Birthday Bark

With my new life of working in the restaurant business, weekends, birthdays, and nights off are something of the past. But, with a new restaurant repertoire on my resume, birthdays also come with the expectation of homemade, tasty gifts. Especially when it comes to my family.

With my sister’s birthday coming up, I knew I had to make her something that wouldn’t take too much time (sorry sis, free time is also a thing of the past) that she would love. Since spying on fellow food blogs is one of my favorite past-times, when I found the idea for cake batter chocolate bark, I knew I had found my sisters perfect gift. 26 years young, she has a sweet -tooth and childish ideology to match.

There’s no exact recipe here; simply melt about a pound of your favorite dark chocolate (and temper, if you have the patience and time) and spread a thin layer on a sheet tray lined with a non-stick surface. Let harden for about 30 minutes in the fridge. While dark chocolate is hardening, melt about a pound and half of white chocolate and whisk in 2 tablespoons of your favorite yellow cake mix. Pour over dark chocolate, cover with rainbow sprinkles, and let harden. Break into chunks, and put away in gift bags immediately…or it all may be eaten first!

Play On,

T

Existentialism for Dummies

As someone who over-analyzes everything, I quite often find that believing in existentialism can be somewhat exhausting. The constant wild-goose chase to understand “what it all means” proves itself to be just that – a chase.

The issue is two-fold.  

1.) Existentialism requires one to abandon all notion of purpose; as in, we are merely tiny specs of dust on the geological time scale, ultimately going nowhere.

2.) Personally, I struggle with seeing the big picture. My life functions on a day-to-day basis. For me, there is no 10 year plan, hell, there is no 5 year plan. However, there is a “what am I going to have for dinner?” plan.

The continuous quest for understanding just leaves us feeling empty. The string of questions that we have for the universe will, for the most part, remain unanswered. So maybe we should stop asking.  

Amid all of the madness, I’ve found that reaping joy from the littlest of life’s pleasures can silence the curious existentialist in you. Cue fall’s most joyous bounty: the pumpkin.

Once slice of this heavenly cake, and inner-peace will wrap its warm arms around you while you enjoy a moment of bliss.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

1 can Organic Pumpkin (I like the Farmer’s Market brand)

1/2 cup Organic Pure Maple Syrup

3 tablespoons Organic Expeller-Pressed Canola Oil

1 ¾ cups Organic Pastry Flour (whole wheat pastry flour works too)

¼  teaspoon fine sea salt

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons Organic Pumpkin Pie Spice

½ cup Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, plus extra for the top

Pre-heat oven to 350 F

Combine the flour, salt, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice together in a small bowl, mix with a fork or whisk.

Whisk the pumpkin, oil and maple syrup. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in a minimum of 3 batches. Once you have your batter, gently fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Grease an 8.5 inch loaf pan with soy butter (I like Earth Balance) or your favorite organic butter, then pour the batter in. Top with some chocolate chips and bake for 50-55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let it rest in the pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before cutting. If you’re feeling extra needy, add a scoop of Purely Decadent vanilla ice cream.

P.S.  The toothpick will be covered in melted chocolate, what you’re looking for is any uncooked batter.

Play on,

Marla ❤

It’s All In The Cupcake

Culinary school is proving to be no easy feat, and my 3 inch binder is already busting at the seams with papers, recipes, articles, and several knife cuts. It’s been a whirlwind of information over the last four weeks yet also a ton of fun. If I could summarize all of the lectures I’ve had so far, it would come down to only a few key ideas. Using high quality ingredients is the most important part of your cookery and truly makes all the difference. It’s one of the many ways you can show your loved ones how important they are to you, your cupcakes will be healthier for it, and lastly, they will taste divine.

And let me tell you, these are no Duncan Hines cupcakes. Adapted from an Ina Garten recipe and topped with a milk chocolate caramel frosting, they are made with high quality, local, fresh ingredients. Plus, they look delicious.

