My Favorite Financiers {2 ways}

These things are quite possibly one of my favorite things to bake ever. They are so deceptive. Look at them, just look at them. Those pretty little cakes above have much more to them then meets the eye. You might just cast them off as your typical tea cake but please, let's not be quite to judge.

These financiers are born from the beauty that is beurre noisette aka brown butter. Brown butter is one of the best things to ever encounter your kitchen. Once you smell the stuff, you're in heaven and once you taste it in sweets, it's a trip! Mixed with the nuttiness of ground almonds and fresh blackberries, it really makes a spectacular treat. 


My favorite part about these cakes are that they are gluten free. Gluten free you say? Heck I'm all for gluten, I love it but, this recipe uses rice flour in place of regular to make it gluten free. If you haven't tried rice flour before, give it a try! It makes delicious things like coconut mochi cake, daifuku and strawberry mochi cupcakes. I love the chewiness of it and it adds to the texture of these financiers in the most spectacular way. I love it so!

Honestly though, these little cakes are good with anything you can imagine. Here, I have them with blackberries and apricots. But I've tried them with rhubarb and with pears + pistachio. Every single time, they've come out spectacular and I can't get enough out of them. I can't wait to try them with tons of other add-ins. I'm dreaming of sweet cherries, earl grey tea, and raspberries!

Blackberry & Vanilla Bean Financiers

Yields: 12 financiers

Adapted from here.

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1 cup unsifted powdered sugar

1/2 cup ground almonds

1/3 cup sweet rice flour

pinch of salt

4 large egg whites

1 cup blackberries, washed and dried

Preheat the oven to 375 F and position the rack in the center. Lightly spray or butter the inside of 12 financier molds or muffin cups with cooking spray and place them on a baking sheet, set aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat, melt the butter until it turns into a rich hazelnut brown color, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes before straining it to remove the little dark butter particles at the bottom of the pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the powdered sugar, ground almonds, flour and salt on low speed until just combined. Add the egg whites and mix until all the ingredients are coming together. Add the brown butter, increase the speed to medium and beat until smooth. Divide the batter among the molds and divide the blackberries evenly among the top. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sugared Apricot Financiers

Yields: 12 financiers

Adapted from here.

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

1 cup unsifted powdered sugar

1/2 cup ground almonds

1/3 cup sweet rice flour

pinch of salt

4 large egg whites

2 -3 apricots, washed, pitted and sliced into wedges

turbinado sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 F and position the rack in the center. Lightly spray or butter the inside of 12 financier molds or muffin cups with cooking spray and place them on a baking sheet, set aside. In a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat, melt the butter until it turns into a rich hazelnut brown color, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes before straining it to remove the little dark butter particles at the bottom of the pan. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the powdered sugar, ground almonds, flour and salt on low speed until just combined. Add the egg whites and mix until all the ingredients are coming together. Add the brown butter, increase the speed to medium and beat until smooth. Divide the batter among the molds and divide the apricot slices evenly among the top. Sprinkle with a generous amount of turbinado sugar and Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Aren't they just stunning?!

Honey Beer Bread & Grilled Beer and Cheese Sandwiches

One cooking memory that is distinctly contained in my head is the first time I made beer bread. I was well underage, holding what I recall now as a Budweiser over a bowl of flour. I mixed, I baked, I ate... I spit it out. Yep, not the best cooking memory. I don't know what I did to maul such a carbohydrate, but I was pretty inexperienced then and I'm sure I botched just about every step of the process.

My love: BUTTER!

Well, a lot of time has passed between now and then and things have changed. I love beer for its slight bitterness, tang and distinctive scent. I love bread for its soft interior and comforting chew. Together, I think they create something that I not only love, I adore. I attempted beer bread again and I was pleasantly surprised with how delicious it was. Soft, a bit sweet from the honey with a gorgeous browned crust. Beer bread is a bit more dense than others and has a different texture than your typical loaf, but it's easy to learn to love. 

