Cookie Buzz

Last weekend, I was in the mood to bake. So instead of sitting down to watch the Superbowl game, I ventured into the kitchen. The weather has been beautiful lately in davis and something about the 65 degrees, bright sun and the the cool breeze makes me want to open all the doors and windows in my house and bake. I think it's something about the smell of spring (I know it's not spring, but it sure smells like it in Davis) mixed with the smells of sugary treats wafting through my house that is drawing me to these sugar-filled recipes. I decided on a coffee sugar cookie recipe, but I left out the baking powder to make them into thin, crispy cookies. I'm so happy with that decision!

Coffee Sugar Thins
Adapted from i am baker

Ingredients:
1 cup butter softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons freshly ground coffee
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar.
In a small bowl, combine the eggs, coffee grinds and vanilla.
In another bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon and salt.  
*Note: If you'd prefer these to not be crispy, you could add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder here like the original recipe that I adapted this from.
Slowly add the egg mixture to the butter mixture and combine. Slowly add the flour mixture until well combined.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least a few hours.
Preheat the oven to 375.
On a well floured surface, roll out the dough (in sections) until nice and thin. Make sure to also flour the rolling pin. The dough is sticky and needs to be worked with quickly, while it's still cold. The scraps get too warm to work with again, so I re-chilled the scraps before I rolled them out again. Once the dough is rolled out, cut out your desired shapes and place on parchment paper or a silpat on top of a baking sheet..
Bake in the oven for 7-9 minutes. Pay close attention the last couple minutes and pull out right before they start to brown. Let sit for a few minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Look at all of those specks of coffee in there! This is a great study snack--sugar and caffeine to keep me awake! The crispiness of these cookies make them so satisfying to eat. And for someone who isn't a huge sweets fan, I could devour so many of these in one sitting. They're especially good dipped in a hot drink (coffee of course!) to bring out the coffee flavor.

My Saturday Morning Cuppa Coffee

Now that I work at a coffee shop, I've sadly become more addicted to coffee...it really is sad. But delicious at the same time! And at least a great supply of delicious coffee comes with it. However, if I'm going to be running the closing shift and then going home to continue reading for school, I just simply need some artificial liveliness running through my system. It's gotten to the point where all I need for motivation to wake up on Saturday mornings is that beautiful cup of coffee that I know is waiting for me at the farmer's market.

Pachamama Coffee Co-op
At the Davis Farmer's Market

Pachamama is collectively owned by it's 140,000 farmers who ship their beans from Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru--improving the lives of small scale farmers and giving us delicious coffee.

Somehow, this beautiful cup of coffee has some sort of magical power over me to get me out of bed even on cold January mornings and to bike my butt over to farmer's. And I'm not even a morning coffee person let alone a morning person! I first had it a few weeks ago and I was shocked that I had never noticed how awesome this stand was before because really what is so unique about their coffee is that they brew it individually for you as you order. They have this beautiful wooden coffee drip bar where the filters fit snuggly in ceramic holders and your cup sits underneath. As you order, they pour your grinds into the filter, place a cup underneath and pour some boiling water right in. With a few stirs of the grinds, you have your personal cup of coffee ready in minutes.

I think half of the magic of my Saturday morning coffee is watching the process of my coffee being made and then after a few minutes of watching and waiting, finally having that cup in your hand. But the other half is certainly the taste. They usually serve their breakfast blend at farmer's and it's almost like a treat...like chocolate. After the coffee cools down a bit (rather quickly because it's so cold outside), I can taste more and more undertones of cacao. This blend is so smooth and so delicious that I refuse to add anything to it. Yes, I am a black coffee drinker now. Gasp all you like. So I sit with my breakfast sandwich from Fat Face and my wonderful cuppa coffee and I watch through the winter fog at all the hustle and bustle of the market. No wonder it gets me out of bed in the morning...how beautiful is that image?

Side note: Last Sunday, the woman who served me my cup of coffee on Saturday came into the place I work and I was able to repay her with a cup of our roast.

One Fish, Two Fish, Three Fish, Four...

(The title of this post was inspired by my wonderful roommate, Caitlin. She's so clever.)

Last year, Caitlin and I made one of my favorite dinners--Salmon Cakes, Hot Crash Potatoes and Sauteed Spinach--inspired by the wonderful Miss Sophie Dahl. For some reason (probably because I was having too much fun with Caitlin), I didn't take any photos, so I didn't write a blog post for it...something I've felt lame about ever since. I've had a craving for them for a few days now, so I decided I would finally pick up the ingredients from the Co-op and Farmer's and make them over my 4 day weekend.

Sophie Dahl's Salmon Cakes with Tartar Sauce, Hot Crash Potatoes and Sauteed Cabbage
Inspired by The Delicious Miss Dahl and Miss Dahl's Volumptuous Delights

1 large serving, plus a little left over for your roommates to nibble on.

