Holiday Bakeathon 2019

Our sixth holiday baking day together! We were all kind of tired but things still moved along nicely.

Left: marshmallow, right: cream cheese icing

Gingerbread cookies this year were conspicuously Untitled Goose Game themed.

*honk*

Left: gingerbread; Right: chocolate biscotti

We all have a fancy stand mixer now so we had to take the below video because we can. And for internet points.

*Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries plays*

RECIPES

• Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (Smitten Kitchen) -- our old standby. I never get tired of how they taste with cream cheese frosting, and we keep coming up with new and/or funny ways to decorate them.
• Chocolate Caramel Crackers (Smitten Kitchen) -- chosen because both Sarah and I were eyeing it for several years but hadn't made it yet. We used matzo and added sliced almonds on top. Pretty easy to make, makes a lot, and tastes great. I made a second batch for my work holiday party because I missed it after my portion was gone and we had enough leftover ingredients to make it again. Definitely keeping this recipe around. I'd love to try it with saltine crackers. *Update: I tried it with saltines and very slightly prefer the matzo crackers because they're less crumbly.
• Cream Cheese Frosting -- for the gingerbread.
• Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach -- a perennial favorite. Made a second batch because my husband was sad when they were gone (they are his favorite cookie) and I'm glad I did because I got to introduce my sister to them.
• Double Chocolate Biscotti (MyRecipes) -- we added dried cherries and pistachios and I really liked them this way.
• Homemade Marshmallows (Alton Brown) -- another perennial favorite. I wanted to put peppermint in them but Sarah said no. :P
• Linzer Torte (Maida Heatter via Smitten Kitchen) -- my big error for the day was accidentally baking it on too high a temperature. The outside got very very dark, a shade before burnt, which is very sad when you spend all that time shaping dough into a lattice and making it look pretty. (This recipe takes two hours of active work to make by myself.) Make sure you turn your oven down for the final long bake. I made a small (5 inch) heart shaped one out of the leftover dough that I did not burn, and that one turned out really cute! If you decide to make it a non-standard shape, make sure you have a pan or mold to keep the bottom crust's shape while it bakes. The sides of my bottom crust started collapsing once it got warm in the oven, but an aluminum foil mold helped. Once the bottom crust was parbaked and solidified, it held its shape and I didn't need the foil barriers anymore. I redeemed myself by making a second batch that DID turn out really well, half for my parents (my dad liked it but my mom is seemingly impossible to impress) and half for Christmas Day dinner with my neighbor's family.

BAKEATHONS PAST

• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014

Tea Parties Vol. 4: The Prosecco Party

It had been nearly 2 years since my last tea party and I sorely needed to change that. For this party I went for an English high tea structure to the meal but with some fancy twists. Cucumber sandwiches, but Korean inspired. Chickpea salad instead of chicken or egg (bonus: vegetarians can eat it). Smoked salmon with lots of fresh vegetables. Plain scones, something of a rarity in America. Tiny desserts that taste as great as they look.

This was my first time having the party on Saturday instead of Sunday, and I normally work weekdays, so that meant preparing most of the food Friday evening after a full day of work plus Saturday morning. I am hashtag blessed to have awesome friends who came to help at both times. I significantly underestimated the amount of work this would involve, and I could not have gotten all this food made in time alone. Previously I asked people to arrive at noon but I quickly discovered I'm never actually ready to start then. Starting the party an hour later made a LOT of difference.

The schedule stars finally aligned for my sister to make it to one of these parties, and she let me dress her up! I have the same dress in two different colors and I put together matching outfits for us that didn't require a ton of hair/makeup preparation. It made me extra happy and I think she had fun.

We had 9 people this time, our largest group ever. Despite my best intentions, no actual tea was served (!) We started with sparkling wine and just never switched. Therefore, it was a prosecco party and not a tea party. We went through wayyy more than I thought we would but all the people I asked to bring sparkling wine did, and even some that I didn't ask! ha.

My husband threw on a city pop livestream neither of us had heard before, and it ended up being an incredible gem! It's good background music for frantic cooking working and we decided to just keep it on for the party too. Have a listen if you're into jazz, funk, disco, pop, and reggae from the 70s and 80s! He also took some fun photos to remember the afternoon.

