ta name="google-site-verification" content="LnUtT_d1nKFEi6qCVRa2VtURKXcUowdpcm2UMwFTZUk" /> hummus recipes: April 2009

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Lime Cupcakes with Toasted Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

I have a lot of unsweetened dry coconut flakes in my cupboard. I have no idea 2 pounds of coconut would last this long. They are primarily for my granola. But I want to start using them for something else. The problem is that I don't like coconut cake... How is that possible? Right? I eat everything and like everything. Maybe I just haven't had a good coconut cake. So for these cupcakes, I decided to go a safe route - lime cupcakes (which I know would be super awesome) with coconut frosting.



They turned out beautiful. Coconut didn't add much flavor to the cream cheese frosting (which didn't help my doubt with coconut in cakes.) But it might be because my coconut was a little old and cream cheese overpowered it. It did add a little crunch and texture.



Ingredients - Make 18 cupcakes
  • 2 cups all purpose flour

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1 stick butter - room temperature

  • 1/2 cup sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • Zest and juice from 1 lime

  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt


  • 1 package 8oz cream cheese

  • 1 stick butter - room temperature

  • 1 cup confectioner sugar

  • 1 cup dry coconut flakes - toasted (I put mine on a stove top in a non stick pan until slightly brown.)




Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffins pans with liners.

  2. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a clean bowl.

  3. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy - about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time. Beat thoroughly in between.

  4. Mix lime zest and juice into yogurt. Alternately stir in flour mixture and yogurt into the batter into 3 batches. Stir until well combined.

  5. Drop into the prepared pan by tablespoon. Be careful not to fill more than half. The cake will rise a lot. Bake for 18 minutes. Rotate the pan half way through the baking time (if your oven is like mine - hotter in the back.)

  6. Let cool in the pan for a minute then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

  7. To prepare the frosting, whisk cream cheese, butter and confectioner sugar with an electric mixer in a clean bowl until fluffy - about 3 to 4 minutes.

  8. Frost the cupcakes. Dip the frosted ones in a bowl of toasted coconut to decorate.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Night Hawks


Moments like this are why I love living in San Francisco. I snapped this picture last night at Salt House, around 10:30pm. We stopped in after seeing a particularly good night of Porchlight, and were in need of something quick but filling (with the subject of the show being "Kitchen Confidential", we couldn't help but be famished afterwards).

Even though it was so late, we were welcomed with smiles and graciousness, and we settled in at the bar and enjoyed the Poutin and a Shrimp Salad with mixed greens and spicy dressing that was absolutely fantastic. It was filled with dandelion greens, cilantro and mint, and these amazing toasted spicy almonds - a fitting dish for the unusually warm evening. A delightfully dry, fruity rose was the perfect companion.

Both the bartender and the hostess asked us how our food was, and you could tell that they were truly passionate about the food and the pleasure of dining there. I have experienced this so many times at Salt House, and for me, that is what will keep me returning again and again.

We were finished in plenty of time, paid our very reasonable check, and left with a smile, with a warm feeling inside that will last well beyond this heat wave.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

What's For Lunch?


I recently discovered a new lunch spot in San Francisco, and not just a lunch spot, but a lunch concept. Kitchenette is a catering company in the Dogpatch who have recently opened their doors (and in this case, warehouse dock), to offer a daily lunch special to the public. They have only been open for a couple of weeks, and seem to be doing well so far, despite the fact that they are still somewhat under the radar.

What I love about this concept it the simplicity of it. On offer are: one "main" lunch, a special salad, one drink, and one or two cookies. That's it. The website is updated every day so that you can see if you like what they are serving before trekking all of the way over there.

Today's menu looks like this:

olive oil poached local tuna sandwich grilled green onion bread, fennel olivada, arugula, spring garlic aioli…chick pea salad with pickled spring onions & parsley $9.-

big chopped spring salad crispy greens, asparagus, spring onions, pea sprouts, spring onions, croutons, hard cooked egg, lemon-herb vinaigrette $8.-

evil coconut devil cookies $.50

meyer lemonade $2.-

4505 chicharrones $3.-

They are located in the American Industrial Center behind 3rd street on Illinois, and you simply park, go up to the dock, order your food, pay and then pick it up when your name is called.


They do offer minimal seating, which is kind of fun and nice. I imagine that a lot of people who work nearby pick it up to go, but I really enjoyed sitting in the big space and watching people go in and out.


The day I went with my friend, we had Fatted Calf Knockwurst, potato salad, a bag of chicarrones, Meyer Lemon lemonade, and Chocolate Mint cookies. Delicious!


No matter if I am planning to go out to lunch or not, I always check the website to see what they are serving. It's also a blog, so it makes for interesting reading on what is seasonal and fresh. The company is Green Business certified, and the owners are a group of chefs that have worked in some of the best restaurants in the city. When you put all of that together, it is a Daily Special indeed.

