Tea Infused Butter

I've been talking about it for months...baking with tea. For those of you here in NYC you know that tea is HUGE. I mean, everywhere you turn there are tea baked goods. Small, local shops. Big, more trendy corporate tea houses. Everywhere you turn, a new tea boutique. (well...maybe it's not THAT big. That may just be wishful thinking on my behalf).

So, I've been wondering "How do you make these delicious tea treats?". The decision I came to, and will blog more about, is that infusing butter might just be a good starting place. Extract all the tea-y goodness from the leaves into your butter and then use this. The theory that I'm working under is that in lighter flavored treats (shortbreads, yellow cupcakes, perhaps sugar cookies?, please post suggestions...) will take that tea flavor now in the butter and run with it.

Infusing the butter is a fairly simple process so, here you have it:

Tea Infused Butter
Prep Time: 3 1/2 minutes
Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Total Time: about 15 minutes plus cooling

Ingredients

• 1 Stick of Butter (8 TBS)**
• 8 - 14 tsp tea (depending on how strong you want it)

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan.
2. Add tea directly to the butter, simmer for about 5 minutes.
3. Remove butter/tea concoction from the heat and let steep for an additional 5 minutes, until the butter is tinted by the tea.
4. Pour butter/tea mixture through a sieve, squeezing as much butter from the tea as possible.
5. Let cool to room temperature and use as you normally would in your baked goods!!

**A few Notes:
For a recipe calling for multiple sticks of butter, just multiply the recipe.

There is a certain amount of butter that you will lose as it will stick to the tea leaves. One
cup of this recipe (2 sticks of butter) will actually yield closer to 3/4 cup of butter. Keep
this in mind and make a little more butter than you think you will need!!

Enjoy!

Yellow Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting

Happy June everybody!! The sun is shining through the trees leaving me in a dappled sunlight and good spirits (for the most part) this June morning. Yesterday I was looking to make something to take to a Memorial Day shindig and so I feel back on cupcakes...because that is my go-to dessert. Who doesn't love a cupcake? (I mean...there are people, I don't think I care much about them...)

Now, I've never been a big fan of yellow cupcakes. They often are dry and tasteless. They are actually quite easy to over-mix (a problem I had yesterday). But this recipe (despite my over mixing) had a wonderful buttery taste with a hint of delicious vanilla.

I must admit that I had an ulterior motive for trying this particular recipe yesterday. I wanted to find a good base for my tea experiments and I think this cupcake will be perfect for flavoring with my infused butter concoctions that I will be creating.

The coffee buttercream comes from my favorite frosting recipe, which is extremely versatile. This time around it did not disappoint!! It actually goes quite well with this delicate, buttery cupcake.

So, if you need something quick and a little simple go ahead and take a batch of these in. I promise, they are not your average yellow cupcake.

Easy Yellow Cupcakes with Coffee Buttercream Frosting
adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 18 - 22 minutes
Total Time: about 45 minutes, plus cooling
Yields: 24 medium-sized cupcakes

Ingredients (Cupcakes)

• 3 cups of cake flour (If you don't have cake flour handy, replace 1 cup cake flour with 7/8 cup all-purpose flour and 2 TBS cornstarch)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 12 TBS (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted & cooled
• 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Ingredients (Frosting):

• 2 TBS heavy cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 TBS instant espresso (or 4 tsp instant coffee)
• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two muffin tins with cupcake liners.
2. Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda together in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the sugar until combined. Whisk in the melted butter in three additions, until completely combined. Whisk in the buttermilk.
4. Sift one third of the flour mixture over the batter and whisk it in (there should still be a few streaks of flour remaining). Repeat twice with the remaining flour mixture and continue to whisk the batter gently until most of the lumps are gone. DO NOT OVER MIX.
   
5. Fill the cupcake liners about two-thirds full. Bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out with a few crumbs attached, 18 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.
6. Let the cupcakes cool in the pans on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Remove from the pans and let cool completely on the racks before frosting, about 1 hour.