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RECIPES

• SAVORIES
• Focaccia Sandwiches for a Crowd (Smitten Kitchen) -- I used this as the bread for all the sandwiches because I really, really wanted to try it ever since I found it several months ago. It was pretty easy to make and tasted quite good too! I did the quickest rising option, and it took a little more than 25 minutes to bake in my oven. I'd definitely consider making it again if I need to make a large amount of sandwiches where I also want to make my own bread and have enough advance time to make it.
• Korean Style Cucumber Sandwiches with Gochujang Mayo (Gather and Dine) -- we made a chicken version and vegetarian version with dry fried tofu (marinated after dry frying), and I think I like the tofu one a little better since it stayed together better and was a little more salty. The gochujang mayo was really tasty but some found it a little too spicy, so maybe I will dial it back next time. They fall apart easily so maybe keeping the chicken in larger pieces would work better if I made them again.
• Smoked Salmon Sandwiches -- Sarah made these completely differently from how I would have but they did taste pretty good. She blended the cream cheese and salmon and dill with some lemon juice, spread it on a big piece of the focaccia, cut it into squares and then we garnished each with a slice of radish and cucumber.
• Curried Chickpea Salad (She Likes Food) -- Paula made this so I don't have any notes other than that I might have chopped the celery and apple a little smaller than she did, but it significantly exceeded my expectations and I am looking forward to making it again! It's a good balance of curry flavor, creaminess, and sweetness, and it stays together nicely if you mash some of the beans really thoroughly but keep others in large pieces. A keeper for sure.
• Smoky Eggy Deviled Eggs -- for something without bread. This is my personal recipe, so of course I love it. Andrea and Paula prepared the eggs and filling the night before. Caroline stuffed the eggs in the morning and arranged them beautifully with some butter lettuce and sweet peppers from my work colleague's farm share.
• SCONES
• English Style Scones -- Sarah made these the morning of the tea party while I was asleep. She was not impressed with the recipe, and she makes a lot of scones, but I personally liked them. I served them with clotted cream (the Whole Foods in my city sells it), homemade strawberry freezer jam (pick yourself some strawberries and follow the recipe in the Sure-Jell Reduced Sugar Pectin box), and homemade lemon curd (from a frozen batch I made a couple of years ago so I don't remember which recipe I used). Oddly I feel like they tasted better (less bitter) the next day. I'd love to try making them myself.
• SWEETS
• Persian Love Cake (Broma Bakery) -- HOLY CRAP this was delicious. I have a separate entry on it since I did 95% of the preparation and have a lot of (happy) thoughts on it. I absolutely want to make this again.
• Chocolate Ganache Mini Tarts (Bon Appetit) -- I decorated them with edible gold glitter and fresh raspberries instead of the halvah and sesame salt. I will look for a different ganache recipe next time. My ganache did not fully set even after being refrigerated for many hours. The tart shells rolled out and baked nicely but tasted kind of bitter, though they did taste better the next day. I think if they were a little sweeter they'd have been perfect. It made 21 tart shells.
• Lavender Shortbread Sandwich Cookies -- a favorite of mine but with a new challenge: we rolled out the dough and cut them into large (2.5-3 inch) hearts, and were sparing with the filling so they wouldn't slide apart. It made about 4.5 dozen (54) hearts, enough for 27 sandwiches, with extra filling left over. I put about 1 cup more powdered sugar in the filling than the recipe called for and I think between that and the small amount of filling inside the cookies it actually set somewhat after being chilled in the refrigerator. I like these better as small, thick cookies with more filling. If I do make them heart shaped again, I will get a smaller cutter. I also think a firmer filling is the way to go and will continue to work on adjusting the recipe so it is firm but still has enough bright, fresh lemon flavor.

Other things we served that were not made from scratch:

• Sparkling wine (mostly prosecco, some rose)

THE TEA PARTIES

• Vol. 3: An End of Summer Feast
• Vol. 2: Spring Up Speed Up
• Vol. 1: A Birthday Party, and Being Unapologetically Yourself

Holiday Bakeathon 2018

Holiday Bakeathon, the 5th anniversary! While it's still a long day, I think we've got the process mostly figured out. This year's cookies featured extra fancy decorating with edible glitter and more piping tips. I think I even have a new favorite Christmas cookie (gasp).