Play On,

Tracy Michele

Instant Smile

These cupcakes are nothing too special or extravagant. What they are is a general crowd pleaser. The childish flavors will promise to bring a smile to your face and all of your guests, and their baking ease will motivate you to make them time after time. If you want to pipe the icing, make sure you make your cookie crumbs very small, or you’ll have to use a knife to ice the frosting. Besides that, that are easy, fun, and of course, delicious!

Recipe:

Cookies and Cream Cake Batter:

1 box Arrowhead Mills vanilla cake mix

1 cup water

3 organic eggs (or Ener-G Egg Replacer)

1/2 cup organic vegetable oil

30 Newman O’s Orignal Flavor (or mix it up–go for a mint cookie batter!)

Cookies and Cream Buttercream:

1 cup Earth Balance Butter, room temperature

3 cups confectioners sugar, sifted and set aside

3-5 tablespoons soy milk

1 teaspoon organic, fair-trade vanilla extract

Preheat your oven 350F. Line 24 cupcake tins with paper lines, set the pans aside. Using 12 of the cookies, place one side of the cookies on the bottom of the cupcake liner, making sure icing is on each of the half and placing the icing side facing up. Break up the remaining cookies into crumbs using a rolling pin and a ziploc bag. Set aside.

Place the cake mix, water, oil, and eggs into a bowl with a mixer. Blend for about 2 minutes until mixed throughly. Measure out about 1 and 1/2 of the crumbs and place into the batter. Spoon into the cupcake tins, each should be about 3/4 full.

Bake the cupcakes until they are lightly browned and come out clean using a cake tester, about 18 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Place each individual cupcake onto a wire rack and let cool for a least a half hour.

While waiting for them to cool, prepare your cookies and cream buttercream frosting. Blend the butter with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds until it reaches a fluffy consistency. Add the sugar, 3 tablespoons of the milk, and the vanilla. Blend on low speed until all combined. Add more milk if the texture of the frosting is too thick and continue to beat until light and fluffy. Add the remaining cookie crumbs and frost onto your cupcakes. Make sure to keep these cupcakes in a cool room or the refrigerator until serving due to the buttercream frosting.

Play On,

Tracy

Members of the Tribe

Tonight begins the celebration of the Jewish New Year. This means Facebook statuses proclaiming “L’Shana Tova” and text messages wishing friends and family a happy new year. This is my first Jewish New Year not spent in the state of Florida. I have a good feeling with the beginning of year 5771, as I spent the last hours of year 5770 baking my favorite Jewish cookies.

This year represents the year  that I took everything I had and began to chase my dreams. I wish everyone a year of filled with joy, health, family, and of course, love. And if you can’t celebrate with those you love the most, take five minutes and remind them why they are so important to you. Best wishes to all that celebrate, L’Shana Tova.

Recipe for Rugelach:

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature**
• 1 cup Earth Balance butter, at room tempature
• 1/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar plus a few teaspoons extra on the side
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon organic, fair trade vanilla extract
• 2 cups organic, unbleached white flour
• a few teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves*
• 1/2 cup raspberry preserves*
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (miniature sized, preferably)*
• 1/4 cup canola oil

**Feel free to substitute a dairy-free cream cheese of your liking

*You can use any preserves or filling of your choice, including raisins, walnuts, poppy seeds etc. These are just my family favorites.

Using a stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and the butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the 1/4 cup of sugar, salt, and vanilla. Slowly add in the the 2 cups flour until just combined. Pour the dough onto a well-floured board and roll into a ball. Cut the ball into four even pieces, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.

Place one of the four balls onto the well floured board. Roll the ball into about a nine inch circle and place the preserves on the flattened disc, about an inch away from the end. Cut the disc in half, then into quarters, and then into thirds (making 12 even triangles). Roll the triangles up, starting from the widest edge, until the top is under. Place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (recommended to be greased as well, these can be very sticky) and let chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F. Brush each cookie with canola oil. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon (ratio should be about 2:1, but that is a personal preference) and sprinkle on top of each cookie. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until lightly browned. Let sit for about 5 minutes before placing on racks to cool.

