Flour Child

July 9, 2011 · 10:15 pm

Flour Facebook Child

Greetings to all! Happy July 10th! Every day should be a celebration, right?

On this special day I’m proud to announce to you fellow flour friends that Flour Child has jumped on the Facebook bandwagon.

Since most of you are already smooth riding on that same bandwagon, I hope you’ll take just a quick moment to hit that convenient little ‘like’ button for me. For me! Come on! Don’t be a couch potato.

Facebook! Facebook! Facebook! Facebook! Facebook!

And in the meantime, keep on baking. Cookies make the world go round.

And so does pie.

Love love love love love,

Jordana

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July 1, 2011 · 12:08 pm

Summer Strawberry Cake & New York City

Dear world/lord/universe/god/lady gaga/divine being,

Thank you for summertime.

Thank you for summertime, for strawberries, for ovens, and for New York City.

Do you have any idea how much I love those four things? Any idea at all? Well I’m sorry if you don’t, because there’s absolutely no way that I can put it into words. No way possible. Not even worth an attempt. Just don’t even.

It’s clear why I’ve chosen to mention my intense adoration for summer, strawberries, and ovens. It’s summer, I made strawberry cake, and without ovens, well… I’d be blogless. That’s a no brainer. But New York City? What? Yeah.. I’m here. In Manhattan. For six weeks. Why? Well, I don’t think I’ve ever previously mentioned that I’m a dancer… but I am. I spent last summer working my dessert off at a dance program in the city, and fell so in love that I couldn’t resist coming back again. It pretty much rocks more than The Rolling Stones.

Manhattan is foodie paradise. My friends and I ended up in Chelsea Market a few days ago, and I was speechless. Literally considered moving in. I’d sleep in the basket shop. They have a basket shop! All baskets! We drooled over the railroad track ceiling and hearty brick walls.

Moving on, have you ever eaten Ray’s Famous Pizza of Greenwich Village? Because it’s ridiculous. The slices are like… the length of my torso.

We have a (tiny) (but cute) kitchen in our suite-style dorm, so I’ve been spending plennnnty of time taking in all of the incredibly precious markets here, and cooking cooking cooking. This vegetarian chili and cheddar cornbread got me the Roomie of the Night award. Thank you and you’re welcome.

And this strawberry-banana-chocolate chip-brown butter bread (thank you Joy the Baker!) fed 12 rambunctious dancers staring at a tiny t.v. to watch Beyonce on the BET awards. Dorm life is awesome. Especially with loaves of things.

There’s a gourmet Belgian Waffle truck here. We ate gourmet street cart pretzels (truffle cheddar, anyone?) on the steps of the Met. The Whole Foods is like Disneyland. This city.. I can’t get enough of it. Ever.

On a sadder note.. my camera broke. It straight up broke. I didn’t drop it, didn’t get it wet. It just stopped. So that’s cool… but hopefully it’ll be fixed soon!

Anyway.. back to this cake I made. It’s called a Summer Strawberry Cake, because it’s just that. A dollop of softly whipped cream and it’s a picnic treasure. 4th of July loves this cake. Pool parties love this cake. Those farmers markets strawberries that were calling your name? Please turn them into this cake.

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May 12, 2011 · 9:53 pm

Homemade Oreos

Fact #1: I made Oreos. I didn’t think it was possible, either.

Fact #2: They tasted just like the real ones.. on crack. So much better. So. Much.

Fact #3: They are extraordinarily better for your body than those blue plastic wrapped gems. (Goodbye gross high-fructose-I-don’t-even-know-this-looks-like-my-chemistry-homework ingredients.) Score. Double score.

Fact #4: You will become 700 times more popular if you bring a batch of these to school/work/anywhere else where humans congregate. I’m talking It Girl popular. Might as well just change your name to Kate Middleton. These are the #1 most crowd-pleasing cookie I have ever made. I mean, homemade Oreos…who does that? You. You do that. You’re awesome.

Sorry about all the paparazzi.

Falling short in the friends department? Whip out a batch of Oreos. Too much surplus milk in the fridge? Oreos. Little kid’s birthday party? Oreos. Grown up’s birthday party? Fruit tart.

Just kidding.. obviously Oreos.

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May 5, 2011 · 9:47 pm

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Hello, nice to meet you, my name is Dulce de Leche Brownie and I am everything that is good in the world. My luscious caramel center provides a nice contrast to my cakey fudgey hybrid cocoa exterior. I’m deep and dark and brooding, full of depth and elaborate taste bud puzzles. I’ll leave you wanting more.

Yeah, I’m that brownie.

Required before/ during consuming me:

-ice cold cup of milk and/or nice hot cup of coffee

-yearning to be swept off of feet

-willingness to succumb to cravings for a second / third / fourth

-smile / desire to smile

Needless to say, these brownies are superb. A nice twist on an overdone, but timeless, classic. Welcome them into your life.. it’s a good choice. There is a good chance you’re still unsure of what exactly Dulce de Leche is- it’s caramel made from slowly cooked sweetened milk, instead of just sugar and butter. It comes from Latin America, and is possibly my favorite ingredient to cook with. In France, it’s Confiture de Lait. In Norway, it’s Hamar pålegg. In brownies, it’s genius.

