strawberry mascarpone tart

strawberry tart 1

Things that are difficult to take pictures of: ice cream, anything shiny, and this strawberry tart.

I almost didn’t post the recipe because I didn’t have any pictures that I deemed worthy, but instead I just settled on this picture, taken with the BF’s iPad.

Why?  Because this recipe needs to be shared, people.  It’s so easy, and so refreshing, and so… perfect.  It’s light, refreshing, and the right amount of sweet.

The kid in me prefers a Nilla Wafer crust, but you could use a regular pie crust all the same, just baked according to its own directions.  You could even use one of those store-bought graham crusts if you were extra short on time, I’m sure it would still taste great!

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

Makes 1 8- or 9- inch tart

Printable Recipe

For the Crust

•             2 2/3 cups vanilla wafer cookies

•             1 tbsp sugar

•             1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

•             4 tbsp butter, melted and cooled

•             1 egg, whisked with 1 Tablespoon water

For the Filling

•             2 lbs strawberries, stemmed and sliced or quartered

•             1/2 cup white sugar

•             1 Tablespoon lemon zest

•             1 teaspoon lemon juice

•             8 ounces mascarpone cheese

•             4 ounces whipped cream

•             1/2 teaspoon vanilla

•             1/3 cup powdered sugar

•             1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Make the crust

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Crush wafer cookies in a food processor until fine crumbs.  Add melted butter and vanilla extract and continue processing until blended.  Dump into pie or tart pan and press firmly into bottoms and sides (I find using the bottom/sides of a glass to help press makes a big difference).
  2. Brush bottom of crust with whisked egg and bake for 10 minutes until golden brown; cool completely (up to overnight) before filling.

Make the filling

  1. Toss the strawberries with half of the zest, all of the juice, and sugar in a large bowl; set aside for 30 minutes.
  2. While the strawberries are macerating, mix the mascarpone cheese with lemon zest, vanilla, and powdered sugar in a medium bowl until well combined.  Gently fold in the whipped cream; refrigerate until needed.
  3. After 30 minutes, strain juice from strawberries into a small saucepan.  Add the balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil of medium heat.  Reduce until thick enough to cover the back of a spoon, it should be like a syrup.  Set aside to cool.

Assemble the tart

  1.  Spread the mascarpone mixture over the bottom of the tart shell, top with strawberries (sometimes I arrange them fancily, other times I just dump them on top and spread them out, whatever your preference and energy levels call for that day), brush with balsamic syrup and chill until ready to serve.

 

 

[ Adapted from Simply Recipes ]

 

 

strawberry and cream cookies

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So, clearly I’ve been on a bit of a strawberry kick lately.  I made my strawberry shortcake ice cream, this strawberry tart (recipe yet to come) for mother’s day, and these glorious things: strawberries and cream cookies.

Yes, they are as magical as they sound.

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These soft, pillowy cookies are filled with dried strawberries and white chocolate chips, these are guaranteed to please.  I’m not normally big on white chocolate, but I forgot to check for yogurt chips at the store, which would work just as well.  The white chocolate chips lend more of a “cream” flavor to these cookies though, and I promise that you won’t be disappointed.

The only thing that I regret is not putting more strawberries in, but unfortunately I lost more than anticipated in my, ahem, “quality control” phase.  I also would leave the strawberry chunks larger for the next batch.  I have rectified the issue of the missing strawberries in the recipe below, which should have enough strawberries to satisfy even the biggest of cravings.

I found my dried strawberries at Trader Joes.  You will need at least two bags, one for the cookies and one for yourself.

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Strawberry & Cream Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen small cookies

Printable Recipe

  • ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

  • ¾ cup brown sugar

  • ¼ cup sugar

  • 1 large egg, room temperature

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour

  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • ¾ to 1 cup dried strawberries*, chopped

  • ½ cup white chocolate or yogurt chips

Make the dough:

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt.

2.  In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth.  Scrape down the bowl and add the white and brown sugars, cream together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, scraping down the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.  Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and beat until combined.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and continue beating about one minute more.

down the sides as needed..

3.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and pulse on low just until incorporated, being careful not to overmix.  Stir in chopped strawberries* and white chocolate chips.

*You could also reserve some of the chopped strawberries to press into the cookie tops once scooped to ensure even distribution.

4. 2 options here:

- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap onto the surface of the dough, and chill for 1 – 2 hours.  Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake following directions below.

