Rêves Francophones, Part One: Raspberry Browned-Butter Tart

I've only been back in the states for a week, and I'm already having serious French food withdrawals. If you had lived five glorious weeks in the land of the world's best cheese and pastries and then been violently removed back to the land of burgers and enchiladas, you would understand.

My nostalgia led me to do some baking of my own. This tart is a hybrid of a popular French fruit tart and the popular Southern browned-butter pie. I think it's a winner. The sweet, nutty browned-butter perfectly compliments the tart flavor of the fresh raspberries. And a homemade crust is always a winner in my book.

Hello, beautiful.

Raspberry Browned-Butter Tart

Ingredients:

Crust:

7 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

Filling:

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

pinch of salt

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup diced unsalted butter

12 oz fresh raspberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix the melted butter, sugar and vanilla for the crust in a medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt until incorporated. Refrigerate dough for roughly 5 minutes.

2. Transfer dough to 9-inch pie or tart pan. Press dough evenly into sides and bottom of pan.

3. Bake crust until just golden, about 15 minutes. Crust will puff slightly while baking. Allow crust to cool while preparing filling.

4. Whisk sugar, eggs and salt for the filling in a medium bowl. Slowly add in flour and vanilla; whisk until smooth.

5. Brown butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. The butter should slowly turn medium brown and begin to smell nutty. Make sure you don't burn it, though! This is the trickiest part.

6. Transfer butter to its own (preferably glass) cup and let it rest and cool for several minutes.

7. Arrange raspberries side-up in concentric circles inside the cooled pie crust. (Or dump them in... as you like.)

8. Mix browned butter slowly in three stages into the egg and sugar mixture. Whisk until incorporated.

9. Carefully pour filling over arranged raspberries in crust.

10. Bake about 35-40 minutes or until puffy and golden.

The concentric circles idea becomes more of a loose idea in practice....

Viola! A beautiful piece of raspberry tart.

Happy summer, y'all.

--Alyssa

Crêpe Time

I've been on a crêpe-making spree since I've been home from college. Perhaps it's the anticipation of our upcoming month-long sojourn in Grenoble, France that is driving me to French cuisine; perhaps it is the sudden, glorious absence of a grocery bill (living at home, suckas). In any case, I'm happy to be home and to be back in my Tennessee kitchen, where there are things like free Whole Foods blueberries and Gruyère cheese just sitting around, y'all. Ready for me to turn them into deliciousness.

There's nothing wrong with a good, basic lemon-sugar (or just piled powdered sugar...) crêpe, but this summer I've been experimenting with fresh, delicious filler ingredients. So far my favorites are strawberry & Nutella crêpes and caramelized apples & cream crêpes. (If you're sensing a "cream" theme, you have intuited correctly. My whipped cream fetish is renowned.)

Take a look at these beauties:

You may be living the Southern cultural idiom if you have a white front porch that looks over the Tennessee River. Yes, that is a red gazing ball in the front yard. Welcome to the South.

You may be culturally displaced if you're reading Judith Butler's Gender Trouble and eating fresh crêpes on said porch. Enter me.

In my strawberries & Nutella pancakes, I fill each crepe with fresh strawberries and freshly whipped cream before slathering each with Nutella spread and powdered sugar. Mmmm. Breakfast of champions, y'all.

Basic Crêpe Recipe (makes six crêpes; feeds two hungry individuals)

Ingredients

1cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Whisk milk and egg until combined. Add dry ingredients and stir until combined.
2. After coating a non-stick pan with butter or cooking spray, spoon 2-3 tablespoons of batter onto the pan over medium heat. Swirl the pan to create a very thin, even layer of batter. I like to spread the batter out while pouring so that it does not clump in the middle and create a volcanic middle-heavy pancake-crêpe.
3. Cook until the underside begins to brown and flip with a large pancake spatula. Both sides should be slightly browned.

