Happy New Year, Y'all!

Oh, 2012. What a year we have in store! Handsome Boyfriend’s graduation, the Mayan end of organic life on Earth and many hours of baking for us at Mademoiselles Miam.

This year I threw a Zelda-themed New Year’s Eve party. It was unintentional, but the boys played Zelda straight through the end of 2011 and bravely wielded the Master Sword in the face of the new 2012. 

This is Franklin, Handsome Boyfriend’s best friend and a prominent Zelda warrior. What can you do but feed a face like that?

And that, my friends, is exactly what I did. 

Let’s talk about party food. Particularly, let’s talk about party food for many hungry, wii-mote-wielding boys. Solution:

Mmm. Pretzel bites.

They take a bit of preparation, but they are soft, doughy, salty and delicious. And they were gone faster than you can say Skyward Sword. 

Ready?

Soft Pretzel Bites

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 package active dry yeast

3 ounces unsalted butter, melted

2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt.

4 cups all-purpose flour

Vegetable oil

3 quarts water

3/4 cup baking soda

1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water

Coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. Combine the water, sugar, yeast and butter in a large bowl and mix with an electric mixer (dough hook) until combined.

2. Let sit for 5 minutes.

3. Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough until it is smooth.

4. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead on a flat surface. Knead the dough into a ball.

5. Lightly coat the dough ball with oil and place in a bowl. Cover with a clean towel and let sit until the dough doubles in size, or roughly 1 hour.

6. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

7. Bring water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat.

8. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a large rope measuring roughly 22 inches and shape. 

9. Cut the dough into one-inch pieces to make the pretzel bites.

10. Add the baking soda to the boiling water.

11. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches, removing them with a slatted spoon after roughly 30 seconds and placing them on a greased cookie sheet.

12. Brush the tops of the pretzel bites with the egg wash and season with sea salt. Make sure that the pretzel bites are not touching! Bake the pretzel bites in the oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown.

— Alyssa 

Texas White Enchiladas: A Story of Love and Hibernation

In spite of all presented evidence, we Mademoiselles Miam do occasionally create meals in which the main ingredient is not butter or heavy cream. We do in fact feed our families meals which will not lead them directly to the arterial bypass surgical table. 

Today was a stay-indoors, windy sort of dreary winter day. This is just the atmosphere in which my body decides that it’s time to fatten me up for a peaceful winter hibernation, and the cheese and carbohydrate cravings commence. For me this means that one choice must be made: cheesy pasta or cheesy enchiladas? 

There are two grand benefits that I have discovered in descending from a cuisine-savvy Texas grandmother— buttery desserts and excellent Mexican food. My favorite recipe from my Texas grandmother is these Texas White Enchiladas. I know neither why these enchiladas are specific to Texas nor why they are “white” — the cheese in which they are covered is actually mostly yellow-gold— but they are a delicious staple in my kitchen nevertheless. 

Oh, yummmmmmm. 

Texas White Enchiladas

Ingredients:

Soft taco shells

1 cup beef broth

1 pound ground beef

1 packet taco seasoning

4 cups Monterrey-Jack cheese

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

Directions:

1. Pan-sear ground beef until brown. 

2. Cover in taco seasoning and add 1-2 cups water. Stir. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes or until fragrant.

3. Roll beef and cheese into tortillas. (I usually use about two cups of cheese overall.) Stack tortillas horizontally in a greased 9x13 pan.

4. In a sauce pan, melt 3 tablespoons butter. Add 3 tablespoons flour and mix well. Cook for one minute or until bubbly and thick.

5. Add beef broth and whisk. Cook until bubbly and thick.

6. Pour broth mixture over enchiladas evenly.

7. Pour remaining 2 cups of Monterrey-Jack over enchiladas.

8. Bake 22 minutes at 350 degrees.

9. Broil on high broil for three minutes to brown cheese.

Enjoy! And let the hibernation commence.

— Alyssa

Could I have some more chocolate in my hot cocoa?

Finding the perfect blend of cream and cocoa to satisfy my picky chocolate taste buds has been a feat indeed. I’ve been frantically searching the internet for hot cocoa recipes with the potential to awe. Well, after many failures, I have finally achieved my own conglomeration of cocoa recipes that best suits me (so far…).

Cara’s Hot Cocoa (Yes, I named it after myself)

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 cup white sugar

1/3 cup boiling water

3 cups milk

3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

1. Mix cocoa powder, sugar, and hot water in a pot on the stove. Turn heat on medium/ high. Completely mix water with dry mixture.

2. Bring mixture to a boil for 2 minutes and stir continuously.

3. Add the milk and let simmer for 3-5 minutes. Continue to stir. Don’t let it boil.

4. Take mixture off heat once it is at your preferred drinking temperature.

5. Add vanilla extract and stir.

6. Add heavy whipping cream and stir.

7. Beat cocoa mixture until frothy.

Pour into your own vintage mug and serve with whip cream and marshmallows!

