Strawberry Cream Cake, version 2

Let me tell it to you straight. I wasn't going to show you this cake because I didn't think the pictures turned out well. Stupid reason, right? For a whole month, my vanity held me back, but then I realized that every time I thought about this cake, my mouth watered and I gave a little contented sigh, which means that I have a DUTY to tell you about it. Simply put, this cake is an Oh-My-God-Where-Have-You-Been-All-My-Life kind of a cake. Three gorgeous layers of the fluffiest, the sweetest, the most delicious vanilla butter cake I've ever had, and it's soaked with a rum simple syrup and then filled with like two pounds of tart, juicy strawberries and lots and lots of pillowy, sweet whipped cream. You must, one day, make it. In fact, I think that day should be tomorrow.

When the whole thing comes together, it's pretty much the most awesome thing ever. It's tall and beautiful, it has sweetness from the cake and tartness from the strawberries, with the whipped cream cushioning all that lovely, fragrant, cakey goodness. And then there's the rum - it's kind of subtle, but with enough time for the flavors to meld, it gets into everything, strawberries, whipped cream and all, and it's just boozy enough to make it feel like dessert is the most important course of the entire meal (IT IS). I made this for my parent's 32nd anniversary (go Mom and Dad!!!) and my mom actually hid a giant slice in the refrigerator from her guests so she could have a piece all to herself. Sneaky, mom! But necessary, as it turned out, because all those guests who were all, "oh, no dessert for me, thank you, I'm on a diet," apparently decided to give their diets the night off. There was not a crumb or a smudge of whipped cream left.

Strawberry Cream Cake

Vanilla Buttermilk Cake from Sky High Cakes
Makes three 8", 9" or 10" round layers or two 9x13" layers (I made mine 10" round, so I could build in a springform pan)
4 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
3 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 lb strawberries
2 cups of heavy cream + 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup water + 1/4 cup rum

Make the cake:
Preheat the oven to 350C and butter the cake pans well.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and 1 cup of buttermilk and with the mixer on low, blend together to moisten the batter. Then, on medium speed, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

Whisk the eggs and the egg yolks, the vanilla and 1/4 cup of buttermilk in a bowl and add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing only until thoroughly incorporated. Divide the batter between your pans. NOTE: The recipe anticipates that you will have the requisite number of cake pans (i.e., three round 8", 9" or 10" pans or two 9x13" pans). Having a 90 sq. ft. kitchen, I only own one cake pan of each size, so I had to bake each layer separately. The cake batter hung out on the counter while I did this and seemed to do just fine.

Bake the layers for 28-32 minutes, until the top is golden and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. If the cake layers have domed, trim them with a sharp bread knife.

Prepare the strawberries:
Reserve 18 whole strawberries out of the 2 lbs. Chop the rest into small pieces. Out of the 18, take six and cut them in half with the green part still on. Hull and halve the other 12.

Whip the heavy cream with the sugar until it holds stiff peaks (but do not overbeat because it will be hard to spread). Combine water and rum together.

Assemble the cake:
Line the sides of a cake ring or a springform pan with plastic, so there is some overhang. Put one cake layer inside and, with a spoon or a pastry brush, soak the cake layer with one third of the rum/water mixture. Set the halved strawberries around the sides of the cake, placing them cut side down and wide end pressed against the sides of the pan. Spread half the chopped strawberries inside. Spread a little less than half of the whipped cream on top of the strawberries.

Place the second layer on top and press gently to distribute the whipped cream evenly. Repeat the soaking/strawberries/whipped cream steps. Place the third layer on top of the second one and again press gently to distribute the filling. Soak with the remaining rum, frost the top with the remaining whipped cream and decorate with the halved strawberries that still have the tails on. This cake needs at least 4-5 hours for the flavors to meld.

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Strawberries!

I didn't make anything new for you today. I know that all you nice people will forgive me. It's been an interesting month to say the least, what with our never-ending roof leak, caved in ceiling, a mold problem that necessitated a week of removal and haz-mat like conditions in the house, and other things cooking that I would love to tell you about now (but can't... you'll have to wait and see!). I hope that my mom is not reading this, because these days, our dinners have consisted of roasted chicken, mac and cheese or "whatever is left in the fridge." Like I said, it's been an interesting month.

