Is it terrible that I’ve succumbed to guilty pleasures? It’s as if a switch turned off a couple of weeks ago. Instead of waking up early to squeeze in a few minutes of study time, I’ve been hitting the snooze button. Instead of hitting the books on weekend mornings at Starbucks, I’ve been plowing through season 7 of Grey’s Anatomy. I’m already nearly through episode 13. Amazon Prime is the killer of all motivation.

Cool Whip is also a guilty pleasure, not that I’ve had it many times. At the store today, they had both the “sugar free version” and the “regular” version. Without giving it a second thought, I reached for the “regular” version. Figured that I’d choose a heart attack over cancer. At least you’re out in one shot.

My motivation for making this dessert was purely due to the lack of having any motivation to beat eggs or to have to clean off the specks of flour on my camera. Instead, I pulled a Sandra Lee today. Within five minutes, I was in and out of the local Shop-Rite, with Angel Cake and Cool Whip in the backseat and ready to rock.

Angel Food Cake: $2.99
Cool Whip: $1.99
Box of Strawberries: $3.99
Total Cost: ~$9.00
Total Time: ~10 minutes

Clearly, this would be an economist’s favorite recipe. Reducing down on opportunity cost for time with keeping raw costs to a minimum without sacrificing taste.

Hat tip to the lovely Jenna for this recipe. She brought it a couple of weeks back to our weekly Friday dinners at Group. Her trifle was bursting with blues and reds, between the strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries she added. Add whatever fruit you want, but I stuck to a classic combination of strawberries and bananas. It must have been good because Glen ate half of it in one sitting and Clare kept reaching for more despite her better judgement.

Satisfyingly delicious

Semi-Homemade Angel Food Cake Strawberry Trifle
Serves 8

Ingredients:
8 oz Cool Whip (1 container)
1 Pint Strawberries
1 Banana
1 Angel Food Cake

Method:

Cut the cake into cubes. The best way of doing this is slicing through the cake horizontally into three slices, once through the middle vertically, and then in once inch increments. See below.

There are two ways of presenting this dessert. If you have a giant clear glass bowl, then you can layer each of the ingredients one by one. First put a generous layer of the Cool Whip, top with a handful of berries and cubes of cake, more Cool Whip, more fruit/cake, repeat until supply is exhausted.

However, if you don’t have a clear bowl (like me) but want to present it the way shown below, you need two bowls- one big and one small. Layer the ingredients into the small bowl as instructed above but save some Cool Whip. Then, take the larger bowl and cover the smaller bowl. Carefully flip the bowls so that the smaller bowl with the trifle is now upside down in the larger bowl. Wiggle the smaller bowl slightly so that the trifle slips out. Top the cake with some Cool Whip and garnish with shaved chocolate. This also works on a large plate too (though it’ll get messy when you scoop it).

You should also check out:

• Chocolate truffle tart
• Almond & walnut danish
• Five minute salty & nutty dark chocolate bark
• O clementine olive oil ice cream
• Chocolate coffee & pumpkin spice cupcakes

I recently stumbled upon Katie Quinn Davies‘s portfolio.  While are a ton of awesome food blogs out there with equally awesome photography, I have yet to find another food blog that can match Katie’s phenomenal eye for styling and photo composition. And unlike many stylists who thrive on perfection (spot-clean edges on plates, clear glasses, etc…), Katie is able to make tiny crumbs and spills look enticing.

I’ve been baking alot lately. I’m not a very good baker, but I’m starting to get better. The whole process is so relaxing. I ended up dedicating this 3-day weekend to improving my baking and food photography. Beats calculating free cash flow. Plus, I figured that if I could become good enough, perhaps I can justify finally buying a Kitchen Aid.

This morning, I ran to Walmart and Home Depot, where I bought some wood panels, poster boards, and paint. The metallic background here is actually black poster-board with a layer of Martha Stewart’s metallic paint. I plan on following up after with a DIY post on how to make these backgrounds.

So what did I learn from hours upon hours of observing Katie Quinn Davies’ food portfolio?

1. If you’re like me where simply looking at photographs isn’t enough to instill inspiration, draw out the photographs that you admire. No joke. Take some colored crayons and briefly sketch/color in everything. This helped me truly understand color composition, food placement, and food props that make the styling a success.
2. Observe the style. I know that I’m not a patient person. I have no desire to wipe plates clean and brush crumbs off the frame. In fact, I prefer to eat as a I shoot, and photographing half eaten food is a great excuse to do that.
3. Textures matter. Even the simplest of Katie’s shots feature a monotone backdrop with a rag to offset the flat texture.
4. Props matter. White square plates don’t work for everything. Not saying that you should spend a small fortune to buy props, but these Mason jars were worth the $3.97 (or so I think…). They come in a 4-pack.
5. That being said, there’s stuff already in your house that you’re probably overlooking that could be used as props- ie brown paper napkins.
6. Cover imperfections with confectioners’ sugar or make it look as if you had purposely made the imperfection.

