Raspberry Jam Bar

This was a nice weekend of baking and making goodies. I ended Sunday by baking more jam bars.  There is this nice soul at work that has helped me whenever I asked and has been a technical resource that has helped me tremendously.

I've been meaning to bake some goodies and will drop these off.

These are the same orange jam bars but made with raspberry jam.


Enjoy!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I wanted to make the girliest cake for my manly little bro's birthday.  There was going to be a bunch of little girls from our friends so I thought even better!  

I decided on cupcakes, mini cupcakes.  

What's better than vibrant red cake and white frosting with more red decorations.  Can't be more girly than that.  

I also love fresh fruit in my desserts so I added fresh raspberries.  Red velvet cakes are such classic flavors that I've never added a fresh component, but I loved it and will do that for future version of this cake.

It turnout really cute!  Very girly!  

Strawberry Lemon Thyme Trifle

It all started with madelines gone bad.  Last week I was trying to make some nice madelines for Vicky's birthday bash but it was a new recipe and I overfilled the tins, which resulted in a square lumps of cakes vs. the nice scallop shapes.  It tasted wonderful so I saved them to make a trifle.

I decided to make it for my brother's birthday BBQ.  The madelines were made with lemon thyme herb so playing off this flavor profile, I thought strawberries and lemon would be good.


There were four components which were lemon curd, fresh whipped cream, macerated strawberries, and the madelines torn into pieces.

I added more of the fresh lemon thyme to the strawberries.  This herb is so good.  I think better in sweet dishes then savory.

I layered each components starting and ending with the whipped cream.

It was good.  A nice combo of sweet, tart, and the freshness.  

Roasted Grapes

A few nights a go, met up with some girlfriends for some happy hour at terra plata in Seattle.  I was so eager to try this place but the only thing worth mentioning is the Roasted Grape Cheese Plate.  


I've seen grapes used in savory dishes and it makes total sense to create appetizers for wine with grapes, but I never saw it as the central ingredient.  They roasted with halved walnuts and olives, served with a very small blue cheese, and only 2 crostinis.  The idea is good and the grapes were yummy but I could have used more cheese and bread. They could have drizzled it with some honey or balsamic...something.

Everything else was okay and beautiful but very one note in flavor.  Even my friends noted this.  The place was gorgeous and the host was super nice and cheery, but also our waitress was luke warm to icy at worst.  I dont' need to revisit this place.  


This is what I'm finding these days, it's a good learning lesson.  Flavor of food is so important than the cool setting and people. There are places that know and get food.  It's about great ingredients, techniques, but also knowing flavors and how to layered them.  You notice when it's lacking but when something is great...you just know low wonderful it taste.


Bad service also is a such killer for a place. I hate it the most at places where I've love the food.  This place they need more rockin service since the food is okay.  Oh well....on to the next place.

I Baked...Orange Jam Bars

On this day, I baked some jam bars.  It was a baking with clear intentions and results I had hope for.  It was baking of something I love and that reflects me so.

The first time I made these were in 2006 at the Bothways Bakery and Cafe that I worked at.  The owner gave me pretty free reign to try new things, and these were perfect, so homey and rustic as the cafe.  

Over the years, I've tried these with different jams, spices, and also have added nuts. It's always delicious and a hit.  My favorite so far has been the raspberry jam, but this orange marmalade is up there.  I might add some chopped almonds next time.  I love that combo, orange, almond, and cinnamon. Yum!

Here is the basic recipe.  The original recipe is from William and Sonoma Baking Cookbook. I've tweaked it a bit.


1 3/4 cups of Flour
1 cup of packed Brown Sugar
2 cups of Rolled Oats
1 1/2 tsp of Cinnamon
1 tsp of Kosher Salt
1 cup of Butter, cut in dice size
1 cup of Orange Marmalade
1 tsp of Orange Extract


-Preheat over to 325 degrees.
-In a large bowl mix flour, brown sugar, oats*, cinnamon, and salt until well combined.  *Save 1/2 cups of the rolled oats.
-Add butter and using a pastry cutter, blend until light, fluffy, pea size mixture. Toss it around a bit with your hands.   
-Remove 2 cups of the mixture into a separate bowl to use a topping, set a side.
-To make the base crust, pour the remainder of the mixture into an 8" square baking pan and press firmly and evenly.
-In a small bowl, mix the orange marmalade and the orange extract.  
-Spoon the marmalade on the base crust evenly.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  The marmalade will melt in the oven and spread out.
-For the topping, mix the set aside 2 cups of the mixture and the 1/2 cups of saved rolled oats.  Spoon the mixture over the marmalade topping until evenly coated.
-Bake in center of the oven for 55 minutes.  It should be golden brown.
-Take out of the oven and cool on rack in the plan for 30 minutes.
-Slice into 2"x4" bar size.  It makes 8 bars.

Please play around with different flavors and eat it with vanilla ice cream. :)

Potato Gratin

To continue with my love of the potato, here is my favorite "graaatan"...from my chef friend Hamed's place A La Bonne Franquette.

Photo by Mini Deshpande

Asian Poutine

I love potatoes!  What's more comforting than a Poutine?  For a game night with friends...I made an Asian version with tater tots, miso gravy, and without the cheese curds.  Topped it with black sesame and green onions.  It wasn't too bad.  I want to play with it and change it up a bit. The gravy was divine though.  Will keep that test sample of gravy. Good crowd food. Yum!