A Doughnut A Day

Yesterday I stopped by one of my favorite places on Earth, The Doughnut Plant. Owner Mark Isreal bakes and sells doughnuts on the Lower East Side using his grandfather’s recipe from the 1930’s.

The Doughnut Plant sells both cake doughnuts and yeast doughnuts, and the flavors change often depending on the season. Currently the seasonal flavors include Pomegranate, Panetton, Marzipan, Roasted Chestnut, and Gingerbread.

POMEGRANATE

PANETTON

MARZIPAN

Tres Leches and Coconut Cream are two of my favorites that are always on the menu. Yesterday I also spotted a Peanut Butter Glazed Doughnut with Blackberry Jelly that looked right up my alley. Mmmmmmmmm doughnuts…..

Gingerbreadmooooooose

December is for bakin’ and boozin’ and nothing is more Christmassy than some gingerbreadmen or gingerbreadmoose in my case. Katrina bought me this cookie cutter from Sweden and I used the recipe from the Hummingbird  Bakery Cookbook which is possibly the best gingerbreadmen recipe I’ve ever tried.

Ice Cream Dream Come True

As you may recall in my previous post The Sweet Life, I would just about die if I had a piece of furniture in the shape of candy or dessert. That’s why I was ECSTATIC when I received this Ice Cream Cone Lamp the other night from my friend Amie. She knows me so well 🙂 

Tea Time

The British love their tea and Elevenses and Afternoon Tea are British inventions and excuses to have a cuppa and a little treat. About a year ago, I went to a cafe (an exhibition) where everything was knitted- the work of Kate Jenkins. With the weather getting quite a bit colder, my thoughts have turned to hot drinks and baked goodies (nutty apple loaf was a recent favourite). I am sure that you can understand why I love Donna Wilson’s chocolate cake tea cosy so  much. Here is a cheeky way of alluding to the afternoon treat that goes so well with a cup of tea.

Jello For The Holidays

I’m never going to make this because I think it would taste less than awesome, but I think it looks super kewl.

Although it might be worth making just to have a baking pan full of festive multicolored jello cubes! Just look at ’em! Look at ’em shine!

If anyone wants to try this out, good luck my friend. 

Here’s the recipe:

Glass Block Holiday Jello
4 3-oz. packages assorted Jello (in coordinating colors)
2 packets unflavored gelatin
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk

Spray 4 small food storage containers (like Tupperware/Gladware/ Rubbermaid) with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Bring 5+ cups of water to a boil. Combine 1 c. boiling water with 1 package of Jello, stirring until dissolved. Place the dissolved Jello in one of the prepared containers. Repeat with the remaining packages of Jello. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferable overnight.

When the Jello has set, bring another 1 1/2 c. of water to a boil. While the water is heating, sprinkle 2 packets of unflavored gelatin over 1/2 c. of cold water. Allow to stand for about 4 minutes. When the water is boiling, pour 1 1/2 c. boiling water over the dissolved gelatin and stir to combine. Add the sweetened condensed milk and mix well. Allow to come to room temperature.

Lightly spray a 9×13″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Carefully cut the colored Jello into cubes and gently toss to combine in the 9×13″ pan. Pour the cooled milk mixture over the colored Jello and, if necessary, rearrange some of the colored Jello to make sure it is evenly distributed and not sticking out of the white mixture too far.

Place the 9×13″ pan in the refrigerator and chill overnight. Cut into squares, rectangles, or various shapes with cookie cutters and serve.

Rice and Peas and Chicken is Nice

Mmm, we had a Caribbean takeaway on Saturday fromThe Humming Bird restaurant on Stroud Green Road before heading out to see Tanlines at XOYO. I love jerk chicken and rice and peas. It was really nice and comforting on a cold winter’s night. I thought of this track that Bren used to play all the time. Brings a smile to the face because it’s true, rice and peas and chicken is nice.

Traditional Treats

It’s a Hanukkah tradition to eat fried foods, in celebration of the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days when the Maccabees rededicated the holy Temple in Jerusalem. My family ate these delicious potato latkes and gelt (chocolate “coins” wrapped in gold paper) last night for the 4th night of Hanukkah, in addition to my mom’s famous beef brisket.

Pomme Sucre

It has been approximately three weeks since we came back from holiday. The weather in Spain, although a little rainy towards the end of the holiday was mostly glorious, especially in Gijón and San Sebastian. Here in London, winter’s come prematurely this year and we have already had snow. Unfortunately, if it does settle, the snow quickly becomes ice. It is nothing like the image of the sugar on the panettone above.

We were in Gijón for Guy’s birthday. Now Gijón is not a very big town at all. We found that we were able to walk the sights in about a day. However Gijón was also the place of two of the biggest highlights of the holiday. LABoral contemporary art centre and also this wonderful pattiserie Pomme Sucre.

We had a birthday lunch of selected (slider-size) pintxo like bocadillos and some sweet treats that included a cup of delicious hot chocolate, petit fours and cake too! Everything we ate was made to feast the eyes as much as the stomach. If you ever find yourself in Gijón, Oviedo, Albacete or Madrid, make sure you stop by Pomme Sucre.

 

 

It’s pumpkin, you like?

Ever since I missed out on eating pumpkin pie this year at Thanksgiving (I was too full to eat dessert), I’ve been  obsessively thinking about it. Oddly, no pumpkin pie was materializing as a result of these thoughts, so I took matters into my own hands and made some myself.

I followed a ridiculously easy recipe (see below)- it took all of 10 minutes to prepare and less than an hour to bake in the oven.

Ingredients:

1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 9″ deep dish pie shell (I used a frozen one from Whole Foods)

Directions:

Mix pumpkin and spices together. Add remaining filling ingredients. Mix slowly just until thoroughly mixed, pour into pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees (F) for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees (F) for an additional 35-40 minutes. Thoroughly cool before serving.

Serves 6-8. Or if you’re greedy like me, serves 1  🙂

Your 5 A Day

Vegetables, lots of them. I crave my greens when I’ve not had them. Mmm green beans, curly kale, broccoli! Yum!

Green beans steamed or boiled with salt and butter. Curly kale is good boiled and tossed with sesame seeds and lemon juice. My favourite broccoli is great parboiled and sauteed with chopped garlic, chilli, chopped nuts or seeds and seasoning.