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Filed under Brownies, Caramel, Chocolate

May 2, 2011 · 4:16 pm

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

Once upon a time, I made three cakes in one night.

Three.

50% of which was fed to my ever so voracious garbage disposal.

It was traumatic.

I had been dreaming of lemon cake for weeks. Weeks! Lemon layers, lemon curd, and some fluffy cloud frosting. That’s all. Not that huge of a request, right? Wrong. I had a promising recipe for a two layer cake… but I had been dreaming of three. You can just spread out the batter into three pans, right? They’ll just be uber thin. Wrong! They’ll be crunchy and ew. When you’ve got sketchy cake layers, take my advice and stop right there. Don’t try and stack them with too-thin-but-really-good lemon curd and don’t make last minute cream cheese frosting instead of meringue. Just don’t do it. It’s really a poor choice all around. It tastes good, yes, but it’s a soupy flop hot mess mush cake lemon thing. No one really wants one of those.

If you’re anything like me, it’ll be close to midnight when you assemble your disaster. You might eat a decent amount of it out of shame, and then sit on the kitchen floor and cry. Through your tears you will then decide that it’s a great time to start making a redeem-yourself lemon poppy seed bundt cake. When you realize you’re one and a half egg yolks short and don’t have authentic buttermilk, stop. Don’t make it anyways. Go to sleep, and make it in the morning. Don’t use extra egg whites and butter instead of the missing yolks. Don’t take it out of the oven before it’s done, and above all, do NOT let your impatience get the best of you and take it out of the pan while it’s still hot. It will come half out of the pan and taste/feel like spongy supermaket angel sponge food cake. And by then, it will be two in the morning, your feet will hurt, and your tearstained cheeks will be covered in abstract drippy eyeliner art.

Apparently, the whole “third time’s a charm” deal is pretty valid. When you’ve passed the two failed cakes mark, it’s about time to make some cupcakes. Cupcakes are invincible.

These are a bit on the laborious side of things, but they’re worth every mix and scoop and fill and toast. They’re filled with my favorite ever lemon curd and topped with the meringue of your dreams. These are time-to-make-amends cupcakes. They’re sorry-I-forgot-to-pack-your-lunch cupcakes. They’re look-at-my-fancy-cupcake cupcakes.

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Filed under Cake, Cupcakes, Lemon

March 22, 2011 · 9:08 pm

Maple Pots de Crème

Hello. I’m sorry. You’re welcome. You love me.

If you…

-Are suffering from a dreadful case of the Rainy Day Blues

-Enjoy maple

-Would like to eat your feelings

-Are trying to savor the last moments and flavors of winter

-Would like a decent sized addition to your thighs/midsection

-Have any interest in tasting what is quite possibly the best dessert of all time

…I may or may not have just the thing for you. It’s name is Maple Pot de Crème and it will change your life.

I might be mad at you if you don’t find a way to obtain these as soon as possible. Make them, have your mom make them, pay your neighbor to make them.. find me, and I’ll make them. For heaven’s sake, if you have any decency, indulge yourself in these golden blessings.

Let me back up a bit- I’m guessing at least half of you are about about to google ‘pot de crème’ because, well, you are regular people. ‘Pot de Crème’ [poe duh krem] is simply a fancy shmancy French way of saying pot of custard. I described these to my friends as “like crème brulée but maple and without the torch on top.” I’m afraid to torch my food. Am I the only one? Anyways, these are smooth as velvet and make your tongue want to dance and throw confetti. Have I suggested that you try them? Because you reeeeeeally, reeeally should. For real guys. This is not a laughing matter. Continue reading →

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Filed under Custard, Maple

Tagged as custard, maple, pot de creme

March 15, 2011 · 9:12 pm

Brown Butter Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you were given only one dessert to eat for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

I choose chocolate chip cookies.

They may not be debonair, suave, or classy. They might not buy their chocolate chips at Fendi or their brown sugar from Saks. They far too often find chalky, lame imitations of themselves in unfortunate lunchboxes across America. Some call them trite, overdone, even cliché. I call them home.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie and it made you sad. No? No hands? Told you so.

When I was little, I didn’t think there was anything better than a Pepperidge Farm chocolate chunk cookie, microwaved on a paper towel for 18 seconds. Not on a paper plate, not on a grown up plate, those ruined everything. All I needed was a paper towel, melty cookie, and a mini glass of milk just sufficient enough for dipping and I was set for life. Well, at least for the 9 seconds it took before I was standing on a kitchen chair trying to reach the cookie bag on the waaay-too-high-up 3 foot shelf. The memories I can round up, solely in regards to chocolate chip cookies, are unbelievable.

When I first started feeling my way around the kitchen, I wouldn’t dare stray from the back-of-the-bag Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe. Now, especially with something so ordinary as chocolate chip cookies, I like to experiment. Want to know what I’ve found? Whole wheat flour is actually better than white flour in cookies like these. I know! And it’s better for you too! Additionally, brown butter is like a secret spy ninja in a really nice peacoat who just slips into any given baked good and makes things a whooole lot better. I mean, caramelized butter? Is that a joke? Nope. Not a joke. Do it friends.

Flour Child

Flour Facebook Child

Summer Strawberry Cake & New York City

Homemade Oreos

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Dulce de Leche Brownies

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Lemon Meringue Cupcakes

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Maple Pots de Crème

Brown Butter Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

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