Foods I'm Obsessed With Archives | finding time for cooking

A Fall Classic: The Best Homemade Apple Butter Ever

January 12, 2020

The very first time I made this recipe was many years ago, when the leaves were turning all shades of fiery red and orange, signaling a gorgeous Georgia fall. There was a chill in the air, co-workers arguing over SEC football, and comfort food cravings were haunting me.

You know what else says “fall”? Apple butter. Well, technically anything apple + cinnamon, but apple butter is definitely high up on the list. My mom had shared a homemade apple butter recipes from our family friend, Louise, and I decided to give it a try…and it’s become one of my favorite recipes of all time.

Since that time many years ago, making this apple butter has been a rite of fall. I’ve made it, without fail, every single year for going on a decade. I share jars with friends, co-workers, family…this stuff is legendary. And all the better because it’s so easy.

One of the best parts?? No peeling necessary–you keep the peels on your apples, because the pectin in the peels helps it thicken up. The combination of spices and brown sugar makes for a complex and warm flavor, completely adaptable to your own preferences. This is one of those great things that bubbles away on the stove, but takes very little hands-on time and effort.

I’ve posted the original homemade apple butter recipe as I was given it below, but when I make this I make one major tweak—the amount of sugar it called for seemed extreme, so I decrease it significantly. It lets the natural sweetness of the apples as well as the spices shine through, and makes it healthier overall.READ THE POST

Rosemary Olive Oil Bread With Sea Salt

December 22, 2019

Y’all, this is probably the best bread I have ever made. One of the best breads I’ve ever eaten.

I know, I know—that’s a bold statement. But I’m being completely serious. As I’ve said previously on this blog, I’m not a huge bread person. I can take it or leave most bread, and would rather have dessert or wine or even a good veggie side dish. But this bread changed my mind. I first tested out this rosemary olive oil bread many years ago on Thanksgiving weekend, trying to come up with new ways to feed a bajillion people. It’s become a family favorite and staple at Thanksgiving and even normal weekend family events.

One thing I like about it is that it’s really flexible. The first time I made it, I was under the gun time-wise and so had to cheat and force the timings a bit for both the first and second rise. But it’s a very forgiving recipe and has always turned out well. What I’ve laid out here are ideal timings, but don’t be put off by them.

I’ve made a few tweaks to the original recipe, like adding sea salt on top (rather than the dried rosemary it called for). I do believe that fresh rosemary in the dough makes a huge difference, so strongly recommend you use it if at all possible. The bread flour called for is nice and adds a great chewy texture, but if you don’t have bread flour then just substitute more regular flour. I quite like this using mostly white whole wheat flour, but that’s your call…all-purpose works fine as well.

READ THE POST

Grilled Gorgonzola Potatoes

September 7, 2019

The grilling extravaganza continues! And this time we go a little fancier—gorgonzola grilled potatoes. My love of grilling recipes is well-documented, partly because grilled food is delicious, but also because it’s often healthier, easier, and requires less cleanup.

I’ve been in love with my grilled cheddar rosemary sweet potatoes for like a year now, and this is a similar idea, just taking it up a notch.

Now, obviously strong blue cheese is a polarizing thing. I truly adore it, but realize not everyone does. If you hate it, then I’d say move on, this isn’t for you. But if you’re kind of on the fence, then I’d recommend giving this a try…melting the gorgonzola crumbles and the thin coating it makes over the crispy potatoes and herbs really mellows out the flavor and makes it less in-your-face.

This is a perfect weeknight side dish for one person (hello!), but also could be a great fancy-feeling (and low-effort) side for a dinner party.

READ THE POST

Heavenly Dark Chocolate Orange Babka

July 21, 2019

Even though I made this at least a month ago, I’ve been dreaming about it ever since. And forcibly restraining myself from making it again. Because this chocolate orange babka is what dreams are made of.

