Addicted to cookies

I noticed that most of my blog posts are about sweets. Which is funny because I don’t consider myself inclined to sweet treats more than I do for savory food. Ok, maybe lately I’ve been a little addicted to sugar and I know why (hello adult life). But in general I prefer savory and that’s why I chose to become a chef and not a pastry chef.

For the last two months I’ve been craving cookies all the time. Not chocolate, not even Nutella. Cookies. Also not the healthy type of cookies, chocolate chip ones. I’ve tried many of them: Whole Foods brand, Amazon Fresh brand, Pepperidge Farm’ Sausalito is one of my favorites but I try to avoid ultra-processed foods (even though my all time favorite is Annie’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites and Trader Joe’s Way More Chocolate Chips).

I saved half the dough to bake another time. Best. Decision. Ever.

Then I saw Emily Schuman posting on Instagram a recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies and this one had chocolate chip. My heart was racing. Emily always seems to find the best recipes and that’s one of the reasons why she’s the only influencer I follow. She already convinced me to buy a new deodorant and kind often she encourages me to get up and move on (like go on a walk or even tidy up the house).

Turns out the recipe is from another influencer that I follow and admire: Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen. Deb is the “mother who loves to cook” that I never had. Growing up my mom used to make amazing food, I really loved everything she did but she never liked the art, she used to say that it wasn’t for her. So my mom never invested time in teaching me how to cook and to learn new recipes, she stuck with the basics she knew: rice, beans, protein and very simple salads (usually lettuce, tomato, onions and carrots).

Going back to my cookie addiction, as you know by now I’m not very into pastry as an art for myself. I admire it so so much but having to follow the exact rules turns me off a little bit. But since I started working in a professional kitchen I noticed that uhmmm yes, I have to follow recipes. In the restaurant I measure everything. Restaurants needs to be consistent and there’s always someone different making the dish so we have to follow a guideline for the flavor. And now I’m becoming a little more comfortable with baking since following directions became part of my routine.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies - influenced by an influencer that got the recipe from another influencer that got the inspiration from a bakery that used to be a hit a few years ago.

Now on my days off I anticipate baking. It has become a project for me. And I noticed that I’m good at it (I just follow instructions duuuh). At this moment instead of buying cookies I’m making them. I don’t have a stand mixer at the moment (RIP my beautiful red Kitchen Aid that my friend found on her building trash) or a food processor (this one broke too). But nothing has stopped me so far (just some laziness to be honest). Thanks to this currently pandemic (coronavirus) I’m looking forward to more baking into my life. And home baked cookies.

Flourless Double Chocolate Banana Bread

When I go chocolate chip I really go for it!

Instagram inspires me so much. I think that it's so nice to have a place where you can follow people that are doing very different things all around the world. Or even people that are interested in the same subject as you are.

This week I got so inspired by Garden In The Kitchen. Not only the author, Silvia, is a Brazilian living in the USA just like me, but she's so inspiring. What I really like about her is that she does wholesome recipes and very nutritional ones, but also very flavorful.

When I saw this double chocolate banana bread on her feed I knew that I had to try it. Since I had scheduled a tea time with one of my best friends that was the perfect opportunity. But my friend can't have gluten, so I had to do a few changes. And that's what I like - we can totally get inspired by something and not follow that through exactly how it is. I love that we can change recipes and create another one just by getting inspired.

Just like Silvia's recipe mine use only a blender. Luck for me I have a very potent one. If this is not your case, don't worry. You can blend the soft ingredients on the blender and then mix it in a bowl with the dry ones. Easy peasy. If you are looking for a vegan option, go for Silvia's, mine takes egg - since I had to found a solution for the oats in hers, I used almond flour. Also she used almond butter and I am pretty sure I didn't even need the peanut butter for mine since I used the eggs - probably you can add an extra egg if you don't want or don't have peanut butter around.

FLOURLESS DOUBLE CHOCOLATE BANANA BREAD

INGREDIENTS

2 cups almond flour
4 small ripe bananas (or 2 large)
2 eggs
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cacao powder
½ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup peanut butter
Pinch of salt and cinnamon to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Pre heat the oven at 350F (180º C). Grease a loaf pan with canola oil or place a parchment paper. On the blender mix all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips. You can also start by mixing the bananas, maple syrup, eggs and peanut butter and then add this mix to the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Place the batter in the pan and bring to the oven for 50 minutes or until you place a toothpick in the center of it and it comes clean.

