So simple but so delicious! This frosty drink reminds me of my trips visiting my family in Thailand.
In a personal blender, add ice cubes first, then watermelon, water or lime juice and agave syrup.
Blend till ice is well combined.
Oil instead of butter, club soda and whipped egg whites for lift, and baking soda for browning leads crispy waffles.
Yields 8 thin waffles-Using Chef’s Choice Waffle Maker
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 TBSP sugar
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, separated
1/2 c buttermilk
1/4 c oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c club soda or seltzer water
Mix flour, baking soda, sugar and salt in a large bowl Set aside.
Whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk and oil. Pour in seltzer water. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks
Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until well combined (will be lumpy)
Stir in about 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten. Fold the remaining whites until well combined.
Use waffle iron as directed.
Store cooked waffles in 200 degree oven, directly on the rack, until ready to serve.
Crispy top and fudgy on the inside, not too sweet and dusted with powdered sugar. It has a strong coffee flavor that could be cut back for kids. Just substitute with water. But the coffee flavor is just screaming for a side of Kahlua or Bailey’s spiked whipped cream!
Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated
Set oven rack to lower middle rack and preheat to 350 degrees
Add chocolate chips and cocoa powder to hot coffee in a bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside to let cool, then whisk in sour cream and oil.
Sift dry ingredients together and set aside.
With a stand mixer with a paddle, beat butter, vanilla and brown sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Then add eggs.
Add dry ingredients (3 parts) and wet ingredients (2 parts) to the butter mixture. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate the butter stuck on the bottom of the bowl.
I divided the batter into a 6-cup bundt pan and a 9X9 glass baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes. Let cool and top with powdered sugar.
The cake in the Bundt pan actually baked more quickly than the baking dish. The texture of the cake was like a regular cake. The cake in the baking dish turned out to be somewhat like a fudge brownie on the bottom half and a cake on the top. I’m really enjoying the fudgy version, cutting it into small bars and eating it more like a brownie.
This year, I decided that S and her friends have outgrown our house, so we threw her 3rd birthday at a local park.
Menu (for 37 very distracted adults and 23 kids)
Party favors were bubbles and seed packets
Made this cake to celebrate my father-in-law’s birthday. I couldn’t get 3 layers out of the cake using my 9 inch spring from pan…maybe because I didn’t flour the sides of my greased, parchment-lined pan? So I just made 2 layers which work out well.
Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen
Cake:
1¼ cups (5 ounces) cake flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
5 large eggs (2 whole and 3 separated), room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Strawberry Filling:
2 pounds fresh strawberries (medium or large, about 2 quarts), washed, dried, and stemmed
4–6 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Kirsch
Pinch table salt
Whipped Cream:
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
½ cup (3½ ounces) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon table salt
2 cups heavy cream
FOR THE CAKE:
Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a round 9 by 2-inch cake pan or 9-inch springform pan and line with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, baking powder, salt, and all but 3 tablespoons sugar in a mixing bowl. Whisk in 2 whole eggs and 3 yolks (reserving whites), butter, water, and vanilla; whisk until smooth.
In a clean bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the remaining 3 egg whites at medium-low speed until frothy, 1 to 2 minutes. With the machine running, gradually add the remaining 3 tablespoons sugar, increase the speed to medium-high, and beat until soft peaks form, 60 to 90 seconds.
Stir one-third of the whites into the batter to lighten; add the remaining whites and gently fold into the batter until no white streaks remain. Pour the batter into a prepared pan and bake until a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 30 to 40 minutes (cake will not brown much on the top). Cool in the pan 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto a greased wire rack; peel off and discard the parchment. Invert the cake again; cool completely, about 2 hours.
3. FOR THE STRAWBERRY FILLING: Halve 24 of the best-looking berries and reserve. Quarter the remaining berries; toss with 4 to 6 tablespoons sugar (depending on the sweetness of the berries) in a medium bowl and let sit 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Strain the juices from the berries and reserve (you should have about ½ cup). In the workbowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, give the macerated berries five 1-second pulses (you should have about 1½ cups). In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, simmer the reserved juices and Kirsch until the mixture is syrupy and reduced to about 3 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour the reduced syrup over the macerated berries, add a pinch of salt, and toss to combine. Set aside until the cake is cooled.
4. FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM: When the cake has cooled, place the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Reduce the speed to low and add heavy cream in a slow, steady stream; when it’s almost fully combined, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks, 2 to 2½ minutes more, scraping the bowl as needed (you should have about 4½ cups).
5. TO ASSEMBLE THE CAKE: Using a large serrated knife, slice the cake into three even layers. Place the bottom layer on a cardboard round or cake plate and arrange a ring of 20 strawberry halves, cut sides down and stem ends facing out, around the perimeter of the cake layer. Pour one half of the pureed berry mixture (about ¾ cup) in the center, then spread to cover any exposed cake. Gently spread about one-third of the whipped cream (about 1½ cups) over the berry layer, leaving a ½-inch border from the edge. Place the middle cake layer on top and press down gently (the whipped cream layer should become flush with cake edge). Repeat with 20 additional strawberry halves, the remaining berry mixture, and half of the remaining whipped cream; gently press the last cake layer on top. Spread the remaining whipped cream over the top; decorate with the remaining cut strawberries. Serve, or chill for up to 4 hours.
We spent a few days in New Orleans last month while B had a conference for work. We stayed at the Riverwalk which turned out to be a convenient, centralized location for the activities and restaurants we were going to. The weather held up nicely and we didn’t had a bad meal there!
Our first meal was at Mulate’s which was recommended by the concierge. Very casual spot with live music. We ordered a cup each of crawfish etouffe and jambalaya, Cajun seasoned alligator bites and grilled fish for little S. Little did we know that the grilled catfish off the kid’s menu was going to seasoned with spicy Cajun flavors! Nevertheless, everything was really good and a great introduction to this wonderful food city. Oh, and the bread pudding studded with raisins and covered in vanilla sauce was the best! We didn’t think that we could finish it because it was so huge…but we were wrong!
The following morning, we spent some time meandering through the streets French Quarter and Jackson Square. It was still pretty early and although there were quite a few people out and about, it was a very calm vibe. We decided to wait in the take-out line for beignets at Cafe du Monde, which was so delicious! Although, they reminded me very much of Thai donuts. Stella loved them and could almost finish an entire one by herself! Lunch was at the Gumbo Shop where we tried the seafood and the chicken/sausage gumbos.
While B was at the conference, S and I went to the Audubon Aquarium which was so much fun for little S. There were exhibits for jellyfish, seahorses, frogs, otters and penguins. There was a white alligator (not an albino because his eyes were black and he had a black spot on his back). S liked the puffer fish, petting the sting rays, watching some sort of fish pop in and out of holes and the toddlers play area. Such a great afternoon!
Dinner was at Pesche, one that was highly anticipated. Seafood was delicious and not your typical preparations. Sort of modern Southern I guess. Not as earth shattering as I expected, but good. I would try their sister restaurant for sure.
The following morning started off late with beignets (from the Riverwalk location which did not have a line at all) and a walk back to the warehouse district whee S and I had lunch at Cochon Butcher, a popular sandwich and deli spot. I thoroughly enjoyed my Cubano sandwich but was a little put off that I could not order it with the jalapeno sauce on the side so that I could share it with S. At any rate, I wouldn’t say it would be worth a special trip but really hit the spot before we headed out to the Children’s Museum which was close by.
The Children’s museum was a dream for S! She loved the Gulf inspired play fishing boats, the miniature sized grocery store and restaurants and the pioneer area where French quarter in the 1700s came to life with a general store selling wheat, soap and coffee and a courtyard where she could do laundry using a washboards and help nurse some baby pigs. So so cute!
Our favorite dinner in NOLA was a Bayona, where I had the a WONDERFUL quail salad. The quail was tempura-fried accompanied by a perfectly balanced sweet and sour vinaigrette. Little S devoured it too!
The next day was started off with a street car ride to the Garden District where we had a casual lunch at Milkbar, walked quite a ways to Creole Creamery for a well-deserved treat. Little S got her favorite: strawberry with rainbow sprinkles. The grown-ups had a flight including Magnolia and Petit Four. Dinner was not that impressive at JW Fins. Too much hype for what it delivered.
Bake cupcakes at 325 degrees for 20 minutes
Yields about 28 cupcakes
Combine all the ingredients together. Scoop about 1 ounce into each muffin tin. Bake at 325 for about 19 minutes
Yields at least 24 cupcakes
Dressing
Nesting On A Hill 