All summer I have seen the buzz about a new spritz in town. And yet all summer I stuck to my familiar Aperol and Campari… that is until now.

Just in the nick of time (has anyone else felt a slight chill in the air the last few mornings?) I managed to get my hands on the star of the new spritz, Sarti Rosa.

For the uninitiated, Sarti Rosa is a bright pink aperitif flavored with blood orange, mango, and passion fruit. It is is packed with fun, fruity tropical notes so of course I instantly fell in love with it. And as I’m wont to do when I love something, I of course knew I had to find some way to bake with it.

Having already made Aperol and Hugo inspired cakes, I thought it could be fun to do yet another spritz cake to give Sarti the star treatment! So I started with a zesty lime, grapefruit, and prosecco cake, which really helped to balance the tropical sweetness of the liqueur. Finally I finished it off with a Sarti glaze and some more citrus zest and it was perfect!

I hope you enjoy!

THE RECIPE

SARTI SPRITZ CAKE

makes a one pound (8.5 x 4.5 inch) loaf cake*

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 2 1/4 cups (288g) all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp (6g) baking powder

• 1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt**

• 2/3 cup (140g) neutral oil (such as grapeseed or vegetable)

• 1/2 cup (156g) Champagne or prosecco

• 1/4 cup (60g) freshly squeezed lime juice, from 2-3 limes

• 1 tsp (4g) pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

• 2 tsp (~4g) lime zest, from one large lime, plus more for serving

• 2 tsp (~4g) grapefruit zest, from half a large grapefruit

• 2 large (~100g) eggs

For the glaze:

• 1 cup (128g) powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp (28g) Sarti Rosa

Directions:

1. Preheat & prep: Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a one-pound (8.5 x 4.5 inch) loaf pan with neutral oil before lining it with parchment paper, leaving a bit of overhang on the long side to easily lift out later.

2. Whisk together dry ingredients: Whisk together your all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

3. Whisk together your wet ingredients: In a measuring cup, whisk together your oil, prosecco, lime juice and vanilla.

4. Make your cake batter: Add your granulated sugar to a large bowl, and massage your lime and grapefruit zests into the sugar by rubbing between your fingers to release any oils until it resembles wet sand. Add in your eggs, and whisk vigorously until the mixture has thickened a little and lightened in color, 1 minute. Stream your measuring cup of wet ingredients into the sugar mixture, whisking constantly until homogenous. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in your whisked wet mixture. Gently whisk together until smooth and no dry spots remain, careful not to overmix.

5. Bake: Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan. Bake on the oven’s middle rack until deeply golden and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, 55-60 minutes, rotating 180° halfway through the bake time. Let cool completely in the pan.

6. Make your glaze: When your cake is mostly cool, add your powdered sugar and Sarti Rosa to a bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth with no lumps.

7. Glaze, slice & serve: Once the cake is fully cool, lift it out of the pan and place it onto a serving dish. Pour your glaze evenly over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let set for 30 minutes before topping with more lime zest and slicing and serving.

8. Leftovers?: Store the cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes:

*You can bake this cake in a 9-inch round pan if you want to, just be sure to adjust the baking time (it will be around half).
**If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by 1/2.

A couple of weeks ago I had some friends over for a little breakfast for dinner party and for the cocktail made this incredible Fruity Pebbles infused Clarified Cereal Milk Rum Punch.

It was a blast to make (and even more fun to drink) so in the weeks following, I’ve been playing around with making milk punches with other cereals. After much trial and tribulation, I’ve finally come up with a Cinnamon Toast Crunch variation that I’m thrilled with.

The final product is a leveled up espresso martini of sorts with a robust coffee flavor, and deeply spiced notes. It’s perfectly sweet and the clarification process helps to give it a lovely richness.

I’m already plotting on what cereal I can play around with next!

THE RECIPE

ANOTHER CLARIFIED CEREAL MILK RUM PUNCH

makes a ~1000ml batch of punch

Read more

I was editing August’s edition of THE DINNER PARTY DIARIES and noticed I never clicked publish on July’s! OOPS! But because of that I’m gonna take the paywall off this one so you can all enjoy it! Yay!

Sooooo heeeeellooooo from the past and welcome to July’s edition of THE DINNER PARTY DIARIES, my little column where I bring you along for the ride of conceiving and executing my dish for the themed potluck-style dinner party my friends and I throw each month.

This month, our theme was “Good Morning Baltimore” so we’re diving into the great state of Maryland to figure out what we’re gonna make.

As a reminder, when it come to courses, the options are:
Cocktail
Appetizer
Main
Carb Side
Veggie Side
Vegan
Dessert
Vibes (this person curates the music/designs a game/plans a craft etc etc etc.)

I, of course, was in charge of dessert, yet again, so let’s get into how I came to making this Pink Lemonade Smith Island Cake adorned with chocolate cockroaches. As always the recipe is included below should you desire to make it. As most this is a first attempt, it isn’t perfect so I’ve also include some tweaks I would make if I were to ever bake this up again!

So without further ado let’s talk about my process!

THE PROCESS

About half the people in the group of friends I do this dinner party with are from Baltimore, so it’s about time that we had a Maryland-centric theme pulled.

When “Good Morning Baltimore” was pulled, I knew that I had a few options to work with for Maryland centric desserts. At first, I wanted to make Snowballs or Snowcreams, but the idea of purchasing a snowcone machine and an ice cream maker just for this didn’t seem feasible, so I quickly pivoted off of that idea and began weighing Berger Cookies versus Smith Island Cake. Ultimately I landed on the cake, because I thought I’d have more flexibility in both flavors and aesthetics.

For the uninitiated, Smith Island Cake is the state dessert of Maryland and originated in the Chesapeake Bay during the 1800s. The most traditional version is made up of 10-12 layers of pancake thin yellow cake sandwiched in a dense chocolate fudge icing. During that time period, wood burning stoves were used for baking, and so it was a lot easier to get an even bake on thinner layers. Additionally, because they are so thin, the layers are kept incredibly moist by the icing, even after the cake is sliced.

Now because the theme was “Good Morning Baltimore” and not just Baltimore or Maryland, I of course had to put an additional twist on it. When it came to said twist, I really had two options. The first was that I could lean into the “Morning” of it all and take the cake in a breakfast direction. The second, was that I of course could lean into the Hairspray of it all, which like DUH I HAD TO so I went with that!

Now, I looooove the 2007 movie musical as much as every other reformed theater kid (shoutout Nikki Blonsky), but I am a huuuuuuge John Waters fan so ultimately, I decided I would have to pay homage to him and the 1988 film.

A few years ago, I had the privilege of seeing the John Waters exhibit, Pope of Trash, at the Academy Museum in LA. Of course they had a huge collection of the costumes from his films, and as I was scrolling through my camera roll, I found this amazing dress that Tracy Turnblad wears at the end of the movie: a pink gown covered in a cockroach pattern.

I thought that this costume really distilled down a lot of what attracts me to John Waters’ work—the utilization of the glamorous and grotesque to comment on conventional middle class values. So of course, I knew I wanted to decorate my cake to emulate it.

When I began thinking of flavors that would give me the blush tone I desired, I decided to go in a pink lemonade direction. I thought that the suburban ideal of a lemonade stand paired with the bugs could be something right out of a John Waters movie.

