Recipes

here are some of my favorite recipes........i'll be continually updating this.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling from America's Test Kitchen:
 Makes 12 cupcakes:
Ingredients
Ganache Filling

• 2ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (see note)
• 1/4cup heavy cream
• 1tablespoon confectioners' sugar 

Chocolate Cupcakes

• 3ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine (see note)
• 1/3cup (1 ounce) Dutch-processed cocoa
• 3/4cup hot coffee
• 3/4cup (4 1/8 ounces) bread flour
• 3/4cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1/2teaspoon table salt
• 1/2teaspoon baking soda
• 6tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2large eggs
• 2teaspoons white vinegar
• 1teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

• 1cup heavy cream
• 8ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Instructions

1. FOR GANACHE FILLING: Place chocolate, cream, and confectioners’ sugar in medium microwave-safe bowl. Heat in microwave on high power until mixture is warm to touch, 20 to 30 seconds. Whisk until smooth; transfer bowl to refrigerator and let stand until just chilled, no longer than 30 minutes.
2. FOR CUPCAKES: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-size muffin pan (cups have ½-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners. Place chocolate and cocoa in medium bowl. Pour hot coffee over mixture and whisk until smooth. Set in refrigerator to cool completely, about 20 minutes. Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Whisk oil, eggs, vinegar, and vanilla into cooled chocolate-cocoa mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until smooth.
4. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Place one slightly rounded teaspoon ganache filling on top of each cupcake. Bake until cupcakes are set and just firm to touch, 17 to 19 minutes. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before frosting, about 1 hour.
5. TO FROST: Mound 2 to 3 tablespoons frosting on center of each cupcake. Using small icing spatula or butter knife, spread frosting to edge of cupcake, leaving slight mound in center.

 To make frosting:

1. Bring cream to boil in small saucepan or in microwave. Place chocolate in medium bowl and pour boiling cream over. Cover with foil and let stand 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cool and slightly firm, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
2. Transfer cooled chocolate mixture to bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment; whip mixture at medium speed until fluffy and mousse-like and forms medium-stiff peaks, about 2 minutes.
3. Spread 2 to 3 generous tablespoons Chocolate Ganache Frosting on top of each cooled cupcake; serve.