I think this was a pretty good first attempt. Don’t let these photographs fool you though. I don’t have an offset spatula (those things cost like $8 for a piece of metal!), so the top of the tart wasn’t completely flat. In fact, there were slight ridges from my knife. So, I covered it with some sweet whipped cream and sifted some confectioners’ sugar. Note that I made sure to dust the backdrop too.  Initially I was going to take the tart out of the pan but parts of the tart would have flaked off. Hence, I decided to use a darker backdrop to contrast the white ceramic.

For those of you who are more interested in the tart itself and not the photography behind it, apologies. The tart is rich. Don’t make this if you plan on going on a diet. Several things should alarm you. There’s a ton of butter and a ton of cream. We haven’t even factored in the sugar. I’d caution that while it’s possible to cut back a bit on the cream and butter, the texture will get compromised. Luckily, you can cut back on the confectioners’ sugar within the pastry. Instead of 2/3 cup as recommended below, I used only 1/4 cup.

Remember, the only baking involved in a chocolate truffle tart is the pastry crust so the quality of your chocolate is super important. After you melt the chocolate, whatever you taste is however the tart will taste. Input = bad chocolate; Output = bad tart.

Now remains the hardest part. What am I going to do with all of these chocolate truffle tarts? I can’t eat them all!!

Chocolate Truffle Tart
Baking Illustrated
Serves 12 to 14 (so don’t be a pig!)

Ingredients:

Sweet Tart Pastry

• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour + more for dusting the work surface
• 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 stick of cold unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), cut into 1/2 in cubes (8 tablespoons)

Traditional chocolate truffle tarts typically have a chocolate shell. To make the chocolate shell, substitute 1/4 cup cocoa powder for 1/4 cups of flower.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Filling

• 12 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (or 2 cups of chocolate chips)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 stick of butter (6 tablespoons) at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon cognac (or triple-sec)

Left over chocolate? Don’t fret. HERRO CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES!!

Method:

You should make the filling after the pastry has baked and cooled because the chocolate will solidify when it cools. There is heavy cream in it after all…

Sweet Tart Pastry

You’ll need a food processor for this. If you don’t have one, good luck because it’ll be hard to do by hand. Whisk together the yolk, cream, and vanilla in a bowl. Set aside.

Place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and combine briefly. Then, scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture. Pulse it 15 times in 1 second intervals so that the butter gets cut and incorporated into the flour. The resulting mixture should resemble course meal.  While the machine is running, add in the egg mixture. Process for an additional 12 seconds until everything forms into a dough. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6 inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

This was a fail for me. My food processor is super tiny so it couldn’t fit the egg mixture. Instead, I mixed egg mixture into the flour mixture by hand. The dough barely came together and was very dry so I added some more cream (about 3 more tablespoons). Eventually, it finally stuck together. It turned out fine after the baking. Hooray!

Remove from the refrigerator and let it stand at room temperature. Unwrap and roll out between two lightly floured large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to a 13 inch round (this assumes you are using one round tart pan). If the dough is too soft, stick it back into the fridge. Lay the dough into the tart plan and ease the dough into the pan corners by gently lifting the edge with one hand while pressing it into the corners with the other hand. Press the dough against the fluted sides of the pan and run a rolling pin over the top of the tart pan to remove the excess dough. Freeze the dough-lined pan tart for about 30 minutes. (Note that you can actually freeze this for up to 1 month as long as you seal it in a giant zip lock bag!)

When you’re ready to bake, you’ll want to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Listen up here- this is important. Make sure you have baking beans or else the dough may puff up in the middle. If you don’t have baking beans you can use regular Goya beans. Just line the bottom of the dough-lined tart shell with foil and then pour on the beans. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Bake until golden brown and set aside to cool.

Dark Chocolate Truffle Filling

No double broiler needed! Instead, we’re going to use the heat from the cream to melt the chocolate. Place the chocolate in a medium bowl and in a small saucepan, heat the cream to a simmer over medium-high heat. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and set aside for a minute. Using a whisk, slowly stir the chocolate and cream until smooth. Then, slowly stir in the butter until combined. Finally, stir in the cognac (or triple sec).

After the tart shells are cooled, pour the chocolate filing, using an offset spatula to spread the filling to the sides of the tart and smooth the top. Refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours and up to 48 hours.