An unfortunate lack of strawberries this morning made me abandon my plans to make these babies for the second day in a row. We did, however, have some beautiful crisp red apples, so I decided to get clever and crêpe those up too.

In my caramelized apples & cream crêpes, I use the following recipe for caramelized apples. I fill each crêpe with the caramelized apples and whipped cream and, after drizzling the top with honey and powdered sugar, pour the reduction from the caramelized apples over the crêpes.

Caramelized Apples

Ingredients

 2 crisp apples (I used Red Lady) cubed into 1/2 inch pieces

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/2 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Melt butter and brown sugar in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Whisk until sugar is dissolved in butter and the mixture is combined and bubbly.

2. Whisk in honey and cinnamon. Reduce heat to low.

3. Add in cubed apple pieces. Coat the apple pieces thoroughly with the mixture. Allow apples to cook for roughly 8 minutes.

Yum.

What is your favorite crêpe filling? Do you prefer sweet fruity breakfast crêpes or the more substantial meaty lunch variety?

Enjoy!

Alyssa

The Christmas Crack

This rainy March Sunday seems like the perfect day to introduce y'all to The Christmas Crack.

Ok, ok, we're a good three months out from the Nativity, but the stormy days of early spring often need a pick-me-up involving chocolate and ambrosia. Today is definitely one of those days.

What makes The Christmas Crack so special? Maybe it's the image of my Great Aunt Vera Kate in her housecoat and hairnet boiling the butter and brown sugar on winter afternoons, the smell of ambrosia punctuated by "whoa there, stovetop" and "hot damn, y'all, this smells good."

Or maybe this stuff is just freaking awesome.

You start by layering some buttery Club crackers on the bottom of a pan:

And then add some freshly made ambrosia and chocolate baking chips, like so:

Then, after freezing and cracking the concoction, you get something like this little bundle of delicious:

Ohhhhh yum.

Ingredients:
8x8 inch baking pan
1 sleeve Club crackers
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease 8x8 pan with butter and layer two layers of club crackers on the bottom.
3. Bring brown sugar and butter to a boil on the stovetop. Once they are at a boil, reduce heat and stir three to four minutes or until the sugar is dissolved in the butter and a fragrant ambrosia is formed.
4. Pour the ambrosia evenly over the club crackers.
5. Bake the ambrosia-covered crackers for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the hot mixture and spread until melted and even.
7. Freeze for one hour. Crack the "Christmas Crack" apart and devour.

Happy spring, y'all!

--Alyssa

Gâteau aux fraises

The average Friday and Saturday of a college student probably doesn't involve baking away in the dorm, but my weekend was just that. I spent my Friday evening baking and my Saturday afternoon frosting away. The smell of fresh strawberries was a sweet welcome every time I stepped back in the room from my sojourn to the dorm kitchen. Dorm baking is always an adventure, but this cake was well worth the effort. Strawberry cake and cream cheese frosting topped with fresh strawberries can make any day better. Yet again, Amy Lucas came to my rescue and took these beautiful pictures of the cake!

Ingredients

Photo by Amy Lucas

• 1 cup of strawberry purée (made from approximately 16-24 oz of fresh strawberries and 2 tsp of sugar)
• 1/4 cup of whole milk
• 6 large egg whites at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cup cake flour (all purpose works as well)
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine (softened)
• red food coloring

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350. Prepare 3 6-inch round pans or 2 8 or 9-inch round pans. (I used 3 6-inch pans. I didn't use the third layer for the cake in the picture because I wanted to make a smaller, separate one.)
2. Make the strawberry purée first. Dice and blend strawberries until you have approximately 1 cup of purée. Stir in 2 tsp of sugar.
3. Add milk, vanilla extract, and eggs. Mix with a fork until all ingredients are well blended.
4. Slowly incorporate the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a mixer to be certain that everything is well incorporated. Add the softened butter and continue to mix. 
5. Slowly add the food coloring a couple of drops at a time until you have the perfect color of pink.
6. If using the 6-inch pans, bake for approximately 30 minutes. If using the larger, bake for 25 minutes. Check using a toothpick. Be careful not to over-bake. You want the cake to be deliciously moist.