this is zereshk polo---a persian dish of rice with barberries so it's tart and delicious.  i usually just throw this together so i will do my best to remember the measurements.   Serves 6-ish? Ingredients 2 cups basmati rice 1-11/2 cups zereshk (barberries—you can buy them in Persian or middle eastern stores) About 1/8-1/4 teaspoon saffron 1 T butter Sugar ½ Onion, chopped Polo (rice) seasoning (also from persian or middle eastern store) Salt Vegetable oil Potato (peeled and sliced into ¼-1/2 inch slices lengthwise) or flour tortilla Instructions: 1. Soak rice (with 2 T of salt) for a few hours, at least one hour if in a hurry 2. Rinse zereshk and make sure there are no stones or pieces of stem 3. Heat oil on medium, about 1 T in a frying pan and add onion, frying until soft 4. Add zereshk and fry with onion, adding a little oil if needed 5. After zereshk is soft (about 5 minutes or so), add enough sugar to sweeten up the zereshk (you can do this to taste, I like the zereshk to be a little bit tart, so I don’t add a ton of sugar, maybe a few tablespoons) 6. Stir in 1-11/2 T of polo seasoning and a tiny bit of ground saffron or turmeric, stir all together and remove zereshk from heat, set aside 7. Boil water for rice, while waiting for water to boil, rinse rice several times 8. Add rice to boiling water, reduce heat to medium high 9. Boil gently until rice is almost done, similar to the consistency of al dente pasta 10.  Pour rice into strainer and rinse with water 11.  Using same pot that you boiled the rice in (using a pot that is wide is better since you’ll be able to put more of the potato slices on the bottom), add about 1 T of oil and sprinkle some salt on top of the oil, swishing around to mix 12.  Add the sliced potatoes to the bottom of the pot---this is for your tadiq, the crispy potato on the bottom of the pot, or add your tortilla to the bottom of the pot 13.  Scoop a layer of rice into the pot on top of the potato slices or tortilla, about 1 inch layer 14.  Sprinkle some of the zereshk mix on top of the layer of rice 15.  Add another layer of rice, 1-2 inches and sprinkle with zereksh.  Continue this layering until you have no more ingredients and end with a rice layer on top 16.  Poke holes in your mountain of rice with the end of your ladle/spoon/scooper, about 4-5 to let the steam out when cooking rice 17.  Put pot back on low-ish heat (my stove goes from 1-8 and I put it on 4 if I’m using potato in the bottom of the pot or 3.5 if I’m using tortilla in the bottom of the pot) and cover with a lid 18.  After about 10 minutes, when you see some steam starting to form in the pot, or condensation on the lid, drizzle about 1 T of melted butter onto the rice 19.  Before putting lid back on, take 2 paper towels, one on top of the other, and place on the top of the pot before putting lid back on.  Make sure that the paper towels aren’t touching the rice, you just want them to be on the very top of the pot.  This helps to absorb some of the moisture from steaming. 20.  Steam rice for another 15-20 minutes or so until rice tastes done (is the right consistency, not al dente anymore), you can also gently stick a fork down the side of the pot and lift the rice a bit to make sure the tadiq (potato or tortilla) is crispy and golden brown, if not then steam for a little longer until tadiq is crispy 21.  When done steaming, remove pot from heat, stir rice together to mix zereshk into rice and put onto a platter 22.  Grind saffron (depending on your preference, maybe 1/8 or ¼ t) with mortar and pestle until it’s a fine powder, mix with about 1 T of warm water in a small bowl or coffee mug 23.  Add about ¾-1 cup of rice to saffron/water mix and stir together to get the rice nice and yellow 24.  Sprinkle this saffron rice on the top of the rice on the platter and top with extra zereshk if you have some 25.  arrange the crispy potato or tortilla tadiq around edge of platter as show in picture above  The Best Vanilla Cupcakes from this amazing website The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe Yield: 16 cupcakes 1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar 1 vanilla bean 1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour, not self-rising 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature 2 large eggs, room temperature 1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml) 1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. (For those of you who are new to using vanilla beans, check out this video to learn how to get the seeds out of the bean.) Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  It's supposed to be that way.) Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.   Also from that website, I got the idea to make strawberry balsamic whipped cream to top the cupcakes.  Here is the recipe: 2 C heavy cream 1/2 C sugar (or more depending on your preference) 3 T balsamic vinegar Combine cream, sugar, balsamic in a large bowl or stand mixer Beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes until soft peaks form I then added some chopped strawberries and folded into the whipped cream.  You can use frozen or fresh strawberries, whatever you have available.  You can also add more or less sugar and/or balsamic depending on your taste preference. I also made raspberry buttercream frosting for these cupcakes, from this blog: 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened 1/2 t salt 1 1/4 C powdered sugar 1/2 C raspberry sauce 1/2 C raspberries 2 t sugar 1 t freshly squeezed lemon Combine 1/2 cup raspberries, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.  Stir frequently until juices begin to boil.  Allow the sauce to thicken up by allowing it to boil for an additional 2 minutes.  Cool in refrigerator for about 15 minutes. After raspberry sauce has cooled, beat butter, 3/4 C of powdered sugar and salt until smooth. Add the cooled raspberry sauce to the mixer bowl, along with the remaining powdered sugar, a bit at a time.   Pipe or spread buttercream onto cooled cupcakes

this is zereshk polo---a persian dish of rice with barberries so it's tart and delicious.  i usually just throw this together so i will do my best to remember the measurements.  

Serves 6-ish?

Ingredients

2 cups basmati rice

1-11/2 cups zereshk (barberries—you can buy them in Persian or middle eastern stores)

About 1/8-1/4 teaspoon saffron

1 T butter

Sugar

½ Onion, chopped

Polo (rice) seasoning (also from persian or middle eastern store)

Salt

Vegetable oil

Potato (peeled and sliced into ¼-1/2 inch slices lengthwise) or flour tortilla

Instructions:

1. Soak rice (with 2 T of salt) for a few hours, at least one hour if in a hurry

2. Rinse zereshk and make sure there are no stones or pieces of stem

3. Heat oil on medium, about 1 T in a frying pan and add onion, frying until soft

4. Add zereshk and fry with onion, adding a little oil if needed

5. After zereshk is soft (about 5 minutes or so), add enough sugar to sweeten up the zereshk (you can do this to taste, I like the zereshk to be a little bit tart, so I don’t add a ton of sugar, maybe a few tablespoons)

6. Stir in 1-11/2 T of polo seasoning and a tiny bit of ground saffron or turmeric, stir all together and remove zereshk from heat, set aside

7. Boil water for rice, while waiting for water to boil, rinse rice several times

8. Add rice to boiling water, reduce heat to medium high

9. Boil gently until rice is almost done, similar to the consistency of al dente pasta

10.  Pour rice into strainer and rinse with water

11.  Using same pot that you boiled the rice in (using a pot that is wide is better since you’ll be able to put more of the potato slices on the bottom), add about 1 T of oil and sprinkle some salt on top of the oil, swishing around to mix

12.  Add the sliced potatoes to the bottom of the pot---this is for your tadiq, the crispy potato on the bottom of the pot, or add your tortilla to the bottom of the pot

