Take a Megabite

Mini Pumpkin Scones

First of all, please don’t judge me for eating french fries two days in a row. And, please just know that two glazes are better than one. Always.

So maybe two days of french fries is better than one?

We are a few days into September, so it’s only right to get moving with the pumpkin love. And these scones are the perfect start. They are mini, so you can eat them two days in a row and not feel guilty about them. So that’s nice, right?

I probably don’t need to convince you to make these, but just in case … These scones taste like pumpkin donuts in the the best and glaziest way and they are really cute. So there you go!

Mini Pumpkin Scones
Recipe adapted from weheartfood

Ingredients:

scones -

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 7 T sugar
• 1 T baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t groun nutmeg
• 1/4 t ground cloves
• 1/4 t ground ginger
• 6 T frozen butter
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
• 3 T half and half
• 1 large egg

glaze -

• 1 cup + 1 T powdered sugar
• 2 T milk

spiced glaze -

• 1 cup + 3 T powdered sugar
• 2 T milk
• 1/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/8 t ground nutmeg
• pinch ground ginger
• pinch ground cloves

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in a large bowl. Grate frozen butter into the dry ingredients and stir until butter is coated. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, half and half and egg. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Pour dough onto a clean surface and knead about 4 times. Divide dough in half and pat each into a circle about 1/2 inch high. Cut into 8 small scones, slicing like a pizza. Place on prepared baking sheets and bake for 10-14 minutes or until tops are starting to become golden brown. Place on a wire rack to cool.
4. Make the first glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and milk. Generously brush glaze over each of the scones. When the first glaze is set, make the spiced glaze by whisking together powdered sugar, milk and spices. Drizzle over the scones using a ziploc bag with the corner snipped, a spoon or a squeeze bottle. Allow the icing to set for about an hour. Eat!

Hot coffee on a chilly morning is where it’s at …
served with a teeny pumpkin scone is even better.

Banana + Honey + Cinnamon Smoothie for One

I’m completely impatient right now. I can’t sit still. It has a little bit to do with throw pillows and shaggy rugs. It has a lot to do with with the fact that I get to move to a cute flat in a couple weeks.

But for now, it’s time to drink this smoothie and try to stop wishing the days away.

Banana + Honey + Cinnamon Smoothie for One

Ingredients:

• 1 frozen banana* + a couple fresh banana slices for garnish
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 1/2 t honey
• generous sprinklings of cinnamon

* 1 banana peeled and wrapped in plastic wrap and placed in the freezer until firm.

Directions:

1. Dissolve honey in milk by microwaving them together in a small jar or bowl for about 20 seconds. Stir or shake to ensure that the honey is completely dissolved. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon. Chill until smoothie time.
2. Chop the frozen banana into a few pieces and blend with the chilled honey infused milk until smooth. Pour into a small glass and top with a fresh banana slice and sprinkle with more cinnamon. Chug it and feel good about life.

P.S. Did you guys know I’m on Facebook? Sometimes I post fun things.

I tricked the honey, Honey.

Did you know that honey hates being cold? That’s why I dissolved it in milk before making this smoothie! Talk about a dreamy smoothie, despite the all-khaki outfit.

Strawberry Pancakes

I’m really full because I ate those pancakes right there. I put strawberry jam on them because my maple syrup stopped being cool and just started being real. Real gross.

If you’re in the mood for a summery sweet pancake, this is the one for you. And do you know that there’s almond extract in these guys? It makes the strawberries sing. I can hear them now. They’re singing Lady Gaga. Now you know.

Strawberry Pancakes {makes 9-10 pancakes}
Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup buttermilk or 1 T lemon juice + scant 1 cup milk*
• 1 T brown sugar, packed
• 2 T canola oil
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1/4 t almond extract
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced
• maple syrup or strawberry jam, for topping

Directions:

1. *If you don’t have buttermilk, make that first. Place 1 tablespoon of lemon juice in the bottom of a 1-cup measuring cup. Top with milk. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, beat egg with electric hand mixer until fluffy. Beat in remaining ingredients except strawberries just until smooth. Stir in berries.
3. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat. Grease griddle with cooking spray. Place a baking sheet in the oven and turn the oven on to 200°F.
4. For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter from cup or pitcher onto hot griddle. Cook pancake until bubbly on top and puffed and dry around edges. Turn and cook other side until golden. Place in the oven on the baking sheet to stay warm until all the pancakes are done.

Julienne’s Graham Cracker Chewy Bars

Gravel roads remind me of graham cracker crumbs. My childhood best friend called her grandma “grammy” and it reminded me of graham crackers. Once I ate a store-bought graham cracker crust  standing in my mom’s pantry… and loved it.

I’ve always loved graham crackers so I knew I’d love this recipe since it has way more graham cracker crumbs in the ingredients than anything else.

