los angeles

hello from the air! i am en route from los angeles to maui with alana, who is asleep already, lily, who is crying about hunger games, and stephanie, who is dusted with a pleasant coating of furikake due to a minor snacksplosion upon boarding. i can’t blame her, we were up before the sun to catch our flight after a very wild night of meat, gossip, and backstreet boys sing-alongs in koreatown. my stop in los angeles was entirely too short but i managed to squeeze in time with loved ones and some very meaningful firsts—some more overdue than others:

1. my first bite of spam. wow! spam musubi packs a deceptive amount of satisfaction into one compact delight. it’s, like, fried baloney sandwich satisfying and upon first bite it shot straight to the top of my list of things i’m most excited to experience in hawaii. 
2. my first time subbing out the bagel in my bagel and lox with *wait for it* a freshly baked popover, c/o karen. it was a textural revelation since lox and popovers require a very similar amount of energy to be exerted in order to bite through them. i would do this again, absolutely.
3. my first visit to canter’s!!! you didn’t tell me they had beaver mustard! what a jolly condiment. ordering a pastrami sandwich and an egg cream so far from new york made me a little uneasy, but from the comfort of a big squishy booth and over talk of paparazzi and time travel, i slowly settled in for a proper first canter’s experience. 
4. my first shaved ice. which also jumped right to the top of my hawaii list. so fluffy, so sweet, so perfect with black sesame mochi bits hidden throughout. 
5. my first time going directly from an 85-course korean barbecue carnivorgy to an alta california taco obligation where no menu item was left unordered and no hyperbolic shouts of joy were spared during the passing of the chorizo vampiros. 
6. my first spork tattoo sighting. should i reconsider my decision not to get a tattoo in hawaii?
7. my first dollar taco. small but extraordinarily mighty. 
8. my first gjusta, my first olive & june, my first boozy push-up pop (!!!).
9. my first time meeting adrianna, karen, lynn, and kelly, who are all every bit as wonderful as their internet presences suggest.
10. my first zankou chicken garlic sauce, which looks like nothing but tastes too good to be true.

phew! i am off to go have some seconds now. seconds of water, because getting dehydrated on a plane is a fear that i have. thank you, los angeles and all of your lovely people, for a perfect pre-hawaii weekend <3 <3 <3

-yeh!

rhubarb simple syrup + a giveaway

i did a terrible thing last year: when eggboy pointed out that our house came with a very large, very low-maintenance, very beautiful rhubarb patch, i went out, did my thing, enjoyed a lot of blintzes about it, and then despite how many times i told myself that i was going to continue to have my way with all of that rhubarb, i did not. i used next to none of it. i neglected it and it died.

i have lived with this guilt for one year.

so the other day when i was working with all of the eggs to put in our little garden and saw across the yard that our rhubarb had sprang up, i ran as fast as i could safely run while carrying scissors to collect a very large armful of it. (it was more of a trot.) eggsister and i immediately dipped a stalk in sugar and ate it as if it were nature's fun dip, and then i chopped some up for rhubarb water to make this simple syrup. later, eggboy blew my mind by informing me that rhubarb is a vegetable and not a fruit. am i the last person to learn that??

i've been making cakes with it and giving away bouquets to everyone that crosses our path. celeste even took some on her road trip back to portland. (that's her in the photo hiding behind the big fat leaves, don't eat the leaves!) and once i'm all rhubarbed out, i am going to chop it all up and freeze it for the year. i'm feeling good about our little rhubarb patch. real good. 

i like this syrup because it allows you to experience rhubarb in all of its celery-ish sour glory without much other schmutz there to salt its game. sometimes i worry that rhubarb gets bitter about always having to share the spotlight with strawberries, you know. i like adding this to soda water and cocktails... what else do people use simple syrup for? snow cones? snow cones!!!

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rhubarb simple syrup

makes about 4 cups, which is a lot of simple syrup, i know. there's no shame in halving this.

ingredients

2 pounds rhubarb, chopped

water

3 c sugar

a squeeze of lemon juice

clues

place the rhubarb in a large pot and cover it with water. bring to a boil, and then simmer it for an hour. (if you have the time, i like letting it cool overnight to really make sure that the rhubarb flavor is extra strong, but if not that's ok.)

strain the water into a bowl or large measuring cup and discard the rhubarb. measure out three cups of the water and pour it back into your pot. if you're left with more rhubarb water, you can discard it, or you can add it to the pot, just make sure that you have equal parts sugar and water.

whisk the sugar with the water and bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. stir in the lemon juice and let it cool.

serve with soda water, cocktails, snow cones, or whatever else you'd like!

enjoy!

