Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie

The older I get, the more I realize how fast time goes by. This may seem ridiculous coming from a teenager (17 as of this week!), but it's true. My friends and I are shocked that the school year is ending so quickly, and while we're excited for all the fun plans we have for summer, it's also kind of terrifying.

This past year has been by far the busiest, most stressful of my life; but it's also been the greatest. I had a great time with my friends, got to know my teachers better, had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places, and became more involved in music.
I also watched the seniors at my school go through the crazy college application (and audition, for those pursuing music) process, and the idea of really starting that (and not just talking about it) can be a bit daunting.

That said, I'm excited to see what lies ahead, and wow I just realized how cheesy this post got. Anyway, right now I'm focusing on celebrating the start of summer, no matter how much German diction I have to learn, or how many application essays I have to write!
This dessert is perfect to kick off a season of fresh, bright flavors. The tart lemon curd and berries are a perfect contrast to the creamy, sweet vanilla ice cream, and it's all nestled inside a crunchy, almost cookie-like pie crust. And hey, what isn't better with toasted meringue?
(Shout-out to my best friend's mother for the recipe - it's quickly become one of my absolute favorites!)
Enjoy!

Lemon Meringue Ice Cream Pie

(slightly adapted from Epicurious)

For the lemon curd 

2 large eggs 

2 large egg yolks 

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter 

1 cup sugar 

6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon peel 

Pinch of salt

For the crust 

1 1/2 cups finely chopped pecans 

1/4 cup sugar 

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted 

3 cups vanilla ice cream, slightly softened, divided

1/2 cup chopped berries of your choice (I used raspberries)

For the meringue 

4 large egg whites, room temperature 

Pinch of cream of tartar 

6 tablespoons sugar

For the lemon curd
Whisk eggs and egg yolks in medium bowl. Melt butter in medium metal bowl set over large saucepan of simmering water. Whisk in sugar, lemon juice, lemon peel, and salt; gradually whisk in egg mixture. Whisk until thick and thermometer inserted into curd registers 178°F to 180°F, about 8 minutes. Transfer to small bowl. Press plastic wrap on top of curd; chill 4 hours.  

For the crust Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix pecans, sugar, and butter in medium bowl until moistened. Press pecan mixture onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish (mixture will be crumbly). Bake until crust is lightly toasted, about 12 minutes (crust will slip down sides of dish). Use back of spoon to press crust back into place. Cool crust on rack. Freeze crust 30 minutes.
Dollop 1 1/2 cups ice cream over crust; spread into even layer. Spread lemon curd over ice cream; freeze until firm, about 2 hours. Dollop 1 1/2 cups softened ice cream over lemon curd; spread into even layer. Cover and freeze until firm, about 2 hours.

For meringue Using electric mixer, beat egg whites in medium bowl until frothy. Beat in cream of tartar. With mixer running, gradually add sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Spoon meringue over pie, spreading to seal at edges and swirling decoratively. Freeze pie until ready to serve.
Using a kitchen butane torch, toast meringue until golden in spots; or, place pie in a preheated 500°F oven or broiler until meringue is golden in spots, watching to prevent burning, about 3 minutes. (Seriously, watch it the entire time - it can go from raw to burnt in a second.) Cut pie into wedges; serve immediately.

Perfect Banana Bread

 It deeply annoys me when people title their recipes "the best," "the greatest," or even "perfect." Who proclaimed your food the most wonderful ever created? You and your official declaration committee? Let's get real, there's a 99.99% chance your chocolate chip cookies are nothing particularly mind-blowing.
If you notice my own recipe title, you may choose to call me a hypocrite. That's kind of valid in this case, but hear me out.
Banana bread is one of those sweets that most Americans have grown up eating. Everybody has their own "secret" family recipe they swear by, and the variations on the basic formula are endless. However, my parents don't bake at all, ever, so I've spent the past seven years trying to find my perfect banana bread recipe. This is soft, fluffy, incredibly moist, and studded with slivers of dark chocolate (hi there, in case we haven't met, chocolate is kind of a necessity in my kitchen).
Thanks to a college road trip that took me and my dad through Boston, we stumbled across Flour Bakery and Cafe. (Okay, I won't lie to you, I googled "best bakery in Boston.") The place is adorable and wonderful and full of delicious pastries, and it's because of Joanne Chang's beautiful book that I got my hands on this recipe. So thank you, Flour, for helping me create my own family tradition.
Enjoy!