MEANWHILE ... make the frosting while the cupcakes cool:

1. Stir the cream, vanilla, salt & coffee or espresso together in a small bowl until the salt dissolves.
2. Beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, 30 to 60 seconds.
3. Reduce the speed to medium-low, slowly add the confectioners' sugar, and beat until smooth, 2 to 5 minutes.
4. Beat in the cream mixture. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, 4 to 8 minutes.

Enjoy!!

Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

With some free time on my hands I've decided to give some new recipes a try. In the coming week (or weeks ... depends how much time I have on my hands!) I'm finally going to delve into recipe testing some new items for myself. I have grand dreams of infusing butter with tea and seeing what that will bring me.

In the meantime ... I had to try out a new recipe I came across in my reading. If you check my blog at all, or know me, you've probably realized that I borrow recipes from a lot of other bloggers. Some are better than others. This one ... the crisp salted oatmeal white chocolate cookies ... is like crack. Seriously. I was skeptical. I have some variations I'd love to try , but that will probably wait until after I get through this tea phase I've been dying to try.

This recipe compliments itself rather nicely with the combination of white chocolate & salt. The cookies are, in fact, somewhat crispy ... which is just lovely. They're easy and quick, I mean, what more could you want in a cookie? If you need something to whip up to take to your Memorial Day party tomorrow I would say whip a batch of these up and you won't be sorry!!

Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies
(yes, the name is long but descriptive!)
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: 12 - 15 minutes
Yields: 24 good size cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 6 ounces good-quality white chocolate, chopped
• 1/2 tsp seasalt
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and table salt in a medium bowl.
   
2. Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula, then add egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Scrape down bowl again. Add flour mixture gradually and mix until just incorporated and smooth. Gradually add oats and mix until well incorporated. Fold in the chopped up white chocolate until well incorporated.
   
3. Divide dough into 24 equal portions, each about 2 tablespoons. Roll between palms into balls, then place on lined baking sheets about 2 1/2 inches apart. Gently press down each ball to about 3/4-inch thickness.
4. Sprinkle a flake or two of sea salt on each cookie
5. Bake until cookies are deep golden brown, about 13 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack to cool.

These are great dipped in your cup of coffee, with a cup of tea of just by themselves.

Enjoy!!

Toffee Cookies

Who loves toffee? I do! I do!

So, these have quickly become a favorite of mine ... and many people I know. It's a very simple cookie (really just a variation of a chocolate chip cookie), but somehow seems more ... exotic with the addition of toffee rather than the standard chocolate chip.

About a year ago I had much debate as to the best type of coffee to use for this venture and I made two batches, which we had to taste test. I know, a terrible job, right? So I tried both Heath & Score bars. They're pretty much the same, when put in a cookie. I think I liked the Heath slightly better for these purposes, because it has a slightly thicker layer of chocolate which melts nicely into the cookie. Any chocolate covered toffee bar should work nicely.

Okay, without further ado...


Delicious Toffee Cookies

Prep Time: about 10 minutes
From ingredients to plate: about 1 hour 15 minutes
Yields: 3 1/2 - 4 dzn cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups unsifted flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
  
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 4 to 5 toffee bars chopped into small pieces (I use either Heath or Score, though you could use a toffee bar without any chocolate coating)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
   
2. Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.
   
3. In large mixer bowl, cream butter with sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in toffee bits.
   
4. Drop 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie onto ungreased cookie sheets.
5. Bake at 375ºF for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy!!

Double-Crust Pie Dough

I realize every time I make pie that I end up typing out this recipe. It's actually a super simple, really great pie dough recipe. I didn't think I'd be able to make pie crust on my own ... or at least not make it well.

At any rate, I know me, and I wouldn't want to read through a different pie recipe every time I wanted to make pie. And I'm getting tired of putting this in every pie recipe I make. So ... it gets it's own post, and a link from now on.

Good luck with your flaky pie crusts!!

Double-Crust Pie Dough
(courtesy of The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook)

Yields: enough crust for 2-single crust 9" pies, or 1-double crust 9" pie
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 15 minutes (includes 1 hour of chilling time)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out the dough
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 8 TBS vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
• 12 TBS (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
• 6 to 8 TBS ice water

There are two methods here - one is using a food processor, the other is a hand-mixing method. I've only done this by hand.