But yesterday (when I had two oranges and a yogurt for dinner), I decided that life was too beautiful to worry about roof leaks and all the other stuff. I mean, look outside, people, it's SPRING! It's March! And you know what this means in California? It means blue skies, tank tops and STRAWBERRIES. Oh good lord, California strawberries, they just take my breath away. Especially the ones sold at the Farmer's Market by this guy in the picture above. I think he's pretty dreamy when he talks about growing strawberries. So, in celebration of spring (I like to think of it as "spring!"), I dug into the archives for my favorite strawberry recipes. Trust me when I tell you that these are the bee's knees, the cat's meow and the like. These make me happy. And spring, it's here, and that makes me happy too.

Strawberry scones
Chocolate-dipped strawberries
Strawberry Bavarian cake (yum, btw)
Strawberry cream cake
Strawberry Frangelico tart
Fresh strawberry tart

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Chocolate Pear Cake

I know you were waiting for me to bring you Hamantashen... and I wanted to, I really did. I even bought all the ingredients for the cookies and then... I made chocolate pear cake instead. I don't know what happened to me, but somewhere between the store and my kitchen, cookies morphed into cake and let me tell you, I am so not sorry. Because this chocolate cake? It's the bomb. It's moist and intensely chocolaty, and at the same time so soft and light and faintly sweet, like a flourless chocolate cake that's been given an airlift and taken to places it's never dreamt of going. In fact, I feel so strongly about it that I'm telling you right now - whatever dessert you were planning to make next, scrap it for this cake. Eat it warm with some softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. Sprinkle a few raspberries on top. You will thank me later, I swear.

Chocolate Pear Cake
Elra's Baking

[Dairy-Free Note: I made this cake twice, once substituting a dairy-free Earth's Balance spread for the butter. This did not change the texture or the taste, but I did find that I had to bake it a bit longer, maybe an extra 10 min, with the substitution. So, if you need to make this dairy free, know that you can]

4 oz unsalted butter, softened (or unsalted non-dairy substitute)
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
4 oz dark chocolate, chopped (melted and cooled slightly)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal (finely ground almonds), or hazelnut meal, or combination of both
4 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, or Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 Bosc pears, poached (sometimes, I use poached pears from a jar to save time)

Poach the pears: peel, cut in half and core the pears. Combine 2-3 cups of water and half a cup of sugar in a sauce pan on medium-high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the pears (add more water if needed to cover the pears), bring to a low boil and cook for 20-25 min or until fork tender. Drain and set aside.

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Butter or spray a 9 or 10 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate and set aside. [This can be done one of two ways: (1) In the microwave, on 20 second intervals or (2) in a bain marie - set a saucepan with about an inch of water over high heat; bring to a boil and turn down the heat; put the chopped chocolate in a shallow-ish, heatproof bowl; set the bowl over the saucepan, making sure the bottom does not touch the water; watch the cocolate melt.]

Sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate, beat on a low speed until combined. Still on low speed, add the sifted flour mixture and beat for 1 minute, or until just combined.

Pour the batter into prepared cake pan. Arrange the sliced pears in a circle. Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes. Do not overbake. When a tester is inserted into the center of the cake, it should come out with a few moist crumbs attached. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. I think caramel would be pretty awesome here too.

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Spinach Artichoke Dip

One day, I went looking for a simple spinach artichoke dip recipe, and to my complete amazement, I didn't find one. You'd think that something so ubiquitous would be everywhere, and yet, all the recipes I encountered seemed either unnecessarily complicated or just downright strange. There were recipes with cream cheese and recipes with sour cream. There was even a recipe that used mayo, cream cheese AND sour cream all together. There was another that combined mayo, crème fraîche, Parmesan, Mascarpone and goat cheese. I mean, that's a bit of an overkill for a humble dish that should be a no-brainer, right? Ingredients like onions and breadcrumbs crept into the lists. Red pepper flakes. Jack cheese. Heavy cream. Eh?!

After half an hour of searching, I was done with all of that. I decided I would just trust my instincts and wing it. Like with my apple pie a while back, I put into the dip just what I thought should be there. Nothing more, nothing less. I don't believe in fancifying food just for the sake of making it "unique." I made half a recipe for a lunch party of 6, just to test the waters, so to speak. That was my only mistake - I should have doubled it. It was the most passed dish on the table, though it was by no means meant to be the star of the appetizer course. Seriously - this dip is straight up and no-nonsense, and I think because of it, it's pretty darn good. Give it a try for your next party and serve it up with sourdough baguette toasts or tangy olive bread - I promise, you're going to love it.

