white chocolate walnut fudge

Posted on December 22, 2012 by lovettlovett

Looking for a last minute holiday treat for your Christmas festivities? Whip up a batch of this super simple white chocolate walnut fudge and you’ll be a hit. You need 6 ingredients and just over 6 minutes (plus time for the fudge to chill), and you’ll have a delicious non-cookie, non-chocolate sweet treat that will easily travel and makes a great gift!

Ready, set, fudge!

1 1/2 bags white chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 generous tsp of vanilla

1/4 tsp baking soda

a big pinch of salt

3/4 to 1 cup chopped walnuts (pecans would also be yum!)

In a true (or makeshift!) double broiler, melt your chocolate chips. Stir continuously to facilitate the melting until the chips are all beginning to soften & get creamy. Add your sweetened condensed milk & vanilla. Keep stirring until it’s all melty, combined, delicious white goop and stir in your soda & salt. Once everything’s all mixed, remove your white-chocolate wonder from the heat & stir in your walnuts. Quickly pour into a parchment-lined pyrex & then chill. Once until the fudge is frigid and solid, cut into your desired sized pieces & enjoy!

Variation: You could easily use this same base for a peppermint bark! Substitute the walnuts for crushed peppermints or candy canes & swap 1 of the tsps of vanilla for a tsp of peppermint extract! Yum!

texas birthday cheesecake

Posted on December 19, 2012 by lovettlovett

Cheesecake was far and above my favorite dessert when I was growing up & I was lucky enough to live right next door to the best cheesecake baker in all the land. My neighbor baked her delicious cheesecakes for a handful of Houston restaurants by the dozen, and was always quick to share samples of new flavors or the very rare cratered cake that was still scrumptious but wouldn’t win a beauty contest when plated at the restaurant. Elizabeth’s cheesecake is and always will be my gold standard, but miles and miles away from the expert I attempted my own and it came out better than I could have ever imagined! The impetus for this particular baking extravaganza was Boston Boy’s surprise birthday party. You see, Boston Boy doesn’t like sweets as much as this Hungry Texan, but he always says if he had to pick a favorite dessert it’d probably be cheesecake; and with that resounding enthusiasm who wouldn’t want to humor his tastebuds!

Cheesecake has always been super intimidating to me (you read about water baths and thermometers…stressful!), but this recipe is all things considered pretty “set it and forget it”. After texting with the expert, I also learned a couple of tricks that helped alleviate some of my fears!

Make your cheesecake a few days early if you can! I made mine Wednesday evening for Friday evening and it was delicious after a few days of rest in the fridge.
Once your cheesecake seems solidly cooked (the inside can & should be a little jiggly), turn off your oven and let the cheesecake cool in an oven whose temperature is very slowly decreasing opposed to the volatile elements of your kitchen. The slower your cake cools, the less likely it is to crack or crater!

To recreate this Texas cheesecake (that admittedly isn’t the most-Texas, but these HungryTexans couldn’t flaunt a “New York” cheesecake!), you’ll need:

For the crust:

8 graham crackers pulverized to crumbs in your food processor

2 tbl butter melted, plus additional for the crust

For the filling:

4 1/2 packages of cream cheese

1 cup sour cream

2 tbl lemon

1 1/2 tbl vanilla

1 1/2 c sugar

8 eggs (6 full, 2 yolks)

*note: half & half is pictured, but I didn’t end up using any!

Start by preheating your oven to 400 then make your crust! Pulverize your graham crackers, melt your butter, & combine. Press your crumbs into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan (already assembled). Pack your crumb crust in tight and use the back of a spoon to smooth it out. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the crust begins to golden.