As a flavor combo, chocolate and orange will always be a winner—particularly this kind of dark chocolate. One thing I really love about this recipe is that it uses a challah dough as the base, which makes the final result lighter and softer. I often find babkas a bit denser and drier than I like, so I was drawn to this particular recipe.

This is my happy place…

READ THE POST

Almond Pavlova With Balsamic Berries & Whipped Cream

June 22, 2019

I feel a little like a superhero on this one. Like I’ve tackled something a proper baker would do with ease.

Or maybe I’ve just been watching too many Great British Bake-Off episodes…which is probably true anyway, but my point is that they are ALWAYS using meringue of some sort and getting all fancy, but it’s always felt like something a bit too complicated and fiddly for regular ol’ folks. However, I’m here to tell you that it’s amazing and delicious, and we all need to go out and make pavlovas RIGHT THIS SECOND!

See, I’ve never been a huge fan of meringues…like those hard little cookies that are like styrofoam? So this was a baking technique that I wasn’t quite rarin’ to try. But what I discovered was that there is a key difference between a meringue and a pavlova.

What makes a pavlova magical is that, after you’ve whipped the egg whites and added all the sugar, you add a tiny bit of vinegar and cornstarch. This is chemistry sorcery, and results in an amazing marshmallow-y center with the meringue’s crispy outside. As a bonus, this is naturally gluten-free, so can be a fancy but still easy dessert to make when you need something GF.

These are so versatile and can be topped with all sorts of things. You definitely want something sharp or tart to offset the intense sweetness, and I’m looking forward to experimenting with some more “out there” flavor combinations. But for this one, I went with one of my favorite combos of all time—almond and berry. Because I thought, “What can make this even better?? Easy: almond pavlova!” This is kind of like a posh strawberry shortcake, and you’ll be wow-ed by the lush, pillowy textures, the chewiness of the meringue, and the way all the flavors explode in your mouth.

READ THE POST

A Flourless Chocolate Cake…That’s NOT Too Sweet Or Rich

May 5, 2019

This is a story of me falling in love with something I’ve spent my whole adult life telling people I don’t like. That most cliche of fancy restaurant dessert menu features—the flourless chocolate cake.

I’ve always found flourless chocolate cakes FAR too rich and sweet…like eating fudge. No complexity, no real textural interest, just nauseating sweetness. But as I tried to figure out a dessert to make for our Night to Be Much Observed (Passover) meal this year that was also gluten-free, I decided it was my best option for a crowd, even if I didn’t love it myself.

But *this* recipe totally won me over. I used dark chocolate (around 72% cacao), went a little scant on the sugar, and added a dash of orange extract to deepen the flavors a bit. The result is a more bittersweet chocolate flavor that’s interesting not cloying, and a nice kind of crackly exterior rather than just pure fudge.

And I haven’t even told you the best part—it only takes 10-15 minutes to whip up, and then less than a half hour to bake. It’s such a low-maintenance dessert that feels so fancy, now I get why restaurants the world over insist on featuring it!

READ THE POST

Addictive Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter, & Tahini Bark

February 20, 2019

I haven’t been quite this obsessed with something in quite some time.

And of all things it’s a *bark* recipe, which I am historically just “meh” on. But this delicious blend of rich, bittersweet chocolate and punchy peanut butter chips, lifted up slightly by nutty tahini and a crunch of sea salt, is like amazing not-actually-that-bad-for-you crack.

The most critical thing in making this amazing is to use a high-quality dark chocolate. Since the chocolate is the base and the entire carrier of this recipe, using a cheaper and lower quality kind will definitely result in a mediocre product. That doesn’t mean you need something insanely expensive, just more along the lines of Ghiradelli vs. Hershey’s. Trust me, it’s worth it!

I love this so much that I’d love to find a way to make it just as yummy, but using a healthier alternative to peanut butter chips. The actual chemistry of how bark sets isn’t really my area of expertise, so I’m going to do some fiddling and researching to see if this is feasible…as much as I love peanut butter chips, they’re not super great for me and this would be quite a really nice healthy indulgence.