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ooh and do you see those fun coasters in the photos? they are from small gunns, a really awesome san francisco-based company! this week i'm giving away one small gunns linen set: a table runner, six coasters, and six napkins. to enter this giveaway, leave a comment with 1) your favorite use for rhubarb, and 2) your favorite color of these linens. i'll choose a winner next week! open to u.s. residents. update: this giveaway is now closed.

-yeh!

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thank you so much to small gunns for sponsoring this post! for 30% off of your next order, use the code: sprinkles. for more ways to connect with them, check these out: instagram/facebook/twitter/newsletter.

mini ricotta + parmesan cheesecakes

but molly, don't you hate cheesecake?

hated. i hated cheesecake. i used to love it, and then i overdosed on it by way of those little individually wrapped cheesecake bites that were big in the 90s, and then i didn't eat it again until 2010 when jeff forced a bite of ricotta cheesecake on me. it was fluffy and not at all tangy like the cream cheese cheesecakes of my youth. it blew my mind, ohmygod it was so good.

and then what happened?

i went back to hating it because baking cheesecake at the town bakery was a real bitch. it required a lot of steps, a lot of bowls, a lot of patience that i didn't yet have, and it wasn't as fun to decorate as the other cakes. (no offense to the cheesecake at the town bakery, people go gaga over it.)

but this cheesecake requires some patience, no?

it does, kind of. but i understand it now. i understand that in order to avoid cracks in a cheesecake, you need to cool it down gradually. you can't just take it out of the oven and wham-bam flip it onto a cooling rack. you have to caress it out of the oven, gently do this, gently do that, sing it a song, and then let it chill. but (!!) because these cheesecakes are miniature, all of that cooling down business is sped up, and if you want to eat one before the whole process has completed, you can and no one will notice because it's not like you have to take a slice out of one big cake. also (!!!!!!!) only one bowl is required. one!

why now? 

shavuot is coming! and on shavuot, we eat dairy.

why is this cheesecake different from all the other cheesecakes?

i follow this stranger on social media who recently made a mention of a *parmesan* cheesecake that he had in barcelona and it was so umami-y and good. that inspired me to add parmesan to my long-time-coming foray into ricotta cheesecake. i don't remember the stranger's name or his handle. (if you're reading this, barcelona cheesecake man, thank you!!) additionally, correct me if i'm wrong, but i don't think that authentic italian ricotta cheesecakes normally have a crust. but crust! it's my favorite part. so i added one, and it takes up almost a third of the entire cake, a ratio that i am ok with. 

describe this cheesecake in 19 words.

fluffy, creamy, light, slightly sweet, cute, a good beginner's cheesecake, lemony, polite, and with a subtle aftertaste of parmesan. 

thank you.

thank you!

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mini ricotta + parmesan cheesecakes

makes 22 cheesecakes

ingredients

crust:

18 large rectangles (that is, 36 squares, or 2 full  pouches, or just under 10 oz) of graham crackers

a good pinch of kosher salt

10 tb unsalted butter, melted

filling:

1/4 c flour

1 c sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c shredded parmesan

30 oz whole milk ricotta

zest of one lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon (or of a whole lemon, if you like it extra lemony)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

4 large eggs

assembly:

1 c jam

clues

preheat oven to 375 f. line 22 cupcake tins with paper liners, grease them, and set them aside.

crust:

in a food processor, process the living daylights out of your graham crackers. add the salt and process a little more. we want a nice fine crumb. with the processor running, drizzle in the melted butter and process for a few seconds until the mixture clumps together. spoon the mixture into your cupcake tins (roughly two tablespoons of the mixture per tin) and then use a glass or spoon to press it down firmly and evenly. if the mixture is sticking to your glass or spoon, spray it with a little cooking spray. 

set the cupcake tins in the fridge while you make the filling.

filling:

to make the filling, you're gonna use your food processor again. don't worry about cleaning it out, it just has butter and graham cracker residue in it and that is ok.