I started with a lemony cake base, and decided to add some freeze dried raspberry powder in hopes that the thin layers would be pink, but I didn’t add enough so they ended up a bit drab and grey. In the end the cake still looks good, but next time I would want something a bit more vibrant. I ended up getting eight layers out of my batter, which was pretty good, but I would’ve loved to get closer to 10 or 12 to make it even more dramatic.

As far as our icing goes, I subbed white chocolate into the classic Smith Island fudge frosting, and also added in some freeze dried raspberry powder for a little fruity punch and to get our pink color. The color was nice, but to brighten it even more, I ended up adding in a drop of pink gel food coloring, and it looked perfect.

For our decorations, I thought that dates would be the perfect bodies for our cockroaches, so I sliced some in half before using chocolate to pipe out legs, heads, and antennae. I ultimately was obsessed with them and thought they were so cute.

When it came to stacking and icing our layers, it ended up being a smoother process than I expected. If you really ensure your cake layers are even you’ll end up with a gorgeous perfectly level cake.

As a whole, I found that it was on the sweeter side, but it is dessert after all. The raspberry and lemon helped to cut through it a little bit, but I think if I were to attempt it again I’d find some way to pull back on the sugar.

Overall I’m thrilled and it came out so cute! So should you want to attempt it the recipe is below!

Also for those curious here is what the rest of my lovely friends cooked up:
Paul made Orange Crushes for the Cocktail.
Niko made a Miss Baltimore Crab Dip for the Appetizer.
Adam made some Honey Old Bay Stricken Chicken Wings for the Main.
Will made a some Old Bay potatoes for the Carb Side.
Bella made Seaweed Caeser for the Veggie Side.
Colin made Old Bay chickpeas for the Vegan dish.
And Maeve made Baltimore Jeopardy and cued up both Hairspray movies for Vibes.

Another lovely evening! Let me know what you would make for your “Good Morning Baltimore” dish!

THE RECIPE

PINK LEMONADE SMITH ISLAND CAKE

makes one 9-inch cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 1 2/3 cups (333g) granulated sugar

• ~1 tbsp (6g) lemon zest from one large lemon

• 3 2/3 cups (469g) all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp (6g) baking powder

• 1 tsp (4g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt*

• 1/2 tsp (2g) baking soda

• 2 tbsp (14g) freeze-dried raspberry powder**

• 1 2/3 cups (367g) whole milk

• ~3 tbsp (45g) lemon juice, from one large lemon

• 1/3 cup (70g) neutral oil (such as grapeseed or vegetable)

• 1 tbsp (12g) pure vanilla extract

• 16 tbsp (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, softened

• 5 large (~250g) eggs

For the icing:

• 2 cups (400g) granulated sugar

• 1 1/2 cups (341g) heavy cream

• 6 oz (170g) white chocolate, chopped

• 8 tbsp (113g) unsalted butter

• 1 tbsp (24g) light corn syrup

• 2 tbsp (14g) freeze-dried raspberry powder**

• 1 tsp (4g) vanilla

• Pink gel food coloring (optional)***

For the cockroaches:

• Dates****

• Chocolate, at least 60% cacao, finely chopped****

Directions:

1. Make your cake layers

   1. Preheat and prep: Preheat your oven to 350°. Grease the sides and bottom of three 9-inch round cake pans with neutral oil, cut rounds of parchment paper to fit the bottoms, and line the pans.

   2. Whisk together your dry ingredients: In a large bowl whisk together your flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and freeze dried raspberry powder.

   3. Whisk together your wet ingredients: In a measuring cup, or small bowl, whisk together your milk and lemon juice. Let it sit for 5 minutes. Then add in your oil and vanilla and whisk to combine.

   4. Make your cake batter: Add your sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer, fit with the paddle attachment. Add in your lemon zest and massage it into the sugar until it is fragrant and resembles wet sand. Add your butter into the lemon sugar mixture and beat on high until it is light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and crack in your eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute between additions. After your final egg has been incorporated, add one third of your dry ingredient mixture and beat in on low until just incorporated, followed by half of your wet ingredients, another third of the dry, the last of the wets, and the last of the dry.

   5. Bake: Add about a cup of batter to each of your lined and greased 9-inch cake pans and spread it around into an even layer. Bake the layers until they are set all the way through and matte, 12-14 minutes. Let the cakes cool briefly in their pans and then invert them to cool on sheet trays. Reline and grease the warm pans and repeat with the rest of your batter until you run out. You’ll end up with 8-10 layers. Set them aside to cool completely on sheet trays.

2. Make your icing: In a medium saucepot, combine your sugar, heavy cream, white chocolate, butter, and corn syrup. Heat over medium, whisking constantly until the mixture has melted together and is smooth. Pull off the heat and whisk in your freeze-dried raspberry powder, vanilla, and food coloring, if using. Set aside to cool and thicken up, 30-60 minutes.

3. Make your cockroaches: Line a half sheet tray with parchment paper. Slice your dates in half the long way, and pull out the pits. Melt your chocolate in the microwave on 15 second intervals until smooth, then add it into a pipping bag. Pipe heads, legs and antennae onto the parchment paper, and place a date half, inside down, onto the chocolate. Repeat until you have your desired number of cockroaches and place into the fridge to chill.

4. Assemble: When your icing has thickened up a bit, place your first cooled cake layer onto a cake stand, round or plate. Add a 1/4 cup of icing on top of the layer and spread it evenly to the edges. Repeat with all your remaining cake layers. Pour the remaining icing overtop the cake, and spread it around allowing it to drip down the sides of the cake. Using an offset spatula, smooth the outside icing evenly around the entire outside of the cake. Pull your roaches out of the fridge and stick them to the top and sides of the cake. Place your cake back into the fridge to fully set up, 30 minutes, before slicing and serving.

5. Leftovers?: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.
**Instead of buying raspberry powder, I just buy a standard bag of freeze-dried raspberries and blitz them up. I use the leftovers in oatmeal, smoothies, or make a quick batch of Fruity Chocolate Shell.
***This isn’t necessary, but it really helps to make the pink more vibrant
****The amount you need of each varies based on how many roaches you want to make.

I had some friends over for a little breakfast for dinner party, and when it came to the cocktail, I wanted to do something a little more fun than the standard Mimosa, Bloody Mary, or Espresso Martini. So I decided, why not try to make try to make a cocktail inspired by one of my favorite cereals, Fruity Pebbles.

I figured the best method to incorporate the cereal would be by making a cereal infused milk, and then using that milk to clarify the cocktail. Milk clarification is a process that dates back to the 18th century, which was primarily used as a method to pull bitter and astringent flavors off of alcohol and black tea. In it’s most basic form, alcohol, acid (typically a citrus juice), and sugar are mixed together and then poured into milk, causing it to curdle. This is then filtered, and the curds act as a net, pulling harsh flavors off of the cocktail. Additionally, the whey proteins remain in the drink, giving it a robust body.

Because I wanted to double down on the tutti fruity flavor of the cereal, I incorporated a bunch of other fruity elements. The result was an absolutely incredible smooth rum punch, that was perfect for the dinner! So I hope you enjoy it too!

THE RECIPE

CLARIFIED CEREAL MILK RUM PUNCH

makes a ~1000ml batch of punch

Read more

Growing up, I would spend my summers hidden underneath an umbrella at the community pool. My nose buried in a book, as I wrapped myself up in towels—becoming a terrycloth mummy—desperate to avoid being kissed by the sun.

