coconut rainbow popsicles

i am staying in the world's cutest airbnb in silver lake this week. it has a tomato plant, a vintage oven, a huge stash of za'atar, and a million stairs leading up to it that make me feel like i'm in a treehouse! (a climate controlled treehouse, thank heavens, because it was one hundred and twelve degrees this week!! don't smell me.) it also has some pretty delicious light pouring in at all hours of the day, so lily and alana and i made our #popsicleweek popsicles in my little kitchen. we used coconut milk, lemongrass, and the most beautiful pluots from the hollywood farmers' market, and then each took a layer to do our thang and make the popsicle equivalent to friendship bracelets. kewt. they tasted like grownup pudding pops, 10/10 would recommend. 

alana infused her layer with lemongrass for the pale green top,

lily mixed in some pluot juice for the bright pink center,

i made a malabi-inspired mix with rosewater, vanilla, and cinnamon,

and then we did a chocolate drizzle and bedazzled them with pistachios, rose petals, coconut, and glee. 

and then! billy, king of popsicle week, waltzed right in with adrianna and approved of the whole thing and it was, as the kids these days would say, gucci.

my life as a silver lake person has been so tasty and stone-fruit-filled, i can't wait to tell you more about it. but i just have a few more sleeps here, so i'm gonna go cook a branzino because mastering the art of branzino is going to be one thing i do before i leave california. bye!

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malabi pops

(this is layer #3 of these coconut rainbow popsicles. click here for the lemongrass layer and here for the pluot layer.)

ingredients

1 c full-fat coconut milk
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract
1/2 tsp rosewater
a pinch of kosher salt
a pinch of cinnamon
2 tb maple syrup, or to taste

optional toppings:

melted chocolate, crushed pistachios, rosebuds, toasted coconut

clues

make your lemongrass layer, pour into the bottom third of your popsicle molds and freeze for 45 minutes. make your pluot layer, pour on top of the lemongrass layer and freeze 15 minutes. insert popsicle sticks and then freeze for another 15 minutes. 

mix together all ingredients for this layer. taste and adjust as desired. pour on top of the pluot layer and freeze for an hour. drizzle with chocolate and top with pistachios, rosebuds, and coconut, if desired. enjoy!

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-yeh!

roasted pistachio chocolate bars

it's possible that after this weekend i have plumb turned into a dumpling! i can't be certain, i'm afraid to look in a mirror 😬  you would be too if you ate a pile of potstickers and steamed buns the size of an eight-year-old. oof da! obviously it was all worth it in the name of reenacting our annual dumplings of the world chrismukkah party for #mollyontherange, and do you know what this means now??? we can finally take down our chrismukkah bush. happy spring! 

book shooting is almost dunzo, mum and marshy are up here assisting, and this time next week i will be on my way to hawaii with lily, steph, and alana. i am last-day-of-school excited. nay, i am first-day-of-camp excited. i've never ever been to hawaii, and every time i tell somebody that i'm going, their eyes roll straight to the back of their heads, their voice alters in pitch, and they say something to the effect of hawaaaaiiii is uhhhmazzzzing. so, i'm really excited to join the enlightened group of *people who have been to hawaii*, and i'm extra excited that it will be with three of my very favorite lady humans!

i do have some questions though. maybe you can help me? most of these are probably googleable, but allow me to think out loud:

what is the time change? will it be such that i will wake up easily with the sun and have a pleasant few moments of quiet instagram time before my west coast sisters appear? or will it be the type of thing where i will want to pass out at 3pm and eat breakfast toast at 11pm?

will a ukelele be playing at all times? (kind of like vienna and their waltzes?)

do i get a lei when i step off the plane?

will my cell phone work?

how tasty is spam???????

is my aversion to bananas going to be an issue? 

what sorts of wild animals run about? are their squirrels? wild turkeys? aardvarks?

i think those are all of my questions.

to celebrate our lift off, we're posting travel snackees today! steph's got spam and egg onigirazu, lily's got matcha cacao truffles, alana's got furikake snack mix, and i've got these here pistachio chocolate bars! i found a massive stash of pistachios in my pantry because i am a nut hoarder. it's the type of situation where i love them so much but i'm afraid to use them because then i'll have used them all up. but finally i had to use them because otherwise they would have gone bad. so i ground them up into a chewy marzipan situation, dunked them in chocolate, and sprinkled them with all sorts of goodies like freeze dried strawberries, sprinkles, and this sesame/fennel/orange/ginger mix. i am so excited to giggle on the plane and eat chocolate on the way to hawaii. yipee!

