Gingered Peach Mason Jar Cobblers

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Liz Eggleston

In honor of my darling best friend Julia’s birthday and in honor of peaches being abundantly available and ripe this weekend, I knew a fruity dessert was in order. Since we had made plans to visit a couple vineyards on Sunday with our sweet friends Amy and Ryan, this dessert also had to be easily portable. And it had to be adorable. Whew- no pressure!

As it turns out, a perfectly peachy, easily transportable dessert was well within my reach (and yours!). All it takes is a trip to the farmers market, a quick spin in the Kitchen-Aid, and a few mason jars to make these Gingered Peach Cobblers.

For the Filling (makes 4 individual pies):

4 peaches
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs fresh ginger

For the Pastry Dough:

1 ¼ cup flour
¼ cup ice water
1 stick cold, unsalted butter
1 tbs sugar

To make the Dough:

I have to admit, I’m no baker- I usually leave the sweet treats up to Julia. But I’ve been pushing myself to mix flour + water instead of trudging to the store for some mediocre pre-made dough, and this recipe couldn’t be simpler. Just combine your flour and sugar in a food processor or stand mixer. Add the cold butter (with the mixer on a speed-2), one tablespoon at a time, until the mixture resembles sand. Then, add your ice cold water and mix for ~15 seconds. I made my pastry dough the night before the wine tour, and refrigerated it in plastic overnight.

To make the filling:

When you’re ready to make your cobblers, grease the insides of four mason jars with butter. Slice your peaches and place them in a sauce pan with 2 tbs sugar and 1 tbs ginger. Give them a good stir and let them simmer over low heat for ~10 minutes until they’re syrupy and delicious.

While those peaches are simmering, let’s talk produce! Since there are really only 4 ingredients in this recipe- flour, butter, peaches & ginger- you can have some fun with the fillings. I got three different peach breeds- Donut, Yellow, and White- from the farmers market. And I was inspired to add ginger after finding this incredible baby Hawaiian variety. No peeling necessary? I can freeze you? Hello, new favorite ingredient.

Once your peaches are finished simmering, take them off the heat and let them cool a bit.

Peach Cobbler, Assemble!

Cut the pastry dough into two unequal parts. Roll out the smaller half, then use the mouth of a mason jar to cut 4 rounds. These should be thinner, because they’ll be on the bottom of the cobblers. Roll out the larger half, which should be the thicker cobbler-toppers, and cut four more rounds. Place the thin rounds of dough carefully in the bottom of your mason jars and bake at 400° for ~5 minutes.

When the dough is a bit cooked, fill the jar up to the top with peach filling, and finish with the thick round on top.

If you want to be really cute, and who doesn’t, use some leftover dough to form hearts or initials to pop on top. Brush the whole thing with an egg wash and place in the oven (on a baking sheet!) at 375° for 30 minutes, or until the crusts are golden brown.

I pulled these out of the oven about 2 hours before eating them and screwed the lids on for easy transport. Not only did this make them easy to get to the vineyards, but would you believe that they were still warm when we ate them? Just plain peachy!

xoxo,

Liz

oh what? you wanted to see a photo of the birthday girl on her vineyard trip? so happy you asked:

tofu lettuce wraps

Posted on May 14, 2013 by lovettlovett

Last night Boston Boy, Boston Sister, and I ate our weight in sushi and tots (that’s right sushi and tots under the same roof!) at Sticky Rice, one of our favorite H Street haunts. Sticky Rice has some of the most unique sushi rolls I’ve ever enjoyed – like the Godzirra (crunchy shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, spicy sauce, cucumbers + crunch) or the Drawn and Buttered (no big deal, just some lump crab sushi you dip in butter! that’s right…sushi dipped in butter. Big Daddy, take notes!) – but in spite of their cornucopia of creative rolls, one of my favorite of their dishes is their tofu lettuce wraps! Chunks of fried tofu mixed with a delicious soy ginger sauce with just the right amount of crisp from the lettuce and crunch from huge chunks of water chestnuts. Delish!

24 hours later and I was hungry for more, so I whipped up my own rendition of this veggie delight. For ease and health, I opted against frying my tofu (although, it would be delish! If you want to try these with fried tofu hunks, I recommend borrowing the frying method from our Soy Ginger Tofu with Bok Choy). Grab these ingredients and you’ll be crunching away on these tofu lettuce wraps in no time! Also…for anyone suffering from tofu-phobia, this dish is a great gateway!