Spinach Artichoke Dip

1 15-oz can artichoke hearts, drained
1 cup finely chopped sauteed spinach (or 1 cup of chopped frozen spinach, defrosted)
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated, plus a pinch for the top
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
a good squeeze of lemon juice
salt and freshly grated pepper, to taste

Preheat the oven to 400F and prepare a baking dish.

Chop the artichoke hearts roughly, but not into too large pieces. Combine half the chopped artichoke hearts, half the Parmesan and all the other ingredients except for the garlic in a food processor and process for a few 5 second pulses until fairly smooth (if you like really smooth dip, use all the ingredients - I like mine with a little bit of texture).

Stir in the rest of the artichoke hearts, the rest of the Parmesan cheese and the chopped garlic. Taste to adjust the seasoning. There shouldn't be any need for more salt, but I like to add pepper for a little bit of a bite. Also add more lemon juice if you like.

Transfer to the baking dish, top with a few pinches of Parmesan, and bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbly and the top is golden. Serve hot, but make sure to save a bite for yourself (cook's privilege!) because this stuff goes quickly.

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Challah

What did I do this Saturday, you might ask? I took two naps and I baked the softest, sweetest, loveliest pull-apart challah I could have ever hoped for. As you can tell, I'm still a complete disaster at braiding it... In the throes of ambition, I tried a six-braided loaf, completely failed at it in the middle and made it a round one to hide the imperfections. Next time, I'll stick with three braids. Even I know my limitations! But the flavor, oh, and the texture - absolute perfection. Soft, warm, slightly sweet, with an eggy crust and crunchy poppy seeds on top... I love this bread, I really love it.

The recipe was recommended to me by the lovely Amy after my disappointment with Peter Reinhard's challah (by the way, I also discovered a later recipe of his that uses EIGHT egg yolks - ha!). It took me a while to try it, but now that I have, there's really no going back. The only tiny little qualm I have is that it's not yellow enough, so I might need an extra egg yolk in there, but it's such an easy and satisfying bread to make, and it looks so beautiful - all pale dimples and burnished gold curves - that I got over the color quickly enough. I have to portion it off to my family as quickly as possible because I can't seem to stop pulling off little sweet pieces to snack on.

Challah
Fine Cooking

2 tsp. instant yeast
16-3/4 oz. (3-1/2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more as needed
1/4 cup warm water
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey (1/3 if you want a sweeter challah)
1-1/2 tsp. table salt
For the glaze:
1 egg, lightly beaten
Sesame or poppy seeds for sprinkling (optional)

In a large bowl, mix the yeast with 1/2 cup of the flour. Add the warm water, stir, and let this mixture, called a sponge, sit until it starts to puff up, 15-to 20-minutes. Add the eggs, oil, honey, and salt; stir until well combined. The sponge will remain lumpy—this is fine. Add the remaining flour and mix the dough in the bowl until all the ingredients are combined. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead until fairly smooth, about 2 minutes. The dough should feel very firm and will be hard to knead. If it’s soft and sticky, add more flour until it’s very firm [I ended up adding another 1/2 cup]. Transfer the dough to a large, clean container and cover it well. Let it rise until doubled in bulk and very soft to the touch, about 2 hours, depending on the room temperature. Line an insulated baking sheet with parchment or oiled foil. If you don’t have an insulated sheet, stack two sheets together (this keeps the bottom of the bread from overbrowning during baking).

To shape the dough (see diagram here):

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and sprinkle a little more flour over it. Spread and flatten the dough a bit, but don’t worry about punching it down. Cut it into six equal pieces. Set aside the dough pieces, cover them lightly with plastic, and brush all the flour off the work surface. Have a small bowl of water handy. Using no flour, roll a piece of dough with a rolling pin into a very thin sheet, between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick (don’t worry about making a rectangle; an amoeba-type shape is fine). The dough may stick to the work surface; this is all right—just nudge it gently with a dough scraper. Tightly roll up the sheet like a carpet to form a strand. Roll the strand back and forth between your hands until it’s thin, very even, and 12 to 15 inches long. At the ends of the strand, angle the outer edge of your hands into the work surface as you’re rolling to make the ends pointy and the strand thicker in the middle (This will help you get a football-shaped loaf). The strand needs to grip the work surface slightly during this rolling; the “grab” will help as you roll. If the strand is too slick, very lightly dampen it with water to help it grip the work surface better. Repeat the rolling out, rolling up, and elongating steps with the remaining five pieces of dough, rolling them out to the same length. Lightly sprinkle all the strands with flour to prevent them from sticking to one another during proofing. Arrange the strands parallel to one another. At one end, gather and pinch the strands very tightly together. Weight the end with a heavy canister to keep the braid from moving and to leave your hands free, and braid closely, following the illustrations below. Lightly tap each end of the loaf with your palms to tuck it under the loaf.