 Perfect Banana Bread 

(slightly adapted from Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston's Flour Bakery + Cafe)

1 2/3 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams) sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup (100 grams) canola or other flavourless oil

3 1/2 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 1/2 cups or 340 grams mashed bananas)

2 tablespoons creme fraiche or sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate disks, roughly chopped (or chop up a dark chocolate bar)

Position the rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 325°F (165°C). Butter and flour a 9x5" loaf pan.
 In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, or a handheld mixer, beat together the sugar and eggs on medium speed for about 5 minutes for the stand mixer, and about 8 minutes for a handheld mixer; or until light and fluffy.
With the machine on low speed, slowly drizzle in the oil. Do not pour the oil in all at once. Add it slowly so it has time to incorporate into the eggs and doesn't deflate the air you have just beaten into the batter. Adding the oil should take about 1 minute.
Add the bananas, creme fraiche/sour cream, and vanilla, then continue to mix on low speed just until combined.
Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture and chocolate just until thoroughly combined. No flour streaks should be visible and the chocolate should be evenly distributed.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until golden brown on top and the cake springs back when you press it. If your finger sinks when you poke the bread, it needs to bake a little longer.
Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes; flip bread out of pan and allow to cool completely before slicing.
(Note: I feel that I should follow standard recipe rules and advise waiting until this has come to room temperature to taste it. However, if you were to accidentally have a piece warm out of the oven, I'd be pretty proud.)

From New York to New Orleans!

instagramming cakes all day every day

 There are a lot of great aspects to baking for events. For me, it's a ton of fun to go back and forth with whoever is throwing the event and figure out the perfect desserts for the occasion (and in the case of cakes, how best to flavor and decorate them). I think that the greatest part, though, is getting to feel like in some small way, I'm helping somebody celebrate. Last year, I had a sweet sixteen, and while the bakers who made the cupcakes, the people who set up the chairs before guests arrived, and the DJ's assistant weren't there during the party, they were all a part of my celebration in some way. So, I like to think that even though I'm not at some of the events my cakes go to, I'm actually contributing a little bit to their fun.
  My friend's dad is a caterer, and a few weeks ago, he asked me to make cakes for a dinner he was cooking for; it was for a couple who was moving from New York to New Orleans. They wanted three cakes centered around the theme of their trip, somehow tying in the NOLA flag and Mardi Gras colors, but the rest was basically up to me. We played around with some flavor combos, and one long night later, I had three pretty cute cakes.

Given that they were leaving New York, I figured the big city had to be represented in some way. There's nothing more symbolic of here than the "I Heart NY" logo, so I traced white chocolate shapes and painted them with gel food coloring.
 This cake was the most interesting of the three in terms of flavor - it was made up of layers of spice cake, filled with Meyer lemon curd and frosted with vanilla buttercream (as were all of the cakes).

The next cake was supposed to represent the flag of New Orleans. I'm all for gold accents, so I kept the borders simple and used edible spray paint and glitter to glam up the white chocolate fleur-de-lis. This was definitely my favorite of the three cakes!

Flavor-wise, this cake was pretty simple, but I'm sure it was also the most popular; it was a chocolate cake with whipped bittersweet chocolate ganache filling layered with fresh strawberries.

The final cake was so much fun to make. All I was told was to include Mardi Gras colors, and the rest was up to me; so I made more white chocolate shapes, this time a crown and two eye masks, and painted them gold. I sprayed the entire cake with edible purple spray paint (seriously, this stuff is awesome), and threw in a bright green border to make it pop. The cake flavor was pretty simple, but it was a yummy combination: vanilla cake with a mixed berry cream filling.
  I'm still learning when it comes to cake decorating, and there's a lot that could be improved about these, but I had a great time making them. It's easy to get totally wrapped up in this kind of thing, and although I don't even know the names of the couple, I'm so glad I got to be a little part of their goodbye! 

Cream Cheese Kolache

 Cream cheese what? No worries, about a week ago, I had no idea what a kolache (or "kolacky") was either. My music history class is doing presentations on composers from the Romantic Era, and my group was assigned Dvořák. When we determined what each group member was going to do, one of my designated tasks was bringing in a Czech dessert to symbolize Dvořák's homeland. (This really didn't do us any good grade-wise, but totally earned us endless love and admiration from the rest of the class.) 

When I researched Czech sweets, "kolache" came up over and over again. They are essentially small rolls with centers that have been hollowed out and stuffed with some kind of sweet filling (although they can also be made larger and cut into slices). I went with a cream cheese filling that's almost like cheesecake, and its richness complemented the fairly simple roll well. 

