Speculoos Madeleines

For Christmas, two of the many French-inspired gifts that I got were Speculoos powder and a Madeleine tray. If you do not know what speculoos is, I highly suggest that you figure it out, and quickly! It can best be described as a spice flavor with hints of ginger and cinnamon. Trader Joe's sells "Cookie Butter" which is essentially speculoos in a peanut butter-like form. You can also buy speculoos cookies and speculoos spread at World Market.

Today, I used both of these gifts and made Speculoos Madeleines. The original recipe that I used was from a French blog, but I have translated it into English. I had fun following a recipe in French and I learned some good cooking vocabulary. For example, beurre in French means butter and the verb beurrer means to butter or to grease. I have added the link to the original recipe at the bottom.

Ingredients
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 stick of butter (melted)
2 eggs
pinch of salt
2-3 T of speculoos powder (A friend who recently traveled to Belgium bought me the powder there. You can buy the cookies at World Market and crunch them up.)

Directions
Pre-heat the over to 375ºF

Melt the butter. Mix together the eggs and sugar. Add in the salt. Mix until the mixture starts to lighten in color - this allows the dough to rise without the use of baking powder.

Add the flour, melted butter and speculoos powder in little-by-little. Mix well. The mixture will be thick, not runny.

Grease the tray and fill the molds 2/3 full. Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the middle starts to bulge and the edges turn brown. Remove from tray and place on cooling rack.

Let them cool and enjoy :)

la recette originale - merci !

Country Mouse Travels to the Big Apple

After traveling throughout western Europe and catching the "travel bug", I decided that it was time to discover more of my own country. Whenever a European found out that I was American, yet not from NYC or LA, they were baffled, but when I told them that I had never been to NYC, they were even more baffled! So I figured that it was time to cross the Mason Dixon line and head up to the Big Apple. Traveling requires my travel buddy, Leslie, which was perfect since she lives in Connecticut and is only a short train ride away from NYC. I spent the first few days with her and her family. They live in a quaint, picturesque New England town in northwest Connecticut.

After a few days there, we took the train (our preferred method of traveling) into the city. I thought Chicago and Paris were big cities, oh man was I wrong...New York City is HUGE!!!! I was so glad to be with Leslie and her brother (who lives in Brooklyn) who know the city like the back of their hands. Since it was my first time there, I had to do all of the typical tourist things:

Grand Central Station

Wall Street

Statue of Liberty

China Town

Rockefeller Center

Rockefeller Center

Fendi - 5th Avenue

FAO Schwarz

FAO Schwarz

Time Square

Time Square

It was slightly overwhelming but I can officially say that I have been to NYC. I hope to go back soon to see more of the city. I got more of a local's feel by celebrating New Year's Eve with some of Leslie's high school friends at their apartments. We got all dressed up (masks included) and spent the night going from apartment to apartment. It was a great way to ring in the new year!

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

New Year's Eve

Happy 2014 y'all!

White Cheddar Cheese Grits

For years my mom has been attempting to recreate The Flying Biscuits' "Creamy Dreamy Grits". They are some of the best grits that I have ever had! They are creamy (as the name suggests) and oozing with white cheddar cheese. This Christmas she decided to pass the baton off to me and let me give them a try. Since The Flying Biscuit has set such high standards, I was a little nervous about how my grits would compare. I am a tough critic and wasn't completely satisfied, but everyone else who ate them, loved them! Here is the recipe for The Flying Biscuits' white cheddar cheese grits (alterations are noted with asterisks).

Ingredients
- 6 cups of water *
- 2 cups of half-and-half
- 3 t salt
- 1/4 t white pepper
- 2 cups quick cooking grits
- 1 cup white cheddar cheese (grated)**              
- 4 T butter (half a stick) ***                                                                              

*Next time, I am going to change the liquids to 5 cups of water and 3 cups of half-and-half for a creamier taste.
**I used 2 cups of cheese because 1 cup was not cheesy enough for my liking!
***I used 1 whole stick of butter, you can never have too much butter, right?!