If you want to whip up your own whip cream…

Whipped Cream

1 cup (1/2 pint) of whipping cream

1/4 cup of granulated sugar (or maybe less)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 Tablespoon of cornstarch

1. Pour all ingredients in a bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Be sure not to over beat!

All of these measurements are approximate. (If you can’t tell by now, sometimes I just throw stuff in and hope for the best.) But you really can’t go wrong with whipped cream!

Enjoy!

-Cara

A Venture into the Middle East Part II: On the side

For our side dishes we used hummus, salad, and basmati rice.

The hummus recipe came from one of my friends (who is once again part of my ethnic friend collection). Hummus is basically mashed up chickpeas (which you can find near the canned beans in a grocery store) with olive oil for consistency and garlic for taste. Find the combination that works for you!

My brother made the rice and it turned out splendidly. The recipe hailed from epicurious.com and it is definitely worth trying. Who knew cinnamon was such a nice addition to non-desserty foods? You can find the recipe at the website bellow…

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spiced-Basmati-Rice-233277

I recommend using real rice instead of instant rice (it will become mushy). We ended up using the typical Asian rice instead of basmati because our grocery store wasn’t quite up to the ethnic challenge.

Enjoy!

-Cara

A Venture into the Middle East

The war may be ending, but my newfound love for Middle Eastern cuisine is not. Who knew that this particular corner of the world knows exactly how to combine beef, cream cheese, and cinnamon to make a dish that only triggers the gag reflex after having eaten 5 too many meat pies?

Firstly, I’ll begin by explaining why I decided to make Middle Eastern food. I’m Cara, the International Relations/French major. If you couldn’t tell from the content of my studies, I’m fascinated by all things ethnic, including people. My roommate, Alyssa, is only a single entity in my culturally diverse collection of people and foods. In the fall, Alyssa and I went to the Middle Eastern Food Festival hosted in Birmingham by the Saint George Melkite Catholic Church. After perusing the menu, I settled on the meat pies. At that moment, a great love was born and months later I had to give it a whirl despite my lack of recipe. And what better time to feed my family Middle Eastern food than Christmastime? (Well, Jesus was Middle Eastern after all…) So last night with the help of my brother, a meal was born.

Middle Eastern Meat Pies (My very own impromptu recipe)

Serves 6-8

1.5 lbs of ground round beef 

2 chopped green onions

1 Tbs of butter (or margarine)

8-11 oz. of cream cheese (depending on how cheesy you want it)

salt

pepper

cinnamon 

2 packages of large Pillsbury crescent rolls

1. Chop the onion. Melt butter on medium to large skillet and sauté the onion in the butter.

2. Add the beef to the butter and onion mixture. Cook beef on medium/high heat until it is completely cooked. (No tapeworms for you!)

3. Once the beef is completely cooked, add cream cheese. Turn heat down to medium. Melt the cream cheese and mix completely with the ground beef.

4. Salt and pepper to taste.

5. Sprinkle cinnamon on top of beef mixture. I didn’t measure this exactly, but you want to cover the mixture. Best guess—3-4 tsp. The cinnamon isn’t supposed to be overpowering, just to give it a hint. Mix well with the beef.

6. Set oven according to directions on pillsbury can. Put a spoon full of beef mixture into the center of the dough and close the edges of the dough around it. The beef should be completely contained within the crescent roll. 

7. Put in the oven for 10-12 minutes et voilà! Step one of your Middle Eastern Meal is complete!

-Cara

The Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

The best ever, you may ask?

The answer is yes. Big, fluffy, fine.

The New York Times even said so. Since I am not yet quite that famous, that means that this recipe is not exactly my own.

This recipe is adapted from Jacque Torres. Fittingly, he is a Frenchman. Miam Miam.

Here’s the picture that had me drooling as I pored over Pinterest recipes:

And here’s what mine turned out looking like:

Unless you are Jacque Torres or a much better baker than me, you may want to expect cookies that look more like mine. They are not quite as stunning, but they taste like a dream.

The Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter

7/8 cup granulated sugar

1 1/8 cup light-brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cup pastry flour

1 1/2 cup bread flour

1/2 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 tablespoon vanilla

chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter. Cream butter and sugars with electric mixer until smooth.

2. Mix in eggs one at a time. It is important that the butter/sugar/egg mixture is VERY smooth!

3. Sift flours together in a bowl. Add flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda and vanilla to dough. 

4. Mix with electric mixer until the dough is consistent— use a wooden spoon or (clean) hands to mix the dough if necessary.