Back then, I would’ve said I hated summer, distilling it down to sweat and sunburn. But over time, I’ve grown to appreciate the heat. On some days, I even find myself beginning to fall in love with it, the warm air giving me butterflies.

And ultimately, we have food to thank for sparking this little affair. Nothing can beat the high of wandering through a farmers market in summer, scooping up a rainbow of anything that looks good.

My most recent haul included a bunch of peaches, which I intended to snack on as I worked my way through my summer reading list, allowing the juice to drip down my chin and onto the pages. But on my way home I began dreaming up this galette, so they had a bit of a different fate.

I start by adding some ground Earl Grey tea into a buttery pie dough, which gives the galette some nice bitter floral notes. The peaches get a subtle spice, and shine in all their sweet tart glory.

This one is a new summer classic for me, so I hope you love it too!

THE RECIPE

PEACH TEA GALETTE

makes one galette

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 2 tbsp (8g) loose leaf Earl Grey (or other black) tea

• 1 1/3 cup (171g) all-purpose flour

• 1 tbsp (13g) granulated sugar

• 1 tsp (4g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt*

• 8 tbsp (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, very cold

• 1/4 cup (61g) water, ice cold

• 1 large (32g) egg white

• 2 tbsp (32g) demerara or turbinado sugar

For the filling:

• 1 1/2 pounds (680g) ripe peaches

• 2 tbsp (25g) brown sugar

• ~1 tbsp (15g) lemon juice, from half a large lemon

• 2 tsp (6g) cornstarch

• 1/2 tsp (1g) ground cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp (<1g) ground ginger

• Vanilla ice cream or freshly whipped cream, for serving

Directions:

1. Make your galette dough: Grind your loose leaf tea into a powder using a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. In a large bowl combine your flour, sugar, ground tea and salt and whisk to combine. Cut your cold (you want it near freezing) butter into small cubes and toss it in the flour mixture, pressing the cubes between your fingers to flatten and break them apart until you have pieces the size of a pea. Drizzle your ice water over the flour mixture and stir with your hands to bring the dough roughly together. Once shaggy, use your hands to knead the dough a few times until most of the dry flour is incorporated (the dough will still overall be dry, this is fine as it will hydrate in your fridge).

2. Form and chill your dough: Dump your dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form it into a flat disk about an inch thick. Wrap it tightly in the plastic and place it in the fridge for at least 4 hours.**

3. Preheat & prep: Once your dough is fully chilled and you’re ready to bake, place your oven rack into the middle position. Preheat your oven to 400°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

4. Prepare your peaches: Pit your peaches and slice them into 1/4 inch thick pieces. Add them to a bowl with your brown sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, cinnamon, and ginger and toss to evenly coat everything.

5. Roll out your dough: Place your dough on a lightly floured clean surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough, and working from the center out, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a 13 or 14 inch circle. Using your rolling pin, lift and transfer the dough to your lined baking sheet. If at this stage, you feel your dough is too soft or warm, pop it back in the fridge on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes.

6. Assemble your galette: Leaving a two inch border around the edges place your peach slices on top of your galette dough. Working your way around the galette, gently fold up the two-inch border of crust over the filling, and gently press it into itself so it holds together.

7. Brush & bake: Brush the edges of the dough with your reserved egg white, and sprinkle your 2 tbsp of demerera sugar over it. Bake for 47-50 minutes, or until the peaches are jammy and the crust is deeply golden brown.

8. Enjoy: Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before slicing and topping with ice cream or whipped cream.

9. Leftovers?: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days (though it is best the day it is baked).

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.
**You can make and keep the dough in the fridge up to 3 days before you want to use it.

Two of my best friends got engaged last week. And as part of the celebration I was tasked with making some desserts. I ultimately settled on making a Rainbow Cookie Cake, as well as a cookie box with three different types.

I wanted things to be really special and unique, so I ultimately decided that I was gonna start at square one and develop each of the recipes so that the cookies really represented my friends and their love for each other.

Our bride to be, Maeve, is from Maryland so I set out on a mission to incorporate Old Bay, a Baltimore classic, into one of them!

For the uninitiated, Old Bay is a spice blend that combines celery salt, cayenne, black pepper, paprika, and some other lovely herbs and spices. It is most commonly used in seafood boils, but I figured because shellfish and corn have a beautiful sweetness that is really complimented by the Old Bay, it could work in a dessert.

And boooooooy oh boy did it work. The cornmeal base of the cookie was highlighted by the salty savoriness and subtle spice of the Old Bay. I also added a bit of cinnamon pay homage to a classic snickerdoodle and warm them up just a little.

They ended up being a little hit at the party, so I decided I wanted to share the recipe with all of you! Enjoy!

THE RECIPE

OLD BAY & CORN SNICKERDOODLES

makes 32 cookies

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Welcome back to THE DINNER PARTY DIARIES, my little column where I bring you along for the ride of conceiving and executing my dish for the themed potluck-style dinner party my friends and I throw each month.

This month, our theme was “Kids Menu” so we’re gonna be hopping into a time machine and making up a bunch of nostalgic dishes from our youth.

As a reminder, when it come to courses, the options are:
Cocktail
Appetizer
Main
Carb Side
Veggie Side
Vegan
Dessert
Vibes (this person curates the music/designs a game/plans a craft etc etc etc.)

Of course I am on dessert, yet again, so let’s get into how I ultimately settled on making some Dirt Cups! As always the recipes are included below should you desire to make any of them. As most of these are first attempts, they aren’t perfect so I’ve also include some tweaks I would make if I were to ever bake any of these up again!

Read more

A few weeks ago I went to a little boozy brunch at a friends, and of course had to bake up something to bring (if I ever show up anywhere empty handed something is seriously seriously wrong).

I ultimately decided to stick with the boozy theme and pulled inspiration from the most classic brunch cocktail I could think of… the mimosa!

I packed these with as much orange flavor as I possibly could so they are as bright as the summer days ahead. The prosecco adds just the slightest acidity that helps to balance out the sugar topping.

Because I wanted to double down on the mimosa flavor (bottomless anyone?) I ended up making a mimosa marmalade to go alongside them. Instead of using water in the marmalade, I swapped out most of it for prosecco, and the result is perfectly balanced.

Whether your headed to a friends for breakfast or simply need something a little sweet to power you up at the beginning of each day, these are perfect for the job.

THE RECIPE

MIMOSA MUFFINS WITH MIMOSA MARMALADE

makes 12 muffins and one 16-ounce jar of marmalade

Ingredients:

For the marmalade:

• 2 medium (~300g) oranges

• 1 1/2 cups (300g) sugar

• 1 cup (234g) Champagne or prosecco

• 1/2 cup (121g) water

For the muffins:

• 2 1/2 cups (320g) all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp (6g) baking powder

• 1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt*

• 1/4 cup (62g) freshly squeezed orange juice from ~one large orange

• 1/2 cup (117g) Champagne or prosecco

• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

• 1 tbsp (~6g) orange zest, from ~one large orange

• 2 large (~100g) eggs

• 1 tsp (4g) vanilla

• 5 tbsp (71g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 1/3 cup (70g) neutral oil (such as grapeseed or vegetable)

For the topping:

• 1/3 cup (66g) granulated sugar

• 1 tsp (~2g) orange zest, from ~half a large orange

• 3 tbsp (42g) unsalted butter, melted

Directions:

1. Make your marmalade

   1. Slice your citrus: Using a sharp knife, slice the peel and white pith away from the orange fruit of the citrus. Thinly slice your peels to about 1/8 of an inch and set aside. Thinly slice the flesh of the fruit and remove any seeds. Set aside your sliced fruit separately from the peel.