Directions

1. In a pot, combine water, half-and-half, salt and white pepper. Bring to a boil. Slowly pour the grits into the liquid while whisking the whole time. Reduce to low heat while whisking often until the mixture is thick and smooth (should take about 10 minutes).
*Be careful when you add in the grits - the water and half-and-half started overflowing which caused me to panic! Once I reduced the heat, the mixture settled back down.

2. Add the cheese and whisk again until it has melted. Turn off the heat and allow the grits to settle for about 5 minutes. Add in the butter and stir until completely smooth.
*I found that it was best to put the top on the pot and let the grits settle longer than 5 minutes which causes them to thicken more (no one wants runny grits!!). Here is where I added more butter, cheese and salt according to taste.

Enjoy y'all!

Cranberry Pistachio Bars

Another holiday treat that I tried for the first time this Christmas season was Cranberry Pistachio Bars and this recipe comes from Christmas Cottage Magazine. My oh-so-classy mother describes them as having "a refined taste". They are a good combination of sweet and salty and the red from the cranberries and the green from the pistachios make them the perfect treat for Christmas!

Ingredients:

- 3 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 26 graham crackers crushed up)
- 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup white chocolate morsels
- 1 cup milk chocolate morsels  ***Next time, I am going to try 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup dark chocolate
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup chopped pistachios
- 1 cup dried cherries      ***I didn't have cherries, so instead, I doubled the amount of cranberries
- 1/4 package (16 oz package) of vanilla-flavored candy coating, melted (for the drizzle)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF and grease a 13x9 baking pan
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and melted butter in a large bowl. Press the mixture to the bottom of the pan.
3. Pour the sweetened condensed milk over the crust. Sprinkle the white and milk chocolate morsels, dried cranberries, pistachios and dried cherries over the sweetened condensed milk.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are brown. Melt the vanilla flavored candy coating and drizzle over the top. Let cool for 20 minutes on a wire rack.

Cut into bars and serve!

Quiche Lorraine

To show my state pride, this recipe comes from the magazine Our State: North Carolina, which is obviously the best state! Mixing my southern pride with my love for France, my mother (who is obviously a classy, southern woman) has made this classic French quiche several times and she loves this recipe. I mean, who doesn't love bacon??? We have eaten it on various types of occasions: baby showers, Sunday brunch and Christmas breakfast. 

Ingredients

- 1 (9-inch) pie crust (if you prefer the easier route of getting a store-bought crust. If you would like to make your own pie crust, which is super easy, check out this simple pie crust recipe.)

- 8 slices of bacon cooked crisp and crumbled 

- 1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded

- 1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped

- 4 large eggs

- 2 cups heavy whipping cream

- 1/4 t salt

- 1/4 t pepper

- 1/8 t cayenne pepper

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 425ºF

2. Mold the pie crust to a tart dish and sprinkle the cheese, bacon and onion on the bottom of the crust. 

3. Beat the eggs slightly and mix together the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture into the dish over the cheese, bacon and onion. 

4. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 300ºF and bake for another 30 minutes or until an inserted knife comes out clean. Let stand for another 10 minutes before cutting.

Bon appétit!

Gingerbread Bûche de Noël

Being the francophile that I am, my baking goal for this Christmas was to make a Bûche de Noël. It is a traditional French dessert that is eaten during the Christmas season. A typical Bûche de Noël is either chocolate or vanilla sponge cake and filled with chocolate buttercream frosting or ganache. "Bûche" in French means "log" which is why most Americans call this dessert a "yule log". Traditionally, the cake is decorated to resemble a log. Most of the time, the end is cut off and attached to the side to make it look like a real log. Bakers will also create candies that look like mushrooms to make the dessert look even more log-like. Here are some images.