Turn your oven up to 500 and get working on your filling. Start by creaming your softened cream cheese with the paddle attachment of your mixer (it helps to cut the sticks in half). Cream for 3 minutes or so until the cream cheese is sufficiently soft. Add half of your sugar & keep mixing. Once that’s combined add the second half. Add your lemon & vanilla followed by the cup of sour cream. Keep mixing, mixing, mixing until everything’s smooth (being sure to frequently scrape the sides of your bowl). If you want to taste the filling, I recommend doing so now because your risk of salmonella poisoning is about to increase 8-fold! Now, los huevos! I had NO IDEA how many eggs go into a cheesecake! Sooooo many eggs! Count ’em e-i-g-h-t, delicious little pre-birds. Start by adding your two egg yolks and then procede to add your six whole eggs two at a time until everything’s combined. Give the sides of your bowl a few good scrapes and confirm everything’s combined. Your mix should be soupy, creamy, wonderful.

Put your crust pan on top of a cookie sheet (just in case) and pour your filling into the prepared crust. Pop into the oven and bake for 12 minutes at 500 before lowering the heat to 200. Check on your cake in an hour to see how it’s doing (but try your hardest to look and not touch…opening the door and changing the temperature of the oven even a little bit will increase its propensity to fall). Your cake will probably take ~an hour and a half to be sufficiently cooked. At this point, you might need to bite the bullet and give it a little poke. If everything seems like the appropriate cheesecake consistency (except maybe a little jiggle in the middle), shut off the oven and let the temperature fall while the cake cools. I left mine in the oven over night & plastic wrapped and popped it in the fridge the next morning.

I left my cake in at heat for a few minutes too long or opened the door too many times and it cracked (bummer!), but it was nothing a creative strawberry topping couldn’t cover. Remember when cakes give you cracks, get creative!

Say cheese!

gingerbread pancakes

Posted on December 13, 2012 by lovettlovett

Looking for a Christmasy twist to the Sunday morning classic? These pancakes are the perfect way to start any holiday morning – they’ll fill your house with the smells of the season and fill your tum with cheer. Tex-Pat Sprague visited this weekend from Brooklyn & after brunching way too hard on Saturday these gingerbread pancakes & scrambies seemed like the perfect cure for our holiday hangovers. Also, gingerbread pancakes are oh, so special to Tex-Pat Sprague and I as we shared many a platter of Kerby Lane’s every summer we trounced around Austin during debate camp (we were very cool).

While these evoked similar flavors to Kerby Lane’s perfect cakes, the texture wasn’t quite the same on ours. There’s a time and a place for every pancake, so file this recipe under “looking for a thick, dense, hearty cake” (we have a favorite fluffy, cloud-like recipe we’ll share next!).

Makes ~12 pancakes

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 c brown sugar

4 tbl buter, melted

3 eggs

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon ginger

1 tablespoon nutmeg*

1/2 c brewed coffee

1/2 c water

1/2 c buttermilk

Make your batter by creaming together your eggs & sugar. Add your liquids: coffee, water, buttermilk. Mix it all up and then set aside. Combine all of your dry ingredients & then add your eggies. Next, gradually combine the wet & dry until you have a thick batter. Stir in your melted butter for good measure and then start cookin! Plop scoops of batter into a greased skillet or onto a greased griddle and then cook until your pancake comes alive (consistent bubbles throughout). Once your cake’s alive it’s time to flip!

Serve with melted butter & maple syrup.

* Important to note we learned in the creation of this recipe that nutmeg is in fact a seed, so One Sock Wonder could enjoy these tasty cakes in spite of his nut allergy! #themoreyouknow

inside-out peppermint patties

Posted on December 11, 2012 by lovettlovett

I’m sure you all have many a nostalgic childhood memory of York Peppermint Patties (who doesn’t?). Maybe your grandmother always had peppermint patties on hand or there was one of these cardboard dispensers at one of your favorite restaurants. My favorite burrito cart–Pedro & Vinny’s–hands out peppermint patties to soothe the palette post-over-indulgence in the spice of their famous goose & spicy cilantro sauces, and this simple & satisfying after-meal sweet helped rekindle my love for these shiny silver treats & I encountered the homemade inside-out version at a friend’s Thanksgiving party. Assembly is slightly time-consuming, but preparing the components of these PepPats couldn’t be simpler!

