Lemon Lavender Muffins

"Oh! I have something for you!" Laura said to me last week.  After rushing to her car, she came back with a small ziplock bag with herbs inside it.  I'm going to be honest, the bag looked...well...a bit sketch.  I didn't quite know what to expect from her impromptu present.  "Thanks" I said hesitatingly.  "Smell it!" she exclaimed.

I smelled it.

"LAVENDER!!!" I immediately squealed.  "Where'd you get this?!"

"My next door neighbor recently returned from France with all of these fresh herbs from an open market in Savoy."

And that, my readers, is how the recipe for Lemon Lavender Muffins was born.  It was not an easy journey to make this recipe; I kept wondering about what I should make with my 2 tablespoons of fresh French lavender. Lavender Infused Olive Oil? Lavender Ice Cream? But this recipe seemed just right.

Use fresh lavender from your garden (or from Savoy if you're so lucky!) for a lemon muffin with a certain "je ne sais quoi" about it.


Lemon Lavender Muffins
This recipe is a variation of the lemon quick bread recipe by Elise Bauer over at Simply Recipes (the original can be found here).  I've made several changes to the ingredients and techniques: one, I've switched out Elise's suggestion for cardamom for fresh lavender, two, I've add lemon zest and juice to the batter, and three, I've waited until the bread is "cooled" when adding the glaze.

Ingredients:
* 1 stick butter, softened and cut into 1 inch cubes
* 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 2 eggs
* 1 tablespoon lemon zest + 1 tablespoon lemon juice
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 cup milk
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 2 teaspoons fresh lavender, ground
* 1 teaspoon baking powder

Lemon Glaze
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 1/4 cup lemon juice
* 1 tablespoon honey

Special Equipment Needed:
* 1 coffee grinder for grinding the lavender

1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  Line a 12 muffin pan with cupcake paper.

2.) Measure 1-2 teaspoons lavender.

3.) Grind in a coffee grinder.

4.) Cut 1 stick butter into 1 inch cubes and soften (30 seconds in the microwave will do).

5.) Add to standing mixer such as a Kitchenaid and turn on low speed.  Mix for 1-2 minutes, or until butter is fluffy.

6.) Add sugar and mix to integrate.  Add eggs one at a time.

7.) Add salt, baking powder, lavender, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Mix on low to integrate.

8.) Add flower slowly until fully mixed in.  Stop mixer to scrape down sides and mix one last minute.

9.) Pour batter into muffin pan.

10.) Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

11.) Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling pan.

12.) Once muffins are cooled, create the lemon glaze: combine 1/4 cup lemon juice with 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon honey.  Whisk to properly integrate.

13.) Puncture holes throughout tops of the muffins using a small toothpick.  Pour glaze over tops of muffins.  It's good to do this last step over a plate that you don't plan on serving the muffins on as you will have lots of glaze pouring off onto the plate.  Clean up any puddling that may happen around the muffins and clean muffin bottoms.  Transfer to a serving plate and enjoy! Makes 12.

Subscribe to Clearly Delicious by Email

Chocolate Almond Cake

"I want you to make me your Chocolate Almond Cake for my birthday.  I've already decided! I'm turning 30, so I get what I want!" my friend Ellen said to me on one of our nightly run/walk/biking/exercise trips.  Ellen is fabulous--she's my friend Kris's wife, super cool, super smart, super gorgeous, and pretty much Super Woman (mom, wife, great cook, family administrator, and the list goes on and on.  Oh, and she speaks French when she's drunk.  She's pretty great).  SO, when she tells you she wants something, you do as she says!

Why Ellen would want this cake for her birthday makes complete sense to me: it's my ace up my sleeve, my secret weapon, my culinary super power when dealing with baked goods.  It's just that good: moist, dark chocolate cake infused with almonds, and decadent chocolate buttercream icing infused with almonds and layered with shaved almonds.  Just writing about it makes me think of the snazzy and tasty presentation this cake always makes.

I made the cake last year for Ellen's 29th birthday and I kept hearing about it for the following 365 days.  So this post is specially for Ellen Mecholsky for doing one of the hardest jobs in the world--mother, social acrobat, stellar wife, and exercise companion--all before your 30th birthday! Enjoy this Clearly Delicious chocolate cake!

