Praise Mark Bittman

Some women have a crush on Brad Pitt or George Clooney.  Call me odd or completely out of touch with the psyche of a normal woman but for me, Bittman is just dreamy.


Ahh, sigh.

I dream of a day when Mark will swoop in and cook in my tiny little kitchen while I gaze admiringly at the fabulous dish he prepares.  I love his simplicity and ease, moving from one task to the next looking like he is relaxing on the beach.  He makes cooking great fun and muses when he makes a mistake like a shell of an egg going into a cake with, "Oh well, just a little crunch, not the end of the world."  I love that attitude rather than, "Nothing is worse than a shell in your food." I won't name who said that but anyone who watches a lot of Food Network might recognize the "Nothing is worse than (insert earth-shattering mistake)."  

So, what inspires the accolades on this Sunday morning?  Pancakes, that's what.  I found this commentary and several recipes for pancakes, sweet and savory, in his Minimalist column in the New York Times and I was reminded of why he holds a special place in my heart.  For taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary in a simple no frills way.  Cardamom scented oatmeal pancakes, embedded pine nuts in cornmeal with vanilla, bulgur ricotta; pinch me.

No, I have not had a chance to try these recipes because I am reading his column at 3:15 am on Sunday morning and I do not want to get out of bed to start cooking.  I thought it would be more productive to gush on my blog.  I will be trying at least two of these recipes though.  Stay tuned.

xo - AJ

Bûche de Noël

I came, I made my best attempt and I somewhat conquered.  Take it easy on me, this was my first go-around and it was a little scary.  This cake was my Everest and it did not disappoint in time consumption.  After being afraid of this cake ever since my Mom brought it home from the bakery when I was in middle school, I have put off attempting this for far too long.  Then, a few weeks ago I took a cooking seminar/class solely on making the Bûche de Noël.  I wasn't thrilled with the buttercream look that the cake in our class turned out to look like so I went back to the Martha Stewart magazine that I had been carrying around for the past year with the recipe and a picture to match that looked just like the cake my Mom brought in for Christmas every year.  I am not going to even attempt to write down all of the directions that went with this so click here for the recipe.  If you attempt this, good luck and may your attempt take less time than mine! 

Whole-Wheat Quinoa Bread

Whole-Wheat Quinoa Bread

During the holidays, working in an office can be an amazing test of will power.  Working in my office can be an extra challenge because of all of the vendors that send in tin after tin of popcorn and baskets full of every cellulite inducing treat you can possibly think of.  Add in number crunching fun, people upset because this economy has been brutal to my industry and the stress can lead to some serious cravings throughout the day.  So, I made this bread and have been taking it to work to nibble on when I get ravenous instead of diving into the chocolate maddness.  It has worked, somewhat.  I have a sweet tooth that won't stop so I have to give in every once in a while.

This is truly a hearty bread that is almost a meal in itself.  Toast, throw a pat of butter on it and that is really all you need.  I found this recipe in the New York Times and it is a bit of an undertaking.  That said, if you are a sucker for fresh baked bread, it is well worth it.  Enjoy!  xo - AJ

Maple Bourbon Bacon Donuts

If there was ever a bakery that speaks to the rebel in me that wishes to spend days covered in tattoos, wearing leather pants and baking tasty treats, Bleeding Heart Bakery, would fit the bill. I secretly dream of working in a place where sugar and butter rule and is an escape for people in the middle of the endless workday.

I may not be able to work in sugar but my baking can be influenced by that life. This recipe is a variation of the sour cream donuts I made back in July and was inspired by the bacon obsession sweeping through Chicago. Bleeding Heart covers bacon in chocolate, sprinkles it on baked goods and injects it into cookies. I also had a maple bacon donut at Nightwood Café, which is located in the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago and it was truly amazing. The maple frosting dripped seductively off the warm donut and the bacon was still glistening as if it had just been fried up on the spot. I had to taste it slowly and let it melt in my mouth so I could truly savor the mind-altering sensation that ensued after my first bite.