Transfer the braid to the lined baking sheet and cover it loosely but thoroughly with plastic wrap. Let proof until doubled in bulk and the loaf remains indented when lightly pressed, about 2 hours, depending on room temperature. (If in doubt, let the dough proof more rather than less.)

To bake:

Position an oven rack in the lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F. Just before baking, brush the dough with the beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, if using. With a thin wooden skewer, poke the bread deeply all over (the holes will prevent air pockets and help the bread keep its shape during baking) [Note: I did not do this and it turned out well]. Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the challah 180 degrees and bake until the bread is a dark, burnished brown, about another 15 minutes [Note: mine baked for an extra 10 min on top of the 15]. (If the challah is browning too rapidly cover it loosely with foil and let it finish baking. Don’t remove the loaf too soon, as you’ll risk underbaking.) Let cool thoroughly on a rack.

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Mixed-Berry Muffins and a Blog-a-birthday

Have you ever noticed that time has a sneaky way of moving forward? Like one day, it's Thanksgiving, and the next day, you wake up and it's the middle of February and your blog has turned two years old? No? Well, that just totally happened to me. And to celebrate, I decided to bake blueberry and raspberry muffins.

I'm not really strict about my breakfast being, well, breakfast. I don't mind a cinnamon bun or a leftover slice of cake with a glass of milk. Sure, I'd like to pretend that I eat healthy granola with skim milk as my first meal of the day, but most of the times, that just doesn't happen, so after a while of it not happening, I just embraced indulging myself a little in the mornings. I hear indulging yourself is the new black this season (and if it isn't... well, it SHOULD be!)

These muffins are a perfect little indulgence. They are delightfully soft, lightly sweet, and I can see them being a breakfast companion as well as taking center stage as mini-muffins for a brunch or a shower party. They are certainly pretty and festive, perfect slightly warm and with a tall glass of milk, and they make me smile in the mornings. Next week - next week I'll go back to yogurts and granolas and fruit - but for now, during my blog-a-birthday week, I can't think of a better way to start my day than a warm little nugget of cake studded with sweet berries and aromatic with vanilla.

Mixed-Berry Muffins
adapted from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook
makes 12-16 muffins

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or whole milk)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups mixed berries (I used blueberries and raspberries)

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare 12-16 muffin cups.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together. Make a well in the center and stir in the wet ingredients until just combined (do not overmix). The batter will be lumpy, but that's ok.

Toss the berries with a little bit of flour, just to coat, and gently fold into the batter. Divide between the muffin cups and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the tops are very lightly golden and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs attached. Do not overbake

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Madeira Chicken with Mushrooms

Our Valentine's Days have always been fraught with disaster. The first one was great, but after that, it was like a curse descended onto our V-Day plans. One year, our reservations got lost. Another year, the restaurant had a fire in their kitchen and had to close down. There was a time that our car got a flat on the way to our destination, and I think by the fourth year of this, we just gave up on plans. We got the hint.

This year, I'm giving my Valentine some chicken. Because chocolates are nice, but let's get real, I know my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and a really good dinner always excites him much more than dessert. It sounds unromantic, I know, but you haven't tasted this chicken. It has an amazing flavor. It has mushrooms, it has onions, it has thyme, and it gets to braise in a magical mix of butter, Madeira and Worcestershire sauce until meltingly tender and fragrant with butter, wine and herbs. The skin gets re-crisped under the broiler, and when you cut into it, you'll want to have lots of crusty country bread on hand to sop up the dark, rich sauce, which might just be my favorite part. Oh, and it comes together with about 15 minutes of work and half an hour of braising, during which you and your Valentine can... well, I'll let you figure that part out. I'm just here for the food.

Madeira Chicken with Mushrooms
adapted from Williams-Sonoma
serves 6

6 chicken thighs, fat cut off
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 Tbs. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 lb. wild and/or cultivated mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup Madeira or dry sherry
1 1/2 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 Tbs. chopped fresh thyme

Season the chicken generously on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large fry pan or saute pan with a lid, melt the butter on med-high heat and brown the chicken on both sides, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Add the onion into the pan juices and saute until barely softened, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until the juices are released, about 5 minutes. Stir in the Madeira and Worcestershire sauce.