Chocolate Almond Cake
This recipe is a variation of Elise Bauer's "Suzanne's Chocolate Cake" over at Simply Recipes (you can find it here).  I've made numerous changes to the original--transferring out regular Vanilla Extract for Almond Extract, adding Shaved Almonds to the frosting, dividing the layers into 4 (not 3), and a general revision to the order in which ingredients are added during the Beta Stage (get it? Beta? Baking?!) of the cooking process.  For my technique, please see below; for Elise's (which is equally as good), see the above link to Simply Recipes.


Ingredients:
--Cake--
* 3 cups all purpose flour
* 1 1/2 tsp salt
* 3/4 tsp baking powder
* 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 2 2/3 cup sugar
* 4 extra large, or 5 large eggs
* 1 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa, unsweetened
* 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water
* 1 cup + 2 tablespoons canola (or vegetable) oil
* 3/4 cup water
* 2-3 tablespoons almond extract
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, optional

--Frosting--
* 2 pounds powdered sugar (32 ounces, or 4 cups)
* 1 1/2 cup cocoa, unsweetened
* Almond Extract, to taste
* 2 1/2-3 cups butter (4 sticks), softened, but still firm cut into 1 inch cubes

1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray down four 8-10 inch cake pans.  Set aside.

2.) Begin by sifting the dry ingredients: salt, baking powder, flour, and baking soda.  Sift and set aside.

3.) Now, create the wet mixture with a canola (or vegetable) oil and water base.  Mix 1 cup + 2 tablespoons oil with 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water in a Kitchenaid mixer for 2 minutes.

4.) Once oil and water have been mixing for 2-3 minutes, add your eggs, 3/4 cup water, almond (and vanilla if using it) extract; mix on low-medium for 1-2 minutes until fully integrated.

5.) Add sugar and cocoa.  Mix until integrated making sure to scrape down the edges of your bowl.

6.) Now, add the dry ingredients slowly until fully integrated.  Make sure to scrape down the sides during the mixing process so that all of your dry ingredients and wet ingredients mix properly.

7.) Now you're ready to pour the batter into the cake pans.  Pour batter evenly into four 8-10 inch cake pans and shake to smooth.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.  Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool.

Frosting:
1.) Once cake has thoroughly cooled (the cake should not be warm to the touch), prepare the icing.

2.) Cut 4 sticks of butter into one inch cubes and add to your Kitchenaid Mixer.

3.) Add 1 1/2 cups cocoa, and turn on low speed to integrate.

4.) Drizzle in 1-2 tablespoons almond extract; slowly add 4 cups powdered sugar.

5.) Once powdered sugar is integrated, slowly add 1/4 cup or more of water until frosting is the consistency you like.  Adjust flavor with more almond extract.

6.) Scrape down sides of bowl and mix one last time.  You are now ready to frost the cake!

Cake Construction:
1.) Begin by laying the flattest layer on a serving dish.

2.) Frost entirely.

3.) Take second flattest layer upside down on top.  Frost thoroughly and place third layer on top.

4.) Frost next layer: here's a tip on frosting a cake fast & effectively: take a large spoon/dollop of icing and plop it onto the layer you're about to ice.  Spread evenly over the surface of the layer working your way to the sides.  The dollop technique is one used by professional bakers and is the most effective way to ice a cake without constantly adding more icing and getting patches of uneven frosting.

5.) Finish icing top layer and smooth sides making sure that any gaps between the layers (there will definitely be some!) are filled in with icing.

6.) Add almonds.  Another note: technique is crucial here to getting cleanly applied almonds around the sides.  Take a handful of almonds and sift them in the palm of your hand so that they are as evenly dispersed in your palm as possible.  Take palm and "slap" them onto the sides of the cake.  Once you've applied all the almonds from your hand, wash hands and continue doing this same step all around the edges of the cake.   This is a long process as it requires constantly washing your hands--any chocolate frosting that sticks to your hands WILL get on the almonds and make the job/process harder than it should be.  It will also make the almonds look chocolatey/messy, and take away from the cake's presentation.  However, whatever almonds don't stick will fall to the base of the cake (which is fine); make sure to use fallen almonds to hand apply to empty spots.

When you're done, you want the cake's almond layer to be clean.  They should look this:

7.) Serve to awesome birthday friend:

8.) Give some to her daughter:

9.) And don't mind the finger-prints.  The cake is still Clearly Delicious!

