The Test

So as I have said in numerous posts, I am kind of obsessed with ice cream. Now as we all know, ice cream comes in hundreds of different flavors and can be eaten in hundreds of different ways.

Some may prefer hard cherry vanilla ice cream, while others prefer soft serve vanilla/chocolate twist. Some like to drink their ice cream in the form of a milk shake, others prefer having it scooped or swirled onto a cone. Some like hot fudge or caramel sauce, while others just like whipped cream and a cherry. Toppings can be placed on top, or if you like, blended right in. Either way, ice cream paves the way for multiple flavor combinations and textures.

But how do you tell if a brand or an ice cream parlor has the best ice cream? Well I have devised a method. It’s simply called “The Soft Vanilla Ice Cream Test.” In my opinion, the more basic the ice cream the easier it is to tell if it is truly amazing. Like anything in life that is good, it needs a good base, and what’s more basic than vanilla???

So over the past few years I have heard of two places in New Jersey that supposedly have the best ice cream around, Polar Cub in Whitehouse Station and Hoffman’s in Spring Lake. So naturally, they both got the test…and passed with flying colors. I brought my family to Hoffman’s this past weekend and as we were driving there I told my brother (who tends to be very good at knowing good food) about how it passed my Vanilla ice cream test. At first he was skeptical. He hadn’t known about “The Test” up until that moment. He took my word for it and ordered the vanilla anyway…and low and behold, he agreed with me (a rarity between us siblings).

So if you don’t think “The Soft Vanilla Ice Cream Test” holds water, go try it for yourself.

Feeling Inspired

A few weeks ago I was watching the Food Network, when they did a segment on this show called “Unwrapped” on Mallomars®. Now, for those of you who don’t know, a Mallomar is a vanilla cookie, topped with marshmallow which all of which is coated with a milk chocolate shell. And if you are a marshmallow fan (like I am) they are truly one of the best cookies on earth.

So I got to thinking…what if I made a Mallomar cupcake? The cookie actually translates quite nicely. Vanilla cake, filled with marshmallow filling (Fluff® would be used for this), coated with a chocolate ganache frosting. Genius!

Here is the recipe:

Vanilla Cupcake (courtesy of Foodtv.com)

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• Regular or silver cupcake paper liners
• 2 cups Fluff®

Make the Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixer with a whip attachment, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to cream. Gradually add the vanilla and eggs and mix in well. Sift together the dry ingredients; then mix into the butter mixture alternating with the milk. Pour batter into cupcake paper-lined muffin tins filling them 3/4 full. Bake until puffed and firm in the center and light golden brown on top, about 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool. (Freeze at this point, if necessary.)

When cupcake is cooled fill a piping bag with Fluff®. Insert the bag into the top of the cupcake and squeeze Fluff® into the center of the cake. Note: the Fluff® is a little tough to work with so you may need to “fill” the cupcake more than once to get the right amount of filling.

Ganache Frosting (courtesy of Foodtv.com):

• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
• Mini marshmallows (optional) for decorating

Place a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, and whisk together the chocolate, cream, and espresso powder (if using). Continue whisking until chocolate is melted and the mixture is thick, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes.

Here is the end result:

After my Mallomar cupcake creation came to life, I was left with a good amount of Fluff®. What do you do with an almost full tub of Fluff®? The first thing that came to mind was that now I get to eat lots of fluffernutter sandwiches! Again, for those of you that don’t know, a fluffernutter sandwich is simply peanut butter and fluff between 2 slices of bread. Delicious! Soooooooo, why not make a fluffernutter cookie sandwich?
The execution was simple: bake peanut butter cookies and sandwich Fluff® in between two of them.

Here is the peanut butter cookies recipe (courtesy of allrecipes.com):

Ingredients
• 2 cups peanut butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

2.In a medium bowl, stir peanut butter and sugar together until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets. Press a criss-cross into the top using the back of a fork.

3.Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Then simply spread a tablespoon or so of Fluff® between two cookies.
I didn’t get a chance to take a picture, but the result was exactly what I had hoped. They were delicious and enjoyed by all.

A little inspiration can go a long way!