Peppermint Patty:

1/2 a stick of softened cream cheese

2 tbl butter

1 lb box of powdered sugar

2 tbl peppermint extract

Chocolate Ganache:

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 cup half & half

Start by creaming together your cream cheese & butter, then gradually begin adding your powdered sugar. Add the peppermint extract and take a taste to make sure the minty-ness suits your tastebuds. Chill your creamy patty mixture. Then, make your ganache. Chop, chop, chop your chocolate and heat your half & half in the microwave. Dump your chopped chocolate into the hot milk and stir, stir, stir like crazy. Your mix will be pretty thick, but I recommend chilling for at least 30 minutes in the fridge or 15 minutes in the icebox.

Once both have had an opportunity to chill, start rolling & piping. Take a small spoon and scoop tiny balls, roll them between your palms (you may want to lightly grease your hands with a neutral oil). I rolled ~6 at a time and then piped the chocolate ganache on top. You could of course use a real piping bag, but these HungryTexans prefer Ziplocs. Put your ganache in the bag, snip the tip, and start piping. Just a dollop of chocolate on each patty! Voila, inside-out peppermint patties.

I recommend keeping these PepPatts chilly. These treats will make everyone from coworkers to mingling singles smile.

Put some “pepp” in your step!

Soy Ginger Tofu with Bok Choy

Posted on December 6, 2012 by lovettlovett

This is more exciting than you know! I’ve been a vegetarian for sneaking up on 4 years and this was my first successful attempt to cook tofu in such a way that it evoked the same “yum!-I-ordered-this-for-dinner-at-a-restaurant-and-I’m-extremely-satisfied” feeling. Huge win! The recipe couldn’t have been easier, either. Boston Boy & I hiked Great Falls Sunday and arrived home in desperate need of a quick & nourishing meal pre-movies (we saw Lincoln, and I don’t know that you need to rush to see it while it’s in theaters, but I definitely recommend it!). Did a quick dash to the grocery, cooked & ate it all in under an hour!

This Soy Ginger Tofu is great to keep in your wheelhouse for a simple, scrumptious din din!

For the Sauce:

1/4 c honey

1/4 c lemon juice

1/4 c soy sauce

2 tbl pickled ginger (fresh would of course be wonderful too, but this was a quick operation!)

1 heaping tbl garlic

1 1/2 tbl sriracha

Everything Else:

1 bunch of bok choy (thoroughly cleaned!)

1 package of firm/extra-firm tofu

1/3 c flour

pinch of salt

2 tbl canola oil

So, I recommend you start by situating your tofu. Slice your tofu into 1/2 an inch thick pieces and lay on a bed of paper towels. Lay more paper towels on top and perhaps even a cutting board on top of those paper towels. We want to remove as much liquid from the tofu as possible, as quickly as possible! While that’s being pressed/patted, start on your sauce. I recommend using one liquid measure and adding your honey, then lemon juice, then soy. Mix in your g&g & sriacha & let that rest.

Next (or meanwhile if you have a wonderful Boston Boy as your sous chef) clean and chop your bok choy (both the stalk and the leafy part) into bite-sized pieces.

Finally, once your tofu has rested for a while, slice each piece 3 times so you have 1 by 2 inch rectangular pieces, then coat each piece in your flour/salt mixture. Now it’s time to cook these babies! Heat your oil in a large skillet. Once your oil is hot enough gently place your tofu (you should see itty bitty bubbles surround it) in the oil. Let the tofu fry for 3-4 minutes and then flip once the bottom is beginning to look golden brown. Cook the second side (it’ll cook a little more quickly than the first) until it’s also golden brown.

I removed a good amount of the oil in my pan (I know we’re frying, but we’re health conscious when we can be!) and then added the bok choy. Start by adding the stalky, crunchy parts. Let those get off to a good start cooking & then pour in your sauce. Let it all start to simmer then add the leafy green parts of your bok choy.