1. Food processor method: Process the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Scatter the shortening over the top & process until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand, about 10 seconds. Scatter the butter pieces over the top and, using short pulses, process the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a bowl.
2. Hand-Mixing method: Freeze the butter in its stick for until very firm. Whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar and press into the flour, using a fork. Grate the frozen butter on the large holes of a box grater into the flour mixture, then cut the mixture together, using two butter knives or a pastry blender, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Continue for both methods: Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture. Press the dough together, using a stiff rubber spatula until the dough sticks together. If the dough does not come together, stir in the remaining water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it does.
4. Divide the dough into two even pieces and flatten each into a 4-inch disk. Wrap the disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. Let the chilled dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling it out and fitting it into a pie plate. (Note: I like to flour 2 pieces of wax paper and roll the dough out between them, it leads to easier clean-up).

TO MAKE AHEAD: The dough can be refrigerated, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, for up
to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months. Let the frozen dough thaw on the counter top until
malleable before rolling.

Spring is in the air with Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

I love love love strawberry-rhubarb pie. If you've read other posts, you know it's hard for me to find people to eat fruit pie with. (well ... not hard, but nobody that lives in my apartment will eat a cooked fruit pie with me) But I was having a girls day the other day, and I had some rhubarb that I had picked up at the lovely and vibrant Union Square Farmer's Market. The rhubarb was just calling to me, I had to cook it.

I've never made a strawberry-rhubarb pie, but it's one of my favorites. Now, when I mentioned I was making this I got many questions asking "what exactly is rhubarb?". Basically it's a plant that is reddish green. Stalk sizes vary, the smaller the stalks the more tender. The leaves are toxic, but I've never bought it with the stalks on. Rhubarb has a nice tang to it, which is why it is usually paired with something sweeter such as strawberries. And there you have it in a nutshell. If you really want to know more, here is the Wikipedia article.

This pie is nice and light and tasty. And I forgot to take pictures. I guess you know what that means, I'll just have to make it again while rhubarb is still in season! But I wanted to share this with you now. So stay tuned. I'll get you pics.


Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Prep time: 20 minutes plus time to prepare the crust
Total time: 1 hour 40 minutes plus cooling time

Ingredients

• 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 pounds rhubarb, trimmed, peeled, and cut into 1-inch lengths (5 - 6 cups) [NOTE: if the rhubarb is about the size of celery or smaller, you don't need to peel it]
• 1 to 1 1/4 cups plus 1 TBS sugar
• 1 recipe Double-Crust Pie Dough
• 1 quart strawberries, hulled and quartered
  
• 2 tsp grated orange zest (optional, but really .... is it?)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 TBS arrowroot (this is a thickener ... you can get it in the spice section of the grocery store)
  
• pinch of salt
• 1 egg white, lightly beaten

Directions

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lowest position, place a rimmed baking sheet on the rack and preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.
2. Heat the oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until smoking. Add the rhubarb and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Cook, stirring frequently, until the rhubarb has shed most of it's liquid but is still firm, about 5 minutes. Spread the cooked rhubarb out over a plate and refrigerate until cool.
3. Meanwhile, roll out the crust to two 12-inch circles. Place the bottom crust into the pie plate.
   
4. Toss the cooled rhubarb, strawberries, orange zest and vanilla together. Mix 3/4 cup of the sugar, the arrowroot and the salt together. Then sprinkle the sugar mixture over the fruit and toss thoroughly. Add up to 4 more tablespoons of sugar if the fruit tastes tart.
5. Spread the fruit mixture in the unbaked pie crust bottom and pack it tightly.
6. Lay the top crust over the fruit, seal and crimp the edges, and cut eight vent holes (as opposed to the usual 4). Brush the crust with the egg white and sprinkle with the remaining 1 TBS sugar.
7. Place the pie on the heated baking sheet and lower the oven temp to 425 degrees F. Bake until the top crust is golden, about 25 minutes.
8. Rotate the baking sheet and reduce the oven temp again to 375 degrees F, and continue to bake until the juices are bubbling and the crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes longer. Transfer the pie to a wire rack and cool to room temp before serving.