   2. Boil your peels: Add only the peels to a medium-sized saucepot and cover with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, let the peels cook for 15 minutes. Drain the peels, and rinse the pot. Add the peels back into the pot and cover with 3 more cups of water, bring them to a boil again for another 15 minutes. Strain. Set aside. Rinse your pot. This step helps to remove bitterness from the peel and pith so you get a nice sweet marmalade!

   3. Make your marmalade: To your now clean pot add the boiled peels, the sliced fruit of your oranges, sugar, 1 1/2 cups of water, and the juice of one lemon. Give it all a big stir. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, and let cook until it has reduced to 1/3-1/4 of its initial volume, 45-50 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sugar burning on the bottom. When done, your marmalade should reach about 220° on a candy thermometer. Turn off the heat, and let your marmalade cool in the pot, before moving to a 16oz mason jar and storing in the fridge to chill.

2. Preheat & prep: Preheat the oven to 350°. Line each compartment of a 12 cup muffin tin with a baking cup. Alternatively you could use parchment paper, or grease each compartment.

3. Whisk together dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together your all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

4. Whisk together your wet ingredients: In a measuring cup, stir together your orange juice and prosecco.

5. Make your cake batter: Add your sugar to a large bowl, and massage your orange zest into the sugar by rubbing between your fingers to release any oils until it resembles wet sand. Add in your eggs, and whisk vigorously until the mixture has thickened a little and lightened in color, 1 minute. Add in your vanilla, melted butter, and oil and whisk until homogenous. Stream in your wet ingredients, whisking constantly, until they’ve all been incorporated. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in your whisked mixture. Gently whisk together until smooth and no dry spots remain, careful not to over mix.

6. Divide and bake: Divide your batter evenly across the 12 muffin cups. Bake until the muffins have domed and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, 24-26 minutes, rotating 180° halfway through the bake time. Let cool slightly in the pan.

7. Make your topping: While the muffins cool a little, massage your 1 tsp orange zest into the 1/3 cup of sugar.

8. Top the muffins: While your muffins are still a bit warm, brush the top of each with a bit of melted butter. Then dip the top of it into the orange sugar mixture, using a spoon to help coat. Let set for 10 minutes and then enjoy with your marmalade!

9. Leftovers?: Store the muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The marmalade will keep in the fridge for up to a month.

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.

I had initially planned to spend this month developing and publishing a trio of floral flavored recipes. But as I sit here on May 20something, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my brain has barely been able to scrap together one flower-based treat.

Ironically, I’ve spent much of the month surrounded by flowers, so the inspiration has been abundant. That being said, most of those flowers were encountered in a funeral home because after 96 brash, bold, beautiful years my grandma, “Mimi” as we called her, has slipped out of this life and into something a bit more fashionable. My mom thinks she is now spending her time flitting around outside of our family home in the body of a robin. I think I agree.

I find it a bit funny to be bringing up Mimi on my baking blog, because I never found her to be particularly adept in the kitchen. In fact, I always found the “Everything Tastes Better in Grandma’s Kitchen” plaque hanging above her refrigerator to be a downright lie. Don’t get me wrong, she made a few things really well. It’s just that those few things were comprised of mostly mayonnaise, so “everything” feels like a stretch.

I don’t say that to speak ill of the dead, I simply say it to be honest, as Mimi would have been. Nothing ever held her back from saying what she thought. When I find myself in a position where I need to muster up the confidence to speak my mind, I first imagine what I’m about to say in her voice.

Growing up in the house across the street from hers, I often thought of Mimi as a third parent, her meticulously french manicured fingers assisting in molding the clay that would eventually take its shape into me. When I tell a good story or lay out a bit of juicy gossip in front of a captivated audience, it’s her hands at work. When I try on a new brightly colored or loudly patterned shirt, it’s her hands at work. When I bring cookies to my doctor or dentist or tattoo artist or barber, it’s her hands at work (though I’ve swapped out her Trader Joe’s Dunkers for something homemade).

So between a bit of mourning and a bit working through my ~ongoing mental health journey~ I haven’t spent as much time in the kitchen as I’d like. I’m hoping June brings some beautiful bakes alongside some beautiful summer days, but in the meantime I hope you enjoy this Hugo Spritz Cake.

It takes all the elements of my beloved Hugo Spritz—zesty lime, herbal mint, crisp prosecco, and floral St-Germain—and serves them up as a perfect springtime loaf.

THE RECIPE

HUGO SPRITZ CAKE WITH CANDIED MINT LEAVES

makes a one pound (8.5 x 4.5 inch) loaf cake*

Ingredients:

For the cake:

• 8 tbsp (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter

• 1/2 a packed cup (15g) fresh mint leaves

• 2 cups (256g) all-purpose flour

• 1 1/2 tsp (6g) baking powder

• 1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt**

• 2/3 cup (156g) Champagne or Prosecco

• 1/3 cup (70g) neutral oil (such as grapeseed or vegetable)

• 1 tsp (4g) pure vanilla extract

• 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar

• 1 tsp (~2g) lime zest, from ~half a lime

• 2 large (~100g) eggs

For the glaze:

• 1 cup (128g) powdered sugar

• 2 tbsp (28g) St-Germain, or other elderflower liquor

For the candied mint leaves:

• 1 large (~32g) egg white

• 1/3 cup (66g) granulated sugar

• 15-25 mint leaves of varying sizes***

Directions:

1. Infuse your butter: In a small heatproof bowl, bruise your mint leaves by rubbing them between your palms. In a small saucepan, melt your butter over medium heat. Just as it begins to sputter (we are not browning it), pull it off and pour it into the mint bowl. Set aside to infuse for half an hour.

2. Preheat & prep: Preheat the oven to 350° and grease a one-pound (8.5 x 4.5 inch) loaf pan with neutral oil before lining it with parchment paper, leaving a bit of overhang on the long side to easily lift out later.

3. Whisk together dry ingredients: Whisk together your all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

4. Whisk together your wet ingredients: In a measuring cup, whisk together your oil, Champagne, and vanilla.

5. Make your cake batter: Add your granulated sugar to a large bowl, and massage your lime zest into the sugar by rubbing between your fingers to release any oils. Strain your butter into the bowl, pressing the leaves to get out as much of the butter as you can. If your butter has solidified at all, pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to melt it before straining. Whisk into the sugar. Whisk in your eggs one at a time until homogenous. Stream your measuring cup of wet ingredients into the sugar mixture, whisking constantly. Make a well in the center of your dry ingredients and pour in your whisked wet mixture. Gently whisk together until just combined and no dry pockets remain, careful not to over mix.

6. Bake: Transfer the batter to your prepared loaf pan. Bake on the oven’s middle rack until deeply golden and a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean, 55-60 minutes, rotating 180° halfway through the bake time. Let cool completely in the pan.