- Scoop cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet that will fit into your freezer, gently flatten the tops of the cookies and cover with plastic wrap.  Freeze for 1 to 2 hours and either bake (on a new, room-temperature, parchment-lined baking sheet) according to directions below or transfer to a freezer-safe bag for longer storage.

To bake:

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.

2.  Bake chilled cookie dough 8 minutes (refrigerated) to 11 minutes (frozen), until the cookies are puffed and the edges are just golden.

3.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

*Baked cookies can be stored up to 10 days in an airtight container.

 

[ Cookie base recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction ]

 

thursday things

pb poptart

So, I saw these on Foodbeast and had two reactions:

1. OMG PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE POP TARTS!?

2. Wait, they existed 27 years ago? Which means that they already did exist, and then were discontinued shortly after my birth?  WTH!?

It was probably for the best, I probably would have weighed 300x the amount I did as a child if these things were around.

Third thought: is it acceptable for a grown up to eat pop tarts?  I’m gonna go with yes on this one… I seriously CAN’T WAIT to find these things in stores.  Can’t.  Wait.  Ima be all

Oh, did I tell you that I just recently realized that after migrating my site to the new server I CAN NOW POST GIFS?

Oh yeah, Thursday Things is gonna be on a whole other level from now on guys.

ON. ANOTHER. LEVEL.

Meanwhile, on the Kitchn, they showed me this magical gem, which every snack addict needs

JUST THINK OF ALL THE SNACKS YOU COULD STORE IN THERE!! Sandwiches… and combos… and just about anything!  Although I imagine it probably gets pretty hot in there… so I don’t recommend using it to store chocolate.

I made this tart for mother’s day.  I’ve made it several times before, but somehow have yet to post it on the site.  I CAN’T WAIT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU because it’s so easy and so delicious.  Seriously, the best.

instagram strawberry tart

In other news one of my favorite blogs of all time is back, or at least came back for a couple of days to explain her absence.  If you’ve seen the “___ All the Things” meme, then you should know it is from an amazingly-written blog called Hyperbole and a Half.  Please do check it out.  This girl can even make depression entertaining.

One last thing that I can’t help but mention is a local restaurant that has recently been getting a lot of attention…

On Thursday something magical happened.  The BF told me about a restaurant that we had visited awhile back that was going to be on Chef Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares.  We don’t usually watch Kitchen Nightmares, but we were excited to see how this particular restaurant played out.  Unless you have been under a rock for the last week, you undoubtedly know where this story is going.

Basically, after poor yelp reviews from “internet bullies”, this poor delusional woman called Chef Ramsay to come and redeem her restaurant and show the world how amazing their food is.  Needless to say, Chef Ramsay did not tell the world that her food was amazing, and she basically had a meltdown.  You can watch the trainwreck here.

Following her TV meltdown, there was an even greater social media meltdown, where their social media sites were filled with negative comments from “internet bullies” (to be fair, this time they really were internet bullies), but also with their own super classy replies.  Unfortunately, I cannot post any of their replies here, as they are not really… “appropriate.”  Eventually, they claimed that they didn’t post any of the retorts on Facebook, that their Facebook had actually been hacked, and that the FBI was working on finding who was responsible.  Which makes sense, since I heard that Facebook hacking is really high on the FBI’s priorities.

In closing, more GIFs!  Because… RED PANDAS!

 

 

And we all know how I feel about red pandas.

s’more popcorn

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Summer has arrived in Arizona, with our highs consistently in the upper 90s and 100s I know that no-burn days a right around the corner.  No burn days are these horrible things that were invented to prevent humans  from enjoying delicious s’mores.  They SAY it’s for air quality, but I’m pretty sure they just hate happiness.

And s’mores.

So every summer these terrible days stand between me and a delicious s’more… and trust me, you DO NOT want to be between me and my dessert.  That is not a safe place for anyone to be.

So what can I do?  Plan ahead.

A good contingency plan can be the difference between life and death, people.  LIFE AND DEATH.

So how will I feed my s’more addiction when I can’t roast marshmallows?  HOW!?

BF came to the rescue on this one, when he sent me this post from Buzzfeed.  I was not surprised to see that I had all of the necessary ingredients on hand.

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Thus I discovered what is one of the easiest and most delicious snacks of all time.  The only thing that would have made it better is if I had Golden Grahams in the pantry.  I think they would’ve actually worked better than just the crushed graham crackers, but then maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to make this again.

