I'm so-so with the baked mac and cheese. The type that is really just pasta and cheese sauce? Now that is love.
With that kind of mac and cheese I'm just like:
(On a side note, Ratatoullie is one of my favorite Pixar films. Right up there with the Incredibles and Up. There's just something about Remy that is so... cute. Or maybe I just love the food)
So after a long President's Day hiking around Miami University's campus through freezing rain, facing a daunting maze of identically designed buildings on a tour, what do I make?
I have a confession: I hate eggs. They smell gross. The textures weird. They're just yucky okay!
Mini-quiches. Now those I can eat. Something about the cheese-to-egg ratio just works for me.
or the pie crust. I do have a serious infatuation with broccoli and cheese, so it could be that.
Either way these are just too good!
The Script - "Millionaires"
From Joanne-Eats-Well-With-Others
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tbsp to 1/4 cup ice water
For the mini quiches
1 small head broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
3-4 oz shredded cheddar (or really any cheese)
Directions
To
make the pie crust, in the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the
flour, salt, and sugar. Add in the butter and process until the mixture
resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With the processor running,
add in the cold water tablespoon by tablespoon until the mixture starts
to come together.
Take the dough and pat it into a thin disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or overnight.
In
the meantime, heat a splash of water in a medium pan. Add in the
broccoli florets and steam until tender, about a minute. Drain and set
aside.
In a bowl, whisk together the milk, heavy cream, eggs, and egg yolk. Season to taste with salt and black pepper.
When
the dough is done chilling, roll it out on a lightly floured surface
until it is 1/8-inch thick. Use a biscuit cutter to cut out circles of
dough that are about 2 1/2-inch round. Fit the rounds into a 24-cup
nonstick mini muffin pan. Repeat with remaining dough until it is all
used up.
Sprinkle
half of the cheese into the bottoms of the pie-lined muffin cups. Top
with the egg filling, distributing it evenly among the cups. Top with
broccoli florets and remaining cheese.
Bake
at 375 until puffed and golden, about 30 minutes. There will probably
be a lot of cheese spillover depending on just how much you fill the
muffin cups, but that is normal. Remove mini quiches from tin almost
immediately when they come out of the oven and place on a wire rack to
cool. Serve warm.
This salad was a bit of reprieve from the sugar, and the basily-lemony flavor is mouthwatering to recall!I feel like I haven't been cooking anything except baked goods and even those are few.
I've been doing college visits, prepping for the SAT, and school stuff. But at least I took the SAT yesterday so that's done!
I felt aweful for this girl. She drove to the wrong school for the test and only had twenty minutes to get to a school that's probably thirty minutes away from where we were. On top of that, she as a senior needed the score to get into some schools, so she couldn't wait for the May test. Hopefully she made it and could take the test.
Dressing:
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey or agave nectar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Salad:
2 cups water
1 cup quinoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small bunch asparagus, about 15 spears, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 cup frozen peas
1 avocado, chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped basil
Directions:
In a small bowl or medium jar, combine
the dressing ingredients. Whisk to combine or shake with the jar lid on
tight. Set aside.
Add water, quinoa, and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to a
boil over medium heat. Boil for 5 minutes. Turn the heat to low and
simmer for about 15 minutes, or until water is absorbed. Remove from
heat and fluff with a fork.
While the quinoa is cooking, cook the asparagus. In a large
skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the asparagus and
fresh lemon juice. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the peas
and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
In a large bowl, combine quinoa, asparagus, peas, and avocado.
Pour the dressing over the salad and stir until well coated. Season with
salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in the fresh basil and serve.
Or rather he is so excited over his new/repurposed Build-A-Bear house :D
Mmmmm... Look at that lemon curd!
Frosting!
Sean Kelly- "Could It Be Another Change?"
Ingredients:
Cake:
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
5 largge eggs
Grated zest of 2 lemons
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dried coconut flakes
Curd:
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
grated zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp lemon juice
5 tbsp unsalted butter
pinch of salt
Frosting:
8 tbsp. unsalted butter
6 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tbsp whole milk, plus more if needed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
grated zest of 2 lemons
Directions:
Cake:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare two 0 inch round cake pans by greasing them with cooking spray and then lining the botttoms with parchment paper.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar on medium speed until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time. Then add the lemon zest. Mix for 2 to 3 minutes, until fully combined.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, slat, and baking soda, In a separate bowl, mix the sour cream and the vanilla.