Cardamom Creme Caramel

It's not vanilla: the little black dots are yellow cardamom seeds.

I am that type of person that goes to bed and start to think. A lot! Somedays I start to think about food and flavors and new combinations and my mind goes crazy. Sometimes I just sleep and kind of forget it - because I am not the type that will open my eyes, take the cell and make a note because this will make me lose my sleep for sure. But somedays I am look enough to go to bed with an idea on my mind and then I wake up and the idea is there I will only rest when I go to the kitchen and start to test.

This happened this week when I was thinking about creme caramel, one of my favorite desserts ever. Creme caramel is very popular in Brazil, I grew up having it on special occasions with family. But it's the kind of dessert that people love and it's not so simple to do. Specially because sometimes it gets some holes in it and some people love this way but I prefer de creamier one - no holes, just a velvety cream.

A few months ago I was giving this amazing yellow cardamom by Burlap & Barrel and felt in love by it. It was the first time that I had cardamom in my life. Don't get me wrong but cardamom is so expensive in my country that I never had the chance to try it before. Since then I've been trying to use it as many times as possible with different combinations. And the latest one is the subject of this post.

Sweet and glorious with a fragrant taste.

It's so hard to do a dessert like this when the sun is already down and you have to wait until the other day just to take nice pictures. Nevertheless so worthy. Do you want the recipe? Here it is:

CARDAMOM CREME CARAMEL

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CARAMEL

2 cups sugar
¾ cup water

INSTRUCTIONS

In a pan add the sugar and the water and give it a little stir to dissolve. Turn on the medium low heat and once the mixture comes to a boil, stop stirring and wait until it turns to caramel. Transfer to a 9 inches pan.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CREME

4 eggs
1 can of sweet condensed milk
2 cups heavy cream
10 pods of yellow cardamom

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven at 350 F. Put some water to boil. Take the seeds out of the cardamom pods and add in a blender with all the other ingredients. Blend for about 2 minutes. Using a sieve transfer the liquid to the pan with the caramel. Use foil to cover it. Get a bigger pan and place the pan with the liquid on the center of it. Put in the oven and pour the hot water. Let it cook for 90 minutes. Take the pan out of the oven and let it cool on the counter. Put in the fridge after it has cooled down. Leave it on the fridge for at least 3 hours.

To take the creme caramel out of the pan: use a knife to let it out from the edges from the pan. Put the pan on the stove top for about 20 seconds. Place a beautiful plate on top of the pan and turn. It's ready!

I would truly recommend this dessert for Christmas feast! Also I would decorate it with orange confit or toasted pistachios. Superb!

Brownie with Coffee

I had some coffee from the breakfast waiting to go down the sink this morning. But, I can't live with myself anymore knowing that I wasted food without even thinking about something to do with it.

Even tough it is Sunday I still had time to go to the kitchen and do something sweet for the weekend - this is a new tradition in this house: we have to have something sweet to bite during the weekends. A delicious new tradition to be honest.

I was out of chocolate bars or chips, but I had cacao powder. Butter, eggs, sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon and the coffee. The happiness recipe for sure.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons of unsweetened cacao powder
1 1/4 unsalted butter sticks
2 cold eggs
1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
A pinch of salt
A pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup (leftover) coffee

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 325°F (180°C). Line the bottom and sides of a baking pan with parchment paper - I used an 8-inch square baking pan.

In a heatproof bowl put the butter. Bring it to Bain Marie and let it melt. Then combine the cocoa and then the sugar and mix it with a whisk. Pour the coffee and whisk everything together. It should be warm enough that you can dip your finger on it - with no harm (please)!

Melt the butter in Bain Marie.

Add the cocoa powder and mix it.

Add the sugar and whisk everything together.

Pour the coffee...

Whisk until thick.

Let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to cool down a little bit. Add the cinnamon and the salt. The cinnamon will enhance the chocolate and the salt will enhance all the mixture. It's just a pinch, anyway.

A pinch of salt and cinnamon to enhance the flavors.

Now it's time for the eggs! After the batter has cooled down a bit, you can add one at a time. Pour one egg at time and stir vigorously after each one. The batter will look thick and very shiny. Now we can add the flour. Using a strainer to make the flour lighter and easier to stir. Also it prevents lumps on the batter.