13.  Scoop a layer of rice into the pot on top of the potato slices or tortilla, about 1 inch layer

14.  Sprinkle some of the zereshk mix on top of the layer of rice

15.  Add another layer of rice, 1-2 inches and sprinkle with zereksh.  Continue this layering until you have no more ingredients and end with a rice layer on top

16.  Poke holes in your mountain of rice with the end of your ladle/spoon/scooper, about 4-5 to let the steam out when cooking rice

17.  Put pot back on low-ish heat (my stove goes from 1-8 and I put it on 4 if I’m using potato in the bottom of the pot or 3.5 if I’m using tortilla in the bottom of the pot) and cover with a lid

18.  After about 10 minutes, when you see some steam starting to form in the pot, or condensation on the lid, drizzle about 1 T of melted butter onto the rice

19.  Before putting lid back on, take 2 paper towels, one on top of the other, and place on the top of the pot before putting lid back on.  Make sure that the paper towels aren’t touching the rice, you just want them to be on the very top of the pot.  This helps to absorb some of the moisture from steaming.

20.  Steam rice for another 15-20 minutes or so until rice tastes done (is the right consistency, not al dente anymore), you can also gently stick a fork down the side of the pot and lift the rice a bit to make sure the tadiq (potato or tortilla) is crispy and golden brown, if not then steam for a little longer until tadiq is crispy

21.  When done steaming, remove pot from heat, stir rice together to mix zereshk into rice and put onto a platter

22.  Grind saffron (depending on your preference, maybe 1/8 or ¼ t) with mortar and pestle until it’s a fine powder, mix with about 1 T of warm water in a small bowl or coffee mug

23.  Add about ¾-1 cup of rice to saffron/water mix and stir together to get the rice nice and yellow

24.  Sprinkle this saffron rice on the top of the rice on the platter and top with extra zereshk if you have some

25.  arrange the crispy potato or tortilla tadiq around edge of platter as show in picture above 

The Best Vanilla Cupcakes
from this amazing website
The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake Recipe

Yield: 16 cupcakes

• 1 cup (225 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 3/4 cups (175 grams) cake flour, not self-rising
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup (75 grams) full-fat sour cream
• 1/4 cup canola oil or vegetable oil (60 ml)
• 1 tablespoon pure (not imitation) vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (160 ml) whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C).
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and seeds from the vanilla bean. (For those of you who are new to using vanilla beans, check out this video to learn how to get the seeds out of the bean.)
3. Using the back of a spoon, move around the bowl and apply pressure to break up any clumps of seeds and to better infuse the vanilla flavor into the sugar. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
5. Add the vanilla bean sugar and mix until well combined.
6. Add butter and mix on medium-low speed for three minutes.  Because there is so little butter, you'll end up with a very fine crumb texture.
7. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream, oil, and vanilla extract until smooth.
8. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined.
9. Slowly add milk and mix on low speed until just combined.  The batter will be liquid.  (Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong.  It's supposed to be that way.)
10. Fill cupcake liners just over 1/2 full.
11. Bake for 14 minutes and then test to see if they are done. They are done when a toothpick comes out without wet batter stuck to it.  The cupcakes should appear white with specks of vanilla bean. They should not turn a golden brown.  If they are not done, test again in two minutes.  If they are still not done, test again in another two minutes.
12. When the cupcakes are done, remove them immediately from the tins and leave them on a cooling rack (or just on your counter if you don't own a cooling rack) to cool.  

Also from that website, I got the idea to make strawberry balsamic whipped cream to top the cupcakes.  Here is the recipe:

• 2 C heavy cream
• 1/2 C sugar (or more depending on your preference)
• 3 T balsamic vinegar

1. Combine cream, sugar, balsamic in a large bowl or stand mixer
2. Beat on medium speed for about 5 minutes until soft peaks form

I then added some chopped strawberries and folded into the whipped cream.  You can use frozen or fresh strawberries, whatever you have available.  You can also add more or less sugar and/or balsamic depending on your taste preference.

I also made raspberry buttercream frosting for these cupcakes, from this blog:

• 1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 1/4 C powdered sugar
• 1/2 C raspberry sauce
• 1/2 C raspberries
• 2 t sugar
• 1 t freshly squeezed lemon

1. Combine 1/2 cup raspberries, 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a small saucepan and place over medium heat.  Stir frequently until juices begin to boil.  Allow the sauce to thicken up by allowing it to boil for an additional 2 minutes.  Cool in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
2. After raspberry sauce has cooled, beat butter, 3/4 C of powdered sugar and salt until smooth.
3. Add the cooled raspberry sauce to the mixer bowl, along with the remaining powdered sugar, a bit at a time.  
4. Pipe or spread buttercream onto cooled cupcakes