The Hostess with the Mostest

This past weekend was Father’s Day, and what better way to spoil dad (a.k.a. Big Ron) than by having a barbeque with some great food and great people. But this barbeque would be different. I decided that I really needed to take the reins on this one. It would be my job to organize the time, the place, and (most importantly) the food. And dad wasn’t allowed to do a single thing!

Now I have helped organized many functions in the past, so in terms of planning, this was a no brainer. However, this event I fully emerged myself in the role of hostess as well as cook.

But first things first, let’s talk about the menu. There were certain things I had to take into consideration for some of the people attending the barbeque. Some had limited palettes. So I tried incorporating some classic, traditional items into a menu that I wanted to make fun and very summer-esque. As a result here is what we ate:

Starters
Homemade Guacamole* and Chips & Salsa
Bruscetta

Main Event
Barbecued Chicken**
Marinated Flank Steak
Grilled Vegetables (baby portabella mushrooms & zucchini)
Summer Squash with Tomatoes and Onions
Salad
Bread

Dessert
Warm Grape Cake***
Grilled Watermelon & Pineapple Skewers drizzled with Honey

Now that seems pretty simple, and for the most part it was. But I made lots from scratch. The guacamole, barbeque sauce, and the cake were all made by yours truly. Also, the chicken had to soak in a brine; the cake was served with a warm honey ginger syrup (from scratch) that got poured over it, along with homemade whipped cream (my specialty).

It was a lot of work. I was in and out of the kitchen for 2 days, in front of the grill almost all day Sunday, and probably sat for a total of 30 minutes all day, but in the end it was worth it. Big Ron didn’t move an inch all day, and the food was enjoyed by all. By the end of the day I certainly considered myself the hostess with the mostest!

*Guacamole tips provided by M. Krajnak
**Barbeque Chicken Recipe courtesy of Tyler Florence
***Warm Grape Cake Recipe courtesy of Alex Guarnaschelli

Eat. Pray. Travel.

Lately my life has been kind of busy, but in a good way. I have been taking every opportunity to try and live life to its fullest. This means hanging out with friends, trying new things, and most importantly traveling to new places. For each new place I have traveled, I have been able to enjoy some amazing cuisine.

My first trip took me to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This was my first trip ever out of the country, and it was amazing. I went with my friend, Marissa. We stayed at a beautiful resort where every room had a view of the Pacific Ocean. We relaxed. We sat in the sun. We ate and drank!

And we ate and drank!

After Cabo, my tarvels brought me to New Orleans, Louisiana. This was a work trip, but I must say, the people I work with, they know how to live it up. We took full advantage of all that the Big Easy has to offer. We went to Commanders Palace one night (a well known New Orleans eating spot).

My meal started off with a trio of soups: turtle soup, shrimp gumbo and butternut squash bisque. This was followed by roasted Quail stuffed with corn bread and andouille sausage. Dessert was a pecan praliene sundae. The next night, we went to a restaurant in the French Quarter called Muriels. This was possibly the best meal I ever had. I wish I had photos of all this food because talking about it doesn't do it justice. Tuna carpaccio, double stuffed pork chops and bananas foster shortcake. AND I ATE ALL OF IT! If you're ever in New Orleans you need to eat here (http://www.muriels.com).

My last trip took me to Albuquerque, New Mexico. This was a short trip and it wasn't totally about the food, but I did have the best breakfast burrito ever. Eggs, bacon, potatoes, and green chilli. I have been craving it ever since I left.

But for as wonderful as all this food was, the best of these trips was the great experiences with some great people. Old friends that became better friends; New friends that became better friends; New sights and experiences that will never be the same as the first time they are experienced. And for all this, I am grateful.

*Special shout out to Mark K. for help with this title

What Could’ve Been a Birthday Treat Gone Awry

Today is my boss’ birthday so, in honor of him and his love for carrot cake, I decided to bake carrot cake cupcakes.

All week I searched for what I thought would be the perfect recipe, finally landing on Ina Garten’s carrot cake cupcakes. The recipe seemed simple enough, and most importantly, it contained all the classic ingredients: cinnamon, raisins, walnuts, carrots and of course, cream cheese frosting.

