No Knead Bread

Before the wedding, I saw more than one blog post on bread. Specifically, this NY Times no-knead recipe. Of course, reading about multiple experiences making it is like having your own test kitchen. Then, you're left with the easiest and most efficient method.

Enter the magical Kitchen Aid mixer. Oh, how you make my life easy.

Yes you can make this without it, but seriously it's pretty awesome.

I used 50/50 whole wheat flour and bread flour. Now I can't for the life of me find where I got this brilliant idea. But in general, we buy whole wheat bread, so it only made sense to make it as well. (Note: make sure the bread you are buying lists "whole wheat flour" as the first ingredient. Otherwise, you're just buying really dark white bread.)

There are a lot of different types of flour. When in doubt, or if you just don't care that much, stick with all-purpose. I can't say that the difference is that big.

Step one is to mix everything together and let it rise. This is the worst part, because it takes about a day (and I want bread now!!). But rise it will.

Step two is to put it on your counter and play with it a little, then let it rest. In hindsight, doing this on a cutting board would make way more sense. Next time.


Bake.


The end.

{edit: I have since made this again for a total of three loaves. It is really, really, really good. It makes me feel all wife-y. And then I went to the nexus of evil (Trader Joe's) and discovered double cream brie. And now I weigh a lot. The end.}

Blueberry Muffins

The thing that makes me sad about muffins is that they tend to have so, so many calories. Basically, a muffin is a little cake. A little cake innocently looking up at you from its paper cup, telling you it's a viable breakfast option.

Since berries are in season, the SparkRecipes of the day have been berry-related for a little while. I filed away this recipe for blueberry muffins until I was ready and willing to blow most of my pint of breakfast cereal blueberries on it.

Things were going just fine until I started putting the batter into the cups. It had the consistency of ... thick paste (description edited for minimal stomach turning).

"Alright ... 4 stars? Featured in an email? They wouldn't lead me so astray, would they?"


Yes, they look good, don't they? I really wanted to like them. Really. I tried to tell myself I should have been rougher mixing in the blueberries so that they would have exploded and mixed in more, since they're basically the sugar in the recipe.

No. No, no, no. By the time I got to the last one (of which I think some of the blueberries had rotten less than a week later and almost threw up), I caved: they're putrid. They're dry, bitter, doughy, and heaven forbid you take a bite with that one, inevitable bitter blueberry.

No diet is worth that.

Macaroons

I was in need of a nice gift for Father's Day. We haven't gotten all the pictures from the wedding yet, so a photo for his frame (a wedding gift) was out. Cookies were out too, since my dad never worked a job where he required a suit, tie, and calculator, and doesn't golf. And mail-order pies are incredibly difficult to find.

Hm.

Not long before I got married the big wedding thing to have was Parisian macaroons from this super fancy company in France. And while these are lovely, of course, it was always the same: intrepid bride decides she must have French macaroons at her wedding. Bride discovers international shipping prices. Bride decides to make them herself. Bride chucks it and has regular cake like everyone else (and everyone is the happier for it).

Therefore the only two things these stories have in common are 1) I needed a shippable gift and 2) I wanted to make these cookies.

These cookies are basically air. Fabulous, fabulous air. I've used Martha's recipe before, and it worked out just fine. Unlike the madelines, this time I have better help:

Start with aged egg whites. I don't have proof that the aging makes a difference. Whip the whites until they're "foamy." You must use an electric mixer or you will drive yourself batty. Just trust me on this one.


Next, the instructions say gradually add the sugar. If by "gradually," they mean "dump in all at once while the mixer is off so sugar doesn't spray all over the kitchen," then yes. Do that. This is where you're going to start looking for those infamous stiff peaks, although it'll take a good 5 minutes to get there.


See? Air.

Next, you'll add some sugar and almond flour. Note: despite having made these before, and actually reading about the best way to make these, I never actually read the words almond flour. I read crushed up almonds. So, I went to the apex of evil (Trader Joe's) and got some almond meal. This is why mine look kind of funky and yours will look amazing.

There are some long, drawn out directions on how to bake these. I actually piped them this time, which was a dumb idea. First, my tip wasn't wide enough and the random larger almond chunks clogged it. Second, unless you're working at a bakery, do your cookies really have to be perfect 1" disks? No.

And yes, 1" really is kind of small. They sure don't look that small in the pictures.



Let those hang out for a while. They'll harden, almost like they're already cooked. But they're not! Remember? You let those raw egg whites sit out for 24-36 hours. Gross.

While they're baking for a brief amount of time, you might want to mix up some filling. The possibilities are crazy; a lot of flavors will work with these since they're just a light, sweet little fluff of a cookie. I made up a batch of frosting as I learned from my cake decorating class, because I knew it would ship well. But if you're going to keep them around a refrigerator, a lot more will work.

I made plain white icing and spooned out a bunch to mix with lemon zest and yellow gel. Lemon juice would have been better but I wasn't sure the juice would make it cross-country. Then I scooped out some and mixed in some buttercream flavoring (also for shipping purposes). Finally, I dumped some cocoa powder into the remaining and made chocolate. Sweet, amazing, fudgy chocolate. Guess which one came out the best?

Et voila! Mini burgers!

Mmm, homemade beef & broccoli from scratch ...

HA! Just kidding. I used a packet. But it's honestly the best packet ever (and I've tried others).

Hmm. I wonder how hard it is to really make it from scratch ...

Madelines

"...the smallest of which, is Madeline."