Play On,

Tracy Michele ❤

Back in Action

Sorry, fellow bloggers. I’m sure you’ve been lonely and depressed wondering where the rants of Marla &Tracy have been. Graduation tore the best friends and roommates into two different states (thankfully still on the time zone) — and our lives have taken us in two very different, yet exciting directions.

While Marla is off teaching the next generation, I have abandoned everything I know to follow my lifelong dream. I, Tracy Michele, the ultimate foodie, am beginning culinary school in only a few days. Words cannot express my excitement to begin to sauté and julienne my way through New York City.

Of course, living in one of the most crowded cities in the world can happen to be quite lonely. Although my iPhone maps app can take me anywhere I want to go, I’ve be spending my days getting adjusted to my new kitchen. Which is what brings us to my latest recipe.

I decided to come up with a copy-cat-recipe of one of my childhood favorite treats. I used to eat these with my best friend while waiting for our parents to pick us up from the mall. They promise to bring a smile to the most solemn face with their endearing colorful toppers and whimsical frosting.

Recipe:

2 and 1/4 cups organic, unbleached white flour (no one ever said these were good for you)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup organic earth balance butter, softened
3/4 cup organic, unbleached cane sugar
3/4 cup organic brown sugar
2 tsp organic, fair trade vanilla extract
2 large eggs*
2 cups Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
*feel free to sub Ener-g Egg Replacer in order to make the recipe cruelty free

Preheat oven to 375F, stir together flour, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl, set aside. Using a stand or hand mixer, beat together the butter and both sugars until creamy. Add vanilla and eggs*, one at a time. Mix until fully incorporated. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a pre-greased, mini cupcake pan, place about 2 teaspoons of cookie dough mixture into pan, roughly 3/4 full. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Cool in pan for about 10 minutes and then pop out of cupcake pan. Wait until fully cooled before frosting and placing your favorite candy on top!

Play On,

Tracy Michele

American Dreams

With these odd patterns of weather teetering on the Coast of Absurdity, my yearning for long summer days has turned into somewhat of an obsession. Never before have I realized how much my love of food has put me into sync with the seasons. It’s as if we share a connection I never knew existed until now. Of course throughout the chilliest months I found an excuse to eat anything creamy and rich, and now, at the height of spring (when asparagus is finally in season), I’m already skipping the primavera’s and jumping straight to anything I can put ketchup on.  

Ironically, on my spring break, well before the onset of summer, I found myself at Home Depot with my mom, the two of us badgering the poor salesman with a round of police-grade questioning. Minutes later she was on a ladder shaking display grills to see which one was the sturdiest, naturally. But I believe I’m getting ahead of myself. It all began earlier in the week when our Whole Foods trip yielded some fresh, organic corn on the cob that was just screaming for a grill to be cooked on. Fast forward several hours and several trips to various odds-and-ends stores on a search for the best grilling utensils – and of course, leave it to me to find the only biodegradable, eco-friendly lighter fluid made from food-grade oils produced in the U.S. – and we were in business.

It’s been said over and over again that “the kitchen is the heart of the home.” But I don’t necessarily believe that.  “The food is the heart of the home” seems to be more accurate. Who would have thought that something as arbitrary as a grill – a shiny red one to be exact – could make me feel as if I stepped into “The Sandlot” and sat down for dinner? Is it possible that this American pastime is not just a notion fabricated by the Coca Cola industry with a little help from baseball and the Heinz Corporation?  Decide for yourself.

Play on,

Marla ❤

Oh, you didn’t think I’d end this post without several recipes for those grills, did you?

Grilled Pesto Burgers with Heirloom Tomatoes, Buttery-Grilled Corn and Crispy Steak Fries

For the burgers:

(Makes 4)

1 tube LightLife Gimme Lean “Ground Beef”

1 packet Simply Organic Sweet Basil Pesto

Extra virgin olive oil, fine sea salt, fresh ground black pepper

Rudi’s Organic Bakery Hamburger Buns

Empty the ground beef into a bowl. Follow the directions on the pesto packet, after its ready pour enough into the ground beef mixture to marble it throughout. Leave some of the pesto to spread on top of the burgers. You don’t want the mixture to be too oily because the burgers won’t stay intact. Season with salt and pepper. Mold into 4 evenly sized burgers.

