blog — molly yeh

giveaway

rich little brownies with matcha glaze + a giveaway

in , ,

as first time guest-bedroom-having humans, we have a rule: whenever someone braves the small planes, long drives, and lack of 4g or l.t.e. or whatever in order to just visit us, we have to be as hospitable as possible. five-star hospitable. so hospitable that they would easily brave the planes, trains, and automobiles all over again to come back for another visit. every pillow must be fluffed, every towel must be warm, every political stance must be taken into account when curating the guest bedroom library. and obbbbbbbbviously, there must be plenty of little welcoming snacks, representing sweet and savory, and addressing any applicable dietary preferences.

so before my pops arrived on monday, we scurried around, cleaning, collecting apples from our backyard, combing through our magazine collection, and putting out these itsy bitsy brownies. like why have a chocolate on your pillow when you can have a chocolate brownie on your pillow?

pops was in and out before you could say sugar beet but we had such a delightful time! we strolled around town and ate many kinds of cake. we ate ribs and roamed around the fields. more on this later...

my point is, if he wasn't my dad and also already in possession of a plane ticket to come back for the wedding, i'm pretty sure that eggboy and i made a very convincing argument that yeah, he totally needs to leave chicago for a few days again and come back soon.

i overlook brownies entirely too often. which is silly because not only are they very good, but also these ones are so quick and easy to make. no softened butter, weird ingredients, or even cooling time necessary. (ok, some might consider matcha a weird ingredient, but it shouldn't be. it's wonderful. i keep one little bag on hand at all times and i rarely need to buy more because a little goes a very long way.) my mom used to make these and instead of matcha, she'd spike the glaze with peppermint schnapps. addicting. they'd never last more than a day. so if you're having a chocolate emergency of medium intensity, meaning you can wait about 45 minutes but no more than an hour, i'd highly recommend these little bites of joy. 

rich little brownies with matcha glaze

based on my mom's recipe!

makes about 24 little brownies

ingredients

brownies:

1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 c sugar

1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 c butter, melted and slightly cooled

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

glaze:

3 tb butter, melted

1 tb matcha tea powder

1 tb honey

1 tsp vanilla

1 c powdered sugar

clues

preheat oven to 350 and grease and line an 8-inch square pan (or a pan of similar size).

in a large bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients. add the butter, eggs, and vanilla.

pour into prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes.

whisk together the glaze ingredients and pour the glaze on while the brownies are still warm. cut into 1 1/2-inch squares. give to all your friends, otherwise you'll eat them all yourself.

-enjoy!

-yeh!

thanks so much to kiss me organics for sponsoring this post! enter to win a bag of their organic matcha tea powder by leaving a comment here or on Facebook with the craziest use for matcha that you can think of! open to u.s. residents only. update: this giveaway is now closed.

raspberry pistachio mini pavlovas + a giveaway

in , ,

haaaaappy monday, everybody!!

how were all of your weekends? mine was as relaxing as can be, right down to the socks with birkenstocks that i wore outside not once but twice (!!!) for warmth (low was in the 30s!), comfort, and to imitate my style icons the olsen twins. i did all the fall things: hosted an apple picking party, made caramel apples, made chicken with apples, made a (sadly flopped) honey cake with apples... and then wrapped things up by watching miss america at the town pizza parlor and it was magnificent.

today a thing called beet harvest pre-haul starts! it's basically the amuse-bouche of beet harvest: you get all of your equipment ready, start picking from your fields, and take in a sampling of beets to the plant so you're ready to get your harvest on come october first. there is a big truck filled with beets in our yard right now! i am tempted to yoink one and do recipe experiments but i'm afraid to climb up onto the truck. actually mostly i'm afraid to go outside right now because of the cold. 

ok now let me tell you about these pavlovas. first, the person behind these pavlovas, who is also one of my favorite bloggers ever, stephanie! i feel like she doesn't need an introduction because if you read my blog then you've seen the zillion times i've linked to her blog and if you've seen her blog even just once you know she is the tops. she is also the tops in real life, we were each other's dates to the saveur awards when our men couldn't make it, and if we lived in the same town, i could see some major kimmy gibbler/d.j. tanner action happening. her joyful and fun personality oozes from her work the way the hollandaise oozes from this grilled cheese. i've made so many of her recipes and they are all delicious while managing to be shockingly simple... which is why it is about time that her book comes out! i can't sing enough praise about it. it's inspiring, it's approachable, it's creative, it's flavorful, it's nothing you don't want, it's fit for pretty much anyone. i see these pictures and think, shit, i cannot make that. and then i read the recipes and i'm like, wait a second, i think i can. i think i can. i think i can. and so pictured here is the first ever pavlova i ever did make. and despite me planning on having people over to help us finish them, eggboy and i demolished them and didn't even look back. 

they're fluffy, airy little creatures with a perfect amount of sweetness, sourness from the raspberries, and savoriness from the pistachios. they also look cute, like a cartoon version of a dessert. but they're real! and real good.

raspberry pistachio mini pavlovas

from stephanie le's book, easy gourmet

makes 14 mini pavlovas

ingredient

2 large egg whites

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 c sugar

1 tsp cornstarch

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

1/4 c pistachios, roughly chopped

1/2 c whipping cream, whipped into soft peaks

1 c raspberries

chopped pistachios, to serve

clues

preheat oven to 350ºf.

with an electric mixer, whip the egg whites with the salt until peaks start to form. add the sugar in a slow stream. continue to whip until the eggs are shiny and stiff. sprinkle in the cornstarch, vanilla, vinegar, and pistachios. gently fold to combine.

scoop the meringue into equal mounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet. place in the oven and immediately turn down to 300ºf and bake for 25 minutes. turn the oven off and leave in for another 25 minutes and then remove from the oven. cool completely.

to serve, top with softly whipped cream, raspberries, and an extra sprinkle of chopped pistachios.

note: if you want super-green pistachios, blanch them in boiling water for 10-15 seconds. strain, then rub with a clean towel to remove their skins. if the skins are still clinging, keep the pistachios in cold water as you rub.