Subscribe to Clearly Delicious by Email

Orange Oil w/Waldborg Star Date Balsamic Vinegar Dressing & Salad

When I was in New Orleans this past weekend, Michael took me to that glorious Olive Oil & Fruit Vinegar import store Vom Fass (of which I've already written).  It was extraordinarily hard to decide what kinds of fruit vinegars and olive oils to buy--there were so many flavors and I wanted them all!--but with one suggestion, I knew I could make my decision.

"We had a date vinegar and orange oil salad dressing tasting this weekend" Nick, the store representative, said.  "It was like eating candy!" I was sold.

Below is my version of Nick's recipe based off of what he said.  The dressing supposedly had a 3:2 parts ratio (3 parts orange oil with 2 parts date vinegar).  But, after making a large salad, I felt it really should have been a 1:1 ratio (i.e., 3 parts orange oil with 3 parts vinegar) to get the taste I was going for.  Make with the same oil/vinegars I use here buy ordering from the Vom Fass website, or make your own through homemade infusions for a salad dressing that is clearly delicious.

Orange Oil w/Waldborg Star Date Balsamic Vinegar Dressing & Salad
The key to making this recipe taste "like candy" is to add the olive oil and vinegar separately to the salad.  A lot of people mix and shake their oil and vinegar salad dressings beforehand, but I'm a purist.  I believe in adding the orange olive oil first and then the waldborg star date balsamic vinegar second to the salad.


Ingredients: 
* 1 large salad (4 servings), prepared (see "Fall Salad" recipe for an example recipe)
* 3 tablespoons Orange Olive Oil
* 3 tablespoons Waldborg Star Date Balsamic Vinegar
* 1 orange, zested
* 1/2 cup dates

1.) Prepare salad, and add 1/2 cup dates.

2.) Drizzle 3 tablespoons of Orange Olive Oil over the salad.

3.) Drizzle 3 tablespoons of Waldborg Star Date Balsamic Vinegar over the salad.

4.) Zest an orange over the salad.

5.) Toss to combine.

6.) Dish out servings of salad (makes 4) and serve with more freshly zested orange on top.  Enjoy!

Subscribe to Clearly Delicious by Email

Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus Pesto

I don't make that much pasta as I often associate it with empty calories and decadent meals.  Although I consider myself a huge foodie, I'm very self-conscious of what I eat and how much I eat.  Thus, pasta is frequently one of those calorie-rich, nutrient-absent meals that most Americans gorge themselves on because it's clearly "good."  And I'm not the only one who thinks this way: Russ, a podcaster from Fat 2 Fit Radio, once said (and I paraphrase): "I don't often think of making pasta dishes because...well...they're just not that good for you."

Russ's comment was actually said in defense of a healthy pasta dish and I feel that if he had tried and read about this recipe, he too would be a believer in healthy pasta.  Here's why this pasta dish is different: whole wheat pasta instead of regular white pasta, pesto instead of white sauce, and smaller servings instead of the "eat until you're can't breathe" mentality round the dish out at about 400-450 calories max.

This dish is healthy, green (and we should strive to eat all things green!), and clearly delicious.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Asparagus Pesto
This recipe comes from nowhere in particular, but if you're looking for a recipe that combines pesto (any form) with pasta, see Elise Bauer's "Asparagus Pesto with Pasta" for an example.

Ingredients:
* 1 serving Whole Wheat Pasta, Spaghetti
* 2-3 tablespoons asparagus pesto, see recipe here (made with Vom Fass Basil Olive Oil)

1.) Begin by bringing a medium pot of water to a boil.  Season water with 1 tablespoon salt.  Remember, Italian cooks believe that good pasta should have flavor, and the way in which to get that flavor is to make pasta water taste like sea water.

2.) Add whole wheat pasta and cook until tender, but still firm (al dente).  Always tatse pasta before it's done--there's nothing worse than uncooked pasta.

3.) Remove from heat and strain.  I prefer not to give whole wheat pasta a cold water bath (frankly, it doesn't need it).

4.) Place on serving dish.

5.) Add 2-3 dollops of pesto.  Mix to integrate and enjoy! Makes 1 serving.

Subscribe to Clearly Delicious by Email

Mike's Monkey Bread

The first time my friend John told me about his fabulous boyfriend Mike, it was in a picture text message.  The image: Monkey Bread.  The subject: Mike's badass cooking skills.