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roasted pistachio chocolate bars

makes 8

ingredients

1 1/2 cup roasted pistachios
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon rosewater, optional
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (omit of pistachios are salted)
6 tablespoons light corn syrup

10 ounces dark chocolate

sprinkles, freeze dried fruit, or other toppings

clues

In a food processor, blend the pistachios until they’re very finely ground. (Be careful not to over blend them or you will end up with pistachio butter.) Add the sugar, almond extract, rosewater (if using) and salt and pulse to combine. With the motor running, drizzle in the corn syrup and blend to form a dough. It may still look crumbly in the food processor, but if you squeeze it in your hand it should stick together. Turn the mixture out onto a work surface, roll it out about 1/2” thick, and cut out rectangles about 1 1/2” by 4”. Place the rectangles on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for 15 minutes.

Melt the dark chocolate either in a double boiler on medium low or in a microwave oven, heating for 30-second increments, stirring after each, until it is smooth and melted. Remove it from heat and stir it until it is no longer hot to the touch. 

One by one, use two forks to lower the pistachio rectangles into the chocolate, flipping to fully coat. Allow excess chocolate to drip off and then place them back on the parchment. Top with sprinkles or other toppings, if using. Harden them in the refrigerator or at room temperature. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

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-yeh!

vegan chai cheesecake with earl grey fig sauce

here was my breakfast! emma’s amazing vegan chai cheesecake, it was *eye rolls to the back of my head* amazing. eggpop has a vegan lunch club on saturdays so i'm donating these little cakes to that but saving all of the scraps for my lunch and dinner and probably breakfast tomorrow too. mmm so good.

gosh geez so much has happened since we last spoke:

-the town bakery went up for sale which spurred a medium long, medium serious conversation with eggboy about whether or not we should buy it and turn it into a halva house but ultimately, for a number of reasons, including my subpar people management skills and an aversion to showering on a regular basis, we decided that other people would be way more fit for the job. is it you? would you like a bakery? do you want to move to a town that looks like a snow globe and has a cinnamon scented movie theater?

-book writing is chugging along and i’ve adjusted my sleep schedule for it because i’ve found i like writing more late at night. i’ve been waking up at kelly and michael o’clock and going to bed way past midnight. i kinda like it, but i’ll have to adjust back for photographing days in order to catch the good light.

-i stuck my face in food & wine and brought knoephla, paprikash, halva challah, and pickled eggies! 

-sia came out with a new song

-so did lucius

-and aoife’s new album is streaming

-so it’s been a really strong music week

-also look at this city ballet trailer

-i made a rhubarb sauce because way back in april, i just knew that i would procrastinate testing the rhubarb recipe for my book so i froze some for this very week. the second to last week before my manuscript is due. thank you, self of the past.

-a halva and tahini store opened in chelsea maket! holy heck. that’ll be my first stop in new york next time i’m there. and can someone get me this neon tahini sign??!!!!

-registration opened up for the photography workshop that i’m giving in australia in july with sophie and luisa!!! it’s going to include cake. and i’m gonna pet a koala, and watch our lips are sealed on the plane, and eat lamingtons upon lamingtons, i can’t contain my excitement! will you come? i think spots are jussst about filled, but there may be a few left!

...so it’s all very apropos that i’m sharing a recipe today from one of my very favorite australia (now new zealand!) based bloggers, who i hope i’ll get to see in july!! i met sweet emma at the saveur awards last year where she showed me her beautiful book that is filled with so many colors by way of amazing fresh fruit that i could only dream of having way up here. i’ve been waiting waiting waiting for it to come out in the states, and in the fall it finally did! in the past, her recipes have inspired my tarts and my obsession with tahini fudge (ooh yeah, get on that), and now her book is inspiring me to make things like choux puffs with labneh and strawberry jam and tahini orange coconut muesli, and they’re all gluten free and vegetarian. 

this “cheesecake” is so smooth, creamy, and miles away from your average cream cheese cheesecake. in fact, i’m inclined to say that calling it a cheesecake doesn’t do it enough justice because i know how there are some people who are turned off by a tangy cream cheese cheesecake. josh suggested “silken cashew tarte.” idk. my point is, it’s fantastic and you shouldn't let any preconceived notions of tangy cheesecake get in the way of your decision to make this. i could barely get all of the filling onto the crust because i wanted to eat it all with a spoon. in her book, it’s topped with fresh figs and cut into slices, but fig season is far away and because i didn’t want to give eggpop partially eaten cheesecake to bring to his lunch club, i cut the thing into a bunch of mini cakes and saved the scraps for myself. and i also get all of the leftover fig sauce. it’s a win win win win win situation. make this.

