Maple Almond Butter Cookies

These are... a little weird.  But good.  But weird.  Okay, really what they are is hippie cookies, which have their time and place.  I think this would depend heavily on what kind of almond butter you're using; mine was Trader Joe's chunky unsalted, which I wasn't crazy about eating and was improved in cookie form (but what isn't?!).

Notes: didn't have any almonds but the butter was chunky, so that was nice.  I added a little bit of salt because the butter had no salt, and that was a good move.  I got 13 cookies of the size I wanted, which is good.  The first batch didn't look done after 10 minutes so I left them in and they got a kind of crumbly, but the second batch I took out at 10 minutes and that was better, they were soft and chewy and yum.

when is butter a bad thing again?

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Maple-Cream Cheese Frosting

Contrary to popular opinion over at Smitten Kitchen, these are not just a vehicle for cream cheese, although the cream cheese certainly doesn't hurt.  I ate fully half of these without frosting and didn't regret it one bit.  Moist and filling, though not too heavy.  Nom nom.

Notes: I used walnuts, no raisins, that's the way I like it.  Halved it, no troubles.  Seemed a little oily to me, maybe cut down on the oil a bit--but they were nice and moist.  Grate the carrots half on the bigger grate, half on the smaller, nice textural contrast.  Flat on top, not domed, which is right for this kind of thing I think.

eat your... veggies?

Salted Fudge Brownies

chocolatefest

Leek and Artichoke Bread Pudding

One word for this: YES.

Sweet and salty and filling and delicious all around.  Eat it up, yum yum.  Used challah for the base and, um, it was awesome.

Notes: took a lot longer to caramelize the leeks than I thought or was suggested.  Just let them go until they're soft at least.  Didn't have lemons to zest so I skipped it, and although I think it would have been nice I didn't miss it.

murrr

Mango Quickbread

Roasted Broccoli

Grapefruit-Vanilla Curd

Brown Butter Winter Citrus Pancakes

panpake

Crab, Avocado and Grapefruit Salad

Beet Risotto

YUMMMMM.  I love beets, I love risotto.  This combines the two.  I am pleased.  And what's everyone on about with the leftovers being no good?  I mean sure, the texture isn't great, but cold out of the fridge I ate this for two meals straight, and I liked it.

Notes: Halved it and it worked great.  Eyeballed the cheese, more is better I say!  This risotto technique seems to be right; sweat onions, toast the rice, wine first, then broth till done, beets and cheese at the end.

Beet Risotto

Hollandaise Sauce

With lovely fresh pan-boiled asparagus OM NOM NOM

Yeah this.  Is awesome.  So much lighter and cleaner and tastier than restaurant versions, probably because it was ultra-fresh.  Even by the time I was finished eating it it was starting to glump up--so eat it right away!  I also saw suggestions that it can be held in a dish full of hot water.  Or... you could just eat it.

Notes: This is tricky, to be sure.  I 1/3'd the recipe because it was just me, and that was the right amount to eat but it was awfully tricky to do in this small amount.  I don't know if it's worth making more and just wasting it, but this is hard.  The main thing is to use a small bowl because whisking just one egg yolk is hard in a big bowl; I also think temperature regulation would be easier with more eggs.  While whisking in the butter I had a hard time keeping it at an appropriate temperature; can't be too hot or it will break, but if it's not hot then the butter won't melt in.  Check out alternate methods like doing this in the blender.  The proportions in this recipe are just right, follow them closely, with perhaps a little more lemon juice (I like it lemony).

yup

Cinnamon Roll Muffins

These... were not a success.

The biggest problem was that there was too much topping, and it all melted and spread out on top of the muffin tin and burned.  NO GOOD.  It also seemed like the muffins got all brown on the sides before they were done, so they were tough even without the burned caramely stuff.  I don't really know how to fix this other than to stir the topping in to the muffins more, and use cupcake papers, but even that seems doubtful... or cook them at a lower temp and for less time?  Unclear.  And sad, because I was excited about this.

:(

Maple Pecan Pancake Muffins

So... these are pretty awesome.  I was in a rush and didn't get all the temperatures exactly right, and I should have sifted the dry ingredients to get it to have a lighter texture, and I should have stirred it less... but still.  Nice and moist, especially because of the maple syrup, and I loved having the chunky little pecan bits in there.  These taste like a pancake.  Which is AWESOME.

Notes: Do brown the butter first and let it cool.  And just drizzle the maple syrup right on the top, trying not to get any between the paper and the pan or it will stick and tear the wrapper when you try to take it out.  If you drizzle and then add the pecan it looks prettier.  I made a double batch and it was 36 muffins plus I tried to make a little cake with the leftovers in a Pyrex dish, since I was in a hurry, but because Michael doesn't know what it looks like when a cake is cooked it was a FAILURE.  I laughed.  So one batch probably makes about 20 muffins... wow.

breakfast? questionable... but who cares?

French Lemon Yogurt Cake

The search for the perfect lemon cake continues.  Sigh.

I must say, this one is pretty good; the lovely tang from the yogurt comes through, and this syrup actually did mostly what it was supposed to, although it didn't sink all the way in.  I baked it too long (dang it) but it's still pretty tasty, with a nice texture and good flavor (I also skipped the zest because my lemons were looking a little old).  Maybe just because I overbaked, it seemed a little dry and could have been lighter.  Hard to say.  But a solid contender in the long lineup!

good for stuffing in your face

Leeks Confit

My love affair with the leek continues, and my love for the leek only grows with time and new recipes.  This is AWESOME.  Probably mostly because of the butter, let's be honest, but really--this is awesome.  Eat it on little crostini or spread on a sandwich with havarti, or in pasta, or JUST EAT IT WITH A SPOON.  So.  Good.

Notes: I halved it and did it for just over an hour and some bits were crispy at that point, which isn't ideal; you want them to be nice and soft and melty.  The ones on the edges were the ones that got brown, so stir often, probably more like every 10 minutes.  I do like it when they're nicely caramelized so doing this on the long end of the time is good.  Just watch it, you can't really walk away.

EAT ME

Homemade Wheat Thins

Okay so these are good, and I like eating them, and it's nice that you can decide for yourself how thin and how salty and how crispy they are... but let's face it, Wheat Thins does a pretty good job of making those choices for you.  I have to say, this is possibly the first time I have been defeated in the kitchen with little hope of coming back from behind and triumphing next time.  The only hope comes, surprisingly, from Mira, who looked up from her silent juice-making to suggest that where I could distinguish myself is in the flavorings, so I topped some of them with grated parmesan and that was pretty darn tasty.  Think about what mix-ins would be good here!  (Mushroom chips?!?)

Notes: it's tricky to get them to just the right stage of doneness; too little and they are kinda chewy, too much and they are slightly burnt.  I rolled them thinner than Wheat Thins and I'd think about starting to take them out around 6 minutes.  Salt fairly heavily on top; I'd actually up the salt in the recipe if I did it again.  Think of this like a pie crust recipe, the procedure is the same, you don't want to work the dough too much.  I forgot the vanilla and they were already a little sweet, I don't know why you'd want it?

The best part is you get to eat them with as much cheese as you want