Icing Ingredients

Photo by Amy Lucas

• 11 oz. cream cheese (softened for 1-2 hours)
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 stick of butter or margarine
• 1 tsp of vanilla

Directions

1. Use a mixer to loosen the cream cheese.
2. Add the butter and vanilla.
3. Incorporate the powdered sugar slowly while continuing to mix. Mix until the cream cheese is a creamy consistency.

Cake Assembly

• Gently place the first layer on a plate. Spoon a generous amount of frosting on the top. Using an angled spatula, spread the frosting evenly on the top. Let it drip down the sides and spread.
• Place the 2nd layer on top and repeat.

The cakes made the perfect decoration for the dorm.

Bon Appétit!
--Cara

Chocolate Crinkles

These cookies are long gone and so is fall break. October seems like a lifetime away. These cookies are a chocolatey reminder of the beginnings of fall and 5 full days of R&R on the farm with one of my very best friends. We took a couple of cat naps while basking in the sun on the porch with our furry friends. She's also the very talented photographer who snapped the pictures for the blog! Enjoy these treats and try not to choke on all of the powdered sugar!

Photo by Amy Lucas

Ingredients

• 1 box of chocolate cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1 stick of butter
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 8 oz. package of cream cheese
• powdered sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Let the cream cheese soften (or microwave it for about 20 seconds). Using a mixer, combine with the butter.
3. Add the egg and vanilla. Continue to mix.
4. Slowly add the chocolate cake mix while mixing.
5. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
6. Roll the dough into small balls. Roll the cookie dough in powdered sugar and place on a baking sheet.
7. Bake for 12 minutes.

Bon appétit! 

--Cara

Tea Party Shortbread Cookies

These shortbread cookies are positively delectable with a cup of earl grey. I couldn't think of a better combination for afternoon tea. Grab a book and a tea tray for a perfect English afternoon on the porch swing.

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
a dash of salt (1/8 teaspoon)
1/4 cup of sprinkles (I used pink ones!)

Directions
1. Whip butter until creamy. Stir in the sugar, cornstarch, flour, and salt. Mix until well incorporated.
2. Add the sprinkles.
3. Refrigerate the dough for an hour or two. Or for us impatient ones, put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness. I used pretty flower cookie cutters and placed them on 2 large baking sheets.
5. Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Take them out before the edges begin to brown.

Et voilà! Bon appétit mes amis!

Be sure to share!

-Cara

Strawberry Cake

Strawberry cake is a favorite on the Wilson farm. I grew up devouring its sweetness at every family gathering, on holidays, and the summer days in between. This particular recipe isn't the famous Wilson recipe. I wanted to experiment with a different one and use it for my mother's birthday. Her birthday was in June, so if you're doing the math...this blog post is about 7 months overdue. This was one of my first attempts to properly ice and decorate a cake. Let's just say that I still need some practice, but the cheery pink color makes up for any imperfections!

Ingredients (for cake)

1 and 3/4 cups of granulated sugar

1 package of strawberry Jello-O

1 cup butter, softened

4 eggs (room temperature)

3 cups sifted cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk, room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup strawberry purée (can use frozen or fresh)

Frosting

3 sticks of butter

4 cups sifted powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1 1/2 teaspoon pur vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon of salt

4 tablespoons strawberry purée (or to taste)

1. Purée the strawberries. Mix until smooth (and not icy if using frozen strawberries).

2. Preheat oven to 350. Butter or grease three round 8 inch pans.

3. Mix milk, vanilla, and strawberry purée until smooth. Set aside.

4. Sift and whisk dry ingredients together. Set aside.

5. Cream gelatin, sugar, and butter together for about 5 minutes with a mixer. 

6. Add the eggs one by one to the creamed mixture. Be sure they are room temperature. It makes the cake fluffier. 

7. Add the wet and dry ingredients to the creamed mixture slowly. Alternate and mix well.

8. Divide the batter evenly between the three pans and bake for 25-30 minutes. Be sure not to overcook, you want it to be moist. Take out and let the cakes cool before icing.