7. Make your candied mint leaves: While your cake bakes, make your candied mint leaves. Take your egg white and beat it until it is foamy. One at a time, brush or dip both sides of your mint leaf with the egg white. Shake each mint leaf over the bowl for a moment to allow the excess to drip off. Immediately place your dipped mint leaf into your bowl of sugar and use a spoon to coat both sides. Gently lift your sugared coated mint leaf out of the bowl and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet to dry. Repeat until all the mint leaves have been coated in egg white and sugar. Let them dry at room temperature for 2-3 hours.

8. Make your glaze: When your cake is cool and your mint leaves are dry, add your powdered sugar and St-Germain to a bowl and whisk until the mixture is smooth with no lumps.

9. Glaze, slice & serve: Lift your cake out of the pan and place it onto a serving dish. Pour your glaze evenly over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Let set for 30 minutes before slicing and serving with your candied mint leaves.

10. Leftovers?: Store the cake in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Store the mint leaves in a container at room temp for 1-2 days.

Notes:

*You can bake this cake in a 9-inch round pan if you want to, just be sure to adjust the baking time (it will be around half).
**If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by 1/2.
***Make sure to use mint leaves that don’t have any rips or bruises! I also like size variance!

Oops! I’m a little late in getting this one out so it is May now, but welcome to April’s edition THE DINNER PARTY DIARIES, my little column where I bring you along for the ride of conceiving and executing my dish for the themed potluck-style dinner party my friends and I throw each month.

This month, our theme is “April Showers,” so we’re gonna get super soaked with spring flavors.

As a reminder, when it come to courses, the options are:
Cocktail
Appetizer
Main
Carb Side
Veggie Side
Vegan
Dessert
Vibes (this person curates the music/designs a game/plans a craft etc etc etc.)

Of course I am on dessert, yet again, so let’s get into how I ultimately settled on bringing A Chocolate Fountain.

Because there isn’t a whole lot of room for innovation with the fountain itself, I ultimately decided to make everything that we’re going to dip into it, a floral frenzy of Strawberry Rose Honey Marshmallows, Malted Lavender Shortbread, and Spiced Chamomile Madeleines. As always the recipes are included below should you desire to make any of them. As most of these are first attempts, some aren’t perfect so I’ve also include some tweaks I would make if I were to ever bake any of these up again!

So without further ado, let’s make it rain!

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I had my first panic attack a few weeks ago. Or perhaps my first panic attack that I acknowledged as such. During it, I felt my chest caving in, struggled to catch my breath, and ultimately passed out, which of course convinced me, a lifelong hypochondriac, that I was in fact dying. My very patient boyfriend then brought me to the hospital, where it was confirmed I was not in fact dying. But also confirmed, that it was time to face my long poorly managed anxiety.

While I’ve always been an incredibly anxious person, in recent months, things have gotten worse. I think a lot of this has come from starting to “film content” for social media. Of course there’s stress about how the videos “perform,” but spending the hours editing them staring at my body and my face has been compounding that. And then on top of that there is of course the comments section, where it seems people are fighting with each other over whether I talk with my hands too much. All of this is to say, that I was grossly unprepared for how putting myself out there would affect me.

Of course I don’t want to stop filming my recipes, because I have found it fun to share a lens into my kitchen, and the positive response is far greater than the negative, no matter how much I focus on the one or two bad comments. But, I think in order to make it sustainable for the long term, I need to focus on managing my anxiety before I continue.

So I’m on a bit of a social media hiatus (we can debate whether Substack is social media, but I don’t consider it as such), while my body acclimates to my new anxiety medication. The on ramp of side effects has been a bit tough, but I’m optimistic that once everything settles it will greatly improve my day to day.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to keep some semblance of a routine, so I’ve been in the kitchen quite a bit. And in the repetition of creaming together butter and sugar I’ve found a bit of calm, a bit of time to finally catch my breath after months of suffocating. And so I bring you these cookies. Cookies I’ve made ten times in the last week and a half. I’m frankly a bit sad to put the recipe out because it means I’ll have to move on to making something else.

But alas, they are perfect and so it is time to share them with all of you. They have a coffee base, warmed up by a bit of toasted milk powder and cinnamon, and are flooded with puddles of caramelized white chocolate for richness.

I hope you love them as much as I do.

THE RECIPE

CARAMEL LATTE COOKIES

makes 22 cookies

Ingredients:

• 10 oz (283g) white chocolate, roughly chopped

• 1/2 cup (73g) non-fat milk powder

• 2 1/4 cups (288g) all-purpose flour

• 2 tbsp (6g) instant espresso powder

• 1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt

• 1/2 tsp (2g) baking powder

• 1/2 tsp (2g) baking soda

• 1/2 tsp (1g) ground cinnamon

• 16 tbsp (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, softened

• 2/3 cup (133g) brown sugar

• 2/3 cup (133g) granulated sugar

• 2 large (~100g) eggs

• 1 tsp (4g) pure vanilla extract

• Flaky salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Caramelize your white chocolate: Preheat your oven to 250°. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone mat**. Place your chopped chocolate onto the mat in an even layer and bake for 15 minutes once the oven has preheated. Remove it from the oven and using an offset or silicone spatula, smooth and mix the melted chocolate around the mat. It may be a bit lumpy at this stage. Place it back into the oven, and bake for 10 minutes, before removing and smoothing it again. Repeat this 10 minute baking and smoothing process until the white chocolate has taken on a rich amber color, 75-90 minutes total. Push all the melted chocolate towards the center of the pan so you have a thicker layer, and set it aside to let solidify (you could place it into the fridge to speed this up). Once solid, roughly chop it up.

2. Toast your milk powder: Heat a large skillet (I prefer non-stick here) over medium-low. Add in your milk powder. Use a heat proof spatula or wooden spoon to push it around the pan constantly, to avoid burning and clumping. Cook until uniformly golden, 6-8 minutes. Pull off the heat and pour it into a large bowl to let cool.

3. Preheat & prep: Preheat the oven to 350° and place your oven racks in the upper-middle and lower-middle slots. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Whisk together your dry ingredients: Add your flour, espresso powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon to the bowl with your cooled milk powder. Whisk to combine.

5. Make your cookie dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with the paddle attachment combine your butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium-high for 3 minutes, or until it is light and fluffy. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in your eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract and beat on medium-high until combined, 1 minute. Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add in your dry ingredients. Beat on low until just combined and no dry pockets remain. Add in your chopped white chocolate and pulse to incorporate.

6. Scoop & bake: Using a 1.52 ounce (#20) cookie scoop*** or weighing out 50g balls of dough, portion out the cookies. Place 6 balls of dough, two inches apart, onto each baking sheet. Bake the sheets at the same time, swapping their places halfway through baking, for 14-16 minutes or until browned around the edges and puffed and golden in the center. Right when they come out of the oven sprinkle the cookies with a generous portion of flaky salt.

7. Rinse, repeat, eat: Allow your baking sheets to cool for at least 10 minutes if reusing them and repeat step 6 to bake off the remaining cookie dough. Let cool and enjoy!

8. Leftovers?: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.
**I find using a silicone mat makes things a lot easier with clean up and smoothing, but feasibly you could do it on the baking sheet itself. Just scrape it off the sheet and into a vessel it won’t stick to to cool.
***In a pinch, you can also portion out 3 tablespoons worth of the dough into balls.