Let it all jive together for 5-7 minutes (the stalky parts of your bok choy should be tender with a slight crisp), and then remove from heat. Serve on top of your favorite grain – I choose quinoa!

Give it a try, you’re going to love it! And…I promise, even for all you tofu skeptics. This is a great gateway tofu!

one bowl brownies

Posted on December 4, 2012 by lovettlovett

Consider yourself warned, you’ll be a hazard to yourself with these brownies nearby. The Saucy San Diegan made quite the feast of collards, kale & pork chops, so I volunteered to whip up dessert last night. Since our kitchen is just now, two weeks later, beginning to recover from our Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving festivities, nothing sounded better than only dirtying one bowl & I had all the ingredients on hand for brownies. I improv’d a little with my chocolate varietals & I encourage you to do the same, but let it be known these brownies turned our to be better than I could have ever imagined, so it might be worth sticking to this choco ratio. My perfect dessert – a tad bit of crunch on the outside & gooey goodness on the inside. I began devouring them the second they got out of the oven (the roof of my mouth is still recovering), enjoyed round II as a midnight snack, and woke up promptly this morning to enjoy a few nibbles for breakfast. I can’t quit these brownies. Also important to note, Boston Boy & Saucy San Diegan–both of whom have slim to no sweet tooth–loved ’em too!

Gather the following:

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup + 2 tsp boiling water

3 oz finely chopped Belgium chocolate (it’s all we had on hand thanks to one of One Sock Wonder’s friends who visited from Belgium!)

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup butter

2 eggs + 2 egg yolks

2 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 c sugar

1 3/4 c flour

3/4 tsp salt

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350. First, dump your cocoa powder into the bowl & dissolve it with your 1/2 cup of boiling water. Then add your belgium chocolate & whisk, whisk, whisk until it’s all melted. Melt your coconut oil and butter together and then pour that into your mix until it’s combined. Add your two full eggs & two yolks & your vanilla. Then whisk in your sugar & finally, slowly add your flour/salt mixture. The final touch is to fold in your chocolate chips. There you have it! One bowl, a couple utensils, a liquid measure, a dry measure and a few guesstimates later and you have yourself One Bowl Brownies.

It’s important that you prep your pyrex accordingly. I used a square dish and lined the bottom with parchment so they popped out perfectly! Pour your batter into your prepped pan and lick the bowl (not joking! taste the batter, it should be sweet sweet with a hint of hmmm…what is this delicious vanilla, coconuty sweetness?). Pop the brownies in the oven and wait oh, so patiently as the sweetest smells start wafting from your oven. These babies took longer than I expected (~1 1/2 episodes of Homeland) or 45-60 minutes. Remove from the oven once the top is set and your brownies pass the toothpick test on the edges (I took mine out when the center was still a little rare!).

I recommend taking these to a party, where you can have as many bites as you want, but it’d be uncouth to take the whole pan home with you. If you keep them around the house too long, you’ll be like me desperately scavenging for crumbs & desperately resisting the temptation to lick the chocolate that’s smudged between your “r” & “t” keys directly from the keyboard.

roasted red pepper & chickpea quinoa

Posted on December 1, 2012 by lovettlovett

This roasted red pepper & chickpea quinoa was a little bit of a whim, but ended up being a super simple and satisfying meal I ate throughout the week. Roasting both the red peppers and the chickpeas yielded hearty, wholesome flavors I couldn’t get enough of!

All you need is:

2 red peppers

1 large can of chickpeas

1 cup quinoa

2 cups vegetable broth

2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne

2 tablespoons olive oil

kosher salt

Start by prepping your chickpeas! Set your oven to 400. Rinse & drain your chickpeas and then lay them out to dry on paper towels, lay paper towels on top too to blot excess liquid. Wait 10 minutes or so until your chickpeas are dry-ish. Pour into a bowl and toss with olive oil & seasonings. Lay your chicks out on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes. These roasted chickpeas make a great snack, salad topper, or mix in!