Cook directly on the grill about 2-3 minutes on each side. Quickly heat up hamburger buns on the grill.

We also served the burgers with some big slices of local, organic heirloom tomatoes and large pieces of green leaf lettuce.

For the corn:

½ cup Earth Balance butter

Fresh chopped parsley or basil

1 small glove garlic, finely minced (or garlic powder)

Fine sea salt, freshly ground black pepper

Mix contents together with a whisk or electric mixer

The corn cooks directly on the grill – no greasing required. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, flipping occasionally. Once its ready, immediately spread compound butter on top.

For the fries:

1-2 packages Whole Foods 365 Steak Fries

Bake according to package directions. I broil them at the very end for a minute or two to get that golden, crispy delicious texture. Any Alexia oven fry will do as well – however, these steak fries are currently my favorite!

Condiments: Vegan Gourmet Organic Vegenaise (trust me, you will find yourself dipping your fries into this more than the ketchup! And don’t forget to spread it on those burger buns – hello, heaven.), Whole Foods 365 Organic Ketchup, and any kind of mustard you like – I prefer a grainy, deli-style mustard. Whole Foods also sells real hardwood Charcoal – free of any chemicals. And best of all – the ash from the charcoal can be used as fertilizer for your garden after you’re done grilling!

Only 80 more days till summer…

Stop the Morning Madness Scones

“One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.”  ~ Luciano Pavarotti

Tracy and I decided to truly embrace the message Pavarotti was so set on making. And thus, our scone recipe. P.S. don’t those pictures make you want to jump through your computer screen?

2 cups organic, unbleached all purpose flour

¼ cup unbleached organic cane sugar

1 ¼ teaspoons aluminum-free baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) Earth Balance Buttery Sticks, cut into small cubes (keep as cold as possible!)

½ cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 teaspoon Frontier Organic Fair-trade Vanilla Extract

2/3 cup buttermilk

 – pour 4 ½ teaspoons organic apple cider vinegar into a measuring cup, fill with organic unsweetened soymilk to the 1 cup line, let sit for 10 minutes, then stir with a fork.

For Cinnamon-Sugar topping:

Organic expeller-pressed canola oil, for brushing

Mix together:

1 tablespoon organic ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons unbleached organic cane sugar

For the Strawberry Glaze:

1/2 cup fresh organic strawberries

2 ½ cups organic powdered sugar

Puree the strawberries in a food processor. Place the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Pour in the strawberry puree and whisk until smooth.

For the Scones:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low. Add in the cold butter cubes. Mix on low speed until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in chocolate chips. In the measuring cup where you made the buttermilk, add the vanilla, and mix together with a fork. On low speed, slowly pour in the buttermilk/vanilla mixture until the dough comes together. Add in more buttermilk if necessary.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently. Shape into a round disk by patting lightly around the top. The disk should be about 7 inches wide and 1 ½ inches thick. At this point, if you’re not ready to bake the scones, wrap the dough tightly in saran wrap and refrigerate on a flat surface. If you’re ready to bake, cut the circle in half, and then cut each half into 3 pie-shaped wedges.

Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush lightly with canola oil and sprinkle with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (besides melted chocolate!)

To make Cinnamon-Pecan Scones with Chocolate Drizzle

Sub ½ cup toasted, organic pecans for the chocolate chips

Add in 1 ½ teaspoons organic ground cinnamon to the dry ingredients

Melt ¼ cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips in a double boiler, and drizzle over the top of the scones with the back of a small spoon when they come out of the oven.

Cinnamon-Pecan Scones with Chocolate Drizzle

Chocolate Chip Scones with Strawberry Glaze

Play on,

Marla