The text had me hooked--I knew, just KNEW that Mike had to be fabulous (who else makes Monkey Bread that delicious?), and I've been bugging him for this recipe ever since.  I bugged him so much that he was pretty much obligated to make it the first time we met.  There were no leftovers.

The thing I love best about Mike's monkey bread is the incredible presentation it makes versus the short amount of time required to make it.  Just take canned biscuits, chopped pecans, some cinnamon, melted butter, and brown sugar in a bundt pan, bake and VOILA: the most decadent dessert you've ever had.  This monkey bread is not for those on diets.  It's for those who just ran ten miles and deserve a clearly delicious treat.

Mike's Monkey Bread
Mike got this recipe from the Pillsbury website (the original can be found here), but really, he's been eating it since he was a little kid.  The recipe below has some variations from the original as Mike has doubled the cinnamon for an earthier, spicier kick, added pecans instead of walnuts, and called for raw instead of processed white sugar.  I highly suggest following these substitutions!


Ingredients:
* 1/2 cup raw sugar
* 2 teaspoons cinnamon
* 2 cans (16.3 oz each) Pillsbury Grands! Homestyle Biscuits
* 1 cup chopped pecans, or walnuts
* 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
* 3/4 cup butter, melted

1.) Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly grease 12-cup fluted tube pan/bundt pan.

2.) Mix sugar and cinnamon.

3.) Open 2 cans of biscuits.

4.) Cut biscuits into 4 pieces each.

5.) Place cut up biscuits in sugar/cinnamon mixture and flip until fully coated.

6.) Toss coated biscuits into well-greased bundt pan making sure to add pecans among the biscuits.

7.) Pack 1 cup of brown sugar.

8.) Add brown sugar to 3/4 cup melted butter and stir to combine.

9.) Drizzle/pour melted butter/sugar mixture over bundt of biscuits.

10.) Bake for 30-35 minutes in 350F oven or until golden brown and no longer doughy in the center.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the pan.  Turn upside down onto a serving plate and enjoy! Makes...well...a lot: 8-10 servings.

Subscribe to Clearly Delicious by Email

Wild Mushroom Soup

On my twenty-third birthday last year, I received a TON and I really do mean A TON of cookbooks.  In a sense, I'm pretty easy to shop for--I can walk down the food and dining section of Barnes & Noble and find 30 or so specialty cookbooks in a heartbeat.  Too much? What's too much?

This recipe comes from one of those cookbooks--400 Soups by Anne Sheasby--and is easily one of my favorite out of the full 400: Wild Mushroom Soup.  The original calls for a several ounces of shitake mushrooms and soaking them in water; after the soaking process, you drain the mushrooms, roast them, and re-use the shitake water for part of your broth.

Although shitakes are great (they really do add a certain je ne sais quoi to any recipe), you can easily substitute this ingredient withe one cup portobello mushrooms as I have done below.  This recipe is earthy, smooth, and so flavorful that it requires very few seasonings.  Make this during winter (or summer!) for a soup that is clearly delicious.

Wild Mushroom Soup
* 3 cups chopped Bella Mushrooms
* 5 cups beef broth
* 3 cloves garlic, pressed
* 2 leeks, thinly sliced
* 1/2 white onion, chopped
* 2/3 cup heavy cream
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 teaspoon thyme

1.) First, measure out all of your ingredients--mushrooms, onions, garlic, and leeks.

2.) Then, prep your ingredients--wash and thinly chop the leeks.

3.) Wash portobello mushrooms and thinly slice.

4.) Roughly chop mushrooms.

5.) Chop half of an onion, and peel several cloves of garlic.  Set aside.


6.) Combine olive oil and butter in a large pot and warm.  

7.) Add leeks, onions, and pressed garlic; simmer for 5-7 minutes.

8.) Add mushrooms and allow to simmer for several minutes, or until properly moist.

9.) Add beef broth and bring to a boil.

10.) Turn heat down to medium and allow to simmer in a half covered pot for 30 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon thyme.

11.) After 30 minutes, remove 3/4 of the soup and puree in a food processor or blender.  

12.) Return to mushroom soup pot.

13.) Add 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream and return to a light boil.  Turn off heat.

14.) Serve with fresh thyme sprigs and enjoy!

Subscribe to Clearly Delicious by Email