9. For the frosting, whip the butter for about 8 minutes or until light and creamy.

10. Add the powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract, and salt. Mix on low speed for one minute and then on medium-high for about 6 minutes. Add the strawberry purée last and mix until well incorporated.

Between each layer of cake layer icing evenly. Then spread icing thickly on top. Use the excess on top to ice the sides. Add some fresh strawberries on top to decorate and you are finished!

Bon Appétit! 

-Cara

Honey Lime Shredded Chicken Panini with Lime Butter and Pepper Jack Cheese

What a long post title, huh? But this sandwich is a killer.

I had some lime butter left over from steak sandwiches I made yesterday as well as some day-old ciabatta bread, and thought that this would be an excellent night to try out a new honey-lime chicken recipe that I had been mulling in my mind for a few days.

First of all, I picked off about a third of the pan of honey-lime chicken before it made it onto the sandwiches... which I do not regret. When mixed with the pepper jack and lime butter, however, the flavors are even more pronounced and delicious.

Ok. NOT the most glamorous-looking sandwich I've ever made... but hungry company cut this photoshoot short and this is the best I can offer. Note that one hungry sandwich-monger added turkey bacon to his sandwich.

Honey-Lime Shredded Chicken, Pepper Jack and Lime Butter Panini

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts shredded or cut into very small pieces

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon honey

juice of 2/3 of one lime

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon Old Bay Herb & Garlic seasoning

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

lime zest

juice of 1/3 of one lime

4 slices ciabatta bread

2 slices pepper jack cheese

Directions:

1. Combine soy sauce, honey, juice of 2/3 of one lime, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon Old Bay Herb & Garlic seasoning and two chicken breasts in a small covered bowl or a Ziploc bag. Marinate for at least one hour, preferably overnight.

2. Combined 4 tablespoons unsalted softened butter, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, roughly 1/4 teaspoon lime zest and the juice of 1/3 of one lime. Refrigerate until needed.

3. Sautee shredded chicken until browned and fragrant. Set aside.

4. Lightly butter both sides of all 4 slices of ciabatta bread with lime butter. In a saucepan over medium heat, toast the buttered ciabatta bread until crisp. 

5. Add more lime butter to taste -- I added about another 3/4 tablespoon per sandwich -- as well as one slice of pepper jack cheese and cooked honey-lime chicken. Return panini to heat so that the butter and cheese may melt.

6. Serve immediately and hot.

Enjoy your small slice of summer in the wintry weather!

--Alyssa

Gruyere and Pepper Jack Rigati Pasta

Who doesn't love some serious carbs on a snowy December day? This girl loves them. There was too much sleet on the ground to make it to Panera for their famous (my favorite) commercial mac & cheese, so I decided to make some of my own.

You can use any small-shell pasta you like in this dish, but I chose rigati shell pasta because the cheese sauce tends to get sucked up into the shell -- yumm. And you want as much cheesy goodness in every bite as you can handle.

Well, hellooooo there beautiful.

Ingredients:

2 cups rotini or other small shell dry pasta

1 cup whole milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup shredded pepper jack cheese

1/3 cup shredded Gruyere cheese

1/4 teaspoon ground peppercorn

1/2 teaspoon paprika (optional: for a spicy kick)

Parmesan, for dusting

Directions:

1. Bring whole milk and heavy cream to a simmer on a stovetop. Add rotini pasta when milk and cream have begun to bubble and steam, and reduce heat.

