesame flavor took a moment to appear, but when it did, it resembled a Japanese rice cookie. The Ginger Peach did not have a distinct flavor but was tasty. I thought maybe by that point my palate needed a rest, but I never give my palate a rest so I dove right into the Cassis, which was gushing with amazing berry flavor. All the macaroons had a really crisp light texture and they were room temperature on the outside, but when I bit into them them the chocolate filling was somehow cool and really refreshing. Truffle and Cassis were the winners by a log shot. Jeremy Parker (AKA tha Pumpsta) styled and hand modeled.  

VEGAN ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES

I had some vegan friends over and wanted to make some comforting treats. I headed over to 101 Cook Books for some inspiration and found a really simple looking Vegan Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe. I opted for Crunchy Almond Butter instead (I guess thats the Sicilian in me), and added some almond meal, plus almond milk (that Rocco brought back from Sicily) and instead of vanilla extract I added almond extract. They came out really moist and chewy, with a really nice almond flavor and the almond milk sweetened them nicely. Mike convinced me to try adding some chocolate chips to a few, but the chocolate took over and drowned out the almond, in my opinion. He agreed, but they were still yummy in an Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie way. Try these and you will not miss the butter or eggs (or the chocolate chips) at all!

VEGAN ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES

2 C. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. almond meal

1 C. agave or maple syrup (I used a blend of both from Trader Joe's)

1/2 C. almond milk - sweetened

1/2 tsp. almond extract

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in one bowl. In another bowl mix the almond butter, the syrup, the almond milk and the almond extract until combined. Add the flour to this mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the almond meal. Let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes then drop by rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (You can grease with cooking spray if you desire.) Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden. Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

SPICY MASALA CHAI RICE PUDDING

    Last night I made some shrimp with Jasmine Rice and now that I know how to make rice pudding, I always makes heaps and heaps of extra rice for leftovers. Now I have to remember not to contaminate the rice with the dinner serving spoon. I had an idea to combine the flavors of my favorite beverage, chai tea, with rice pudding, plus some coconut milk and cayenne. I ended up with a not too sweet, beautifully caramel colored rice pudding with a nice chai tea flavor, hints of coconut and a spicy cayenne kick. And its dairy-free.

    I made the chai tea as usual, then combined it with my rice and coconut milk. Since the chai tea is strained of the spices and the loose tea, I added those spices back into the rice pudding, plus some more sugar, lemon zest and some cayenne pepper. Its a play around, sweeten and spice as you go kind of recipe. Add or subtract flavors to your liking, if you like it sweeter add more brown sugar, thicker more coconut milk, or spicier more cayenne.

CHAI TEA (for rice pudding)

For drinking my water to milk ratio would be a little different, see CHAI TEA recipe.

3 C. soy milk (or regular)

1 C. water

1/8 tsp. cardamon or 1-2 pods

1/4 tsp. cloves

2 cinnamon sticks or 1/2 tsp.

Fresh grated ginger - 1/2 inch or 1/2 tsp ginger powder

3 bags of darjeeling tea or about 3 TBSP loose black tea

2 TBSP honey

3 TBSP brown sugar

Boil the water milk and spices, then add the tea, honey and brown sugar. Simmer for about 5 min, then strain.

SPICY MASALA CHAI RICE PUDDING WITH COCONUT MILK

About 2 1/2 C. cooked jasmine rice

About 3/4 C. Coconut Milk

Chai Tea (above)

1/2 C. brown sugar, to desired sweetness

1/4 tsp. cardamom or 1-2 whole cardamom pods

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Fresh ginger - 1/2 inch grated (about 1 tsp) or 1/2 tsp of ground ginger

1 tsp fresh lemon zest

1/4 tsp cayenne, to desired heat

Bring rice, chai tea and coconut milk to a boil in a heavy sauce pan. Add the spices and simmer on low heat until the rice pudding is at your desired thickness. Cool in the fridge. Serve topped with toasted shredded coconut.