I changed the recipe a bit by eliminating the streusel topping and replacing it with crispy bacon bits on top of a bourbon maple glaze. Add as much or as little of the Bourbon as you like depending on the week you have been having. I put in about a tablespoon.

Final note, donuts, as anyone who has ever made them knows, is a bit of an undertaking but completely worth it.

Enjoy! AJ - xo

Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake

A very disturbing thing happened the other day. A wonderful and very thoughtful friend brought me a very sweet treat from a little bakery that shall remain nameless. The treat was supposed to be a Pumpkin Bourbon Cheesecake and I was excited to try something that sounded and looked so good. So you can imagine my disappointment when the treat was anything but sweet, not to mention completely lacking in taste. Don't you hate it when that happens? You expect to be wowed and end up ingesting something that could be mistaken for chalk. It's like a slap in the face!

There's not a lot that gets under my skin as much as bad food from a bakery whose sole purpose in life is to churn out great baked goods. In my insulted state, I did what anyone would do, I found a recipe and made my own. I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen and knew it would be amazing just from reading the ingredients. I switched out the graham cracker crumbs for ginger snaps and the result was fantastic and worked wonderfully with the pumpkin and spice filling. After tasting this, my bitterness over that bakery's utter failure, slowly faded away. I am now in a blissful state of forgiveness. Enjoy!

S'mores Cupcakes with Kahula

The kid in me is out and raging. Enter the most fantastic of all fantastic treats from childhood with a little grown up injected inside and you have S’mores cupcakes with a hit of Kahula. Somebody pinch me.

I first saw these cupcakes on Annie’s Eats and then it seemed like the S’mores influence was everywhere with S’mores cakes, snack bars, energy bars, candy bars, you name it. So, this has been on my must bake list forever and I finally got around to making them. The cupcakes shown on Annie’s Eats were beautiful and refined and I wanted mine to be more rustic and, for lack of a better term, sloppy. In my mind, that’s what S’mores are, sloppy kid food that are a mess to eat. That’s the fun of them and being a kid, permission to be sloppy and unrefined. I also have to be buttoned up in a corporate office all day so I like to take a more laid back approach to my baking.

So, I used the Annie’s Eats recipe but I put my own spin on it with the Kahula injection. I also made some minor alterations to bits and pieces to suit my palate.

Enjoy! AJ – xo

Pumpkin Bourbon Pancakes

In life, we sometimes have to roll with the deck we have been dealt. For me, that means finding the bright side of a child that sleeps minimally.

I have been told by the teachers at school, fellow parents, books and every child psychologist who has managed to publish something that if your child is not getting 10-12 hours of sleep in a day/night, they will have stunted growth, behavioral problems, learning difficulties, socialization issues, the list goes on and on. So, despite rearranging my schedule so my little guy is in bed by 7:45 p.m. every night, he continues to wake up at 5 a.m., 6 if I am lucky. Of course, this leads to a tired and difficult child in the afternoon who can no longer nap in his pre-kindergarten class. God help me.

So, this morning, after going to bed at a very late 9 p.m. last night, my little monkey was up and ready to go at 6 a.m. Argh! Sleep, my child, please, sleep!! No dice, he was up and nothing was going to change that. So, I did the only logical thing to do at that point, dragged my overly tired tail out of bed, fixed myself an industrial strength cup of coffee and made Hot Chocolate and Pumpkin Bourbon Pancakes with my son. For a brief moment, I am going to block out the criticism and paranoia and enjoy this moment while silently praying that the 9 hours of sleep will not stunt his growth.

I got the recipe here. I added in a teaspoon of vanilla and a teaspoon of bourbon. I threw some chocolate chips into a few pancakes to experiment and I thought they drowned out the pumpkin taste. Out with the chips. Then I tried big chinks of cooked bacon on on a fork full of pancake and syrup and I swear, angels did sing. Make sure you top this off with whipped cream, a critical component.

Cheers! xoxo