Sunday afternoon, the baking process began. Everything was going very well, until I took the cupcakes out of the oven. DISASTER! I don’t know what I did wrong exactly, but what I ended up taking out of the oven was not a pretty sight. The edges were baked to a crisp and the middle sank las if the cake were being sucked into a black hole. What a mess…

But if there is one thing that I have learned over the years it’s that, in baking, when one (oven) door closes, another opens. I had been smart enough, in my shopping, to buy extra carrots and raisins, so I regrouped and decided to ditch the cupcake idea and go with something a little safer…Martha Stewart’s Carrot Cake Cookies.

The result…well let’s just say they looked a lot prettier. Now it’s just a matter of time until I see if they are a hit with the birthday boy.

A Cake Ball by Any Other Name Would Taste as Sweet

This past weekend, I had a small get together at my house. Ok, so it was one of those silly jewelry parties, but the way I looked at it was just a good excuse to have some good food and good company. I made sure I had plenty of wine, and some good afternoon snacks cheese and crackers and veggies with roasted red pepper hummus.

The biggest decision, of course, was deciding what to have for dessert. Originally I was thinking of making cupcakes...chocolate chip cupcakes with chocolate chip frosting to be exact. But then I remembered a go-to crowd favorite, Cake Balls! They are perfect party dessert finger foods, basically a piece of cake and frosting rolled into a ball coated in chocolate. What could be better? And for this particular day I decided to go with a yellow cake, in which I mixed honey Teddy Grahams, with white frosting covered in semi-sweet chocolate. Um, can we say delicious!?

The word 'cake balls', however, doesn't have the most elegant ring to it (as my boss pointed out). So he presented me with the challenge of renaming this scrumptious, bute-sized dessert. I posed the question to my guests this past weekend and here are a few names we came up with:

Cake Bon Bons
Cake Rocks
Torta di Palle (cake balls in Italian)
Cake Ballz (the z makes the name a little cooler, was someone's rationale)
Cake Conglomerates
TriCakes (since there are 3 components)

In the end, though, we all agreed that cake balls might just be the best. But really whatever you want to call them, a cake ball by any other name would taste just as sweet!

The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Fried Foods

The Food Network has been a huge part of my life since it's inception. Chefs like Bobby Flay, Paula Dean, Giada de Laurentis, etc., have become food icons to me. When all else fails, and there is nothing good on tv, I can always turn to the Food Network for a good cooking show.

One of their newest shows is "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" where these famous chefs/hosts tell us "not only what they like to eat, but where we can get it" (quote from the opening credits). Each show is topic based: chocolate, meat, cheese, salty, barbeque, and any other food category you can think of. With every show my parents and I discuss what we would pick if we were asked what our favorite _____ would be and where...

Well this weekend I found my answer to "The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Fried Foods." I decided that I could use a little getaway, and in the spirit of the weekend (Presidents' Day), I decided to head down to Washington, D.C. A friend of my brother's lives in the city, so we decided to have dinner together. He took me to this placed called Founding Farmers (http://www.wearefoundingfarmers.com/). It's a sustainable restaraunt, that was actually featured on "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" for its devl-ish eggs. Well, I'm sure those are good, but for me, I would have to say if you ever get to go there, you must have B Baby's Beignets. These are, by far, the best beignets I have ever had!

For those of you that don't know, here is Wikipedia's definition of a beignet:
A beignet (pronounced /bɛnˈjeɪ/ in English, /bɛˈɲɛ/ in French; French for "fried dough") in the U.S. is a pastry made from deep-fried dough, much like a doughnut, and sprinkled with confectioner's sugar, or frostings.

But enough of the techinicalities. Let's get to the good stuff...These beignets were out of this world. They were brought to the table simply displayed, brown paper bag, dusted with powered sugar, and served with 3 sauces (raspberry, chocolate and caramel). Well just by the look of them, my mouth was watering. But then we dug in. The beignets were served fresh from the frier, warm enough so the sugar began to melt just a little, forming a glaze. We tore them open, revealing a moist, airy center. We then dipped the half into a sauce of choice and then ENJOYED. Wow, they were sweet bites of heaven that dissolved in your mouth. And the sauce I would have to say was the best was the caramel. The heat from the beignet melts the caramel slightly, and when combined with the glaze from the powdered sugar...well there aren't words to describe.

So if you are ever in DC you must go to the Founding Farmers and get the beignets. I promise you, they will be one of the best things you ever eat.