The pie can be stored at room temperature, wrapped tightly in aluminum foil, for up to 2 days.

A NOTE ABOUT PIE CRUST:
So, I've started enjoying making pie crust. It's pretty simple (or at least I think). Though, sometimes it's difficult to get a nice crusty dough and it's really easy to overwork the dough. That, and it does take some time. Some days I just don't have the time or desire to make my own pie dough. When that happens I like to use the Pillsbury Just Unroll and Bake pie crust. You can find it in the refrigerated section. It's pretty cheap and quite good!

Okay...enjoy this pie! You can have it plain, with a nice vanilla ice cream, or perhaps some whipped cream. It's really amazing just slightly warm.

Lavender Shortbread; a delicious tea treat (or anytime)

Lavender shortbread?!? Crazy sounding, I know. But delicious. When I first came across this recipe last year I was quite skeptical. But then, I happened upon some lavender and thought "Why not?" I was pleasantly surprised! This is the perfect spring/summer treat. It's an amazing shortbread recipe with a hint of lavender.

Ever since I made it last year I've been longing to make it again. With the spring weather I was racking my brain trying to think of where I could get cooking grade lavender. It theoretically isn't that hard, apparently you can pretty much get it at any Chinese market in the tea section. Cooking grade lavender is also used for tea, who knew? (The answer: lots of people, I'm sure. I was not one of them). However, I've been busy and haven't been able to get to Chinatown and explore. Low and behold, I'm randomly strolling around the Union Square Farmer's Market last week and there is now a lovely gentleman who sells lavender in all forms .... sprigs, sachets and yes, bags of cooking grade lavender. I'll tell you what - his stand smells WONDERFUL. I could just spend all day standing there and sniffing. Instead, I bought myself a 2 oz bag of lavender so I could enjoy the scents at home. Of course, 2 ounces .... that's a lot of lavender!

Ok, so, this recipe is a delicate balance ... you want to be able to taste the lavender, but you don't want it to taste like you are eating the sachet out of your clothing drawer. Its a beautiful and delicate recipe. Even if you don't like how it tastes (in which case, I would question your taste), it will make your apartment smell like a wonderful mix of butter & lavender.

Lavender Shortbread
adapted from Renee's Garden

Prep Time: 10 minutes (plus 30 - 45 minutes chilling time)
Cook Time: 20 to 25 minutes
Yields: about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups (3/4 pound, or 3 sticks) butter, at room temperature (no substitutes)
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 TBS finely chopped lavender florets (fresh or dried)
• 1 TBS chopped fresh mint
• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, lavender, and mint with an electric mixer. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour, cornstarch, and salt and beat until incorporated. Divide dough in half. Flatten into squares and wrap in plastic. Chill until firm.

2. While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 325°F. Cover bottoms of two baking sheets with parchment or brown paper.

3. On a floured board, roll or pat out each square to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Cut the dough into 1 1/2 -inch squares or rounds. Transfer to baking sheets, spacing cookies about 1 inch apart. Prick each cookie several times with a fork. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until pale golden (do not brown).
   

4. Cool slightly, then transfer to a rack. Sprinkle with lavender powdered sugar.

5. Garnish with lavender powdered sugar: Put a 4 or 5 sprigs of lavender flowers in a sealed jar with powdered sugar for a day before using the sugar. **

**[NOTE] Okay, let's be honest. Usually when I bake my thought process is "ooo! I wanna make that! Now!" And since I keep my kitchen pretty well stocked with the basic baking items I need, that usually works. Or I run to the store and pick something up real quick. It's only specialty items, orders, or events that I really plan for. So, when I want to make this shortbread and happen to have lavender sitting in my kitchen...I make it. And don't have a day to make the lavender powdered sugar. The first time I made this I just used plain powdered sugar. This time around, I muddled a teaspoon of lavender florets with my powdered sugar. So there you have it.**

Enjoy this with some tea, coffee, or lemonade!!