Because the chocolate is so rich, it’s best served with some slightly sweet whipped cream.

You should also check out:

• Semi-homemade angel food cake strawberry trifle
• Almond & walnut danish
• Five minute salty & nutty dark chocolate bark
• O clementine olive oil ice cream
• Chocolate coffee & pumpkin spice cupcakes

Lately, I’ve come home from work wanting to do nothing but pass out. Often, I’ll chuck my bags next to my bed, quickly change into my pj’s, and run promptly downstairs to my freezer where a tub of java chip frappucino ice cream (Starbucks brand, of course) awaits me.

To no one’s surprise, at the end of that indulgence, I feel guilty. So last weekend, I figured that instead of gorging on that tub of ice cream, I should make a danish completely from scratch as a stress reliever. Why I decided to do this, I have no idea. Along the way, I even made some croissants…

For anyone who’s never made a danish or croissant before, let me give you the 411. It takes alot of damn time- specifically 6 hours worth. Furthermore, the yield from those 6 hours is a pitiful 11 inch danish. Everything is relative right? Plus, realizing how much butter goes into the thing will freak you out.

That being said, it was incredibly calming and therapeutic to be able to abuse dough via a rolling pin and hack away at the butter while making the butter square. The smell is equally as addicting. They should make it into a Febreze scent.

So what made this danish so special? Well first, view Exhibit A (the photo above). See those distinct layers? Yeah, I made that happen. See that awesome braid? Yeah, that was me too. Just try to neglect the very end where I failed to pinch the braid enough to enclose the filling.

But on a serious note, I wanted the challenge. I wanted to see if I’d be able to create a store-brought looking pastry. I’m also a huge “alligator” fan, which is a pecan pastry. I know the filling is not even close to pecan, but still, the taste reminds me of an alligator. It’s almost like a pecan pie… but better!

Would I do this again? I’m not sure. Instead of making one giant danish, I split the recipe into two smaller danishes and presented one to Mark. He thought it was his Valentine’s day present. Six hours of hard labor in exchange for flowers that take 10 minutes to buy? I think not!

However, after Mark said it was the best thing I’ve ever made (including my ice creams) AND that it looked like it came from a bakery, I think I might reconsider the next time February 13 comes around…

Almond & Walnut Danish
Baking Illustrated
Makes enough for 1 large braid or 16 individual Danish

Ingredients-

Almond & Walnut Filling:

• 3/4 cup almonds
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon butter

Dough:

• 1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1/4 cup (1.75 oz) sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup whole milk (you can also use water!)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Butter Square:

• 1 1/2 stick of unsalted butter (you can get away with 1 stick)
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Method-

Almond & Walnut Filling:

In a food processor, grind the almonds, walnuts, and sugar until everything is fine (10 two-second pulses). Then add in the egg and tablespoon of butter and pulse away. You’ll end up with this paste-like heavenly substance. You can store this in the fridge for up to three days.

Dough & Butter Square:
(Done without a mixer; just my good ol’ hands)

Dough: Whisk 1 1/4 cups of flour together with the yeast, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Unlike most other recipes, you don’t need to place the yeast in warm water. I was a bit skeptical at first, but yes, your danish will rise in the oven!! Make a well in the flour mixture. Then add the milk and egg and slowly incorporate by taking a spoon and circling it around the bowl. If the dough is sticking to the side of the bowl rather than to itself, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. When you get a ball that no longer sticks to the bowl, wrap it in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Butter Square: Whereas the book tells you to cut the butter into 1 tablespoon squares and then use a bench scraper to form it into a dough, here’s a much easier alternative. Instead, keep the wax wrapper on the butter and take a rolling pin and roll it through and through until its flat. Then, unwrap the butter, cut the long flat butter block into three equal strips and lay them side by side until they form a square. Add the 1 tablespoon flour and roll until it becomes a solid block. At this point, the butter should still be cold and easy to break.

Now the fun begins!!

(Note the different tones in the photo. The bottom photos were taken at night using florescent light)

Step 1: Grab the dough ball from the fridge, dust your board with some flower, and begin rolling! Roll it into an 11 inch square. Doesn’t have to be perfect.

Step 2: Take out that butter block and lay it in the middle of the flattened dough. Fold so that the butter block is enclosed.  See below.

Step 3: Be sure to securely pinch off the dough so that all of the butter is enclosed. Then flip over and begin rolling.

Step 4: Roll into a flat square (rectangle if your board does not allow) again, about 11 inches.

Step 5: Let the turns begin. The term “turn” was first coined by Julia Childs, which really just represents how many layers you have. Each turn involves three folds and is similar to how you would fold a letter before you stuff it into an envelope. Below is 1/2 a turn.