2. Cook pasta on low heat for 15 minutes. After fifteen minutes, add in shredded cheeses, ground peppercorn, and, if desired, paprika. Stirring occasionally, cook pasta for five more minutes or until cheese is melted and a thick sauce is formed. Add a small amount of milk if the sauce is too thick for your taste.

3. Serve immediately and enjoy hot!

Happy wintering to you and yours!

--Alyssa

Baked Cheesy Kosher Sausage Balls

Sausage balls are my absolute favorite Christmas food. But who wants all that grease in their digestive system? Not me, no ma'am. Also, for this Jewess, there's always the sinking feeling that the hostess is trying to sneak some pork off on you.

"Oh, yeah, this is absolutely.... kosher..."

How many times have I heard that?

Well, these sausage balls are both baked and absolutely kosher. And they are just divine. I had two for breakfast, and when hot, they are absolutely divine. The outside is crunchy and cheesy and the inside is meaty and slightly gooey with the cheddar. Yumm.

Don't you want one?

Baked Kosher Cheesy Sausage Balls

Ingredients

½ pound kosher sausage, cooked and crumbled
1 cup all purpose flour
¾ cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ cup whole milk
shredded cheddar cheese for topping

Directions
1. Mix dry ingredients well, and slowly add in milk. Mix until dough is sticky and well-combined. Add cheese and ground, cooked sausage. 
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease a cookie tray. Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough onto the cookie sheet. (I got five large or eight smallish biscuits.)
3. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of dough. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Happy breakfast, y'all.

--Alyssa

Hawaiian Marinated Chicken With Pineapple Salsa

I came across the recipe for this marinade on Pinterest recently and it is definitely a keeper. I have been looking for a Hawaiian marinade, and this is the best by far that I have tried. The recipe called for pineapple juice, so I decided to grill some of the leftover pineapple in the marinade to serve over the chicken as a salsa.

Hawaiian Marinated Chicken With Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

Two raw chicken breasts

1/3 cup unsweetened pineapple juice

¼ cup low-sodium teriyaki sauce

¼ cup ketchup

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 tablespoon ground ginger

½ cup diced pineapple, drained

Directions

1. Mix all sauce ingredients in a large Ziploc bag until combined.
2. Trim chicken of all fat and membranes. Cut deep slits roughly ¼ inch apart all across the chicken breasts to allow the marinade to penetrate.
3. Add the chicken breasts to the Ziploc bag. Marinade the chicken for at least two hours.
4. Preheat a pan over medium heat for several minutes. Remove chicken from marinade and slightly brown each side of the chicken in the pan, roughly one minute per side.
5. Remove the pan from the eye and reduce the heat. Pour remaining marinade over the chicken and return the pan to the eye when the eye has cooled to low heat. Cover chicken and allow to cook over low heat for eight to ten minutes.
6. Flip chicken and allow the other side to cook over low heat for eight to ten minutes. Check to make sure that the chicken is fully cooked. Remove to serving plates and pour most of the remaining sauce over the chicken.
7. Pour drained pineapple into the sauce remaining in the pan. Cook over high heat until coated in sauce and browned slightly.
8. Serve immediately. 

Happy eating!

--Alyssa

Cheddar Biscuits and Steak-Marinated Chicken

My family doesn't know how lucky they are. It hasn't quite hit them yet that they only have two more weeks of homecooked meals before I retreat to Birmingham for another year of college and they break out the bagged salad and take-out menus.

I have been attempting to re-create the sweet, cheesy biscuits at Jim & Nick's BBQ in Birmingham for several months, and although these are different in size and texture, they are delicious, and I might even prefer them over the biscuits at Jim & Nick's. (Heresy? Perhaps.) These were definitely a winner. I ate two within thirty minutes of their exit from the oven, and sliced one in half to toast as sandwich bread later that night. This recipe is definitely a winner.

The marinade I used on this chicken is somewhat of a show-stopper. I habitually use it as a steak marinade for steak salads-- the marinade that drips off the steak and into the greens makes an excellent, healthier dressing alternative. I promise that it is just as delicious on chicken.