Yeasty-beer-butter-goodness:

If you're in the mood for bread and have a fear of yeast like I do (as documented here): make this! It's easy as can be. Combine, mix, bake, slice, enjoy! Really, that's it. My ultimate favorite thing about beer bread is that it actually tastes like beer. When you pull it out of the oven, the distinctive smell of beer rushes into your nostrils. You sneak a taste and there it is, beer. It's awesome. Plus, if you make this honey beer bread, you can use it to make the utterly divine goodness that is grilled beer and cheese sandwiches (below). You... will... not... regret... it. Not one bit!

Slices like a dream...

Honey Beer Bread

Yields: 1 loaf

Original recipe here.

3 cups flour

2 tbsn. sugar

1 tbsn. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsn. warm honey

1 bottle (12 oz.) beer

4 tbsn. butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan, set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir the beer and honey into the dry ingredients until just mixed, DO NOT OVER MIX! Pour half of the melted butter into the loaf pan. Spoon the batter into the pan and pour the rest of the butter on top of the batter. Bake for 50 - 60 minutes or until the top of the loaf is golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

I think the sole purpose of beer bread is to be made into this sandwich. Being a grilled beer and cheese sandwich is the life calling of beer bread. If only we all knew what our life purposes were; life would be so simple! Combine worcestershire-caramelized onions, cheese and beer bread and you really can't get any better than that. I challenge you, I really challenge you to try to make something more delicious. 

Ooey, gooey, crispy, creamy, tangy, sweet, crunchy deliciousness:

Grilled Beer and Cheese Sandwich

Yields: 4 servings

Adapted from here.

1 medium onion, sliced thinly
1 tbsn. olive oil

1 tbsn. Worcestershire sauce

4 tbsn. Dijon mustard

4 slices fontina cheese

4 slices cheddar cheese

8 slices homemade beer bread (recipe above)

salt and pepper
oregano, fresh or dried

In a medium pan, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until they begin to wilt. Add the worcestershire sauce, some fresh oregano (if using dried, use sparingly), and salt and pepper, to taste. Reduce the heat to medium and cook slowly until the onions start to caramelize and gain color. Once done, set aside. Spread 1 tbsn. of mustard on 4 slices of the beer bread. Pair up the bread slices. Top half of them with a slice of fontina cheese and the other half with a slice of cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with some pepper, then divide the caramelized onion among one side. Top with the other paired bread slice and grill, panini press or George Foreman the sandwiches until golden brown, cheesy, and thoroughly heated throughout. Enjoy!

Yea, this is for real.

Tailored Tuesdays

Business flirty is how I like my business.

1. Paul & Joe "Double-breasted tuxedo jacket"

2. Haute Hippie "Scoop-neck silk-chiffon shirt"

3. Alexander Wang "Wool-blend wrap-effect skirt"

4. Marc by Marc Jacobs "Lucy ostrich-effect PVC tote"

5. Elizabeth and James "E mason leather pumps"

6. Irit Design "Oxidized sterling silver diamond chain necklace"

All images can be found at net-a-porter.com.

Boiling Crab {Garden Grove, CA}

If you live in Orange County, I'm sure you've heard all the rage that is Boiling Crab. It's insane how much people love this restaurant - so much so that you'll see a line round the block on almost every night! 

Bibs here are necessary cause eating here gets a little messy! If your hands aren't covered in spicy goo then you aren't enjoying yourself enough! The vibe here is definitely fun - the perfect place to kick back some beers and have a grand old time with friends will eating like savages!

The cajun fries here are awesome. Nothing particularly special or mind blowing but they have great flavor and are the most awesome vehicle for soaking up all the spicy juices. 

Boiling crab has a great selection of seafood but specializes in crawfish. When the season is right, the crawfish get enormous!! I like crawfish, but I'm not a diehard fan so I opted for the clams. Whatever you get, from shrimp, to crawfish, to clams, I recommend you get the "whole shebang" sauce which is a mixture of everything they've got - and everything they have is delicious! I enjoyed the clams a lot.

GIGANTOR crawfish!

But seriously, the best part of the meal is soaking the last of your french fries in the saucy mixture left in the bottom of your bag. Mmmmm.