I’m not going to debate anyone, but soooomething about a bagel sandwich in New Jersey hits harder than anything I’ve ever had in New York.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the bacon, egg and cheese at my bodega, but my beloved bagel—Taylor Ham, egg, and cheese on a sesame, perfectly crispy hash brown on the sandwich, SPK duh—from the bagel shop down the street from my parents’ house is simply ambrosia from the gods.

And while I’m pissing people off, my dear South Jersey friends, I’m going to be calling it Taylor Ham for the duration of this post. You can go on ahead and call it “pork roll” when you make these gorgeous galettes yourself, but I will not be doing that. Sorry!

So now that everyone is nice and mad, I bring you an apology in the form of my favorite recipe I’ve ever developed. Perhaps, I love it so much because I wake up just about every morning craving a bagel sandwich, but perhaps it is also because it is perfect.

I divide my classic buttery pie crust recipe into four, to make little individual galettes, and line each with slices of American cheese, fried Taylor Ham, and shredded potato. Of course, they get a nice sprinkle of poppy and sesame seeds before they go into the oven. If you wanted you could add some dehydrated onion too (but one time I threw up an onion bagel on a Greyhound Bus from Baltimore to New York, so none for me)!

After a nice bit of baking, I crack an egg into the center of each galette, and return them to the oven until the whites are set, and the yolk is still nice and jiggly. Of course it must be eaten hot with SPK, plus some finely chopped chives and hot sauce.

It’s perfectly salty, and buttery, and crisp, and cheesy, and really everything I could ask for in a bite of breakfast!

THE RECIPE

TAYLOR HAM (OR “PORK ROLL,” IF YOU MUST), EGG & CHEESE MINI GALETTES

makes 4 mini galettes

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For a while I have been wanting to develop a riff on the classic millionaire shortbread. I thought up a version that centered citrus: a zesty orange shortbread, under a blanket of Campari caramel, under a blanket of sweet milk chocolate. And another that showcased a floral, for spring: lavender infused shortbread, covered in a burnt honey caramel, covered in the thinest shell of bitter dark chocolate. Aaaaaand aaaaanother that featured a coffee shortbread, a coconut caramel, and a layer of caramelized white chocolate to top it all off.

But when I finally got into my kitchen to start working on something, I realized I had minimal flour to work with, and instead of being a regular rational person and going to the store to buy more, I abandoned all my other ideas, and began to dig through my kitchen cabinets, hoping to find new inspiration in something I could sub in for flour.

After weighing my options, I ultimately settled on using a sleeve of buttery Ritz crackers I found hiding on the back of my snack shelf. By blitzing them up and mixing them with the flour I had, I ended up with a delightfully toasty and salty shortbread base, that was reminiscent of a graham cracker crust in flavor.

When I started on the caramel portion, I ended up making another swap, and using peanut butter in place of regular butter, in hopes that it would add a bit of savoriness to balance out the sweet sweet sweeeeeet caramel. And, boy oh boy was it a great call, because once topped with a layer of bitter chocolate, the final bars were perfectly balanced!

Perhaps I’ll have to raid the back of my pantry more often to find inspiration!

THE RECIPE

PEANUT BUTTER BUTTER CRACKER MILLIONAIRE SHORTBREAD

makes one 8x8 tray of shortbread

Ingredients:

For the shortbread:

• 1 cup (~1 sleeve blitzed/101g) butter cracker (like Ritz) crumbs

• 3/4 cup (96g) all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt*

• 8 tbsp (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/3 cup (66g) brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp (2g) pure vanilla extract

For the caramel:

• 1 14 ounce can (397g) sweetened condensed milk

• 1/2 cup (110g) brown sugar

• 1/2 cup (132g) peanut butter**

• 1/4 cup (82g) corn syrup

For the topping:

• 6 oz (170g) chocolate, at least 60% cacao, chopped

• Flaky salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat & prep: Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease an 8x8 cake pan with neutral oil, and line it with parchment paper, leaving a bit of overhang on the long sides to easily lift out later.

2. Whisk together your dry ingredients: In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together your cracker crumbs, flour, and salt.

3. Make your shortbread dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine your butter and brown sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat in your vanilla. Add in your dry ingredients and beat on low until they are fully incorporated.

4. Bake: Press the shortbread dough into an even layer in your prepared pan. I start by using my hands, and then go in with an offset spatula to get it nice and flat. Bake on the middle wrack of the oven, until the shortbread is deeply golden around the outside and fully set in the middle, 21-24 minutes. If you have any air-bubbles that have formed while baking, you can gently press them down using the bottom of a cup. Set aside to cool while you make your caramel.

5. Make your caramel: While the shortbread cools, make your caramel. In a heavy-bottomed saucepot, combine your sweetened condensed milk, brown sugar, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar has melted. Continue to cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Continue stirring the mixture as it cooks until it reaches 235°F on a candy thermometer. This may take up to 15-20 minutes, but be sure to stir it constantly and monitor the temperature to prevent burning. When your caramel is at temperature, immediately pour it over your shortbread and spread it into an even layer. Let cool completely (if you want to speed this up feel free to pop it into the fridge for a bit).

6. Top your bars: Once the caramel is completely cool, melt your chopped chocolate in a double boiler, stirring regularly, until smooth and no lumps remain. You could also do this in a microwave by zapping it in bursts of 20 seconds at a time. Pour the melted chocolate over top your caramel and spread into an even layer. Sprinkle flaky salt over the top. Let the chocolate set at room temperature until solid.

7. Slice & serve: Once your chocolate layer is firm, slice your shortbread into bars of your desired size (I like to go for something a little smaller than the classic squares) and enjoy!

8. Leftovers?: Leftovers will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 5 days.

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.
**I love natural peanut butter, but this is not the place for it. Get your hands on some Skippy or Jif.

Every year I have a tradition of sorts, where in the days leading up to my birthday, I hole up in my kitchen, and dedicate my every waking moment to plotting, shopping for, and executing the cake of my dreams.

In recent years, I’ve found that my birthday has filled me with more anxiety than celebratory spirit. With every year that passes, I tend to fixate on what I haven’t done or accomplished, as opposed to all the glorious life I lived. I can be a person who is so concerned with slowing, or flipping, or breaking the hourglass, that I never really stop to appreciate the beauty of each falling grain under a microscope.

So in an effort to ground me, I like to give myself a large scale project in the form of a cake. I find that it not only keeps my hands and mind busy, but gives me the time to meditate and bask in the light of my past year. Typically I find the whole thing to be quite emotional (the secret ingredient in many of my birthday cakes is in fact tears), so I never do it with the intention of sharing what I come up with.

But this year, in the month since my birthday, I have not been able to stop thinking about how incredible this cake is. So I had no choice but to bake it up again to share with all of you.

The first iteration of this cake was for my friend Arielle (who herself makes expert level rainbow cookies). The execution was simple, layers of a light almond sponge in the classic tricolor, raspberry jam sandwiched between them, a rich chocolate ganache poured over the outside. It was delightful.

But when I set out to try it again for my birthday, I longed for it to be closer to an actual rainbow cookie in its texture. And after a bit of trial and error, I ultimately decided, why not just make a cake out of actual rainbow cookies.

So thats what I’ve done, made a big old slab of rainbow cookie, and dressed it up as a beautiful cake.