Return the chicken to the pan, nestle it in between the mushrooms and onions, cover and braise on medium-low heat until cooked throughout, 20-25 minutes. About five minutes before the chicken is done, pre-heat the oven to broil. Once the chicken is done, put the pan into the oven, uncovered, for 5 minutes to re-crisp the skin. Adjust the seasoning in the sauce, stir in chopped thyme and serve immediately over rice or mashed potatoes with lots of bread to sop up the sauce.

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Brown Sugar Almond Shortbread

The cookie season is quite over, but my oven doesn't know that because I can't seem to let go of these wonderful cookies. You'd think that there aren't very many ways to play with such a humble cookie as shortbread - you would be very wrong, and Dorie, whose recipe this is, hits the jackpot as usual.

The substitution of brown sugar for regular sugar gives these cookies an extra layer of depth, a kind of subtle scent and sweetness that enhances the extra crunch created by the addition of ground nuts. Mmm... crumbly, buttery, delicious shortbread with layers of underlying flavor. Can you tell I'm slightly in love with this recipe? Not only did I include it in my gift boxes this holiday season, I've made it several times after and I've bored my friends to tears by waxing poetic about the sheer genius of this cookie. Unfortunately, I have a feeling they only listened to me because I kept up a constant supply of shortbread! :)

Brown Sugar Almond Shortbread
Adapted slightly from Baking, Dorie Greenspan

*A few notes: (1) The original recipe called for ground pecans, but as I had none at the time, I substituted ground almonds instead - it worked really well, but I'm dying to make these with pecans; and (2) The recipe calls for an 18-20 minute baking time - I found that this was way too long and the cookies browned too much and lost flavor. I baked mine for about 12-13 minutes, just until crunchy and pale golden.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground cloves
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup finely ground almonds
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and cloves.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Add the almond and give the mixer a couple of turns, just to get the nuts into the dough.

Using a rubber spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9×10-1/2-inch rectangle that’s 1/4-inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets wiht parchment or silicone mats.

Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-1/2 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet. [I would also freeze each sheet for about 15 minutes before baking to stop the cookies from spreading. I did that with mine and they hardly spread].

Bake for 18-20 minutes [my time was 12-13 minutes], rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale – they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.

If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Yield: 32 cookies

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Haiti

I know it's been quiet around here - very quiet. I've been focusing on other projects this month (as well as the birthday explosion... hey, January people, can you spread out your birthdays a little more? ;) ) and haven't been as creative in the kitchen as I generally like to be.

So for today, I don't have a recipe for you. But because of the earthquake in Haiti, the devastation of which we can unfortunately relate to all too well here in Los Angeles, I wanted to link to Chris Sacca's excellent post on how we can help the relief efforts. I feel lucky that A. and I are able to contribute and, though I am generally not the praying type of person, I would like to ask you for at least a small prayer for the victims of this terrible disaster and to keep hope in your heart for survivors.

Thanks for being here to listen.

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Baked Brie

This year, A. and I decided to do something unprecedented - we decided to stay home and throw ourselves a party. There was a menu, there were fancy clothes, there was an entire bottle of champagne, there were twinkle lights and presents and a whole lot of tipsiness... in other words, it was a totally awesome way to start the new year!

My dears - in this new year, I want to wish you all much health, happiness, luck, peace, love and prosperity. May our knives always be sharp and may our cuts heal quickly. Happy 2010!

Baked Brie

1 sheet of puff pastry, defrosted if frozen
1 standard sized triangle of brie
a little olive oil, for brushing

This is a ridiculously easy thing to make, and yet, this gets me the most accolades when I do make it. You take one sheet of defrosted puff pastry (I prefer to use all-butter puff pastry), you wrap it around a good-sized triangle of brie, you brush it with a little olive oil and you bake it at 425F for about 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is flaky and golden and the cheese is all melty and ooozy goodness. Ta-daa!

You can totally dress this up by cutting the cheese in half and layering it with a bit of brown sugar, raisins and sauteed apples. I mean, it couldn't hurt, right? But the beautiful thing is that you can serve it just simple-like - beautifully puffed pastry and a molten lava of cheese. It's the kind of marriage that needs no embellishments.

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