Yelp

Website

King's Hawaiian {Torrance, CA}

After coming home from Hawaii, I've been craving some loco moco like no other. If you've never had it, loco moco is a Hawaiian staple that consists of rice, topped with a hamburger patty, fried egg and gravy to top it all off. If it doesn't sound awesome, believe me when I say it is awesome. 

After a long, gorgeous and hunger-inducing hike, we headed off to King's Hawaiian Restaurant and Bakery. Yep, the same King's Hawaiian that makes those delicious sweet rolls you can get at the supermarket. The best thing about this restaurant? The warm, fresh Hawaiian sweet rolls that they give you for free. Gosh I love 'em so!

I, of course, opted for the Loco Moco. It was satisfying, but sadly, not as good as the one I had in Hawaii. Oh well, I guess this just means I'm gonna have to learn how to make it for myself ;)

My friend got the breakfast burrito filled with fried rice, eggs and portuguese sausage. It was yummmm.

For dessert my friend got the banana eclair. Basically it was awesome; just as awesome as it looks!

Their infamous paradise cake is sure pretty to look at! Hearing the description makes it even more desirable. I mean layers of soft chiffon cake in the flavors of passionfruit, guava and pineapple?! They also have a cheesecake version of this but after such a heavy lunch, I opted for the chiffon. It was light as air and super delicious. The flavors were just hints; I wish it was a bit more in your face, but that's just me.

A perfect bite:

Yelp

Website

Liliko'i (Passion Fruit) Bars

{Things I love}

peeling oranges close to your body so that you smell fresh and zesty all day.

new blog lovin': cooking after five.

pinterest.

everything à la mode.

thought catalog.

this song.

passion fruit.

when something doesn't come out as expected, but is perfect nonetheless... case in point, these ooey gooey liliko'i bars.

I've loved passion fruit for some time now, but for the life of me, I haven't been able to get my hands on any! I've scoured specialty markets, ethnic markets, farmer's markets. Nowhere. Not one to be found. When I was in Hawaii, although it wasn't passion fruit season, passion fruit things were everywhere - in sodas, candies and more. 

Anyways, I was strolling around Wholesome Choice with my sister one day after a nice gym session and there it was, glowing in the frozen foods section: Goya passionfruit puree. Win win win. I had no idea what I was going to do with it at the time, but I had to get my grubby paws on it nonetheless. 

My sister loves lemon bars so I had the idea of making passion fruit bars. What a lovely idea that was! It's your basic combination of buttery shortbread and sweet-tart-silky curd with a healthy dose of powdered sugar. I used a basic lemon bar recipe and just switched out the lemon juice for passion fruit puree.

At first, I thought I really screwed up these bars. Like the idiot that I am, having trouble with getting the bars out of the pan, I inverted the bars onto a cutting board without the slightest thought that sticky curd would stick to a cutting board... yeah, I really wasn't thinking. But curd being curd, I just scraped it off and did my best to re-spread it onto the shortbread base. I let it set a little in the freezer, then topped it off with some powdered sugar. Crisis averted.

The curd was very... curd-y, if that helps to explain it at all. I thought it would stiffen up some more, but it was still too liquidy for me to possibly cut clean squares. Even the shortbread base was a bit too delicate when I first tried to cut it. In the end, all of this was a lesson in patience for me. After letting the bars rest in the fridge for a good day, they turned out perfect. I used a hot knife to re-cut clean edges, topped them with a bit more powdered sugar and they were like sunshine you could tuck in your pocket!

Oh, and another thing I love. When friends (aka D) love what I love to do:

Liliko'i/ Passionfruit Bars

Yields: 9 squares

Adapted from here.

For the shortbread base:

10 tbsn. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tbsn. powdered sugar

2 tbsn. sugar

1 1/4 cups flour

For the lemon curd topping:

4 large egg yolks

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup passion fruit puree

4 tbsn. unsalted butter, room temperature

2 tbsn. powdered sugar, for dusting

To make the base, place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the sugars, then add the butter and cream until light and fluffy. Add half of the flour, mix to combine, then add the rest and combine until mostly incorporated (it will still look a bit crumbly). Pat the dough into a greased 8x8" pan and use a fork to prick it all over. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned and the top is pale golden but not brown. Set aside.