RECIPES

• Spicy Gingerbread Cookies (Smitten Kitchen) -- our old standby. I never get tired of how they taste with cream cheese frosting, and we keep coming up with new and/or funny ways to decorate them.
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• Cinnamon-Sugar Rugelach
• Decadent Hot Chocolate Mix (Smitten Kitchen)
• Homemade Marshmallows (Alton Brown) -- we cut these into bigger marshmallows for the hot chocolate instead of mini marshmallows to save time. Use the best quality vanilla you can get your hands on, and don't bother with corn starch, use all powdered sugar. They were really good and I was sad when they were gone, so I made another batch and shared them with my work colleagues, who were surprised that you could make marshmallows at home. They taste so much better than store bought. They're also really kid friendly! My colleague's 7 year old daughter absolutely loved them.
• Linzer Torte (Maida Heatter via Smitten Kitchen) -- absolutely amazing, so good I wanted to cry. This is permanently going on my list of must-make holiday treats, whether I make it with my friends or not.
• Hazelnut-Orange Biscotti (Paul Hollywood via BBC)
• Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (Dorie Greenspan via Smitten Kitchen) -- for the chocolate part, we opted for milk chocolate with toffee bits, and I think that was a good choice because they were kind of bitter otherwise.

BAKEATHONS PAST

• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014

Ramen Robstravanganza

I threw a party to welcome Sarah home from her 3 month stay in France. She really missed ramen and had always wanted to try making her own, so I decided to make some from scratch for her. There were also several other recipes she sent me while she was there that I quietly saved and made for the party. Since I was not keen on making the noodles from scratch, I bought some refrigerated ones from the Asian grocery store since they have a better texture than the flash-fried ones in dry packets. We did not put a tare in the broth but I would like to try one of these two next time.

RECIPES

• Ramen components
• Pork Bone (Tonkotsu) Broth -- I used this as a general guide also with some tips from other recipes. I didn't put mushrooms in it but I did use the onion. Definitely rinse the bones. It ended up boiling for about 6 hours and was incredibly rich and lovely. I used neck and leg bones. I made it another time and it wasn't quite as good, so maybe I'll follow the suggestion to also put chicken bones in next time.
• Momofuku Pork Belly (Epicurious)
• Jammy Soft-Boiled Eggs (Bon Appetit) -- I've tried this method several times and they are consistently the perfect texture.
• Ramen Eggs (Just One Cookbook) -- use the jammy soft-boiled eggs you made in the above recipe for this. I prefer making these in larger batches since they take so long.
• Spicy Bean Sprout Salad (Just One Cookbook) -- this was good in the ramen as well as on its own.
• Chopped green onions
• Wasabi Pea Snack Mix (Kendra Vaculin via Food52) -- I did not make the wasabi peas from scratch because I did not have time, and the effort would be wasted on me anyway since I don't really like them. This was sneakily spicy in that it didn't taste very spicy at first but as you eat it a pretty good burn develops. I used less sriracha than was called for.
• Miso Butterscotch Bars (Aliwaks via Food52) -- sweet and salty wins every time. They didn't quite have the texture I was hoping for but they were delicious.
• Peach Rosemary Tea Collins
• Chuhai / Shochu Highball (The Drink Blog) -- chuhai is an incredibly popular adult beverage in Japan, so much so that you can buy it in a can at any time of the day from a convenience store. It's also really easy to make, and versatile in that you can flavor it with nearly any kind of fruit to suit your taste.

Tea Parties Vol. 3: An End of Summer Feast

This meal was heavily inspired by Sarah, Caroline, and me all finding our way to the Great British Baking Show / The Great British Bake-Off separately but around the same time and then raving about it (thanks Netflix). It's so refreshing to see a cooking show that focuses primarily on the creativity and growth of the participants and the beautiful food they make, rather than relying on manufactured cattiness, drama, and shock value for entertainment. The hosts are silly and own it. I love the dad jokes. I have also learned a lot about culinary traditions of cultures and countries other than my own and made mental notes of new flavor combinations I'd never heard of that sound amazing.