While your chicks are baking start roasting your red peppers. My favorite trick for this is to pop my peppers directly on a gas burner. Cook & rotate them with a pair of tons ’til their skin is blackened & blistered and then remove from the heat. Pop ’em in brown paper bags to cool. Once they’ve cooled, run the peppers under cold water and remove the charred outer skin with either a paring knife or just your fingers. Remove the seeds and blot your peppers between paper towels. I finely chopped my peppers & they were the perfect quinoa fixing.

Finally, I used quinoa, but I think any grain would be great! Use two cups of broth for every cup of quinoa. Combine both & bring to a poil in a small pot. Once you’re boiling, put a lid on it, and wait until all the liquid is absorbed and you start to see the quinoa blossom (little white specks come out on each grain!). When your quinoa’s cooked, mix in your veggies and serve. Enjoy hot or cold, as lunch or dinner, alone or on a bed of greens.

pecan pie

Posted on November 28, 2012 by lovettlovett

Two Saturdays ago I helped sort 7,000 Thanksgiving pies sold as a fundraiser for one of my favorite DC nonprofits, Food & Friends. In case you were wondering, 7,000 pies looks like this about 6-times! This pecan pie recipe is poco complicado, but as you read and mentally prepare yourself to recreate its splendor, if you ever think you’re ready to “next!” this recipe, take a deep breath and remember you’re only making one…not 7,000!

Before we get into the thick of it, there are a couple of things you need to know.

This is a recipe for Pecan (“pi-con”) Pie not “pee-can” pie. Few alliterative phrases irk my ears more than “pee-can” pie, and this is coming from the girl who has her own fair share of Texas twists on pronunciation.
This pie was extra special because it was made entirely from the fruits of one of Mimi & Papa’s pecan trees!
This is my first attempt at a Pecan Pie, but you should know Goode Company Pecan Pie (GCPP) is and always will be the gold standard for this species of pie. Important characteristics worth mimicking in GCPP are: a crumbly crust, whole pecans, and balance in the crust & nuts that cuts the saccharine filling.

My recipe features pecans three ways–as a meal in the crust, whole on the bottom of the crust, & chopped in the filling–and its inspired by Tabard Inn’s Crust & Cooks Illustrated’s filling. To embark on this pie prepping adventure, you’ll need:

For the crust:

1 c pecans (chopped)
1⁄3 c sugar
1.5 c flour
1.5 sticks butter
Pinch salt
2 egg yolks
3 tbls 1/2 & 1/2
1 12-ounce can dulce de leche
8 ounces toasted pecans

For the filling:

6 tbl butter

1 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c corn syrup

1 tbl vanilla

2 c whole pecans toasted & chopped

Let’s start with the crust, shall we? First pulse your cup of pecans & sugar in a food processor; pulse until it’s a fine meal. Add flour, butter & salt and continue to pulse until the butter is super crumbly. Then add the eggs and half & half. Once your dough is in a nice ball, flatten it out between two pieces of parchment paper. Chill in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it. When it’s time to bake, roll or use your hands to fit your crust into a pie pan. Be sure to poke your crust with a fork (many, many times) and then bake for ~20 minutes at 350. I covered mine with parchment paper. True story, I didn’t have pie weights and my crust definitely rose a little. Once it got out of the oven, I needed to smoosh it back down to its home in the pan. Remove once it’s golden brown.

While your crust is baking is the perfect opportunity to make your filling! Setup a double boiler and melt your butter. Then mix in your sugar & salt. Then beat in eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla. Pop your bowl back on your double broiler & stir, stir, stir until your mix is shiny and warm. Remove the bowl from the heat & stir in your 2 cups of toasted chopped pecans. Ta da! You have filling.