To make the passionfruit curd topping, set up a strainer on top of a bowl; set aside. in a heavy saucepan, beat the egg yolks and sugar until well blended. Stir in the passionfruit puree, butter and salt. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, for about 10 minutes until thickened and resembles a hollandaise sauce. It should thickly coat the back of a wooden spoon but still be liquid enough to pour - a candy thermometer should read 196 degrees. Do not allow it to boil or else it will curdle. Once thickened, pour the mixture through the strainer to remove any coarse residues. Lower the temperature of the oven to 300 F. Pour the passionfruit curd over the shortbread base and bake for 10 minutes. Once baked, cool the bars until completely cooled, then refrigerate the bars for 30 minutes or longer before cutting it into bars. Once cut, dust some powdered sugar on top and enjoy!

Tailored Tuesdays

Those pants would look horrific on me, but I love them regardless. 

Granny Smith & Gouda Salad

You know, sometimes you give and you give and you get nothing back. I've come to accept that it's just a part of life. You've heard of that anecdote, "Life's not fair," right? Well, it's true. Sometimes life can hand you a bucket full of sunshine and other times you want to stuff yourself into a closet and never come out. Yeast makes me feel that way sometimes...

The last couple months, with all the free time I've been having, I wanted to give myself a bit of a challenge: yeast (well maybe not a bit, more like a mound). First, it was Jim Lahey's groundbreaking no-knead bread. Did I mention I met the guy while at his bakery in New York? Yep, it was amazing and he was incredibly kind and witty. Even though the bread was incredibly easy, I still managed to mangle it a little by over baking it. Hmph!

Next, it was lion house rolls. Upon first meeting, it charmed me with its warm buttery bliss. But, the next day it dried out like a river in the summer. Dry, dry, dry. Tears were shed. Anywho, then it was on to this epic 7 grain bread that received more than merry reviews from the plenty of folk at Allrecipes. It came out beautifully yeasted, nice and toasty brown on top but the flavor was less than satisfactory. After all this... I have come to the conclusion that yeast and I are not friends. No siree. 

After all of that mess, I've decided to take a break from yeast for a while. It was necessary. During this break, whaddaya know? Life brought me something delicious, addicting and all kinds of good. The dressing is my favorite part; slightly tangy and just a bit creamy. This salad is filled to the brim, but don't let the crowd of ingredients scare you! They all fit together wonderfully. 

It was funny, as I was shooting the salad, I noticed so many other things in my garden that exhibited the same color palette as the salad. It was awesome. Please enjoy!

Granny Smith & Gouda Salad
Yields: about 4 - 6 servings
Original recipe here.


For the green apple vinaigrette:
1/2 Granny Smith apple, cored and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup apple juice
1 tbsn. Dijon mustard
3 tbsn. honey
3 tbsn. minced shallot
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2/3 cup vegetable oil


For the salad:
8 oz. smoked gouda, cut into matchsticks or cubed

1 large granny smith apple, cored and thinly sliced

1 red delicious apple, cored and thinly sliced

2 celery stalks, thinly sliced diagonally 

2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced

1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
1 cup candied walnuts
10 oz. fresh baby spinach (I used baby greens), about 8 lightly packed cups
salt and pepper, to taste
*smoked turkey can be added for a heartier salad


To make the dressing, combine all of the ingredients except the oil in a food processor and whiz until well combined. With the food processor still running, slowly drizzle in the oil until slightly emulsified and combined, set aside in the refrigerator until use. To make the salad, toss the gouda, green apple, celery and onion in a large bowl with enough vinaigrette to coat lighly. Toss the spinach in another large bowl with enough vinaigrette to coat lightly. Season the spinach to taste with salt and pepper. Arrange the spinach on top of each plate. Top with some of the gouda-green apple mixture, then sprinkle with some tomatoes and walnuts. Lastly, arrange the red apple slices around the salad and serve.