Baklava

If you've never had baklava... I feel sorry for you! It's a Greek dessert made from layers of flaky phyllo dough and a filling made from chopped nuts, sugar, and cinnamon. The final product is then soaked in a simple syrup overnight. Yum! I know you must be sick and tired of phyllo pastries by now, but this is the last one! I promise! It's just that so much dough comes in one box and once you thaw it out, you have to use it. Not that I'm complaining because I love Greek food!

Baklava

Makes: 24 servings

Filling:

16 oz walnuts

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

Dough:

30 sheets of phyllo dough, thawed

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

Syrup:

1 1/4 cups water

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup honey

• First make the filling. Grind up the walnuts in a food processor until they are very fine, almost a powder.
• Transfer the ground walnuts to a large mixing bowl. Mix in the brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
• With a pastry brush, butter the bottom and edges of a 13" x 9" baking pan.
• Lay down a sheet of phyllo dough in the bottom of the pan. Gently brush the dough with some butter. Continue until you have six sheets of phyllo dough stacked on top of each other, with butter brushed on each one, including the top one. This will make a nice thick bottom layer.
• Now sprinkle in about 3/4 cup of the nut mixture over the buttered phyllo dough.
• Place another three sheets of phyllo dough over the nuts, again buttering each layer, ending with butter on top. Continue this step until you have used all of the nuts. You'll probably get around five or six layers of nuts.
• For the top layer, you will again use six sheets of phyllo dough, buttering each one, ending with butter on the top.
• With a very sharp knife, cut the baklava into squares, then cut each square on the diagonal like so:

• Bake at 350° F for 45 minutes.
• While the baklava is baking, make the syrup. Combine the water, sugar, and honey in a medium sauce pan. Cook over medium high heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture starts bubbling. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes until it gets a little bit thick and syrupy. Be cautious not to overcook this or you'll burn the sugar. If you notice the color of the syrup turning darker at all, remove it from the heat immediately to prevent burning. Also, make sure you're using a wooden spoon to stir this. Anything else will melt from the heat of the syrup.
• Once the syrup is cooked, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool. Be very careful as this syrup is extremely hot and can cause very bad burns.
• Once the baklava is finished cooking, remove it from the oven. Immediately pour the cooled syrup over the entire pan of baklava. At first it will look like the pastry is floating in a pool of syrup. But don't worry, it will all be absorbed.
• Allow the baklava to cool. Cover it and allow it to sit at room temperature overnight. The next day, most of the syrup will be absorbed and the baklava will be delicate, flaky, and slightly sticky. At this point, you may find that you need to re-cut it. Just go over the same lines you made previously using a sharp knife.
• Enjoy!

Spinach Salad with Grapefruit Dressing

This is THE BEST salad you will ever have in your life! I cannot get enough of it. I know that the combination of spinach and grapefruit sounds a little weird. But trust me, it's amazing. I'm not a big fan of grapefruit, it's a little too tart for my tastes. But on this salad, it compliments all of the other ingredients so well. Try it!!!

Spinach Salad with Grapefruit Dressing
Makes: 1 serving

Salad:
2 big handfuls of baby spinach
2 tbsp walnuts
2 tbsp crumbled blue cheese
1 large pink grape fruit, cut into segments

Dressing:
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup pink grapefruit juice
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 shallot, finely minced

• First make the dressing. Whisk together the cranberry juice, grapefruit juice, olive oil, sugar, salt, and shallot. If you've never used shallots before, they look a little bit like a really small onion and they have a very mild onion flavor. Sometimes they're sold in bulk or they might be sold in a little mesh bag of four or five. This is what they look like:

•  Once the dressing is made, set it aside.
• Now toast the walnuts. Place them in a dry pan over medium heat. Swirl them around in the pan until they start to brown and become fragrant. Remove from the heat.
• Assemble the salad. Start with a bed of the spinach; top it with the toasted walnuts, blue cheese, and grapefruit segments.
• Drizzle the salad dressing over the salad. The leftover dressing can be kept in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Ok, time for some science. When making a vinaigrette like the one above, you're creating an emulsion. An emulsion is a suspension of one liquid in another - in the case of salad dressing, that would be the suspension of the vinegar in the oil. When creating an emulsion, it helps to have emulsifiers - that is something that helps the suspension stay together. With bottled salad dressing, you will usually see xanthan gum in there as the emulsifier. However, you can also use any kind of chopped vegetables as an emulsifier (hence all the little bits of veggies that you see floating in Italian dressing). With our grapefruit vinaigrette, the minced shallot acts as the emulsifier, helping the dressing stay together. The more you know!

Plum Crumble with Cardamom Cream

It's springtime! And you know what that means: time for asparagus, avocados, fennel, spinach, strawberries, rhubarb, plums... oh yes! I love spring fruits and vegetables. This will be the first of many posts taking advantage of the seasonal produce.