I served the cheddar biscuits and steak-marinated chicken with some Mexican corn. In order to cut the butter used and add some spice, I added the juice of one half of a lime, 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun seasoning, and 1 tablespoon of butter to the cooked corn and served it immediately.

Cheddar Biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

¾ cup cheddar cheese, shredded

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon minced garlic

½ cup whole milk

shredded cheddar cheese for topping

Directions

1. Mix dry ingredients well, and slowly add in milk. Mix until dough is sticky and well-combined.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees and grease a cookie tray. Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough onto the cookie sheet. (I got five large or eight smallish biscuits.)
3. Sprinkle cheddar cheese on top of dough. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Steak-Marinaded Chicken

Ingredients

2 raw chicken breasts

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup olive oil

1/3 cup lemon juice

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

1 ½ tablespoons garlic

2 tablespoons dried basil

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1/4 teaspoon chipotle seasoning

Directions

1. Trim raw chicken breasts of any fat and membranes. Cut deep slits roughly ¼ inch apart all along the chicken breasts.
2. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a large Ziploc bag and add the chicken breasts. Marinade the chicken for at least two hours.
3. Preheat a pan over medium heat for several minutes. Remove chicken from marinade and slightly brown each side of the chicken in the pan, roughly one minute per side.
4. Remove the pan from the eye and reduce the heat. Pour remaining marinade over the chicken and return the pan to the eye when the eye has cooled to low heat. Cover chicken and allow to cook over low heat for eight to ten minutes.
5. Flip chicken and allow the other side to cook over low heat for eight to ten minutes. Check to make sure that the chicken is fully cooked. Serve immediately.

Happy summer eating, y'all. 

--Alyssa

Texas Yeast Rolls With Cinnamon Honey Butter

One of my favorite memories of the hot, lazy summers I spent with family in Austin, Texas is devouring the hot, buttery, made-from-scratch yeast rolls that came like rabbits from the oven of my Great Aunt Vera Kate.

This recipe produces rolls that are fluffier and less time-consuming, but equally fantastic. I serve this recipe with a fluffy, sweet cinnamon honey butter that smacks of the butter served at my mother's favorite restaurant, J Alexanders.

Ooey, gooey and delicious. Look at that wonderful drippy butter.

Texas Yeast Rolls

Ingredients

2 ¼ tablespoons (1 packet) active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water

1 cup whole milk, scalded and cooled to lukewarm

1 ½ tablespoons melted butter, cooled

¼ cup granulated sugar

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 whole egg

1 teaspoon salt

Melted butter for basting

Directions:

1. Mix yeast with warm water and let sit for roughly 10 minutes, or until frothy.
2. Add milk, butter, sugar, egg and salt. Mix well.
3. Add in flour one cup at a time. Mix well. Allow batter to sit 10-15 minutes to allow for easier kneading.
4. Knead dough until smooth and satiny. Remove dough to a greased bowl and let sit in a warm place for roughly one hour, or until doubled in size.
5. Gently flatten dough with a rolling pin on a hard, floured surface until ¼ to ½ inch in height. Shape dough to desired shape. (I shaped mine into a large rectangle and cut the dough with a sharp knife into eight pieces.)
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a cookie pan. Allow rolls to rise on the baking sheet for roughly thirty minutes.
7. Bake rolls for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately baste with butter and serve.

Cinnamon Honey Butter

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup confectioner's sugar

¼ cup honey

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Using a hand mixer, blend the ingredients together until smooth.
   
   
   
   
   Happy summer eating, y'all.
   
   
   --Alyssa

Chai Tea Lattes or Christmas in a Cup

It's July and the broiling sun has taken it's toll on the grass and on my determined, motivated self. Goodbye internship, goodbye organization, goodbye productivity. Just imagine the scene from Gone with the Wind when all the womenfolk have headed upstairs for a nap. That's me in the summer. I'm no Scarlet O'Hara about to declare her undying devotion to Ashley Wilkes. I'm upstairs lying down with the fan on high. The dog days aren't over yet. However, that doesn't mean that I can't put the air conditioning on 64 and pretend it's Christmas with a nice hot chai latte. Begone sore throats and headaches! Bonjour to Christmas in a cup.

