One Pan Spanish Chicken and Rice. One Pot Italian Chicken and Rice. Chicken Cacciatore. Cheesy Garlic Butter Mushroom Stuffed Chicken. French Onion Stuffed Chicken. Caprese Stuffed Balsamic Chicken. Balsamic Baked Chicken Breast With Mozzarella Cheese. Creamy Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff. Chicken Stroganoff. Sausage Rolls. Apple cider caramels. So, friends.
Yesterday was the day, the day that that the 336-page, 2.8-pound bundle of joy that I began working on over three years ago tip-toed cautiously out of my tiny kitchen in hopes that you’ll make a home for it in yours. You know, so, no big deal at all. What’s in the book? Seeing as I already showed you the cover, I thought I’d show you what the book looked like naked. (Gasp!) As you can imagine, yesterday didn’t exactly go the way we had in mind. In the last few months, I’ve been asked a few times if I have a favorite recipe in the book. To make them, you take a quart of fresh apple cider and boil and boil it until it is a slip of its original volume, just syrupy apple impact. Thank you: I’ve gotten so many kind, wonderful notes in the last couple asking as to our safety and also from many of your who already received your books and are cooking from them.
Apple Cider Caramels From The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook Note: You can watch an Instagram Story demo of this recipe over here. Bretzel rolls. Oh, my lovely bretzels!
What happened to you? When we went to bed last night, you were the absolute height of bretzel perfection: round, dark, shiny, speckled with tiny cubes of sea salt and popping out from your plus signs, as if your goodness inside was just too much for you, also, to bear. This morning, you are damp, your exterior has shrunk a little and your salt particles wish to slide off your crust.
Carrot cake pancakes. [Note: This recipe got fresh photos in 2019 and it’s a very good thing.]
Twice-baked shortbread. [Note: The shortbread got some fresh photos in 2019.]
I spend much too much time trying to figure out why some recipes we try out burn a hole in my laptop until I can get them up on the site–sometimes, even a day seems too long to keep something from you, like last week’s soup–and why others can linger for months. Sometimes, I’m just not that into them, but don’t want to admit it publicly and perhaps hurt their feelings, or even yours, if you happen to fall for them. Other times, the pictures just came out horrendously, and oh, we all know an ugly-looking recipe is a hard sell (sorry, big-name food magazine whose October cover picture actually convinced me to not buy it). But then there are times that it is none of the above–the recipe was good, the photos were acceptable and there’s not a single good reason for me not to pass the word on, and yet, three months later, here is this Zucchini Rice Gratin. Twice Baked Shortbread: Oh, this one is crazy delicious too. Even more perfect blueberry muffins. [Get the recipe for Even More Perfect Blueberry Muffins right here] Since we rolled out the redesign, I’ve been flagging recipes in the archives I can’t stand looking at the pictures of anymore with plans to reshoot them.
The perfect blueberry muffins were on this list except on my way to prettying them up, I made four other recipes first. Why make four other batches of blueberry muffins when you already have a favorite, is a pretty reasonable question, only if you’ve never shopped for jeans before even while wearing the pair you like most… or ordered steak at a restaurant besides the place you think makes it best. What I mean is, when a lot of people say “but the steak/jeans/cake here are amazing!”
It’s hard not to wonder if maybe they’re onto something. Pumpkin muffins. See, now I’m a girl who keeps my promises, eh?
About everything but picking up the dry-cleaning, at least. As I expected, these pumpkin muffins were a cinch, which is good, because I expect that from my muffins. They should max out at two bowls for prep, you should be able to mix them by hand and there shouldn’t be any excessively difficult steps. Blackberry and coconut macaroon tart. For the last few weeks, I’ve been going nuts as it feels like every single person I know that has a food blog, has read a food blog, is a fan of food blogs or eats food itself has been gushing over Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks new book, Super Natural Everyday.
But not me! Because although I pre-ordered mine in early March, it didn’t arrive for what felt like an eternity. Every morning, me and my tiny partner in crime would take the elevator (always his favorite part of the day) down to the basement, where unclaimed packages often linger by the Super’s apartment and came back empty handed. Then we would sigh, get to work load up Twitter on my laptop and read that another two friends were gushing over a book I was being cruelly deprived of and shake our tiny fists at the Amazon Gods and cry, “Why must you make us wait?!” Neither of us are very good at waiting, you see. And it was absolutely worth the wait. Raspberry coconut macaroons. Every year around this time, behind the scenes, I go through my annual Macaroon Marathon, in which I decimate bags and bags of coconut in an effort to find a variation on the lowly macaroon worth noting, publicly.