 

annnnd.... i'm giving away a copy of easy gourmet! to enter this giveaway, leave a comment with the best dessert you've ever had! this giveaway is open to u.s. residents only.

update 9/22: this giveaway is now closed and the winner has been notified. thanks so much everyone!

-yeh!!

pistachio cream cake with chocolate ganache + a giveaway

in

one of my smiliest moments as a jewish transplant in this predominantly scandinavian town has been seeing my norwegian future family-in-law incorporate the word nosh into their vocabulary. many little snacks have been enjoyed over conversation and etymology lessons about the word nosh, and to see the egg family realize that there is a name for this thing they so love to do is satisfying in the most jewish motherly way. i squeal every time the egg dad knocks on our door, asking if he can come in for a nosh (he keeps a jar of unsalted peanuts in our house for when there's no time to walk all the way across the street to his house). hehe. 

noshing might be my favorite way to enjoy a cake. i get so much more joy out of having one itsy bitsy sliver every hour or so than i do having a large piece after a meal or with afternoon tea. the calories seem way less significant that way too. there are currently four half-eaten cakes floating around my kitchen, and probably twice that in my freezer, so a lot of varied cake noshing gets done around these parts.

recently i've found myself going back over and over to the same cake--neglecting pumpkin cake and sprinkle cake even--to this pistachio beauty from jessica's book, seriously delish! it's a sturdy nutty creature filled with tangy mascarpone and covered in thick ganache. it was a huge hit at my brunch club this weekend, and luckily there were leftovers for me to... nosh on. making it commands nothing in the way of decorating skills because in its purest form--chocolate on top of cake on top of mascarpone on top of cake--it is a delicious thing of beauty. 

ok and can you guys just let me gush about this cookbook for a second though?

i honestly don't remember the last time i stayed up so late reading a book. i mean, i like reading and i do it a lot, but in bed, when sleep is looming, i usually just conk out and ideally dream about fluffy puppies. but then when jessica's book arrived the other day, i tore into it like it was going out of style (it's not gonna) and i did not stop until well past midnight, which in my grandma-esque mind is pretty much nearly sun up.

jessica's fun and lovable personality, which has made her blog one of the happiest places on the internet, has taken on physical form in this book and there are so many recipes that i can't wait to try: baked breakfast risotto, chicken pitas with jalapeño whipped feta & quick tzatziki, whole wheat blueberry bundt cake, and a handful of outrageous grilled cheeses. having this book on my shelf has made my kitchen even brighter.

pistachio cream cake with chocolate ganache

from jessica merchant's seriously delish

serves 8

ingredients

cake:

1 1/3 c unsalted pistachios

1 1/3 c cake flour

1 1/3 c all-purpose flour

3 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 c sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 c whole milk

filling:

2/3 c mascarpone cheese, at room temperature

2 tb unsalted butter

1 1/2 c sugar

1 1/2 tsp whole milk

ganache:

8 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 c heavy cream

 

clues

1. preheat the oven to 350f. spray two 9-inch cake pans with nonstick spray*. cut a round sheet of parchment paper, place on the bottom of each pan, and spray once more with nonstick spray. set them aside. 

*i made this with two 6-inch pans and my new favorite (mini cake!) pan and it worked marvelously.

2. add 1 cup of the pistachios to a food processor and pulse and blend until very small crumbs remain. measure out 1/4 cup of the crumbs and set them aside for the filling. place the remaining crumbs in a bowl. in a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.

3. in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. add the eggs one at a time, beating on medium speed after each addition. add the vanilla extract and beat for 1 more minute. add the pistachio crumbs, beating on medium speed until incorporated. with the mixer on low speed, gradually add in half of the dry ingredients. add the milk, mixing until combined. add the remaining dry ingredients and beat on medium until the batter comes together, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.

4. scoop the batter equally into the greased and lined cake pans. bake the cakes until the tops are golden brown and set, 25 to 30 minutes. remove the pans from the oven and let the cakes cool for 20 minutes in the pans, then invert the pans and remove the cakes. let them cool completely on a wire rack.

5. for the filling, beat the mascarpone and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on high speed until creamy. add the reserved crushed pistachios, beating until combined, then adjust the speed to low and gradually add the sugar. add the milk and beat the filling for 1 to 2 minutes on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl if needed.

6. place one of the cakes on a plate or stand. spread the filling evenly over the top of the cake, then place the other cake on top of the filling.

7. for the ganache, add the chocolate to a large bowl. heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat just until it bubbles around the edges. remove the cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate. let the chocolate stand for 30 seconds, then stir continuously until the chocolate melts and a smooth ganache comes together, 1 to 2 minutes. pour the ganache over the cake.

8. chop the remaining 1/3 cup of pistachios coarsely and sprinkle them over the cake.

9. this cake will stay fresh for 1 to 2 days if kept at room temperature and wrapped in plastic wrap or covered with a cake dome. i like to keep it in the fridge, where it will keep for an additional 2 to 3 days.

and lastly, i'm giving away a copy of seriously delish! (this giveaway is open to u.s. residents only, i'm sorry!!) to enter, leave a comment with the last thing you ate that was... seriously delish :)

update 9/12/14: this giveaway is now closed.

-yeh!!!!