Biscuity goodness

I love, love, love biscuits, so I made some tonight (Andy and I made co-op dinner: Brussels sprouts, roasted chili-mint-orange carrots, vegan chili). Here is the recipe! They didn't turn out quite as flaky as I'd have liked, which I attribute to not having a rolling pin (long story). I think next time, with the proper equipment, they'd improve, but they were still delicious. I'm even considering doing something horribly sinful like pouring some additional melted butter over them as they bake. Because, you know, can't have too much butter in a biscuit!

A few days late... Vegetable love

Last Wednesday, I made these beet cupcakes featured in an intriguing New York Times article: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/now-baking-beyond-red-velvet-cake/?ref=food

Anyone who has been to a birthday party at the Kirsch home knows of my deep and unyielding love for red velvet cake, but I hate being prosaic, and indeed red velvet cake for Valentine's Day is quite prosaic. These cupcakes, on the other hand, were fascinating. They were almost muffiny in texture (although that might have been due to my not having an electric mixer and just mushing everything together with my hands, which was fun, don't get me wrong; it might also have been due to the 3:2:1.5 cups of beets to flour to butter ratio), and they were a beautiful light golden color. The beetiness is more assertive than zucchini and, as the article describes, "less vegetal" than carrot, possibly because the vegetable itself has sort of a sweet and non-vegetal taste.

All in all, I recommend these. But don't make them if you don't like beets. But do avoid telling possible consumers that they contain beets, because I'd hate for vegetable prejudice to dissuade people from eating them.

Does poaching teeny quail eggs up my BAMF xp?

Tonight's menu, in order of courses served:

1. Portobello mushroom slices sauteed in rosemary and olive oil, served over slices of toasted bread from yesterday/very early this morning and topped with some fresh watercress and a poached quail egg (I found them at the Asian market I went to for udon noodles and bok choy and black sesame seeds, and they were only $2.99, and I thought, "Why not?")
2. Potato cauliflower soup (with spices like turmeric and curry and cardamom in it)
3. This!
4. Macarons with both Nutella and (homemade) black sesame paste filling

I like breaks.

Hey, look, another break!

It's not too far into February break, but the baking is already underway!

Following some non-dessert kitchen wrangling at the coop of a favorite culinary partner, I did the prosaic Valentine's Day baking thing (getting to the heart through the stomach, n. 1. way to compensate for being annoying, other personal flaws, 2. possibly unwise move for future doctor).

First up: chocolate sandwiches with strawberry creme, like an Oreo but not disgusting. The cookie part expands A LOT when baking, so take care! I did add a drop of red food coloring to the filling, and just a dab more jam (which I ran through a strainer to remove any fruit debris) than called for. And then I ate too many.

Next: the most effortless bread ever. I was a little worried because the dough seemed too moist, liquidy, like I had miscounted the number of cups of flour I'd put in, but it baked up perfectly (I did decrease the amount of salt a tad and add just a half-teaspoon of sugar to help proof the yeast, though...). No, really. This bread made me want to do a little Wordsworthian dance with the daffodils and call it my sweet baboo and then eat all three boules the recipe produced. Bonus: It was so simple to make that I can see myself setting it up in the morning, going to class, coming back, and baking it, even while school is in session. Perhaps for a production night?

I've eaten way too much today. The diet starts tomorrow, I swear.