This one is a bit involved, but I promise it is worth the effort—it might even be the best thing I’ve ever made. Plus, your left with a bunch of extra rainbow cookie scraps you can snack on whilst you assemble. Sounds like a dream to me!

THE RECIPE

RAINBOW COOKIE CAKE

makes one half-sheet pan of rainbow cookies and then one 3-layer 8-inch cake

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Welcome back to THE DINNER PARTY DIARIES, my little column where I bring you along for the ride of conceiving and executing my dish for the themed potluck-style dinner party my friends and I throw each month.

We typically do these dinners on the weekend, to give everyone ample time to plan and make their dishes. But this month, the puzzle of our schedules simply wasn’t fitting together, so we were ultimately forced to do something in the middle of the week.

To account for the lack of prep-time most people would have, our theme this month is “Twisted Takeout!” The idea here is that everyone grabs some sort of takeout, and either amps it up or reinvents it depending on how much innovation their schedule allows for. This could be something as simple as tossing on a garnish, or making a dipping sauce, but for those who were going to spend the entire day standing in their kitchen anyway (me) it could also be a total transformation.

As a reminder, when it come to courses, the options are:
Cocktail
Appetizer
Main
Carb Side
Veggie Side
Vegan
Dessert
Vibes (this person curates the music/designs a game/plans a craft etc etc etc.)

And, of course, I am on dessert yet again. So let me show you how this Milk & Cookies Trifle, starring a big old order from Levain, came to be! Of course the recipe is included at the end, should you have the urge to make something that requires first spending 50 dollars on cookies (though I also provide the budget-friendly alternative of using a regular old batch of cookies too, Tollhouse perhaps?).

Without further ado, let’s twist some takeout!

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Ever since I first posted my Funky Monkey Cookie recipe a few years ago, it was only a matter of time before I took the same beloved elements—rich dark chocolate, crisp toasty walnuts, and savory shiro miso—and snuck them into a banana bread, so here we are!

This baby ended up taking far more tests than I thought it would. After making it so many times, I managed to go through every ripe banana I had sitting on the counter, pluuuuuus my entire emergency stash that I keep in the freezer. That’s dozens of bananas! What I will say is after the near countless loafs and taste tests I’m still not sick of it, in fact I’m craving a slice now, so I guess that’s saying something.

Anyway, by the time I was finally ready to photograph and film it to share with all of you, I looked around and all I had were stiff green bananas, nooooooot what you want for a perfectly moist and sweet banana bread! After scouring my neighborhood bodegas to get my hands on even one banana that was remotely close to ripe, I had just about given up, and resigned myself to the fact that I’d have to wait a bit longer to share this with you.

Buuuuuut then on my walk home… I remembered a video I saw on Tiktok a few months ago from @tonytastes that linked to an article about a trick to ripen bananas in 30-minutes by baking legend, icon, wizard, Stella Parks. Old me was really looking out for new me because I did in fact bookmark the article in case of emergency. So I broke glass, and refreshed myself on the technique.

Basically, Parks found that amylase, the enzyme that turns starch into liquid sugar as bananas ripen, naturally occurs in egg yolks, so if you take the yolks from your banana bread recipe, and mash them into your unripe bananas, after about a half an hour, the yolks will have broken down the starch into sugar, peeeeerfect for baking.

Of course, I had to try it, and it worked amazingly! To a point where I could not tell the difference between two slices of the bread, one baked using naturally ripe bananas, and the other using this technique! How damn cool!

Anyway so now thanks to science, I bring you this perfect banana bread recipe. Shoutout science! I hope you enjoy!

THE RECIPE

FUNKY MONKEY BANANA BREAD

makes a one pound (8.5 x 4.5 inch) loaf

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (75g) walnut halves or pieces

• 2 cups (256g) all-purpose flour

• 1 tsp (4g) baking soda

• 1/2 tsp (2g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt*

• 3 extremely ripe** medium (~345g) bananas

• 1/2 cup (115g) buttermilk

• 8 tbsp (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened

• 1/3 cup (96g) shiro (white) miso

• 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

• 1/3 cup (66g) brown sugar

• 1 large (50g) egg

• 1 tsp (4g) pure vanilla extract

• 3/4 cup (131g) mini semi-sweet chocolate chips***

Directions:

1. Toast your walnuts: Heat your oven to 350°. Dump your walnuts onto a small baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Once the oven is at temperature, let them toast for 8-10 minutes or until they smell deeply roasted and have darkened in color. Set aside to cool when done. Once fully cooled, roughly chop.

2. Prep your pan: Grease a one-pound (8.5 x 4.5 inch) loaf pan with neutral oil before lining it with parchment, leaving a bit of overhang on the long side to easily lift out later.

3. Whisk together your dry ingredients: In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your flour, baking soda and salt, set aside.

4. Whisk together your wet ingredients: In a medium sized bowl, mash your bananas up with a fork. Pour in your buttermilk and whisk until homogenous.

5. Make your batter: In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl where you will use a hand mixer, beat your butter, miso and sugars together on medium-high until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, add in your egg and vanilla, and beat on medium-high for an additional minute. Add in your wet ingredients and beat until combined, an additional minute. Gently fold in your dry ingredient mixture, until no large pockets of flour remain. Fold in your chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts to evenly distribute.

6. Bake: Add your batter to your prepared pan, and bake on your ovens middle rack for 75-80 minutes, or until the top is deeply browned and crisp, and a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in a pan, before lifting out, slicing and enjoying!

7. Leftovers?: Store in an airtight container in your refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.
**Bananas vary greatly in size so don’t stray too far from the weight, though banana bread is more forgiving than other things.
***I prefer mini to get a better distribution, but if you want larger bites of chocolate you can do regular sized

Every month, my friends and I throw a potluck-style party, where we each make a dish inspired by a chosen theme. At the end of each dinner, we all take a bit of scrap paper, scribble down an idea, and toss it into a hat to randomly pick the next month’s concept (prior to the hat we did lay them all out on a floor and allow an iconic elderly cat to choose :( RIP Mister <3), before we all claim a course.

When it come to courses, the options are:
Cocktail
Appetizer
Main
Carb Side
Veggie Side
Vegan
Dessert
Vibes (this person curates the music/designs a game/plans a craft etc etc etc.)

As for the themes themselves, they can fall into a few different categories…

Sometimes they demand you make a specific dish, like “Margaritaville,” where everyone had to recreate something off the Margaritaville menu, or “The Grinch,” where we all made a holiday twist on Dr. Seuss foods.

Other times, the themes dictate the form your dish can take, like “Root Canal,” where everyone had to make something you could feasibly eat after getting a root canal, or “Breakfast for Dinner” which is exactly what it sounds like.

Or they can restrict the ingredients we have to use, like “Gas Station,” where we had to make dishes out of things you could buy at a gas station convenience store. Or “Almond Mom,” where we had to take ingredients popular in diet culture and turn them into something robust and delicious. Or “Night of Luxury” where we utilized the fanciest items we could get our grubby hands on.

But occasionally they’re a bit more abstract, just evoking a vibe, like this month’s “Pisces Party.”

As I sat hunched over my dining room table, plotting and researching for my dish (I had dessert), I thought to myself “how fun would it be to start a new little column, where I can invite you all into my kitchen to see how one of these dishes comes together from start to finish?” So, here we are, welcome to THE DINNER PARTY DIARIES!