Step 6: Complete one full “turn” by folding the left to the center and the right on top. It should look like the photo below.

Viola! That’s ONE turn!

Step 7: Now, we’re going to go onto turn 2. Proceed accordingly to the prior step, folding the dough in the same fashion. This time it will yield a giant square.

In total, you will need four turns. However, after every two turns, you want to wrap the dough up in plastic-= wrap and refrigerate it for 2 hours. This prevents the butter from being overworked and melting. After two hours, take the dough out of the fridge, roll it out and repeat.

After the last turn, you’ll want to stick it in the fridge a couple of more hours. For the danish braiding part, I’ll have to hand it over to this awesome Youtube video. Words and pictures cannot be more efficient or effective.

When you have finished braiding, brush the surface of the braid with a lightly beaten egg, which will give the pastry that golden brown when it’s baking. The oven should be preheated to 400 degrees F. Bake until the braid is golden brown, for about 22-26 minutes. Turn the danish halfway through the baking time.

You should also check out:

• Semi-homemade angel food cake strawberry trifle
• Chocolate truffle tart
• Five minute salty & nutty dark chocolate bark
• O clementine olive oil ice cream
• Chocolate coffee & pumpkin spice cupcakes

I could watch this lady forever if there were enough Youtube videos. I went to sleep an hour and a half later last night due to this woman.

(Nigella Lawson’s Sweet & Salty Chocolate Bark)

After watching possibly all of the Youtube videos on her (I’ve probably watched them all at least three times), I decided I’d make her sweet & salty chocolate bark. She uses salted peanuts, but since we didn’t have any peanuts I tweaked her recipe ever so slightly and added the best secret ingredient ever…

Fleur de Sel!! Well, it’s not very secret since there’s been this whole new fad of salty caramel or salty chocolate, and many times they’ll use Fleur de Sel. For those of you unfamiliar with Fleur de Sel, you’re probably wondering, what makes this so much more awesome than my average sea salt? Well, let me tell you…

Translated as “Flower of Salt” from French, it’s hand harvested from the top layer of the salt before the whole thing sinks to the bottom of large salt pans.  Fleur de Sel contains more mineral complexity than table salt and hold less residual moisture (making it less likely to dissolve when sprinkled on moist foods). It’s best used when sprinkled upon serving.

While the traditional Fleur de Sel is harvested from the coast of Brittany in France, mine’s a faux version, having been harvested from the Atlantic. The benefit? A $5 (or more) reduction from the price tag. A jar tinier than this will run for $12 compared to the one which I got for $8.

So this morning, after rummaging through my pantry, I realized that I had a a lot of walnuts. Like… a ton. There were bagfuls and bagfuls. You’d think we’d use them but we don’t. I also found some Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips and some good ol’ Toll House semi sweet chocolate chips.

Chocolate bark isn’t rocket science. As Nigella said in her video, “I am essentially making chocolate out of chocolate.” You literally melt the chocolate + butter, add in the nuts, spread the chocolate gloop over a baking sheet, sprinkle some salt and stick it into the fridge. Takes five minutes. That’s quicker than your average 7.5 minute shower.

The greatest thing about making your own bark is that you can customize how sweet you want the chocolate to be. While the bittersweet chocolate chips I used were 60% cacao, it’s definitely possible to go higher, especially if you can snag some 80% chocolate slabs at your local Whole Foods. However, I blended some semi sweet since I figured most people still like their sugar.

In today’s case, I wrapped the baking sheet with some tin foil and plopped it into the garage where it was probably 40 degrees F. After two hours, the chocolate hardened up beautifully. It takes another two minutes to pop the slab out of the baking sheet, cut into rough squares, and stow them away in a box.

Hello coworkers- you’ll be helping me eat these!

Five Minute Salty & Nutty Dark Chocolate Bark
Inspired by Nigella Lawson

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)
• 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup walnuts (or any other of your favorite nut)
• Sprinkling of Fleur de Sel (if you must, you can use table salt)

Method:

In a saucepan, on low heat, melt all of the chocolate along with the butter. You’ll want to keep an eye on this as you don’t want to overheat the chocolate (which will result in a solidifying mess. If that’s the case, you can add more butter). Stir to make sure the chocolate and butter gently melt into a lovely, thick gloop. Make sure that the pot and the spatula that you use is completely dry. Water particles will separate the chocolate, also resulting in a solidifying mess (and there is no way to correct this one).

After, mix in the cup of walnuts and gently turn the chocolate to fully coat the nuts. After, spread the gloop onto a baking sheet and smooth out with a spatula. Generously sprinkle some Fleur de Sel and stick it into the fridge.