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emma’s vegan chai “cheesecake” with earl grey fig sauce

from emma galloway’s my darling lemon thyme

serves 12 or more

ingredients

crust:

1 1/2 c pitted dates, roughly chopped

2/3 c whole raw almonds

1 tb virgin coconut oil

filling:

3 c raw cashews, soaked overnight in cold water and drained

3/4 c virgin coconut oil, melted if solid

1/2 c lemon juice

1/2 c maple syrup

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp fine sea salt

seeds from 20 cardamom pods (3/4 tsp ground)

6 whole cloves (1/2 tsp ground)

1/2 tsp fennel seeds (1/2 tsp ground)

1/2 tsp black peppercorns (just over 1/4 tsp ground)

2 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

earl grey fig sauce:

3/4 c boiling water

2 earl grey tea bags

1/2 c firmly packed sliced dried figs

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 tb maple syrup

fresh figs, to serve, optional

clues

to make the crust, line the base and side of a 10” loose-bottomed cake pan with parchment paper. place dates, almonds, and coconut oil in a food processor and blend on high until finely ground. press mixture into the base of the tin, using the back of a spoon to pack down firmly.

to make the filling, place the drained cashews, coconut oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt in a blender and set aside for a minute. finely grind the whole spices with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. add to the blender along with the ground ginger and cinnamon. blend on high until smooth. you may need to help things along a little by stopping occasionally and giving things a stir. pour over the crust and smooth the surface. place in the freezer for 2-3 hours or until set (you can also chill overnight in the fridge if preferred). cheesecake slices will store in a covered container in the freezer for up to 1 month. remove from the freezer 20-30 minutes before serving to allow to soften.

to make early grey fig sauce, combine the boiling water, tea, and figs in a small glass bowl of jug, pressing the figs down to fully submerge, and leave until cool. remove and discard tea bags, squeezing them to extract as much flavor as you can. transfer to a blender, add lemon juice and maple syrup, and blend on high until smooth. serve cheesecake with earl grey fig sauce and fresh figs, if in season.

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-yeh!

pictured: cheese stone / enamel bowl / spice jars

macadamia marzipan balls

alana says that it was my idea, i'm pretty sure that it was hers, but at some point in malta we were inspired by some poolside chewy marzipan cookies to throw a blogged out marzipan kiki for christmas. (what's a kiki?)

unselfishly, our marzipan party is a reminder to listen to or see or play the air tambourine along with the nutcracker at least once this christmas week. the sugar plums! the pirouettes! the behind the scenes at the city ballet instagrams that were a highlight of the internet! and of course the marzipans. you should eat many marzipans.

selfishly, i really just wanted more marzipan content spewed onto the internet because marzipan is easily the best part of the holidays. marzipan, dumplings, the santa clause. and stoop traipsing around the house announcing that her pup has pooped with christmas confidence. (don't ask.) 

and the kiki hath delivered! look at the marzipan wizardry that has arrived to you today: lily’s pistachio marzipan ice cream, stephanie’s marzipan chocolate chip cookies, beau’s cardamom marzipan rolls, michelle’s marzipan semlor, betty’s sesame (!) marzipan rose cakes, and alana’s remake of those chewy malta cookies. i am really excited about all of these, i think this marzipan party should become a tradition. 

my contribution is macadamia marzipan! which can be made with two (2!) ingredients if you play your cards right. typically, basic marzipan ingredients include nuts, sugar, and some type of binder, like egg whites or corn syrup. but because macadamia nuts are so fatty, marzipaning them doesn't require an additional binder. it's a lot lighter and fluffier than your typical almond marzipan, so it's not necessarily something that would hold up to, say, cutting out a moose shape and sticking it on a cake, but when it's balled up and rolled around in a dish of sparkly sprinkles, it is a painfully easy and amazingly tasty way to add bling to your holiday table. pretty pretty princess-style bling. 

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macadamia marzipan balls

makes 12

ingredients

1 1/2 cups roasted macadamias (if unsalted, add a pinch of salt)
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Sprinkles, optional

clues

blend the macadamias in a food processor just until crumbly. don’t over blend or you’ll end up with macadamia butter. add the confectioners’ sugar (and salt, if your nuts were unsalted) and blend for a wee bit longer, until combined and clumpy. it’s ready when it sticks together if you squeeze a bit in your hand.

pile it all together on a work surface and then divide it into 12 small balls. serve them naked like that or roll them in sprinkles. enjoy!

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-yeh!

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pictured: knife / slab / dish / board