add the flour, sugar, salt, and parmesan, and pulse it a few times to combine everything and break up the parmesan. add the ricotta, lemon zest, lemon juice, and extracts, and process it until smooth. two minutes-ish.

with the processor running, add the eggs one at a time, processing a bit after each one.

spoon the mixture into your cupcake tins. it can come up pretty high, up to about 1/4-inch from the top of the tin. bake for 20 minutes, until the outer edges are set but the centers are still a little jiggly. turn the oven off, open it about halfway, and let them be for about 45 minutes. remove them from the oven and let them cool completely at room temperature. chill them for an hour or two, or overnight. 

spoon on your jam.

enjoy!

these will keep in the fridge for up to a week.

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-yeh!

chocolate macaroon cake with orange buttercream

i spent some time this week with my old friend, mr. vibraphone! i snuck into the university of north dakota practice rooms, took off my shoes like the good old days, and started regaining my right big toe muscle, the one that ends up doing most of the vibe pedaling. (note to self: get a pedicure.) it was fun and it felt real good that i didn't completely forget everything about this opera that i'm playing in a few weeks and it brought back wonderful memories of when i played it last, at the very beginning of eggboy. oh yeah, i'm going to texas to play an opera in a few weeks!

(do you live in texas? do you enjoy contemporary opera? do you have a babysitter for your kiddos since there is more (fake) blood in this opera than i have ever seen in my entire life? come see me play music in this awesome dark thing! it is amazing!)

other than that, the big news is that from what i've been able to tell in the 1-2 times that i've left the house this week, spring is here! eggboy came in yesterday smelling like he does in the spring and summer, slightly sweaty and kind of dirty. not dirty, like unclean, but dirty like actual dirt on his face that makes him look like a raccoon. i think he's about to put seeds in the ground. i think. 

how kind of spring to show up right in time for passover and easter! i love a springtime holiday. even though it looks like our passover guests are going to be: mr. mumbles the stuffed penguin, mcnugget the stuffed sunny side up egg, ernie, and elijah. maybe elijah will bring a plus one? oh well, more brisket and an automatic afikoman win for me! 

and cake.

*of course*

i made this cake for my friend nina, who is turning 30 this weekend!!! i imagine that a passover birthday can be a little bit like a chrismukkah birthday. presents magically get combined into chrismukkah/birthday presents, birthday cakes on passover magically... don't happen? or are not good? or are actually a macaroon with a candle in it? ok this is kind of that, but a good macaroon. a danny macaroons-inspired macaroon. with a slathering of orange buttercream, because what's that tale about having an orange at your seder? i wanted to make nina a classy tasty cake for a very special birthday, because the person behind egg roll hamantaschen and taco hamantaschen deserves such a thing. and so do you!

happy birthday, nina!!!! 

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chocolate macaroon cake with orange buttercream

makes one 8-inch cake

ingredients

cake:

2 14-oz bags sweetened shredded coconut

1 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp kosher salt

4 large egg whites

4 tsp vanilla extract

2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk*

frosting:

2 c unsalted butter, softened*

4 c powdered sugar

a pinch of kosher salt

zest of one orange

2 tsp orange juice

assembly:

chocolate shavings

cocoa powder

orange slices

*if you're looking for dairy free/kosher alternatives, here is a recipe for condensed coconut milk and here is a recipe for homemade dairy condensed milk. i have not tested these, but i will let you know if i do! for the frosting, feel free to sub the butter for your preferred vegan butter.

clues

cake:

preheat oven to 350. grease four 8-inch round cake pans and line the bottoms with parchment. (it's ok if you don't have four pans, you can just bake the layers in batches.)

in a large bowl, mix together the coconut, cocoa powder, and salt. in a separate bowl, whisk together the egg whites, vanilla, and condensed milk. add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. spread one fourth of the batter into each cake pan (these will be very thin layers) and bake for about 18 minutes, until they're no longer shiny. let cool for 5-10 minutes in their pans and then turn onto a drying rack to cool fully.

frosting:

beat all frosting ingredients together until smooth.

assembly:

stack up your layers with a thin layer of frosting in between them and then frost the cake all over. decorate with chocolate shavings, cocoa powder, and oranges slices as desired.

enjoy!

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-yeh!

pictured: cake stand // wooden utensils