Of course, Americans have given this French dessert their own twist and there are multiple variations including pumpkin and gingerbread. For my first attempt, I went with a gingerbread bûche. I made a few alterations to the recipe that I used and I have included both the original and my suggestion.

Gingerbread Cake Ingredients
- 3 eggs - separate the yolks from the egg whites
- 1/4 cup molasses        ***I decided not to use honey and I used 1/2 cup of molasses instead for a
- 1/4 cup honey                  stronger molasses taste
- 1 T butter (melted)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 t baking soda
- 1/2 t cinnamon
- 1/2 t ground ginger
- pinch of salt
- powder sugar (for dusting)

Frosting Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1/3 cup powder sugar
- 1 t cinnamon

Directions
1. Line a 15x10 jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Grease both the pan and the paper.
***Next time, I am going to use a bigger pan (16x12in) because I found that the cake was too thick and difficult to roll
2. Pre-heat the over to 375ºF
3. Beat the egg yolks in a mixer until thickened. Add the molasses, honey and melted butter. Mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add the sugar and continue to whisk until firm peaks form.
5. Carefully fold the egg whites into the egg-yolk and molasses mixture.
6. Sift the flour, spices and salt over the egg mixture, slowly fold the mixtures together.
7. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 10 minutes,
8. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 3 minutes.
9. Heavily sprinkle powder sugar on a damp tea towel (you will use this towel to roll the cake).
10. Carefully flip the cake face-down on the tea towel, remove the parchment paper.
11. Roll the cake with the towel starting for the short side. Let the rolled-up cake cool completely.
12. While the cake is cooling, prepare the frosting. Whisk together the heavy cream, powder sugar and cinnamon until firm peaks form.
13. Unfold the cake and spread about 1/2 of the frosting over the cake. Keep in mind, the most frosting you put on the inside, the harder it will be to roll the cake. I also found that you should not put too much on the side where you will start to roll from. If you want a tighter spiral, I suggest putting less frosting on the side. I had to re-roll the cake about three times until I was satisfied.
14. Spread the remaining frosting on top and on the edges of the cake. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

*It's best to let the cake sit for several hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Cookies

The Christmas season is by far my favorite time of year. Family gatherings, Christmas music and good food! It's also the time of year to enjoy my second favorite holiday flavor: gingerbread (if that considered a flavor)! Even though I enjoy everything gingerbread (bread, cookies, cupcakes, lattes), I have never made it before. Last week, I made gingerbread cookies and attempted to decorate them. I am not a pro at icing cookies, but that didn't change the way that they tasted - which was delish! I highly recommend eating them for breakfast with a cup of coffee (they remind me of speculoos cookies for those of you who are familiar with this european cookie). Here is the recipe to make gingerbread cookies:

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1.5 t baking soda

1/4 cup hot water

1 cup molasses

5.5 cups all-purpose flour

1.5 t ground ginger

1.5 t ground cinnamon

1/4 t salt

1/4 t ground allspice

Aluminum foil (if you are using cookie cutters to make fun shapes)

Parchment paper for baking

Preparation:

1. Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until fluffy.

2. Stir together baking soda and 1/4 cup hot water until dissolved; stir in molasses.

*Once you stir in the molasses, the mixture will begin to turn into a foam-like consistency. 

3. Stir together flour and next 4 ingredients. 

4. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with molasses mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Shape mixture into a ball; cover and chill 1 hour.

*I am a dough-taster (to ensure that it will taste good of course) and I was not overly fond of the dough (even though I kept eating it), it tasted too much like molasses. However, after I baked the cookies, the molasses taste mellowed down and the cookies tastes like traditional gingerbread cookies.

5. Preheat oven to 350°. Roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut dough with a 4-inch gingerbread man-shaped cookie cutter. Place 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

6. Bake at 350° for 15 to 18 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets 2 minutes; transfer to wire racks. Cool completely (about 30 minutes).

Decorate as desired!