As evidenced by the fact that my archives are virtually coconut macaroon-free, I hadn’t thus far succeeded. But it wasn’t for lack of trying. Dark chocolate coconut macaroons. 2014 has been mostly about the chocolate thus far, which is the kind of thing that happens when you outsource what-to-cook-next decisions to my husband and his Mini-Me.
We bounced from Chocolate Hazelnut Linzer Hearts to Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake before landing on a Double Chocolate Banana Bread which, even a month later leads to the weekly “accidental” purchase of way more bananas that we’d ever eat, so we “have” to make more, no violins necessary. Thus, it would be easy to blame the boys in my family for what I did to an innocent coconut macaroon — that is, saddling it with not one but two types of chocolate, until it was intensely fudgy and brownie-like with an almost gooey center, seriously why aren’t you baking these yet? — but guys, this was all me. Because although I do not share my family’s perspective that if it’s not chocolate, it’s not worth eating, I feel adamant that if you’re going to eat chocolate, it should really, really taste like chocolate. Related. Gluten-free chocolate financiers. A firm believer in the jinx-ing gods, I always pause before I say these kinds of things, but I have a pretty good life both out- and inside of the kitchen.
Food is my friend. The only things holding me back from eating everything and anything in the whole world are, in descending order, my pickiness and my waistband. I don’t know what it means to have food make me consistently sick. (Well, except Spaghetti Carbonara. Wild mushroom and stilton galette. 2019 updates: I’ve sped up the galette dough process, putting it in line with my other galette recipes. As for the mushrooms, I buy a pound of whatever looks good. Sometimes I’ll use a full pound of brown (cremini) and it works as well.
For the pastry 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour1/4 teaspoon salt8 tablespoons (1/2 cup, 4 ounces, or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces1/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt2 teaspoons lemon juice1/4 cup ice water For the filling 1/4 ounce dried wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles, porcini or shiitakes1 cup boiling water2 tablespoons unsalted butter3/4 cup sliced green onions1 garlic clove, minced1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme1/2 pound assorted fresh wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles, porcini and shiitakes, brushed clean and large mushrooms thinly sliced1/2 pound fresh button mushrooms, brushed clean and thinly slicedKosher salt and freshly ground black pepper5 ounces Stilton or other good-quality blue cheese. Carrot graham layer cake. It has been 1 year, 6 months and 6 days since I last shared a recipe for a stacked, filled, and unconscionably indulgent layer cake on this site, an unforgivable oversight on my part.
I certainly haven’t gone that long without sharing any cake recipes — I’m not a monster — but sometimes you need more than an Everyday Cake. Sometimes you need a great big celebratory ta-da in the center of your table. Sometime like now. Because the pastel-ed idea, if not the outdoor temperatures, of spring seems to have infected my existence and I’m not even fighting it — my nails are a shade of pink that can only describe as “bunny nose,” I, someone who mostly lives in variations of black and gray, just bought a patterned and brightly colored dress, we’ve had asparagus twice this month, unable to wait any longer for it to emerge from local soil, and my hands are stained orange from all of the carrots I’ve grated into cake week.
Around here, these are the harbingers of spring. Pear and almond tart. A lot more than anyone should, I fixate on Paris. It’s not just that we got engaged there, returned a little over a year later just because we missed it and scheme to find a way to expat ourselves there one day or at least for a couple years; no, that would be too obvious.
My obsession lies with the fact that, as with all things we pine for, the grass just seems so much greener over there, from the Velib bikes to the old buildings which are never crushed to make room for fugly glass and concrete monoliths, and do I even need to get started about the respect given to artisan crafts from pastry to bread baking? As someone who delights in making elaborate cakes, but also advises people to only choose one plat de resistance when entertaining, this captivated me. French women, says Dorie, keep it simple when they bake at home, and they’re not afraid to use bits and pieces purchased elsewhere–a tart dough, some prepared fruit, almond paste–to get the job done. 1. 2. 3. 4.
Twinkie bundt. As one does, I first spied a Twinkie Bundt on Pinterest a few weeks ago and immediately became consumed with making my own primarily because it’s spectacularly fun to say and also call someone, maybe or maybe not as a compliment. [As you can infer, we really like to flex our maturity at the Smitten Kitchen.] The recipe turned out to hail from the talented food blogger and cookbook author Shauna Sever‘s book, Pure Vanilla, but as I am stubborn, I wanted to go in my own direction with it as I have a buttermilk bundt I’m rather fond of and a simple marshmallow frosting that we could use instead of the jarred marshmallow filling suggested. If only things were this simple! So, Twinkie “investigated” and disposed of (or not; I admit nothing/regret everything) I concluded that my plans were on the right path and from there, everything went south.