A lot of the savory part of the menu was inspired by this particular dish I saw, to which Sarah said we should deconstruct it a bit. All the elements are there in various configurations.

One of the first episodes of the Great British Baking Show I ever watched was the one where they made roll cakes, and I loved it so much I wanted to design my own! I came up with a caramel mocha roll cake. It turned out reasonably well for my first attempt, if a bit literally and figuratively rough around the edges.

I created a drink recipe especially for this party, inspired by a drink I had at adults summer camp with one of my best friends and with my own fancy addition of peach green tea.

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RECIPES

• Roasted Carrot and Curry Hummus (Kristin Donnelly, via Design Sponge) -- Sarah's pick. I loved the sweetness of the curry + carrot combination.
• Spiced Beef Meatballs -- Sarah's recipe. She may have made it up herself.
• Lentil and Rice Balls -- Caroline brought this recipe for a vegetarian meatball alternative.
• Hummus Heaped with Cucumbers and Tomatoes (Smitten Kitchen) -- straightforward and lovely. I picked this recipe because I'd seen it and could not forget it because it looked so good. We made only the salad part, and served it with store-bought white bean hummus.
• Crisp Rosemary Flatbread (Smitten Kitchen) -- Sarah's pick, to eat with the hummus. A total keeper. These were one of the first things to get completely eaten, and I promptly made more to eat with the rest of the leftovers.
• Goat Cheese Stuffed Dates with Spinach-Hazelnut Pesto
• Cheesy Potatoes (no link) -- Andrea made these and brought them! Not sure where her recipe came from but they were yummy.
• Caramel Mocha Swiss Roll Cake -- one of the most challenging cakes I've ever attempted to make, and I was pleased with the result. I think it's a great start but it needs some tweaking so as to not be so incredibly rich.
• Cheesecake Ice Cream with Strawberry Sauce
• Peach Rosemary Tea Collins
• Watermelon Lemonade (Smitten Kitchen)

Other things we served that were not made from scratch:

• White bean hummus (Lantana makes a great one)
• Various fancy cheeses
• Wine

THE TEA PARTIES

• Vol. 2: Spring Up Speed Up
• Vol. 1: A Birthday Party, and Being Unapologetically Yourself

Tea Parties Vol. 2: Spring Up Speed Up

Tea Party, volume 2. Fortunately this one did not end with my husband going to the emergency room! These are starting to look less like tea parties and more like huge-dinner-but-there's-also-tea parties. Or huge-dinner-with-tea-in-the-food parties.

For this one, I got input on the menu but ended up making almost all of the food myself. I spent most of the day before making things and then Sarah came to help and hang out that night. The party was on Sunday afternoon. Caroline and Alaina helped assemble the deviled eggs and dip the strawberries after they arrived. It ended up being a really nice day for early March so we got to take some photos outside! It was a lovely time.

If you like upbeat music, check out Perfume's song Spring of Life for the name inspiration!

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RECIPES:

• Sausage Fennel Seed Slices
• Smoky Eggy Deviled Eggs
• Carrot-Apple-Ginger Soup (Joy the Baker) - chosen because it did not contain dairy and I had a vegan friend in attendance. While she is not strict and will eat vegetarian food, it is a goal of mine to have at least a few vegan friendly recipes up my sleeve that I personally like to eat.
• Lemon Cake with Black Tea Frosting (Honey and Jam's take on Dorie Greenspan) - I made this as written and while it was a lot of work, I did enjoy the end product. I baked the cake, brewed extra-strong black tea, and candied the lemon slices the evening before the party, and made the frosting and assembled the cake the morning of the party. It made a LOT of frosting (so I filled the middle with a lot) and the top layer ended up sliding around a bit.
• Rhubarb Tart with Cardamom Meringues
• Green Tea White Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Other things we served that were not made from scratch or that don't really need a recipe:

• White chocolate covered pretzels (I did make these but all the ingredients are already prepared; you just melt chocolate, dip the pretzels in it, and sprinkle rainbow nonpareils on before the chocolate hardens)
• Hummus and raw vegetables
• Various fancy cheeses
• Gin and tonic with a splash of lavender liqueur
• Wine
• Dry sparkling mead (our local meadery makes a rosé grape and lavender one called Equinox that is tasty!)