READ THE POST

Fizzy Rosemary Gimlet

January 26, 2019

About a year ago—after over a decade as a die-hard wine drinker—I fell in love with gin.

I KNOW. But hear me out. I’ve noticed that gin is a very polarizing subject. I’ve met tons of people who absolutely love it, and a similar amount of people who tell me I’m insane and gin is the grossest thing ever. I haven’t really found anyone who’s like, “yeah, it’s cool sometimes”. Apparently gin is an all-or-nothing 🙂 But I kind of think that’s because people maybe haven’t had a great gin cocktail. In my experience over the last year, gin mixes so well with so many different flavors, and so that’s what led to today’s adventure.

I was first introduced to the idea of a gimlet via my Cheese, my bff in Los Angeles…and actually before I became a gin drinker. We capped off an awesome girls’ weekend with homemade pizza (courtesy of her now-hubby) and French gimlets. A French gimlet basically adds elderflower liqueur like St. Germain to a regular gimlet, which is gin and lime juice. I fell in love…and three drinks later she told me I’d have to Uber to LAX because there was no way she was taking me now 🙂

Ahhh, girls’ night…

You might also like: Blood Orange Elderflower Gin Cocktail

So today I bring you a lovely twist on a regular gimlet, where we take the bright botanical gin and fresh lime juice combo, and add to it a delicious herby rosemary simple syrup. It takes like 5 minutes to make the simple syrup yourself and you’ll feel pretty badass. Then top it off with some tonic water to lighten it up and provide fun fizz. Behold—the fizzy rosemary gimlet!

READ THE POST

Whole Wheat Cranberry Pistachio Orange Shortbread Cookies

December 9, 2018

A couple years ago, my sister sent me an email out of nowhere with this recipe and a note that said “This has to be on your blog!” And I’ll be honest…it kind of took me a while to get to it.

But I played around with the recipe, making for a co-worker on maternity leave, for my own personal consumption, and then to take to work. And somehow never got around to posting the final version that I love dearly.

And guys, these cookies are weird. They have no leavening agent and no eggs…which shouldn’t work, but it totally does. In fact, they could be vegan if you substituted coconut oil for butter (though I haven’t tried that from a texture standpoint).

Side note, this cookie dough is AMAZING. Like, try not to eat it all raw before baking it, I DARE YOU. And because there are no eggs, you don’t have to worry about raw egg in it (which…I don’t, but I know some people do).

One of the great things about this kind of recipe, where you make the dough into a log and then slice pieces off, is that you can make parts of it at a time super easily. So the last time I made this, I baked up about half the dough right after dinner, and then two days later sliced up the rest and baked it when I had my whole family over for dinner again. Bonus points because they’re really quite healthy.

Crushing. It.

READ THE POST

Apricot Balsamic Rosemary Chicken

November 18, 2018

I’ve been accidentally keeping this recipe a secret the last couple months. I know, I’m sorry…that’s not what friends do.

It wasn’t not on purpose. It’s just that life’s been so crazy, and this chicken has been one of the things getting me through. As the weather has gotten too cold for my normal nightly grilling, I had to try and find something else super easy but still healthy to have regularly. And once I tried this once, I was totally hooked.

This apricot balsamic chicken recipe comes courtesy of Joy the Baker (link at the end of this post), and it’s so simple but feels kind of fancy. The original recipe calls for chicken thighs, and it probably is best because thighs stay more moist and bring more flavor.

But I use chicken breasts sometimes, just because I struggle with the texture of thigh meat and don’t typically have it on hand. Chicken breasts work just fine, and my biggest tip is to make sure they’re sliced or pounded thin and even, so they cook quickly without drying out (also, try brining them first). I also swapped out the thyme the original recipe calls for and added rosemary instead, which I think gives it a punchier flavor.

This is the kind of recipe you can actually whip up on a weeknight after a frantic day of work in less than 30 minutes, then sit down with a glass of wine and take a deep breath.

You know you know what I’m talking about.

READ THE POST