 These are pretty dense, and from what I read, they should be this way; you're not going for a brioche texture. That said, they're crazy addictive, especially warm out of the oven, and they are just sweet enough to feel indulgent yet totally appropriate for breakfast. We served them during first period, and they were much appreciated by our classroom full of sleep-deprived teenagers.

  Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Kolache

(adapted from The History Kitchen)

Dough

1 package active dry yeast (¼-ounce/2¼ teaspoons)

1 cup warm milk (105 to 115°F)

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

6 tbsp granulated sugar 

1 tsp salt

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

About 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 

Egg Wash

1 large egg, beaten

1 tsp cream, milk, or water

Cream Cheese Filling

16 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar or more to taste

2 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

In a small bowl or measuring cup, dissolve the yeast in ¼ cup milk.

In a large bowl, combine the yeast mixture with the remaining milk, butter, eggs, sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Blend in 1½ cups flour. 

Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to make a workable dough (it will still be fairly sticky).

On a lightly floured surface or in a mixer with a dough hook, knead the dough until smooth and springy, about 5 minutes.

Place in an oiled bowl and turn to coat.

Cover with a kitchen towel or loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in bulk, 2 to 3 hours, or in the refrigerator overnight.

Punch down the dough, knead briefly, cover, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1¼ hours.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease the sheet. Punch down the dough, knead briefly, divide in half, form into balls, and let stand for 10 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough ½ inch thick. Cut into 2½-inch rounds (or the size of your choice). Reroll and cut out the scraps.

Place on parchment paper-lined or greased baking sheets about 1 inch apart, cover with a towel or plastic wrap greased with cooking spray, and let rise at room temperature until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make the cream cheese topping: in a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Blend in the yolks, flour, and vanilla.

Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375°F (350°F for a convection oven). Using your thumb or the back of a spoon, press 1 large, deep indentation into the center of each round, leaving a ½-inch wide-rim (I used a shot glass to do this). Brush the edges with the egg wash.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon topping into each indentation.

Bake until golden brown or the center of the dough registers about 180°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Kolache are best eaten on the same day they are made, but can be covered with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days or in freezer for up to 3 months.

• -makes about 36 - 2.5" kolache
• *Note: The history of this pastry is actually interesting and fairly complicated; check out the recipe's source for a detailed account.    :)

Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins

 When it comes to holidays, I'm a giant food nerd. Valentine's day? Chocolate is a must. Christmas cookies? Count me in. The only thing that kept me from baking a pie on Friday (3.14, Pi Day, get it?) was that I didn't get home until eleven, and even I'm not a big enough pie fan to put myself through a midnight baking session without a particularly pressing reason.
  So with St. Patrick's Day around the corner, I felt something festive was necessary. While you're much more likely to find my friends and I sitting in math class tomorrow than bar-hopping, we can celebrate anyway, can't we?
 When I tried to think of a list of green foods, the first thing that came to mind was mint chocolate chip ice cream. This worries me slightly, because (1) I feel that the appropriate reaction would have been to think of spinach or kale or even broccoli, and (2) mint chocolate chip ice cream isn't even naturally green to begin with, as it gets its vibrant color from copious amounts of food dye.

 Nevertheless, mint chocolate chip ice cream it was. The issue was that I really didn't have time to be cooking custard or waiting for ice cream to churn, and I wanted something I could throw in a plastic bag and share with friends at school. So I took my favorite muffin recipe and threw in some ice cream flair. And the result was a batch of Shamrock-green, minty little cakes that are great any day of the year.
  Enjoy!

Mint Chocolate Chip Muffins

(adapted from this base recipe)

 3 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

                                                    1 teaspoon salt                                                    

 2 eggs, room temperature preferred

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 teaspoons mint extract (you may have to adjust this based on the strength of your extract)

1/2 teaspoon green food coloring (again, adjust based on strength and desired color)

1 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate chips

coarse or pearl sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F degrees. Spray 15 muffin cups with non-stick spray or line with muffin liners. Set aside.

In a large bowl, gently toss together flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until all dry ingredients are combined. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until combined. Mix in milk, oil, vanilla, mint extract, and food coloring. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything together by hand with a wooden spoon. Avoid over-mixing. Gently mix until all the flour is off the bottom of the bowl and no big pockets of flour remain. The batter will be thick and somewhat lumpy. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tins, filling all the way to the top. Top with a sprinkle of coarse or pearl sugar, if preferred. Bake at 425F degrees for 5 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 and continue to bake for 18 minutes until tops are lightly golden and centers appear set.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes in pan before moving to cooling rack.