Georgian Dinner Party

We had a dinner party featuring Georgian food. This is Sarah's brainchild and while I am not entirely sure what inspired it (though it was probably Nigella Lawson or Christina Nichol's Lucky Peach blog), it was a fun way to try some new foods I probably never would have found and made on my own. We had at least one vegetarian in attendance and we planned it so that almost all of the food (except the chicken, of course) was vegetarian friendly.

RECIPES

• Georgian Stuffed Chicken -- we cooked a separate batch of the rice stuffing in a glass dish so vegetarians could enjoy it.
• Beet Latkes with Horseradish Cream
• Badrijani Nigvzit (Walnut Stuffed Eggplant Rolls) -- these were my favorite food from the meal! A little labor intensive but really delicious and absolutely worth the work.
• Hachapuri (Cheese Stuffed Bread)
• Muhammara (Red Pepper Walnut Dip) -- I'm not sure of the exact recipe Sarah used to make the one served at our dinner, but I have made the one at this link several times and I love it.
• Dark Grape Pelamushi (Grape Juice Pudding) -- I made this since I had a lot of grapes given to me by our farm share. It turned out more brown than purple, and I am not sure how well executed it was since I had never had it before, but it was fun to try to make something so different. It had a nice sourness from the grape skins and grapey flavor since the grapes had seeds (waaaay different from most American table grapes, which barely have any grape flavor and are mostly just sweet). If I ever make it again I will probably try this recipe instead.

Other things we served that we did not prepare:

• Sartori MontAmore cheese (heart eyes emoji here)
• Olives
• Pita bread
• Khortytsa, a Ukrainian vodka (we couldn't find any Georgian spirits locally to buy)
• Red wine
• Our favorite beers

Tea Parties Vol. 1: A Birthday Party, and Being Unapologetically Yourself

One of my other hobbies besides cooking is dressing up in an alternative street fashion. One of the things groups of people who are interested in this fashion do is go to tea services while dressed to the nines in fancy, frilly clothes. I had recently left my local community because I felt weird being almost 30 and hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers I wasn't sure I'd ever have crossed paths or be friends with otherwise, and was lamenting the fact that I really wanted to host an event at my house, but wasn't comfortable inviting these people into my home and also felt weird asking my actual friends to come over where I was all dressed up in strange clothes.

Cue Sarah finding out about my fashion hobby and giving me one of the greatest pep talks of my adult life. Indeed she is right. The people who like you already aren't going to abandon you over your taste in clothing, and even if they're not into it personally, they will be happy for you that you're enjoying yourself. I'd read something to this effect and agreed with it before, but I guess I needed someone to say it, out loud, to me specifically.

I then told her about this tea party idea and since we like to cook together, she offered to help me cook for this party. I decided my birthday was a good excuse for the party so I invited my friends and took care of the scheduling and communication, and made drinks and cupcakes and hosted. Sarah made and brought the soup, sablés, gougères and nectarine bars. It was a lovely afternoon.

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RECIPES

• Roasted Corn Gazpacho with Cilantro Crema (from Tara O'Brady's cookbook Seven Spoons)
• Cheddar Cheese Sablés (originally from Chad Robertson's cookbook Tartine Book No. 3; the recipe linked from Scratchin' It is very similar but not the same as the one Sarah made)
• Rye-Cocoa Gougères (originally from Chad Robertson's cookbook Tartine Book No. 3)
• Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting (from Brown Eyed Baker; I additionally topped each one with a chocolate covered espresso bean and chocolate jimmies)
• Nectarine Frangipane Bars (from Smitten Kitchen; Sarah used nectarines instead of rhubarb)
• Matcha Green Tea Mojito
• Spiked Lemonade Iced Tea
• Bonus: Kentucky Tea Julep (from Elmwood Inn; I tested it with a neutral store brand black tea which was probably orange pekoe, and I liked it but we did not end up making them for the party because we had plenty of other drinks)

Other things we served that were not made from scratch:

• Various fancy cheeses
• Wine