Easter Basket


I had a lot of fun coming up with and making these cupcakes for Easter. I wanted to do something a little bit playful, something that would delight both kids and kids-at-heart. As always, taste is the important thing to me.

I made chocolate cupcakes, which is old hat at this point. The recipe that I have been using lately is surprisingly from Hershey's: the "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Cake. It's easy, moist, foolproof, and best of all, inexpensive. I can make it on a whim, because it does not require butter at room temperature. The only change that I make is to add only 1/2 C of boiling water instead of the full cup that the recipe calls for.

So, that done, I could play with the frosting and toppings. I have had a jar of Raspberry Marshmallow Fluff in my cupboard for years, and I never knew what I wanted to do with it. It occured to me that it would be great in a frosting - almost like an ode to Peeps.


I made a cream cheese frosting with 2 sticks butter, 1 pkg cream cheese, about 1/2 box of powdered sugar, then mixed in the entire jar of fluff. It made a beautiful frosting - bright, happy pink, and a wonderful texture.


For the Easter grass, I really wanted to achieve that artificial, bright green color of the stuff you find in Easter baskets. I had recently bought a food color gel in "Electric Green" and I added some of that to about 1/2 bag of sweetened coconut and mushed it around until it turned the right color.


I frosted the cupcakes using a round tip on my piping tool, added the grass, and topped them with 4 Jelly Beans. I used ones that I had found at Williams-Sonoma, which are really delicious and infinitely better than the ones you find at the drugstore, but much less strong in flavor than Jelly Bellies. They come in Pineapple, Cotton Candy, Blue Raspberry, and Key Lime, which worked well with the Raspberry Fluff frosting.

Fun to make, fun to eat - that is what cupcakes are all about!

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Hannah's <3 Biscuits

I had the best and prettiest biscuits one Sunday morning when my friend, Hannah, slept over. We found The Cook's Bible by Christopher Kimball by the street garbage can the day prior and took it. She adapted this from the book and made the best warm, flakey and delicious biscuits ever.



She halved the recipe (so that we couldn't over eat), mixed lemon juice in soy milk to replace buttermilk, and substituted all butter for shortening (because I didn't have them.) She cut them out with 2-inch heart shape cookie cutter.



So here is Hannah's version of Heart Biscuits

Ingredients
  • 1 cup flour

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

  • 4 tablespoons cold butter

  • 1/2 cup buttermilk (or juice from 1/2 a lemon and a little less than 1/2 cup of soy milk

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Cut butter into small chunks and cut into the flour mixture by hand and two table knifes until you get coarse crumbs.

  3. Fold in buttermilk. Roll the mixture on floured kitchen counter top and cut out with cookie cutter or just drop the mixture by tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet.

  4. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes depending on how big the biscuits are. Serve warm.

Cranberry Walnut Wholewheat Bread

My quest for the perfect cranberry/raisin walnut bread made with 100% whole wheat flour stops here. This is the one. I adapted the recipe from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor. The bread was extraordinary. It was soft and light. The wild yeast starter gave it wonderful complex taste.



It took a while to prepare for this bread. But it was well worth it. First, I cultivated yeast from the air with whole wheat flour and pineapple juice. That took about two weeks. I keep my yeast pet in the refrigerator and feed it every other week if I don't bake any bread. The night before baking the bread, I prepared a soaker and a mother starter. The soaker was basically soaking whole wheat flour in milk/water with dry fruit and a little bit of salt. Mother starter was kneading flour and water to the wild yeast starter and letting it rise.



Then on the baking day, all were combined with more flour and nuts. There were kneading, first rise, shaping, second rise, preparing the oven and finally baking. This sounds complicated but it's not. It just requires planning ahead and a little bit of patience.

Anybody who wants a perfect 100% whole wheat bread, please please get this book. It explains the science and everything bread fantastically. And the pictures are beautiful. I first borrowed a copy from The New York Public Library. But I used it so much during the three weeks that I had it that I bought my own.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Everybody's All-American


Hello my name is Liz, and I have never cooked a hamburger. Well, not until a few nights ago that is, when I decided to do an American Picnic dinner at home. I made cheeseburgers (fried! With American cheese on top, like they did in the 1950's!), deviled eggs, and cucumber slices.


I even used my star tip to pipe the yolks back into the eggs - so easy, so pretty. I used my citrus zester to score the skin of the cucumber and it made a pretty cool, modern pattern. Then I salted the slices and put them between paper towels and under a weight to let go of some of the moisture and let the salt seep in. My friend's mother used to do that for us after school, and I have always loved cucumbers done that way. It seems like a lot of work for just dinner at home, but they were small touches and made the presentation so delightful. Oh, and we ate the burgers protein-style, that is, wrapped in a leaf of Romaine instead of a bun.