This plum crumble is a perfect balance of sweet but slightly tart and a little bit of crunch. You can make this an adults only treat by adding two tablespoons of rum to the filling ;-)

Plum Crumble with Cardamom Cream
Makes: 4 servings

Filling:
5 -6 medium plums
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp orange juice
zest of 1 lemon
zest of 1 orange

Topping:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 tsp salt

Cream:
1 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cardamom

• Rinse the plums. Leaving the skin on, cut them in half, remove the pit, then cut them into a 1/2" dice.
• Toss the plums with the sugar, flour, lemon juice, orange juice, lemon zest, and orange zest.
• Transfer to either a large glass baking dish or four individual sized ramekins. If you choose to use ramekins, you can place them all on a baking sheet. This makes it easier to remove them from the oven when they're hot.
• Make the topping. In a stand mixer or with an electric hand mixer on medium, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg and vanilla and stir until combined.
• Add the flour, almonds, and salt. Mix until just combined. The texture will be dry and crumbly, almost like the texture of bread crumbs.
• With your hands, sprinkle the topping evenly over the plum filling.
• Bake at 350° F for 25 - 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.
• Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.
• Make the cardamom cream. This comes out best if you chill the bowl and beaters in the freezer for about 30 minutes first. In an ice cold bowl, whip the heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form, about 2 - 3 minutes. Add the powdered sugar and cardamom, mix until combined.
• Serve the cardamom cream on the warm plum crumble.

If you're egg free, either due to allergy or other dietary restriction, you can leave out the egg with out any real impact to the recipe. It just helps the topping stay together a bit better.

If you're wondering why this recipe, like many fruit recipes, calls for lemon juice and orange juice, it's because the acid helps to bring out the flavor. Think of it like salt; it makes food taste more like itself.

And for my final note, if you don't have cardamom, cinnamon will work well too. Though I really do recommend cardamom. It's absolutely delicious and you can find it at any grocery store. It is a little bit pricey (around $10 - $15) but if you need an excuse to buy it, check out my recipe for Cardamom Chocolate Lava Cakes. If that doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!

Couscous with Pine Nuts & Parmesan

Couscous is a great side dish for chicken, fish, or pork. It's pretty much a blank slate that you can do whatever you want with. I like to cook it in some chicken broth to start off with flavor. Then add additional flavors from there. You can also use this as a foundation for a Meatless Monday meal and add a whole ton of sauteed vegetables - zucchini, summer squash, carrots, tomatoes, etc.

This recipe is for Moroccan couscous. This is the kind that is most widely available in the states; it's extremely tiny beads of pasta. The recipe calls for instant couscous; that's pretty much the only kind that's sold here. So don't worry if your packaging doesn't specifically say "instant," I guarantee that it is.

Couscous with Pine Nuts & Parmesan
Makes: 4 servings

2 cups chicken broth (or 2 cups water with 2 tsp chicken bouillon)
1 cup instant couscous
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp olive oil

• Toast the pine nuts by placing them in a dry skillet over medium heat. Swirl around the nuts constantly so that they don't burn. This should take about five minutes. Make sure to really keep your eye on it, the nuts can burn quickly. Once toasted, set aside.
• Bring the chicken broth to a boil over high heat.
• Add the couscous to the chicken broth, cover, and remove from the heat. Allow to sit covered for 7 minutes.
• Fluff the couscous with a fork.
• Fold in the pine nuts, Parmesan, and olive oil.

Fudge Sundae Cookies

If you couldn't already tell, I love thumbprint cookies. The base is a delicious butter cookie. From there you can roll the dough in chopped nuts, coconuts, toffee bits, etc. Then you make a little indent with your thumb and fill it with anything delicious like melted chocolate, nutella, fruit jam, lemon curd, the possibilities are endless!

For my Fudge Sundae Cookies, I rolled them in sliced almonds then topped them with chocolate and a cherry. The perfect hot fudge sundae in a cookie!

Fudge Sundae Cookies
Makes: 18 cookies

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
18 maraschino cherries
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
1 egg, beaten
3 oz (1/2 cup) semi-sweet chocolate
1 tbsp unsalted butter

• Sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.
• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whip together the butter and sugar on medium for about two minutes until light and fluffy.
• Mix in the vanilla on slow speed until combined.
• Add the flour mixture in three additions until completely combined. The dough should be the texture of bread crumbs.

• Scoop out two tablespoons of cookie dough, about the size of a golf ball. Roll the dough into a ball.
• Roll the ball in the beaten egg, then in the almonds until it is completely coated.
• Place the cookie dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper then firmly place your thumb into the center of the ball and make an indent.
• Repeat until the baking sheet is full. You will likely need to make two batches.
• Bake at 350° F for 16 - 18 minutes until the cookies are slightly browned and firm.
• Let cool for two minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
• Melt the chocolate and butter together. You can do this either in the microwave or in a bowl over some boiling water. Just be sure not to overheat the chocolate. You don't want it to seize up (turn dry and crumbly).
• Place about a teaspoon of the chocolate mixture in the thumbprint of each cookie. Then top each cookie with a cherry.