I used  this “simply salted” popcorn which has just a hint of salt, leaving it like a blank canvas on which to paint my flavor brush.  Sure popping popcorn isn’t rocket science, but when it means one less pan to clean, how can I resist?

I can’t.

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S’more Popcorn

Makes about 10 cups s’more popcorn

Printable Recipe

  • 1 3-oz. bag microwave popcorn, popped (or 10 cups popped popcorn)
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • One 10-oz. bag mini marshmallows, divided
  • 1 sleeve graham crackers (9 crackers) or a generous sprinkling of Golden Grahams cereal
  • ½ cup mini chocolate chips
  • Salt to taste

1. Pop popcorn according to package directions – 2 minutes and 25 seconds is the magic time in case you were wondering.  At least for our microwave it seems to be.  You could also pop popcorn on the stovetop if you wanna be all old-fashioned-like.  Spread popcorn on a parchment-lined baking sheet and sprinkle with crumbled graham crackers.

2. Heat butter, half of the chocolate chips, and half of the marshmallows in the microwave until the butter is melted, stir to combine.

3. Drizzle marshmallow mixture evenly over the popcorn and toss to combine.

4. Once the popcorn is well-coated with the marshmallow mixture, add the unmelted marshmallows and chocolate chips and toss everything together.  Sprinkle with additional salt to taste.

5. Let cool completely then transfer to a paper bag for storage (in the unlikely event that you have any left)

 

[ Adapted from BuzzFeed ]

momofuku confetti cookie

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Why hello there, confetti.

Remember that glorious confetti cake that I made myself for my birthday?  This, my friends, is that very same cake.

Well, in cookie form.

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They taste a lot like sugar cookies, but with confetti cake crumbs inside.  If you like sugar cookies, you will LOVE these confetti cookies.

Love.

See that soft, chewy center and all those colorful sprinkles?  How can you resist?

If you’re lucky enough to live in NYC, you can enjoy these in person at the infamous Momofuku Milk Bar.  If, like me, you are not so lucky, you will have to make them yourself.

Momofuku Confetti Cookies

Printable Recipe

For the crumb:

  • ½ cup granulated sugar

  • 1 ½ Tablespoons brown sugar, tightly packed

  • ¾ cup cake flour

  • ½ teaspoon baking powder

  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt

  • 2 Tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

  • ¼ cup grapeseed oil

  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

For the cookies:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar

  • 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

  • 2 large eggs

  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

  • ⅔ cup powdered milk

  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

  • 1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt

  • ¼ cup rainbow sprinkles

  • 1 generous cup cake crumb

Make the crumb:

  1. Heat oven to 300ºF

  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the sugars, flour, baking powder, salt,and sprinkles.  Mix on low speed until combined.  Stream in the oil and vanilla and continue mixing until well-combined.

  3. Spread crumbs onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The crumbs should be slightly moist to the touch; they will dry and harden as they cool.

* Crumbs can be made up to 1 week before the cookies

Make the Cookies

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until soft.  Add the sugars and corn syrup and cream on medium-high for 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the eggs ,one at a time, beating for a few seconds after each to combine.  Scrape down the bowl again and add the vanilla, beat again on medium-high speed for 7 minutes.  The mixture will be amazingly fluffy.

  2. In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, milk powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and rainbow sprinkles.  Once your butter and sugars are completely creamed, add the flour mixture in two additions and mix on low speed for 1 minute, just to combine. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula.  Add the cooled cake crumb and mix on low for about 30 seconds, just to combine.

  3. Portion out the dough into desired scoops onto a parchment-lined sheet pan.  A small cookie scoop will yield a 3-inch cookie, a ¼ cup portion will yield a giant cookie (see the cornflake cookies for more description).  Press the tops of the cookie dough domes flat. Wrap the pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer to chill for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 month.  Once frozen, you can transfer them to a freezer-safe plastic bag for storage.

  4. When ready to bake, heat oven to 375ºF

  5. Arrange the chilled dough on parchment-lined pan, leaving room for cookie spread.  If using ¼ cup scoops, no more than 4 cookies per sheet, up to 8 if using the small-sized cookie scoop.

  6. Bake cookies for 10 minutes (small scoop) to 15  minutes (large scoop).  They should be lightly browned around the edges.  I left mine slightly underbaked so they were softer and more cake-like (since this is a “confetti cake” cookie)

  7. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.


[ Adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar Cookbook ]