Winter squash pancakes with crispy sage and brown butter. I prefer my own winter squash pancake — a little more squash, less flour and an additional egg to help it set — recipe but the crispy sage brown butter is inspired by a Mimi Thorisson version (link to come once site is back online). Thorisson recommends 5+ tablespoons butter but I found even 2, or even “2-ish” makes a finish that trickles over the side of a stack just enough that you can taste and enjoy it but not drown in richness, definitely adjust to your taste. Finally, I can just about guarantee that you will not regret if you double this recipe. The pancakes keep well in the fridge and can also be frozen.
Pancakes 1 cup (8 to 8 1/4 ounces) roasted and mashed winter squash1/3 cup (80 grams) yogurt or sour cream2 large eggs1/2 cup (about 30 grams) finely grated gruyere, comte or parmesan3/4 teaspoon fine sea or table saltA few grinds of black pepper1 teaspoon baking powder1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flourButter or olive oil for frying pan. Sunken black forest cake. This recipe is adapted from the flourless chocolate cake in the Buvette cookbook, a project Turshen worked on. Chocolate babka. If you’ve ever tried to recreate something you loved when you were growing up in your own kitchen, you know how difficult it can to match your taste memory to the reality of ingredients and step-by-step directions.
Better chocolate babka. Inadvertently, this has become Festivus week on Smitten Kitchen, wherein I air my grievances at past recipes and exhibit what I hope can be passed off as “feats of strength” in reformulating them for modern times. Bialy babka. What does one do with a bialy babka? Sour cream and chive fantails. Matcha White Chocolate Brownies - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Dakgangjeong - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. You know the feeling when watching your favorite TV cooking show and cannot stop drooling over the food. As a result, this dakgangjeong recipe was inspired by binge watching a South Korean reality variety show called Youn’s Restaurant.
In its season 2, they opened a small Korean restaurant in Spain for a few days. Almond Miso Oatmeal Cookies - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Miso and cookies are probably two things you would have never thought to put together. It might sound like a weird combination, but these Almond Miso Oatmeal Cookies can be a proof that they can go well together. These cookies come out crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, with salty and nutty flavor addition from white miso paste.
These cookies definitely taste like a cross between miso soup and salted caramel in a good way since I use some light brown sugar to give the caramel flavor. No-Bake Avocado Lime Cheesecake - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. It was my friend’s birthday few weeks ago. So, I decided to be crafty by incorporating his favorite meal in the morning, which is avocado to a cake.
Basque Burnt Cheesecake - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Basque Burnt Cheesecake has been so popular recently with burnt looking exterior and jiggly custardy center. Do not be intimidated with the burnt top because it is the best part of this cheesecake. Korean Fried Chicken Cake - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Kimchi Kimbap - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Rice Cake Churros - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Dorayaki - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Potato Doughnuts Recipe - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Mitarashi Dango - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Strawberry Mochi - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Pesto Babka Buns - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Matcha Shortbread Cookies - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Cheese Hotteok - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Sweet Potato Casserole Boats (1 Pan!) Sweet Potato Almond Butter Muffins. Sweet Potato Muffins with Walnut Streusel.
Healthy Chocolate Chip Avocado Muffins. Paleo Lemon Poppyseed Muffins - The Healthy Maven. Gluten-Free Cranberry Walnut Loaf. Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Tahini - The Healthy Maven. Chickpea Blondies - The Healthy Maven. Chickpea Blondies - The Healthy Maven. Korean Veggie Burgers - The Healthy Maven. Leftover Turkey Salad [with Cranberry Sauce!] - The Healthy Maven.
Carrot Cake Baked Oatmeal Bars - The Healthy Maven. Korean Sticky Chicken Recipe - Pickled Plum Food And Drinks. Baked Breaded Tofu Chicken (Vegan) - Pickled Plum Food And Drinks. Tofu Chocolate Mousse - Pickled Plum Food And Drinks. Croque monsieur recipe - BBC Food. Omurice - オムライス - Pickled Plum Food And Drinks. Kimchi Pancake or Kimchi Jeon (김치전) - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Kimchi Fried Rice - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Rabokki - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Thyme Lemonade - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Beef Mentaiko Rice Bowl - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Spiral Curry Puffs with Japanese Curry Filling - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. No-Bake Avocado Lime Cheesecake - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Steamed Carrot Cake - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Pandan Coconut Ice Cream - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Miso Ice Cream - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Steamed Chocolate Cream Cheese Layered Cake - Jaja Bakes.
Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Thai Tea Ice Cream - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Korean Fried Chicken Cake - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Kimbap - Jaja Bakes - jajabakes.com. Baked Chilaquiles Verde With Eggs. Butter Tart Ice Cream.