5. Add in chocolate chips.

6. Using an ice-cream scooper, scoop batter into balls two inches apart on greased cookie sheets.

7. Bake for 15 minutes or until the bottoms begin to turn brown— make sure the centers are still gooey!

The best ever chocolate chip cookies are excellent for dreary December Tuesdays such as today. Even if your cookies look more like mine than Jacque’s, enjoy with confidence. 

— Alyssa

Honey Challah : A Delicious Delve Into the Jewish Spirit

I’m the Jewish-looking one with the black hair and the longsuffering smile.

Mmm. Challah.

Growing up Jewish, even in the mountains of East Tennessee, one ingests copious amounts of challah bread. (Especially when one is the Jewish kid who won’t eat potatoes, and therefore won’t eat latkes. Oy vey!)

Challah, is, quite simply, Jewish bread. Challah is beautiful, symbolic and full of honey, which appeals to both the baker and the English major in me. It’s particularly prevalent around Hanukkah, but when one has aunts who bake, it is always prevalent. And that has never been a problem with me.

This is my favorite recipe for honey challah. You can even add chocolate chips to the bread dough if you like — chocolate chip challah makes a delicious, dessert-y snack.

Honey Challah

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1/2 cup honey

1 egg

3 egg yolks

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine 1 cup warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar in a bowl. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast over this mixture and set aside until foamy, or about 8 minutes.

2. Place 1 cup of all-purpose flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center. 

3. Whisk 1/2 cup honey with 1 egg, 3 egg yolks, 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and 1 tablespoon of salt in a small bowl. Pour into the well.

4. Stir to combine. Add yeast mixture to create a soft, shaggy dough.

5. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until soft. Place dough in a covered bowl and let rise until doubled in size, roughly 1 hour.

6. Knead dough once more, cover, and let rise until doubled in size again, roughly one hour.

7. Knead dough one more time. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

8. Separate the dough into two equally sized balls. (This is where you would mix in chocolate chips if you desire.)

9. Create from each ball three foot-long strands of dough and braid each set of three strands together, pinching and tucking the ends underneath each braid.

10. set dough braids aside to rise until doubled in size, roughly one hour.

11. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat remaining egg.

12. Brush loaves with the beaten egg until evenly coated. Drizzle each loaf with honey and bake until golden brown, roughly 15-25 minutes.

Et violà. Delicious honey challah! Although baking challah is certainly and all-day enterprise, you will be able to bask in the multi-cultural nature of your newly-baked bread and experience the traditional longsuffering of the Jewish spirit. One exciting thing about this bread is that the honey acts as a natural preservative, making challah an ideal bread for a 40-year wandering in the wilderness, or for breakfast several days after the bread is made. 

Enjoy your challah with the shalom that is a freshly-baked loaf of bread. 

—Alyssa

The Cake Is Not A Lie

Look at that beautiful butter cake.

(Apologies for the paper plate.)

Perhaps the best way to introduce ourselves is to deconstruct the title of our new food blog. Those of you who have delved scantly into the world of conversational French have proudly remembered that “mademoiselles” is the French title for plural unmarried women — congratulations! Cara and I (Alyssa) are two very unmarried students at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Cara is studying International Relations and French Language & Literature and I am studying English Literature, Spanish Language & Literature and French Language & Literature. Cara plans to be a big-shot human rights lawyer some day and I plan to teach literature at the university level. As you may have noticed, a common denominator in those études is, indeed, français!

As an enthusiastic language student, I am very excited about today’s Word Of The Day. Are you ready?

Miam!

Miam is the adorably French way of saying Yum! Feel free to incorporate this into your daily cooking lingo.

And so we are the Mademoiselles Miam because both we and our food are incontestably yummy.

You may have noticed that we are college students. You surely know what that means — although lithe, we are friends of fats and fructose, faithful comrades of calories and carbs. That’s why I think this butter cake is an excellent explanation of everything we are about — delicious and full of butter.

This butter cake is a recipe adapted from my Texas grandmother, Doris, who has never been afraid of anything artery-clogging and who, ironically, lived to the age of eighty two. 

What a beautiful butter cake.

Are you ready for the recipe?

Texas Butter Cake

Ingredients: 

3 eggs

1/2 pound unsalted butter

1 box yellow cake mix

1 box powdered sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 8oz box cream cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine cake mix, 1 egg and 1 stick (1/4 pound) melted butter. Mix well with electric mixer and pat mixture into the bottom of a greased 13x9 baking pan.

3. Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Mix in 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract until smooth. Slowly fold in 1 box of powdered sugar until mixture is fluffy and smooth.

4. Pour cream cheese mixture over the cake mix and bake for 40-50 minutes or until edges are browned. The center should still be gooey.

— Alyssa