Side-note: one of the eggs I used had freckles. This isn’t a recipe requirement, but it might make your bars extra good.

I used up most of my brown sugar and all of my fancy vanilla. (I didn’t run out of my kosher salt, but it just wanted to be in the picture too.) This would’ve made me crabby except that I now have graham cracker chewy bars that are dangerously good.

Julienne’s Graham Cracker Chewy Bars
Recipe adapted from Celebrating with Julienne via The LA Times

Ingredients:

crust -

• 3 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 3/4 cup ( 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 T all-purpose flour

topping -

• 2 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1 T vanilla extract
• 3/4 t salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup chopped pecans or chocolate chips (I used chocolate chips because I had them on hand.)
• powdered sugar, if desired

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the graham cracker crumbs, butter, sugar and flour until moist and well-blended. Press the mixture firmly and evenly over the bottom of a 9 x13 inch baking dish. (Feel free to line the baking dish with foil and spray it, like I did. I just wanted them to be super easy to remove and cut later on.) Bake until the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
2. While the crust is baking, in a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar and eggs to blend. Whisk in the graham cracker crumbs, vanilla, salt and baking powder until well-blened. Stir in the pecans or chocolate chips.
3. Spread the mixture over the baked crust and return to the 350-degree oven until the filling is light-golden on top and jiggles slightly when tapped, 20-25 minute. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely.
4. Sprinkle a light coating of sifted powdered sugar over the pan if desired, and cut into 24 bars. The bars can be made 1 day in advance. Wrap in plastic and keep at room temperature.

The crust was supposed to be more crusty and the top more chewy…
Mine turned out all chewy. I’m ok with it.

Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

I ran out of eggs! It’s ok though because this cookie recipe is the kind that keeps it real without them. Basically these little ice cream sandwiches were meant to be.

These are really good. Even though the chocolate chips didn’t want to stick to the ice cream on the sides and fell sprinkling the floor on the walk to the freezer. And maybe some of the cookies were too warm when I sandwiched them and the ice cream tried to make a run for it. And maybe there was one odd cookie left over and I had an open-faced ice cream sandwich, standing over the sink, while mini chips sprinkled my dinner plate, water glass and spatula.

Don’t worry guys. I plan on mastering ice cream sandwiches at some point in my life. Maybe I’ll go back to school and major in it. But until then, I’m totally down with the imperfect, tasty version I can do right now. Time to go have another one.

Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches (makes about 14 ice cream sandwiches)
Recipe for cookies adapted from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

oatmeal cookie -

• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 stick (8T) butter, softened
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• sprinkling of cinnamon
• 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup + 6 T all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• heaping 1/4 t kosher salt

filling -

• vanilla ice cream or whatever other flavor to fill*
• mini chocolate chips

* I used up a half gallon of vanilla ice cream minus 3 root beer floats worth.

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix brown sugar, butter, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir in remaining cookie ingredients.
2. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (if you have it) place balls about 3 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly with bottom of a glass dipped in water.
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden brown at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the wire rack for two minutes-ish until they can be transported easily to a wire rack. When cooled match them up by size.
4. Meanwhile set ice cream out on the counter to soften slightly for easy sandwiching. Or if it’s a soft ice cream you’re all set. Scoop a couple tablespoons between two cookies at a time. Smoosh together until ice cream reaches the edges of the cookies. Roll the edges through mini chocolate chips and place in the freezer on the baking sheets for at least 2 hours, or until firm. Either eat immediately or wrap individually in plastic wrap until time to eat. I found they were nice and frozen over night.

P.S. The oatmeal cookies stay nice and soft when frozen. Which is necessary for easy biting, right?

Nervous about having 14 ice cream sandwiches chillin’ in the freezer?
Pack them up and bring them to work for some post-lunch goodness.

ingredients for a good weekend

Ingredients for a good weekend:

• spinach and bleu cheese pizza + pepperoni pizza + chit chatting
• Franziskaner drinking (It tastes like ice cream to me!)
• summer walks
• strawberry pancakes (I’m going to make these again soon to post!)
• black bean burgers on light brioche burger buns + avocado fries
• Lost in Translation watching
• root beer floats
• casual lounging, like Elliot up there. He’s really good at it.
• Mad Men

How was your weekend? I hope it was a good one filled with tasty food.

Mini Strawberry Rhubarb Galettes

Elliot is a puppy-sized big dog. These are the cupcake of pie.

These were birthday galettes. And since they were a gift, I had to try them to be sure they were good before I gave them away, right? I also had to eat one when I got home from giving them away to be REALLY sure before bed, right? I know something’s good when I have to “make sure” by lots of sampling. Now you know.