For dessert, I just hulled some strawberries and topped them with a mixture of sour cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. It gives you the sensation of eating cheesecake - without the guilt, and without all of the work!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

NEWS~ Brand New Format for Submitting Monthly Bakes.

Hello to all our brilliant Sweet and Simple Bakers we have some breaking news for you here regarding submitting each month’s bake when completed.

After much contemplation between myself and Maria due to our own personal commitments, we felt that it would be in both our interests to review the way we both gather each month’s information for each Round-up. We also wanted to ensure that things run smoothly as possible for us all here at Sweet & Simple Bakes, which we hope you will fully agree with us on this matter.

What we propose for the future, each Baker at Sweet & Simple Bakes who completes the bake for the month will send an email to;
sweet2simple[at]googlemail[dot]com
Add in subject: [Name of bake] for the round-up.
Your Name:
Your Blog Name:
Your Blog Link to the Baking Post:
A picture of your bake 200x200 pixels (if you’re not sure how to resize a photo we can do this for you.)

Non-bloggers may send in a picture of their bake to the above email id and we will include it in the round-up for that month.

*The posting date for the completed said bake of the month on your blog is as before 1st of the month*.

*The round-up will be 2nd of the month to ensure all entries have been sent in via our email – we wouldn’t wish to miss any of your creations*.

*The posting date for the new recipe for the said month will in future be 3rd of each month*.

We both would like to thank all our S&SB Bakers for your continued support at Sweet & Simple Bakes we do appreciate it, we also would like to thank you for your understanding on this matter.

Happy Baking!

Best wishes Rosie & Maria xx

Vanilla Cupcakes

The Recipe can be found here


It’s Spring Time here in the U.K. and I thought it would be nice to represent this season with some colourful Vanilla Cupcakes for our next bake here at Sweet & Simple Bakes. This is an easy bake because you don’t need to cream the sponge mixture; it’s an all-in-one- method. The trick here is to ensure your butter is soft enough to blend in quickly with all the other ingredients. These cupcakes taste wonderful of a buttery and vanilla sponge, with a creamy delightful vanilla buttercream - just like momma used to make!
To ensure feather light sponges, do not over mix the sponge mixture. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do and if you have any queries or questions please leave a comment under the recipe and we’ll endeavour to reply as soon as possible.


*Please Note: - The posting date for Vanilla Cupcakes on your Blog is 1st May 09. Please ensure you send in your email to us to ensure you are listed in the round-up. *

If you are a food blogger, we kindly ask that you write a post about your bake and link back to Sweet and Simple Bakes. Let us know that you have completed the bake.

Please send an email to sweet2simple[at]googlemail[dot]com
Add in subject: [Name of bake] for the round-up
Your Name:
Your Blog:
Your Blog Link to the Baking Post:
A picture of your bake 200x200 pixels (if you’re not sure how to resize a photo we can do this for you.)

Non-bloggers may send in a picture of their bake to the above email id and we will include it in the round-up for that month.

The posting date for Vanilla Cupcakes on your blog is 1st May 09. The round-up will be 2nd May 09 to ensure all entries have been sent in via our email – we wouldn’t wish to miss any of your creations.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone’s entry!
Happy Cuppy Cake Baking!

Rosie & Maria xx

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Sweet and Simple Bakes Monthly Bake Round-Up ~ Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is our eleventh baking challenge here at Sweet and Simple Bakes and it has been another great success this month with so many wonderful and yummy entries. All your Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookie entries look scrumptious and I hope you have enjoyed baking one of my favourite recipes.



We would like to thank everyone who continues to support us in our bakes every month and also a warm welcome and thank you to new bakers who have joined us this month! We hope you will all continue to support us in our monthly bakes in making Sweet & Simple Bakes the success it is becoming.



If there are any late entries, I will endeavour to add you to the round-up as soon as possible!



Natalia @ Gatti Fili e Farina



Sweetiepie @ What's For Dessert Today





Cookie @ Happy Cup



Uma @ Essence of Andhra



Ria @ Ria's Collection



Katie @ Katiecakes



Jin @ Smell & Taste Are My Memory



Priya @ Easy N Tasty Recipes



Miss Mallory @ A Sofa in the Kitchen



Rosie @ Baking Cakes Galore



Maria @ The Goddess's Kitchen



Karen @ Karen's Kitchen Adventures



Simone @ Junglefrog Cooking



Arundathi @ My Food Blog



Jerri @ Simply Sweet Home



Jilly @ 2 Drumsticks and a Bottle of Wine



C @ Cake, Crumbs and Cooking



My Spicy Kitchen @ My Spicy Kitchen



Illona @ Eat a Cupcake and Call Me In The Morning



Edith @ Precious Moments



A huge round of applause for all our Sweet and Simple Bake bakers this month – well done everyone!!



Could we please ask that we all take time to visit each other's blogs and leave feedback, thanks!



Maria and Rosie xx