With the mixer running on low speed, mix in a third of the flour mixture and half of the sour cream mixture and half of the sour cream mixture. Scrape down the bowl. Add another third of the flour mixture and all the remaining flour mixture until all of the ingredients are fully incorporated. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
Bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the pans and bake for 15 more minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool in the pans for 20 minutes. Then turn each cake out onto a clean plate, remove the parchment paper, and then turn it back over onto a wire rack. et the cakes cool completely.
To assemble, place a cake layer on a serving plate, and trim the top with a long serrated knife to make a level surface. Spread a thin layer of the lemon buttercream over the top. Using a pastry bag, pipe a ring of butter cream around the edge of the cake. THis makes a sort of bowl for the lemon curd so that it will not spill out. Fill the bowl with 1 cup of the lemon curd. Place the second cake layer on top, being careful not to disturb the lemon curd. Spread the remaining buttercream over the entire cake. Press the coconut flakes into the butter cream on the sides of the cake.
Curd:
In a large metal bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice. In a medium saucepan, bring about 2 inches of water to a boil. Place the metal bowl on top of the saucepan, and whisk the egg mixture constantly until the mixture coats the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Do not let the mixture come to a boil. Remove the bowl from the heat. Stir in the butter and salt until the butter melts completely. Strain the curd through a fine-mesh strainer into a heat-resistant bowl. Press the plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Chill the curd in the refrigerator for about 1 hour, or until it has set. It can be stored in the fridge for about 5 days.
Frosting:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and confectioners' sugar on medium speed until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce the mixer to low and add the milk, vanilla, salt , and lemon zest. Scrape down the bowl and the paddle. Mix on low for 2 minutes, until the buttercream is thoroughly combined. If the buttercream is too stiff to spread, add an additional 1 to2 teaspoons milk until you reach the desired consistency. Extra buttercream can be stored in an airtight container, with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface of the buttercream, for up to 5 days in the fridge.
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Whoopie Pies
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the granulated sugar, brown sugar, yogurt, oil, eggs, and vanilla for 3 minutes on medium speed. Thoroughly scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer running on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture for a total mixing time of 30 seconds. Carefully scrape down the bowl. Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip (the hole should be about as large as the tip of your ring finder), pipe 2-inch diameter circles onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving 1 1/2 inches between them. Be careful to keep your pastry bag comletely vertical to achieve nice circles.
Immediately put the baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 9 minutes, without rotating the baking sheet, until the whoopie pies spring back when touched. Let the whoopie pies cool completely.
To fill the whoopies, turn half of them over so that they are bottom-side up. Using a pastry bag, pipe a small dollop of peppermint filling onto each whoopie bottom. Top with the remaining whoopies
Filling
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the creamcheese and butter on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the peppermint and salt, and mix for 30 seconds on low speed
With the mixer running on low speed gradually add the confectioners' sugar and then beat for 1 minute. Scrpae down the bowl. If the filling is too soft to hold its shape, add more confectioners' sugar, a tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.
Store in the refrigerator, in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed onto the surface fo the filling, for up to 5 days.
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour 3 9-inch cake pans.
In a medium mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat egg whites (reserving the yolks) until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, with the mixer on medium speed, cream
together butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg
yolks, vanilla, and melted chocolate until combined. Reduce mixer speed
to low and gradually mix in flour, alternating with milk, until just
combined, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Fold in egg
whites in three additions, until combined.
Divide batter into cake pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cake
pulls away from the side of the pan and a toothpick inserted comes out
with moist cake crumbs. Cool for 12 minutes on wire racks in the pan.
Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto wire rack to cool
completely.
Split each cake in half. Spread a layer of raspberry preserves on each cake layer, assembling the cake as you go.
To make the ganache, heat cream in a small saucepan over medium
heat. When it comes to a simmer, turn the heat off and whisk in the 8
oz chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Cool until it’s a good
consistency and then pour and spread over the cake. Top with hazelnuts.