Walnut Parsley Pesto

I really love pestos. They're so easy, so delicious, and completely customizable. Traditionally when we think of pesto, we think of basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. However, you can make pesto out of any combination of herbs, cheese, olive oil, and nuts. Here are a few of my favorites:

• Sun dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.
• Roasted red peppers, garlic, oregano, asiago cheese, and olive oil.
• Artichokes, chives, garlic, walnuts, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.
• Arugula, pine nuts, garlic, lemon zest, cracked black pepper, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil.

You get the point! Gather some ingredients that taste great together, puree them into a smooth paste, then toss with warm pasta. Today I made a walnut parsley pesto.

Walnut Parsley Pesto
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or 1 tbsp dried parsley)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup olive oil
1 lb linguine (or fettuccine, spaghetti, etc)

• Combine the walnuts, garlic, parsley, Parmesan cheese, and olive oil in a food processor.
• Puree until smooth.
• Cook the pasta until al dente making sure to add plenty of salt to the water.
• Once the pasta is cooked, strain it then immediately transfer to a bowl. While the pasta is still hot, add the pesto and toss until all of the noodles are coated.

This makes a great side dish for grilled chicken, steak, or fish. Today I happened to be making this for lunch. I separated it into 4 portions and placed them into plastic containers that I can just grab when I'm on my way out the door to work!

Note: if you only have raw walnuts, you can toast them by adding them to a dry saute pan over medium heat. When the nuts start to release their aroma, swirl the nuts around in the pan. Once they are golden brown, remove them from the pan. You don't want to take your eye off of this for one single second! The nuts could burn in a matter of seconds. And burned nuts smell... bad..

Classic Cheesecake

Who doesn't love cheesecake?! I think this is one of those desserts that you can pretty much count on everyone liking. And the best part about cheesecake is that it's basically a blank canvas - albeit a delicious canvas! You can swirl in any number of flavors -  fruit, chocolate, caramel; add little goodies to the crust - nuts, chocolate chunks, oreo crumbs; and/or top it with delicious toppings - chocolate ganache, macerated berries, berry sauces, caramel sauce... mmmmm......

There's honestly nothing special about my cheesecake recipe. It's pretty much as basic as you can get. The only thing you might find different about it is the amount of sugar. My cheesecake has about half the amount of sugar you would typically find in a cheesecake recipe. The reason is because I like the delicate balance between sweet and savory. I don't want to just be overwhelmed by sweet. Plus it will help add balance if you add a bunch of sweet additions like chocolate or caramel.

Classic Cheesecake
Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 1 sleeve of graham crackers)
2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Filling:
4 bricks of cream cheese (1 brick is 8 oz), softened
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

• Preheat oven to 325° F.
• Combine the graham crackers and the sugar.
• Brush a 9" spring-form pan with some of the melted butter.
• Mix the remaining butter into the graham cracker mixture.
• Dump the graham cracker mixture into the spring-from pan and press it down with your fingers making sure that the crust reaches all of the edges but does not go up the sides.
• Bake for 15 - 18 minutes until golden brown.
• Allow crust to cool completely.


• In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or with a hand mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar.
• Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix until fully combined.
• Pour the filling into the cooled crust.
• Place the spring form pan into a deep roasting pan. Transfer the roasting pan to the oven, then fill with boiling water so that the spring form pan is surrounded by water. Just be sure not to get any on the cheesecake!
• This technique is called a water bath. It allows the cheesecake to cook more evenly and minimizes the risk of the dreaded crack in the middle of the cheesecake.
• Bake at 325° F for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
• Do not open the oven door! Turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake in for another hour (for a total cooking time of 2 hours and 15 minutes). This will allow the cheesecake to finish cooking gently in the residual heat. This also protects from getting a crack in your cheesecake.
• Remove the cheesecake and allow to cool for 1 hour at room temperature. Then refrigerate for at least 8 hours before serving.

Remember how I said you can customize this recipe? Well, I made mini cheesecakes! Instead of a graham cracker crust, I placed a whole oreo at the bottom of each cupcake liner and then filled them with the batter.

Some of my favorite variations of cheesecake:

• Turtle - Add chopped pecans to the graham cracker crust; top the cooled cheesecake with drizzles of chocolate and caramel.
• White Chocolate Macadamia - Add chopped macadamia nuts to the graham cracker crust; pour white chocolate ganache over top of the cooled cheesecake, allow to chill for at least 1 more hour.
• White Chocolate Raspberry - Add 4 oz of melted white chocolate to the cheesecake batter; pour over graham cracker crust, then swirl in raspberry jam before baking.
• Coconut Lime - Add flaked coconut to the graham cracker crust; replace vanilla with 2 tbsp lime juice and add the zest of 1 lime to the cheesecake batter.
• Brownie Batter - Make fudge brownie mix, reserve 2/3 cup, pour the rest of the brownie batter into bottom of spring-form pan, bake for the normal recommended time, remove from oven then allow to cool; pour half of the cheesecake filling over the cooled brownie crust, mix the reserved brownie batter with the remaining half of the cheesecake filling, swirl together with the plain cheesecake filling, bake as normal.