Ingredients:
For the potatoes:
2-3 small potatoes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Red pepper powder
Olive oil
For the Salmon Cakes:
1 cup flaked salmon (I baked mine ahead of time with salt pepper and lemon juice)
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon freshly chopped dill
1 red chili finely chopped (I forgot to buy one this time, so I just put in a bit of red pepper powder, but it was way better with the fresh chili when Caitlin and I made it)
2 teaspoons good quality mustard (I used Sierra Nevada Stoneground)
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the Tartar Sauce:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 small gherkins, finely chopped (a few teaspoons of capers would be a nice addition if you have them)
A small handful of chopped parsley
Juice from 1/2 a lemon.
Salt and Pepper to taste
For the cabbage:
1 chunk of cabbage
Salt and pepper to taste.

Directions:
Bake the salmon ahead of time. Let it cool and flake it.
Set the oven to 400 degrees.
Boil the potatoes in salted water for about 15 minutes, until they are softened all the way through. Once they are softened, drain the water and in a baking pan, lightly crush the potatoes with a fork. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and red pepper powder. Place in the oven at 400 for about 15-20 minutes until they are crispy and browned on top.
Meanwhile, prepare the tartar sauce by mixing all the ingredients. Set aside.
Combine the ingredients for the salmon cakes and form into two patties.
Head two skillets with oil--one for the salmon cakes and one for the cabbage. Place the cabbage in one skillet and season. Saute on either side for about a minute each. Don't let it get too mushy. Place the two patties in the other skillet and cook to brown for a couple minutes on each side.

Serve all together and enjoy!

I don't often make a full meal for myself--sides and all--so this was a real treat to prepare and to eat! I love these cakes because unlike some others, they aren't loaded down with bread crumbs and the salmon is still able to shine through in the dish. The purple potatoes I used were so delicious, especially with the added red pepper powder. They were a lot creamier than I was expecting--almost decadent. I'm also a huge fan of this homemade tartar sauce it goes perfectly with every part of this dish...the cakes, potatoes and cabbage! This was a perfect end to my MLK weekend. I could always do with more time in the kitchen, focused on the delicious smells wafting from the oven and practicing the art of cooking while relaxing my nerves before another week of hectic days and long nights. In honor of the day, I'll leave you with this:

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?' "-MLK Jr.

Mornings in Mom's Kitchen

As I was growing up, my mom was the queen of breakfast! Whether it was grapefruit, a full on brunch, coffeecake, hot cereal, eggs, pancakes or a fruit salad, it was always ready on the breakfast table to start off our days. For Christmas this year, I got slow cooker and the cookbook, Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook--which isn't a very good title in my case because my mother owns the same cookbook which is how I discovered it and why I love it! After a trip to the Farmer's Market last weekend, where my roommate ate slow cooked steel cut oats, I decided that oatmeal would be the first meal made in my slow cooker. Oatmeal from my mom's slow cooker on freezing cold IL winter mornings is such a beautiful memory and I was so excited to recreate it with my roommates.

Slow Cooked Oatmeal
Adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
4 3/4 cups water
Pinch of salt

Directions:
Combine the ingredients in the slow cooker and stir. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 9 hours (overnight). This could also be done on high for 2 to 3 hours.
In the morning, stir the oatmeal well and set onto warm. Serve with your preferred toppings. That's it!

I topped mine with pure maple syrup, soy milk, cinnamon and brown sugar. The texture of the oatmeal is completely different when it it made in a slow cooker. It is thick and creamy and absolutely wonderful. I can't believe I've been making mine on the stove top all these years! I just simply can't go back to that now. This really brought my back to our kitchen in Illinois and the cold winter mornings when this breakfast got me warm and ready for the day. My whole house enjoyed a warm hearty meal that morning and our tummies were full and happy for hours.

Memories

Some of my favorite memories from High School involve loads of pasta, garlic bread, occasionally salad, episodes of The Office and the wonderful Alyssa Hook! We were obsessed with making pasta together. I even made her a recipe book with our favorite pastas in it and we still use that book to this day. When we were back for break, we decided to use the old recipe book (which she always packs to bring home on breaks, just in case), and we made one of our favorites--Creamy Baked Fettuccine with Asiago and Thyme, or as we like to call it "The Creme Fraiche Pasta". Alyssa and I both have major issues with fettuccine (we think it's way too thick and creates a completely incorrect pasta to sauce ratio), so we substituted it with linguine and one of our favorite pastas was born.

The Creme Fraiche Pasta
Adapted from Everyday Italian on The Food Network

Ingredients:
1 lb linguine
2 cups grated asiago cheese, plus 1/4
2 (8 oz) containers of creme fraiche
1 cup grated parmesan
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh, chopped thyme leaves
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Bring salted water to a boil and add pasta. Cook until al dente. Drain pasta and reserve 1 cup of the water (this is key).
Meanwhile, combine the 2 cups of asiago cheese, creme fraiche, parmesan, thyme, reserved water and pasta and toss until the pasta is coated. Place in a baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining asiago cheese. Bake until golden on top, around 25 minutes.

Almost too beautiful to dig into.

But we do it anyway.