Ingredients

Lipton loose tea

1/2 teaspoon all spice

1 teaspoon ginger

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 cups milk

1/4 cup to 1/2 of heavy whipping cream

1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. Use a coffee maker and fill your filter with enough lipton tea for 3 (use the directions on the back of the tea container). Add the all spice, ginger, and cinnamon.

2. While the tea is brewing, mix brown sugar, milk, whipping cream, and vanilla in a small saucepan and heat until sugar is completely dissolved. Thoroughly heat the mixture but don't bring it to a boil.

3. Pour milk mixture evenly in 3 cups and add the tea!

4. Add whipped cream, if desired!

-Cara

A Day In the Life: Creamy Chicken Parmesan with Linguini, Chocolate Meringue Bark and Honey BBQ Boneless Chicken Bites

Ever wonder what a day in the life of a Mademoiselle Miam blogger is like? (Since our only followers are my other blog and Cara's mom, the answer is likely a resounding "no," but you shall soon know regardless.) Today yielded some wonderful recipes, and I am excited to shamelessly promote them here with you.


A Day In the Life of Alyssa, a Mademoiselles Miam Blogger


9AM At this point it is necessary to prepare for work and feed my hungry family. This includes Perfect Buttermilk Pancakes and cat food for Polly.

(This is Polly. She made it roughly one foot from the door before deciding to take a nap in the sun.)

10 AM means work. While TAing freshman composition at my local college, I am of course planning a wonderful lunch for my mother. (Creamy chicken and carbs trumps grammar any day.)


2 PM means Creamy Chicken Parmesan.

THIS.

I lent a neighbor my last can of crushed tomatoes this week (welcome to the South), so I decided to satisfy my Chicken Parmesan craving with my favorite cream sauce and some linguini noodles.

Creamy Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts

2 tablespoons minced garlic

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon poultry seasoning

1 teaspoon cumin

Breadcrumbs

Parmesan cheese

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cajun seasoning

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon garlic & herb seasoning (I use Old Bay brand)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground peppercorn

shredded parmesan cheese

linguini noodles

Directions:

1. Marinate chicken breasts in minced garlic, olive oil, poultry seasoning and cumin for several hours. Cut slits in the chicken to allow penetrative marinating.
2. Coat in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. Preheat oven to 425.
3. Cook breaded chicken for 25-30 minutes or until browned, flipping chicken halfway through the baking process in order to assure even baking.
   4. Cook linguini noodles according to package directions.
   5. Combine heavy cream, paprika, cajun seasoning, cumin, thyme, garlic & herb seasoning, salt, ground peppercorn and parmesan cheese in a small pan over medium heat until thickened and combined.
   6. Serve noodles coated in cream sauce. Serve breaded chicken atop linguini noodles, lightly coated in cream sauce.

3 PM: I finish Willa Cather's Death Comes For the Archbishop, begin a short study of Robert Browning's poetry, and write write write. Check out my poetry blog, She Writes, to satisfy your literary cravings. (Shameless self-promotion? Check.)


6 PM: Everyone's getting restless in the July heat, so I decide to whip up some cookies.

Chocolate Meringue Bark Cookies. Behold. 

These cookies are thin and bark-like, and although the edges are crisp and chewy like a good meringue, they remain soft and gooey and chocolate-doughy on the inside. Enjoy with milk.

Chocolate Meringue Bark Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup organic cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 egg whites

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Stir dry ingredients together. Add egg whites one at a time and blend on low with an electric mixer.