Now this is exciting. Take your toasted whole pecans and pop those little guys on the bottom of your crust. Drizzle dulce de leche all over the pecan-filled pie crust. Then pour in your filling. Alas! It’s time to bake this baby. Pop it into your still hot 350 degree oven for 35-45 minutes or until your pie filling stands up to a toothpick test. Let your pie rest until it’s time for dessert (or an extra decadent afternoon treat!). I garnished ours with some Grand Marnier whipped cream & it was the perfect cream to cut the sweet.

Steamed Shiner Moules

Posted on November 24, 2012 by lovettlovett

DC has an abundance of awesome spots to belly up to the bar with a piping hot pot of moules, a side of sizzling frites, and a stein of your favorite Belgium beer; and little by little I’ve grown quite fond of these baby bivalves (Confession: this Hungry Texan spent a week in Belgium at age 19 and left without nomming a single mussel. She’s still beating herself up for not tasting the beloved dish in its motherland). Until today when I had a craving and promptly started researching how to make them myself, I had two wrong assumptions about mussels. I wrongly assumed steaming mussels was a labor of love, I imagined hours and hours of a slow simmering pot of broth until little by little the shells started peeping open. Turns out the shells pop open in a flash and you can have ’em ready in five minutes flat! Wrong assumption #2 was that mussels were really expensive. ¡Au contraire mon frere! I got a two pound bag at Central Market (the finest grocery store) for $8.99 & that happily fed Baby Bro, Mommy Cat and me.

Misconceptions corrected, I read a little bit about making moules in Saveur and then concocted my own Texas-twist on the Belgium classic. The only thing standing between you and your own bowl of steamed moules is 9 ingredients and +/- 20 minutes!

2 lbs mussels (mine were already cleaned & debearded!)

2 stalks of celery finely chopped

1/2 c chopped onion

3 cloves of chopped garlic

the white part of 3 green onions

2/3 cup of Shiner Cheer (’tis the season!) or your favorite wheat beer

4 tbl butter

s&p

This recipe couldn’t be simpler. 5 easy steps. 1. Prep all your veggies & give your mussels a good rinse. 2. Get a large pot with a good fitting lid, place it on the stove and set your heat on high. 3. Melt your butter in the pot & then dump everything in. Add s&p and give it all a good stir, then put your lid back on. 4. Set a timer for 5 minutes and periodically give the pot a good shake. 5. Turn off the heat once you’ve reached 5 minutes or the majority of your shells have popped open.

Scoop your moules into bowls and ladle on your broth (don’t forget a bowl for discarded shells!). Serve with your favorite crusty bread and/or frites & mayo if you’re feeling fancy!

herbed honey biscuits

Posted on November 23, 2012 by lovettlovett

I arrived home in Houston to a mountain of Saveur magazines (really! look how many there are!), and immediately started paging through them. The first recipe that screamed, “make me! make me!” was for these herbed honey biscuits. I knew they’d be the perfect addition to our Thanksgiving menu and their ease was an attractive alternative to more time-consuming yeast rolls. They’re ideal for any holiday bread basket, sopping up soup, or a savory twist to your breakfast (my egg, gruyere, herb biscuit breakfast sandwich this morning was preeeetttty tasty!).

For ~15 biscuits, gather these ingredients:

3 3/4 self-rising flour

1 heaping tbl chopped rosemary

1 heaping tbl thyme

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

6 tbls chilled, cubed butter

1 c buttermilk

3 tbl 1/2 & 1/2

1 heaping tbl honey

This is a roll-up-your-sleeves, play-with-your-food, get-your-hands-dirty type of recipe. Start by mixing your dry ingredients in a big bowl and then add all your cubed butter and start mixing it with your flour mixture. Keep playing until your mixture is a crumbly consistency and all the butter is worked into the flour in ittty bitty balls. Wash your hands & then mix in your dairy & your honey. Mix, mix, mix until your dough is a sticky, cohesive ball.

Dump your ball out onto a very well floured surface and roll it out so it’s about an inch think. Cut ’em out and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 20 to 30 minutes until they’re golden brown!

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