The Madeline books are just about the cutest kid's books ever. And it seems somehow very appropriate that the cookies are as bright yellow as her little outfit.

You can get madelines at Starbucks, but I think they're something like 2/$1. Boo. But why? This is the downside of cooking: you discover that something is terribly easy to make yourself, and when you make it just as you like it, it's hard to go out and buy it.

With a lovely new madeline pan calling to me, I searched for and used this recipe. Not one of my usual sites, but who doesn't love a little history with their recipes? Here I learned that really, these are cookies only in size. They're more like a lighter mini pound cake.

It seems like a lot of French recipes call for making a merengue. Not that I'm complaining; after some practice and a fancy mixer it gets easier (one of my tricks is a little salt really seems to speed things up).

Apparently that lump in the middle is a good thing. Hooray for getting it right on the first try!

These will stick, so I broke out the cake release. And, as expected, it made the shell side a little crispy in a very, very good way.

In the greater scheme of things, these were pretty easy to make. They're quick to make, and yet look like you spent an awful lot of time on them. Great for a fancy party!

Oh yeah, and they taste great too.

New & Improved Emily 2.0

After much waiting and checking bank statements for a cashed check, our marriage certificate(s) finally came in the mail. Andy had called the office and a recording said that it would take 20 working days to get them, not including mailing time. Since Memorial day was in there, I think it did take exactly 20 working days. But, they were delivered the day after they were mailed. Oy.

Friday I finally decided enough was enough and I'd take the afternoon off to get this settled. It's really, really awful feeling in between names. You don't realize how much your name is a part of you, until it's not your name.

I planned the trip out as best I could with rather short notice. You can, apparently, make an appointment at the social security office just like you can at the DMV. I didn't know that, much less did I do it early enough to reserve a time that would work.

When you get married and decide to change your name, the first stop is social security. (The rest is a little fuzzy because it's however you get around to it). Social security is pretty much what you would expect: not in a nice neighborhood, and full of old people paired up with almost equally old caretakers. Of course, everyone there knew you go to this ATM sort of thing, press a button for your issue, and get a number. Once I figured this out I pulled out my book and waited about 45 minutes.

There is a pretty simple form involved, and you need to show your "legal documents" (read: marriage certificate) and two forms of ID. The social security office does not accept a social security card as ID. I, of course, brought everything. The clerk looked at my license, passport, and certificate, and handed them straight back to me, then kept my SS-5 form and typed around a little. No questions, nothing. They didn't even keep a copy of the certificate! I signed a confirmation (signed with my new name, which is always confusing). The whole thing took less than five minutes so I can't imagine what kind of issues people have that made me have to wait 45.

At this point, you are no longer who you were before. Everything after this point is "correcting" the name on your stuff. The fact that it's so simple to do but has so much impact is kind of mindblowing.

I was on a tight time schedule as it was after 4 and the DMV closed at 5. (I heard later that some DMVs are closing earlier, or certain days of the week, or the whole summer because of budgets, so I consider myself really, really lucky.)

And the line was out the door.

So I go in, wait in line with an entirely different slice of humanity (a teddy bear tattoo with the name "Bobo" and a woman in nothing but shorts and a sports bra). It was probably similar wait before I got to the counter to explain myself. Of course I'm all ready with my folder of info like those perky cheerful hyper-organized brides and their binders.

Me: "Hello, I'd like to change my name on my license and also my car title." (thank you, Andy, for bringing that to my attention! do them both at the same time.)
Clerk: "How are you changing it?"
Me: "Oh, I'm just changing my last name."
Clerk: "No, how are you changing it?"
Me: "Um, to my husband's last name?"

Ladies: the correct answer to this question is by marriage. They don't care if you're changing your name to Princess Bananahammock, they want to know by what method. Sheepishly showing them your marriage certificate will also answer this question. (And as a disturbing aside, Firefox does not recognize "bananahammock" as a misspelled word.)

The form to change your name on your car title is available online but you have to fill out the form to change your license at the DMV and sign it in front of a clerk. You can also change your voter registration with this form (cool!). It's free to change your car title, but $22 to get a new license. On the other hand, if you needed a reason to get married but didn't have a good one, you get a new driver's license picture. They even let me smile this time. I'm glad I wore a nice shirt.

When I got in the car, it was exactly 5:00. I had a nice dinner in downtown El Segundo with my husband to celebrate.

Cumin Chicken with Black Beans

I saw this recipe on Real Simple via ... something. It was billed as less-carby, quick, and easy. My favorite!

I didn't pound the chicken, but I did try to keep the cumin-cayenne proportions right. It didn't seem like much. But, I'm only newly graduated from cooking with garlic salt as my main flavor source. Plus, I didn't have very much in the way of "pan drippings." I don't like to cook with a lot of oil.


Looks good, right? The cheese on top was all me. Mmmm ... cheese.

I expected a lot more flavor out of it. Cumin has a really strong smell, but in my opinion, not a strong flavor. So it tasted like chicken, corn, and black beans (and snow peas making a guest appearance). But, maybe it was like thinking you were drinking milk when really, it's water in your cup. I was expecting a spicy Mexican flavor; this didn't have much at all.

If I were to make this again (and I might, as I like black beans, corn and chicken), I'd do a 50/50 mix of spices, and more of them. Also, some chicken broth would be a nice light way to flavor the bean mix.

Since the recipe didn't work out quite as anticipated, I'd label this a fail with potential redemption.