Our dinners are often my favorite night of the month, not only because they’re delicious and spent with the people I love most, but because they require me to push myself creatively. Sometimes what I make isn’t perfect, but I always have a blast doing it. So that’s what this column is going to be about, my creative process. Of course I will always send out a recipe at the end, but it may not be as refined or rigorously tested as the ones I publish on the main feed (though in this case, the Kombu Custard Taiyaki are really really really great). My hope is that this will give you all a look into how I bring a recipe from concept, to execution, and fuel your imaginative spirits as well.

So without further ado, let’s get into February’s “Pisces Party.”

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I think that if I were in a slasher movie, my kill sequence would occur during a busy dinner service in a New York City restaurant on Valentine’s Day.

As we know, I’m addicted to romance, and while the idea of a dinner out to celebrate your lover is romantic, something about being in an overcrowded and understaffed restaurant sitting at a two top between a couple who won’t stop bickering, and another who is letting their food get cold because they can’t keep their mouths off each other, puts me right in the center of a horror film, ice running through my veins.

So, for this Valentine’s Day, I’ll be dragging my boyfriend, Niko, into our kitchen, arming him with a knife, and baking up this Chicken Adobo Pot Pie we developed together. It’s the perfect hybrid of the foods we each crave when we need our souls fed.

It starts off with a gravy made from bay leave infused butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and coconut milk. Of course it has all the classic pot pie veggies—onions, carrots, celery, peas—and is studded with whole black peppercorns, as all good chicken adobo is.

I wanted this to be as easy as possible (because love isn’t always), so for the meat we landed on shredding up a rotisserie chicken. And if that wasn’t enough to sell you, we finish it off with a crust of frozen puff pastry, because if my lover saw me have a breakdown trying to make it from scratch, he’d probably no longer be my lover.

It comes out of the oven bubbly and golden, and is the perfect thing to share with anyone you love this, or any, weekend.

Love ya! Uh!

THE RECIPE

CHICKEN ADOBO POT PIE

makes one 12 inch pie

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I have always shown my love for my boyfriend through food.

Sometimes it can be an extravagant or ostentatious love in the form of a five course meal, or an elaborately frosted and filled birthday cake. But most of the time, my love is quiet. It flows in the form of a smoothie and cup of tea presented in bed, a salad layered in a tupperware to take to work, a hot bowl of soup on a cold winter night. Or One Giant Cookie, to be shared between us, on a Friday night.

One Giant Cookie comes on the rare Friday we have no plans; after we’ve had a glass of wine, or taken a gummy, and are craving something sweet to cap off the night. We take a break between episodes of whatever tv show we’ve been absorbed in and I scurry into the kitchen to prepare our treat.

One Giant Cookie is often a monster. A nub of butter (or on one very desperate occasion a few tablespoons of olive oil), gets mixed with sugar, a bit of egg, and whatever leftover mix-ins I have lying around: fistfuls of walnuts, and pecans, and pistachios, because there isn’t enough of one single nut; a heaping scoop of popcorn from the tin we got for Christmas and the rest of the box of M&Ms I snuck into a movie earlier in the week; sprinkles that I don’t remember buying because they are too pastel and ugly to put on anything I’d every make. Anything and everything is invited to jump into the One Giant Cookie dough before it heads off into the oven. When it comes out, my boyfriend and I become monsters too, going rabid and devouring it before we can even sit back down on the couch.

One Giant Cookie is my favorite way to say “I love you.” So I’ve decided to develop a more intentional version as a little Valentine’s Day treat I can give it to all of you.

When it comes to a box of chocolate, both me and boyfriend go for the raspberry one first (this has led to near relationship ending fights if there is only one in said box of chocolate), so I went with that for the flavors in this One Giant Cookie. The result is almost brownie-like, with crispy edges, and a runny chocolatey center. The raspberries cut right through the double chocolate for a bit of tart brightness.

Share it with a lover or crush. Share it with a sibling or parent. Share it with your girlies. Share it with a sworn enemy (perhaps baking for your foe will turn them into friend). Share it with yourself by having half today and half tomorrow. Just be sure to share it with love.

THE RECIPE

ONE GIANT DOUBLE CHOCOLATE & RASPBERRY COOKIE FOR TWO

makes one giant cookie duh

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter

• 1/4 cup (32g) all-purpose flour

• 2 tbsp (10g) Dutch process cocoa powder

• 1/2 tsp (2g) baking soda

• 1/2 tsp (2g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt*

• 2 tbsp (25g) granulated sugar

• 2 tbsp (25g) brown sugar

• 1 large (18g) egg yolk

• 1/4 tsp (1g) pure vanilla extract

• 2 oz (57g) chocolate, at least 60% cacao, chopped

• 1/2 cup (50g) frozen raspberries**

Directions:

1. Preheat & prep: Preheat the oven to 350° and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Melt your butter: In a medium sized microwave safe bowl, melt your in the microwave by zapping it in bursts of 20 seconds at a time. Once it is fully melted, set it aside to cool slightly, 5 minutes.

3. Whisk together your dry ingredients: While your butter cools, add your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt to a small bowl and whisk together.

4. Make your cookie dough: Add your sugars to the butter bowl and stir until combined. Add in your egg yolk and vanilla, and stir vigorously until the mixture is slightly thickened, and light yellow, 1 minute. Add in your dry ingredients, and fold until no dry spots remain. Gently folk in your chopped chocolate and raspberries.

5. Shape & bake: Place your dough into the center of your prepared tray, and mold it into a puck shape 4 inches in diameter and of an even thickness (you don’t want a dome). Place into the oven and bake for 10 minutes. At the 10 minute mark, open the oven and lift the edge of the baking sheet and bang it against the wrack 2-3 times (this helps the giant cookie spread nicely). Repeat the banging every 5 minutes, until the cookie is darkened and firm around the edges and set in the center, 30-32 minutes in total. Let cool on the sheet pan, until you can’t wait any longer and enjoy!

6. Leftovers?: There won’t be any… but if for some reason there are, store in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Notes:

*If you’re using any other type or brand of salt (i.e. Morton, or sea salt), I suggest scaling back by half.
**Frozen raspberries are important, as fresh ones will mash up when incorporated and leave you with a dough that’s too wet.

Overripe bananas are my favorite thing to bake with. In another world, this is a blog where I just publish a different banana bread recipe every week. Perhaps that world might also be this world, and a rebranding is in order, but for now, I still feel the need to switch it up.

That being said, I still must find a way to use up the precious brown bananas I’ve left rotting on the counter, so I bring you these biscuits.

Like all good biscuits, they start by working extremely cold butter into flour. They’re lightly spiced with some cinnamon, which enhances the light fruity flavor of the banana. The base isn’t too sweet, but I like to top them with a bit of demerara sugar for some added sweetness and texture.

Of course, I couldn’t stop there, so I also decided to whip up a batch of brown sugar cinnamon butter. My current hyperfixation is making my own butter, so I did that for a little added activity. You might be like, “but I could just buy butter at the store…” And you could, but where’s the fun in that!

I hope you enjoy!

THE RECIPE

BUTTERMILK BANANA BISCUITS WITH BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON BUTTER

makes 12 biscuits

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