     -Makes 15 muffins

Ultimate Nutella Mousse

 If you hadn't already realized it, I have a bit of a thing for Nutella. It basically takes the greatest food ever (chocolate) and mixes it with hazelnuts to make the creamiest, sweetest, most indulgent topping for just about anything. 

After a while, slathering the chocolatey goodness on various forms of carbohydrates gets a little old. I love finding ways to incorporate my favorite foods into desserts, and this mousse does just that. 

It has (theoretically) two ingredients. Two ingredients! Mousse!! Okay, so it may be a bit of a faux mousse, but it plays the part pretty amazingly. It's fluffy and creamy and kind of makes you want to eat the whole bowl. Top it with homemade dark-chocolate-covered strawberries, and this 5-minute dessert just got classy. 

Enjoy! 

Ultimate Nutella Mousse

(adapted from Bakers Royale)

9 oz. Nutella

2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped

about 6 strawberries

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Place Nutella and espresso powder in microwave safe bowl. Heat on low for 10 second intervals until mixture is thinned a bit. Stir to incorporate the espresso powder. Set aside and cool to room temperature.
Whip 1 1/2 cups cream until soft peaks form (be careful not to let it reach stiff peaks). Gently fold whipped cream into Nutella mixture. The mousse will be soft. Fill a bowl (roughly 1-quart capacity) and cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Once the mousse is chilled, whip the remaining 1/2 cup cream with the sugar until soft peaks form. Spread over the mousse, and top with chopped hazelnuts.
In the microwave or over a double boiler, heat the two chocolates separately. Dip the strawberries in the dark chocolate and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet; drizzle with white chocolate (I used a piping bag). 
Refrigerate strawberries for 1 hour, or until set; use as topping for mousse. 

*Note: This is really more of a concept than a rigid recipe; feel free to adapt it as you like!

French Apple Custard Cake

 Describing anything with the word "French" adds a certain connotation to the phrase. This varies depending on the situation; French fashion is considered chic, French music is much admired (deservedly so), and let's not forget the beauty of France itself. When it comes to food, French cuisine is often thought of as not only delicious, but also fancy and super complicated to prepare. French pastry chefs have the reputation of being... exacting, to put it mildly.

 This French apple cake goes against everything you probably think of at the mention of French desserts. You won't spend hours folding egg whites or piping frosting, and this doesn't involve an ingredient list as long as the history textbook sitting on your desk (or maybe that's just me...)
  This batter is whipped up in a matter of minutes, and the most work you'll have is the quick chopping of some apples. The thin batter and abundance of fruit create a super moist cake that is almost custard-like, making this perfectly acceptable either as an afternoon snack or as an impressing dessert. If you're going with the latter, I like to add a drizzle of salted caramel sauce and a scoop of this earl grey ice cream. Because let's be honest, doesn't that make everything better?
  Enjoy!

French Apple Custard Cake

(from Around My French Table)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

4 large apples (if you can, choose 4 different kinds)

2 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

3 tablespoons dark rum

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8-inch springform pan and put it on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and put the springform on it.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in small bowl.
Peel the apples, cut them in half and remove the cores. Cut the apples into 1- to 2-inch chunks.
In a medium bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re foamy. Pour in the sugar and whisk for a minute or so to blend. Whisk in the rum and vanilla. Whisk in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter, mixing gently after each addition so that you have a smooth, rather thick batter. Switch to a rubber spatula and fold in the apples, turning the fruit so that it's coated with batter. Scrape the mixture into the pan and poke it around a little with the spatula so that it's evenish.
Slide the pan into the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.
Carefully run a blunt knife around the edges of the cake and remove the sides of the springform pan. (Open the springform slowly, and before it’s fully opened, make sure there aren't any apples stuck to it.) Allow the cake to cool until it is just slightly warm or at room temperature. If you want to remove the cake from the bottom of the springform pan, wait until the cake is almost cooled, then run a long spatula between the cake and the pan, cover the top of the cake with a piece of parchment or wax paper, and invert it onto a rack. Carefully remove the bottom of the pan and turn the cake over onto a serving dish.
Serve with caramel sauce, ice cream, whipped cream... or all on its own. Whatever floats your boat.