Mini Strawberry Rhubarb Galettes (makes 8 mini galettes)
Recipe adapted from: Recipezaar + Farm Journal Complete Pie Cookbook

Ingredients:

dough-

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1 T sugar
• 1/4 t kosher salt
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cold and cut into cubes
• 1/3 cup ice water

filling -

• 1 cup strawberries, quartered + chopped
• 1 cup rhubarb, chopped
• heaping 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 T flour ( 1/2 of 1/3)
• pinch of salt

topping (optional)  -

• a bit of crumb topping or turbinado sugar

Directions:

1. Make galette dough: mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut in the butter until it is distributed through the flour, but still in large, pea-sized chunks. Add the ice water all at once and mix just until the dough starts to come together. Gather the dough in your hands, divide in half and shape each half into a disk- don’t worry if you see large streaks of butter- they are supposed to be there. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour before rolling out.
2. Cut each disk into 4 equal pieces. Roll out each disk of dough on a lightly floured surface, about 1/8-inch thick.  Settle each circle of dough onto a baking sheet or two lined with parchment paper.
   
3. Prepare the strawberry rhubarb filling. Toss the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, flour and salt together. Divide te fruit mixture amongst the dough, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Fold the borders of dough slightly overlapping the filling, allowing it to pleat as you work your way around. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar or some crumb topping, if you want.
   
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until fruit is bubbling and the crust is lightly browned.

Those two in the back have a bit of crumb topping. Why not?

Devilish Shortcakes

Strawberry shortcake is one of my most favorite desserts. So when I stumbled across Dorie Greenspan’s devilish shortcakes, I knew they had to happen … and soon! A chocolate shortcake? Can you even think of anything better?

Jake’s job, when I bake, is to read me the recipe. He’s really good at it and it’s just so darn nice of him. When he cooks, he doesn’t let me read the recipes to him. It’s because I tend to forget to tell him steps/ingredients, and well, can you blame him?

I had intentions to pat this biscuit dough down and use my super awesome new biscuit cutters, but the truth is, this dough is sticky and the best way is to use a lightly floured measuring cup to scoop that chocolaty goodness.

I’d say these were a hit, and such a fun remix to the original. What do you think?

Devilish Shortcakes
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:

shortcakes -

• 1 1/3 cups milk
• 1 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 T baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 T) unsalted butter, cut into pieces and chilled

filling -

• berries of your choice, (about 1/2 cup per shortcake) hulled and sliced if using strawberries
• sugar (I used about 1/4 cup)
• lightly sweetened softly whipped cream (1 cup whipping cream + powdered sugar to taste + vanilla, beaten until soft peaks form)

Directions:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425ºF. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Make shortcakes. Whisk the milk, vanilla and egg together. Set aside. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar into a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips, a pastry blender, or forks, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes an pieces in between. (P.S. Try not to get the dry ingredients all over you like below:)
   
3. Pour the milk mixture over the dry ingredients and toss gently with a fork until you’ve got a very soft dough. When the dough comes together, you’ll probably still have dry ingredients  at the bottom of the bowl. Use a rubber spatula to mix and knead the dough until it’s evenly blended. Don’t overdo it; it’s better to have a few dry spots than an overworked dough. Even with all the flour mixed in, the dough will be very sticky.
4. Spoon out about 1/4-1/3 cup of dough for each shortcake onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches in between the mounds. Pat each mound down until it’s between 3/4-1 inch high.*
5. Bake for 12-18 minutes, rotating halfway through bake time, until the shortcakes are puffed and give just a bit when prodded. Pull the sheet from the oven and transfer the shortcakes to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
6. Make the filling. Put the berries in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar to taste and let sit for about 10 minutes, until they are juicy. Cut each cake in half horizontally. Put the bottom halves on plates, top with the berries, make sure to include some of the sweet juices and spoon over some whipped cream. Put the tops on the shortcakes or lean them against the cream.

* The shortcakes at this point can be frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight  and kept in the freezer for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting by simply adding about 5 more minutes to the bake time.

Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets

I’m looking forward to moving, because I know for a fact that there will natural light promised in the lease. I also can’t wait to have a yard that doesn’t back up to mean growly dogs that want to eat Elliot.

When I envision my future home, I imagine white walls, a white oven and windows Elliot can see out of without standing on the back of the couch … and preferably a huge tupperware of these mini tarts in the fridge.

These are cheesecake-ish mini tarts … also known as a cookie stacker … also known as delicious. I’m totally down with ricotta being dessert-y. And as you’ve probably noticed, I’m always down with a dessert involving strawberries. Did you know there’s lemon in these? Oh yeah. Zest in the ricotta + juice in the berries.