When done, it will look like the photo above. The chocolate should easily slide out of the baking sheet with some prodding from a thin flipper utensil thingy (what are those called again?). Cut into squares and make sure you keep these in a decently cool area so they don’t melt all over.

As a note- the reason why I used butter with the chocolate bark is for easier spreading. You can definitely get away without the butter, but it also provides a silky, rich depth which the chocolate itself cannot. And as Nigella said, these are a treat. Even she wouldn’t eat these everyday!

You should also check out:

• Semi-homemade angel food cake strawberry trifle
• Chocolate truffle tart
• Almond & walnut danish
• O clementine olive oil ice cream
• Chocolate coffee & pumpkin spice cupcakes

Not easily impressed? Check out O Olive Oil and become a fan!

I first time I ever tried olive oil ice cream, it was on a warm, humid day in July.  In short, it turned out “ehh.” In retrospect, it turned out “ehh” because of the mediocre olive oil I used. It came from Costco.

The second time I tried olive oil ice cream, it was at il Laboratorio del Gelato in the Lower East Side in NYC. I had a bite-sized sample. It punched me in the face with its intensity. In short, I felt like someone squirted a bottle of olive oil into my mouth. It was flavorful and it was intense. It was too intense. How could anyone survive one full scoop?

The third time I tried olive oil ice cream was tonight. In short, it was AWESOME. I finally realized why I didn’t enjoy the past two experiences- it wasn’t the ice cream. It was the olive oil. I just didn’t enjoy the flavors of the two olive oils in the previous experiences. The first was too mild and heavy and the second was just too intense without much complexity.

A few weeks back, eRecipecards held a contest sponsored by O Olive Oil. These days, it seem as if figuring out a way to incorporate a non-traditional ingredient into ice cream will produce a hit despite how badly it may taste. I mean, some things are just not meant to be made into ice cream flavors (ie ketchup). So that was my submission- incorporating olive oil into ice cream. Imagine my surprise when I actually got chosen.

I was a bit skeptical at first, even a bit scared. I was afraid that the olive oil ice cream would once again turn out to be mediocre. But this experience taught me something. In his olive oil recipe, David Lebovitz recommends a good quality, fruity olive oil. Now I truly understand why. Despite having custard base that is nearly identical to the one you’d make for a vanilla ice cream, the flavors from this olive oil ice cream shine from the olive oil itself. The company sent me their O Clementine Olive Oil. You can fully appreciate the craftsmanship from the pressed olives and citrus. The result is a very light and aromatic flavor that screams of orange. And while most homemade ice creams don’t freeze well due to the lack of air control in home ice cream makers, this one freezes delightfully well. There are no ice crystals nor is it difficult to scoop. Instead, the metal hits this soft and creamy texture, guaranteeing a perfect visual scoop.

While the ice cream is perfect by itself, it’s also delicious topped with summer fruits such as strawberry and pears. Marinate the pears in a balsamic dressing and you won’t regret it.

Note: There are few things in life that I’m sure of, and one of them is that I always manage to lose something while on vacation. While marveling the Swiss Alps, I seemed to have parted ways with my Canon Rebel XT but even more heart-breakingly, my new and shiny a 28-75mm f/2.8 lens. I was even more devastated when I lost nearly 500 photos or four days worth within that 8gb memory card. Alas, at least I didn’t lose my passport. And even when I came back home, my strawberries and pears seem to have mysteriously disappeared, or else they would too have appeared in these Instagrams along with O’s awesome White Balsamic Vinegar.

Here’s one of the last breathtaking pictures my Canon took in Zurich. I’m going to miss it.

O clementine olive oil ice cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup O Clementine Olive Oil

Method:

In a saucepan, heat 1 cup of the heavy cream along with 1 cup milk. Add in the sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. When the milk, cream, and sugar are just nearly at the boiling point, take the pot off the heat. Begin to temper the egg yolks by ladling large spoonfuls of the mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk quickly to prevent the egg yolks from cooking into scrambled eggs. You want to do this until the egg yolk mixture becomes hot. Then, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and return to the heat.

Gradually whisk the mixture for a few more minutes on low heat until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Turn off the fire and let the mixture cool.

After the mixture returns to room temperature, add in the olive oil, gently stir, and freeze in your ice cream maker. It’s best served when it’s slightly soft, directly from the churning. However, it also freezes quite well given the smoothness from the oils.

You should also check out:

• O Olive Oil and Vinegar
• ICE CREAM!!! (and cupcakes!)
• Strawberry sorbet
• French-pressed coffee ice cream
• Orange creamsicle ice cream