3. Add vanilla and then turn the electric mixer on high for two minutes or until the batter forms soft peaks.

4. Spoon batter onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. (Makes ten cookies.)

8PM: Okay, so to be honest, after the meringue bark cookies, no one was hungry for a very long time. (I'm a terrible caretaker. I know.) But eventually the crowd begins to claw for dinner. I'm craving salad (who craves salad? I do. It's weird.), but the family is hungry for chicken. I compromise and serve a salad with these Honey BBQ Boneless Chicken Bites that have been marinating in the refrigerator all day.

Instagram gave this a slightly 70's style green-yellow glare. Apologies.

The key to these chicken bites is to marinate them all day. The flavors they soak up perfectly complement the flavors of the honey BBQ sauce and the crispness of the breadcrumbs. Also, they are BAKED, so they are much healthier than the fried breaded boneless bites you will find at your local Buffalo Wild Wings.

Honey BBQ Boneless Chicken Bites

Ingredients:

2 boneless chicken breasts

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

½ teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon Chipotle seasoning

¾ teaspoon cumin

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ cup honey

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

Panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup BBQ Sauce

 2 tablespoons honey

slurry of 1 teaspoon corn starch and 2 tablespoons water

Directions: 

1. Cube the boneless chicken breasts. Marinate in minced garlic, cajun seasoning, onion powder, chipotle seasoning, cumin, kosher salt, and 1/4 cup honey all day.

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat marinated chicken cubes in Panko breadcrumbs and arrange on a well-oiled pan or baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, flip each chicken piece, and bake for another 10 minutes. Broil on low for two minutes on each side of the chicken after it is thoroughly cooked to crisp the breadcrumbs, but be careful that the coating does not blacken or burn.

3. Combine BBQ sauce, 2 tablespoons honey and cornstarch slurry in a small pan over low heat. Whisk constantly. It should bubble and thicken. Be careful not to burn the honey! Thicken to your taste.

4. Coat the crispy chicken pieces with the sauce and enjoy.

An excellent day in the life of this Mademoiselle Miam blogger. Poetry and very good food-- that's what life is all about. 

Happy eating!

--Alyssa

Cheesecake Brownie Bites

What's better than fresh chewy brownie bites? Fresh chewy CHEESECAKE brownie bites. I found a variant of this recipe on Pinterest a few days ago, and upon discovering a near-expiration package of cream cheese in my refrigerator, decided that today was the day to give it a go. Prepackaged sweets were a childhood taboo in my household: I spent many elementary school lunches attempting to trade spiced granola and carrot sticks for Hostess brownie bites and Twinkies. In retrospect, my mother's military-strict nutrition standards were admirable; but despite my rigorously healthy upbringing, I still haven't quite overcome the spike in saliva upon passing the Hostess aisle in my local Publix.

As always, the solution evokes vibes of the 1950's-era antifeminism that I work so delicately to avoid: bake your own.

Well, hello, lovely.

Cheesecake Brownie Bites

Ingredients:

For the brownie batter:
4 large eggs
1¼ cups baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon instant espresso powder, mixed with 2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2¼ cups sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1½ cups all-purpose flour

For the cheesecake filling:
1 (8-oz.) package cream cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 large egg yolk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, baking cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso mixed with water, and vanilla until well combined.

3. Stir in the sugar and melted butter until well combined, then stir in the flour. (A firm rubber spatula works best.) Set brownie batter aside.

4. In a separate bowl, prepare the cheesecake filling by stirring together the cream cheese, sugar and egg yolk until well combined. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag or plastic bag.

5. Grease a non-stick mini-muffin pan with cooking spray or butter and then spoon a tablespoon of brownie batter into the greased cups. Pipe a generous amount of cheesecake filling atop the brownie batter, and then top off each cup with an additional teaspoon of brownie batter. If desired, use a toothpick to mix the cheesecake filling with the brownie mix for a marble effect (as I have done.)

6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

7. Let the brownie bites cool for 10 minutes in the pan before eating.

Happy summer eating!

--Alyssa