And I can just say, that I’m glad to have some strawberries leftover? I’d like to put them on my yogurt and ice cream, please. Would that be an ok dinner? When it’s really hot out, is that kind of thing allowed?

Strawberry Ricotta Graham Tartlets
Recipe adapted from Food & Wine via Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

graham cookies -

• 1 cup + 2 T all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 cup graham flour, or whole wheat if you can’t find graham
• 3/4 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• pinch of ground cloves
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 T light brown sugar
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 2 T honey
• 1 1/2 t molasses, you can just use more honey if you don’t want to use molasses

strawberry goodness -

• 3/4 pound strawberries, thinly sliced
• 3 T granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 T fresh lemon juice

ricotta mixture -

• 1 1/4 cups ricotta (10 oz.), fresh if you can find it, or a full-fat store-bought
• 2 T confectioners’ sugar
• 1 t finely grated lemon zest

Directions:

1. Make grahams. In a bowl, whisk both flours with the cinnamon, salt and cloves. Beat the butter, light brown sugar and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar at medium speed on an electric mixer until fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the honey and molasses, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the side of the bowl and beat in the flour mixture at low speed, just until incorporated. Pat the dough into a disk, cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm, about an hour.
2. Preheat ove to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Using  a 1 1/2 inch round cutter (or a larger cutter of your choice) stamp out your bases (about 45 minis). Reroll the dough scraps as necessary. Transfer the grahams to the baking sheets and bake for about 9 minutes (12ish minutes for 3 1/2 inch cookies), or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer the grahams to racks to cool completely.
3. Make toppings. In a bowl, toss the strawberries with 3 tablespoons of granulated sugar and lemon juice. Let stand until syrupy, 20 minutes, or overnight. In a medium bowl mix the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer. Cover both and refrigerate until time to assemble.
4. Assemble tartlets. Divide ricotta mixture between all the graham bases. Arrange strawberries over the ricotta, drizzle with syrup and serve.

P.S. Just know that with these little (1 1/2 inch) tarts, you might only need half of the ricotta + strawberry mixtures, since so little fits on the teeny 1 1/2 inch cookies. If you make the graham cracker bases a bigger size, you’ll be all set since you can just be so generous with the topping.

Do ahead: The grahams will keep in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Ricotta mixture will last only for a day or two if fresh, or up to a week from packaged ricotta. Strawberry mixture will keep for a few days, but tastes amazing on everything so probably won’t last that long in real life.

Just the tall-drink-of-water of the cookie world.

Strawberry Stack Cake

I like that this cake kinda looks like a super huge stack of pancakes. I like that there’s strawberry jam keeping it real between six layers of sugar cookie-esque goodness. I like that at the end I get to dust it with powdered sugar.

I really like the dusting with powdered sugar part.

It maybe doesn’t look like it here, but those guys are the same size. I weighed them all on my tiny scale to make sure none were getting more dough than their siblings.

This is a make-ahead kinda thing. After sitting in the fridge overnight or a couple days it slices like cake, and tastes like a cookie. Rumor has it that back in the day ladies would make this cake a day or two before wash-day, because on that day they didn’t have time to make a dessert. Dessert’s always been important.

Strawberry Stack Cake
Recipe adapted from Cook’s Country

Ingredients:

• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 t baking powder
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 cup buttermilk*
• 2 t vanilla extract
• 8 T (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups strawberry jam, approximately
• 2 T confectioners’ sugar

* Substitute: pour 3/4 t of lemon juice in the bottom of a 1/4 cup measuring cup and top with milk. Set aside for a couple minutes, then use!

Directions:

1. Make dough. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl or measuring cup. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter, cream cheese and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, until combined, then buttermilk mixture. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture gradually until combined.
2. Shape rounds. Divide dough into 6 equal pieces. Pat each into a 5-inch disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350º and cut six 9-inch parchment rounds. Line 8 inch cake pan or pot with parchment paper and press chilled dough disk into bottom of lined pan (like below), in an attempt to get uniform 8 inch circles. (Mine weren’t so perfect.) Transfer round to rimmed baking sheet. Repeat, placing second round 1/2 inch apart. Repeat with 2 additional disks on second rimmed baking sheet. Bake until just golden round edges, 16-20 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Cool 10 minutes on sheets, then transfer to counter to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
   
3. Assemble.* Place 1 cooled cake round on serving platter. Spread 3-4 tablespoons of strawberry jam over cake, leaving a 1/2 inch border uncovered, then top with another round. Repeat with remaining strawberry jam and cake rounds, finishing with cake. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until cake has softened, at least 8 hours or up to 3 days. Dust with confectioners’ sugar and serve. *(If your cakes aren’t perfect circles feel free to trim the edges, like I did. I even trimmed the cake after it sat in the fridge for a couple days.)
   

Cookie-ish cake scraps.