DOT'S LEMON BARS FROM TATE'S BAKESHOP COOKBOOK

      Another irresistibly delicious cookbook I took out of the library this week is Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook by Kathleen King. Whenever I work in South Hampton I always stop by Tate's to pick up her famous Chocolate Chip Cookies for Mike and a Lemon Pound Cake for the road, which I can eat in its entirety. Aside from her easy recipes, she includes some really great tips, like if you need to get eggs to room temperature soak them in hot tap water for a few minutes. I also thought it was interesting that all her recipes call for salted butter because its what most people usually have on hand. Tate's chocolate chip cookies have a distinguishable saltiness to them and thats probably why. I wanted to make the Lemon Pound Cake but didn't have sour cream, so I opted for Dot's Lemon Bars. They were really easy to make and came out not too sweet, very lemony and very buttery. I also used grapefruit zest and juice in addition to the lemon, just because I love grapefruit flavor. These would be great to bring to a picnic because they even look pretty stored in tupperware.

LINGONBERRY JELLY ROLL

      I took this jelly roll recipe from Paul Dean's The Lady and Son's Just Desserts Cook Book, which I borrowed from the library. Aside from a million great desserts that are so easy to make, there are some really great and inspiring personal stories. Apparently Paula Dean was agoraphobic. Can you believe? Paula? But one day she decided to "live her life to the fullest" and thank god she did. What would the world do without the Butter Queen?

     I never made a jelly roll cake before and this seems like a technique that should be learned from Grandma and practiced. Baking the cake was pretty simple. Its a really light and fluffy, butterless cake, meant to let the jam flavor shine. And it only takes 10 minutes to bake. It was the cake rolling that was hard to interpret from the recipe directions. While still warm you have to roll the cake into a lint-free towel sprinkled with powdered sugar, let it cool, unroll, spread the jam, then re-roll. Well it worked out. 

    I used lingonberry jelly in it, which I don't think would be Paula's first choice, but I love lingonberries because they are like exotic cranberries. Lingonberries are tarter than they are sweet, so don't expect a sweet jelly roll cake if you use for lingonberries, but thats the fun, you can use any jelly you want. Mike felt that lingonberry jam was not the best choice because of its tartness, but there is no jelly roll cake left, so I am not too worried about it. It might be fun to do a red velvet roll cake or a black forest roll cake. 

Click here to go to Food Network for Paula Dean's Old South Jelly Roll Cake recipe.

Experiment with fun jams from Beth's Farm Kitchen, who make fig jam, gingered peaches jam, blood orange marmalade and many more.

GREEK POWDER COOKIES

I was honored to attend the Wedding Shower of my great friend Elina whose wedding I will also be attending this summer in Greece! Olives and figs here I come! The shower was at a really nice space in Long Island City, called the Island, right near Kauffman Astoria Studios. The food was very good, but even better were the homemade Greek Cookies Elina's "thea" or aunt made. Kourabiedes, pronounced: Koo-Ram-Biethes, they are best described as a not very sweet almond butter cookie covered with powdered sugar. Meri, a lovely Greek woman whom I was delighted to chat with all day gave me her version of the recipe. Meri's advise: "work the dough silky" so the cookies don't dry out." When I shockingly asked her about the 4 sticks of butter, she said with her hands spread wide, "well you're going to make a lot!" Duh, they are Greek cookies, I have to make enough to feed an entire village.

Greek Powder Cookies (Koo-Ram-Biethes)

Disclaimer: I have never tried this recipe and Meri relayed it through memory, so I am not sure how they will come out.

1/4 C. Confectioner's Sugar plus more for powdering

5 C. of Flour

1 Egg Yoke

4 Sticks Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

1 TBSP Ouzo

2 C. crushed toasted almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter, egg white and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla, ouzo and almonds). Sift flour and baking powder, the gradually add the wet ingredients. At this point you can hand-mix, and really "work the dough until its silky" on the counter. Meri said you won't need to go to the gym that day. Really work it! Roll the dough out and cut the edges of the dough with a  small cup into crescent shapes. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Cool then sprinkle with powdered sugar.  

Here is a link to a food network version of these cookies.