1 pound extra firm tofu
5 cloves of garlic chopped
2 tbl ginger chopped (I love ginger, so if you’re less of a ginger nut you may want to reduce)
1 tbl lemon grass
1/2 chopped onion
2 tbl olive oil
1 package of mixed mushrooms, coarsely chopped
4 tbl hoisin
4 tbl soy
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
romaine lettuce hearts
garnishes: carrots, peanuts

Heat oil in a large saucepan and add onions, garlic, lemon grass, and ginger. Let cook for 5-7 minutes until fragrant and tender.

While those are cooking, combine soy, hoisin, red pepper, and sesame oil to make your sauce.

Add your mushrooms.

Cook for about 4 minutes before adding tofu and water chestnuts.

Pour sauce over everything and mix to combine.

Cook for another 5-7 minutes until everything’s thoroughly hot, combined, and saucy.

Scoop heaps of your tofu mixture into romaine lettuce hearts. Garnish with your choice of toppings – I recommend carrots and peanuts!

xoxo,

Julia

cupcakes we can believe in

Posted on January 16, 2013 by lovettlovett

Even though Obama ate more custards than cupcakes during his first term in office, there are few desserts more “DC” right now than cupcakes. We took a tropical, Hawaiian twist on the DC favorite with these Pineapple-Coconut Cupcakes. What makes these cupcakes extra-special is they use crushed cookies instead of flour. You read right…cookies! One bite of these coconutty, cookie cupcakes & you’ll want to forget flour all together!

For the cupcakes: (makes about 22)
1 stick unsalted butter
½ c coconut oil
2 c sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla
6 eggs
1 c sweetened coconut flakes
¼ c crushed pineapple
1 box of crushed vanilla wafers, crushed into a fine crumb
½ cup of pecans, crushed into a pecan meal

For the icing:
8 oz cream cheese
4 tbl butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 c powdered sugar (or until reaches desired thickness)
2 tbl pineapple

Start by creaming your coconut oil & butter together with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer. Once your fats are combined and a nice pale yellow, add your sugar & continue creaming.

Splash in your vanilla & then start adding eggs. Add eggs one at a time allowing enough time for each egg to integrate (scraping the side of the bowl as necessary). Once you’ve added all six eggs, your mixture should look almost custardy.

At a slow speed fold your coconut and pineapple into the batter. Once combined, add your vanilla wafer & pecan meals to the mix thickening it all up. Scrape the sides of your bowl and give your mixture a final few paddle rotations.

Prep your favorite cupcake pan with liners.

Fill close to the top. These cupcakes will rise a little bit, but not too much, so be generous with your fill!

Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes or until they’re golden and pass a toothpick test.

For your pineapple cream cheese frosting, start by creaming softened butter & cream cheese together. Add vanilla & pineapple. Begin gradually adding powdered sugar until your frosting reaches your desired thickness (we erred on the thinner side). Once your cupcakes have cooled, frost ’em up!

Excellent room temperature or chilled, we dare you to eat just one!

xoxo,

Hungry Texans

favorite things: and we danced edition

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Liz Eggleston

1. Bottomless Brunch at Zengo in Chinatown. For $35, you get to nosh on the yummiest eats and sip some delicious drinks. We ordered…everything. Favorites included these lobster-chipotle grits, the crispy tofu with roasted corn-potato salad, shrimp-vegetable potstickers, short rib hash with poached egg and the angry zengo roll. We literally stayed from open to close.

2. Crafty Bastards in Union Market! Admittedly, the crowds pushed one of these Hungry Texans indoors to the Rappahannock oyster bar, but we scored a couple of good finds nonetheless. (pic)

3. Seven thousand people outfitted in neon & music for miles? Count us in! We had such a blast at the LivingSocial Glow-in-the-Dark 5k at RFK Stadium. One of us ran the distance while the other volunteered with the video crew behind the scenes, but a good time was had by all. Highlights were the step performance at the post-5k dance party and the 1000 Solar Lamps that were donated by LivingSocial to Somalian school children.

4. Why on earth would you wake up at 5am when it’s so blistery cold outside? To make 24 dozen eggs for breakfast service at Miriam’s Kitchen, of course!

5. Thanks to our frayands John & Julia, we’re lovin’ Macklemore this week. Sure, his thrift shop threads are bumpin’, but his power ballad “And We Danced” makes us…well…dance. (pic)

6. And finally, happy Bijoulais Nouveau to all you mediocre wine enthusiasts out there. The celebration is far stronger than the vino, but it gave us a chance to make these French Onion Soup Dumplings, so laissez les bons temps rouler!

xoxo,

the hungry texans

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