Blueberry mallomars

We're getting so close to the WITK online bake sale for Relay!  Therefore, I've been a little busy and have just a few pictures and thoughts for you today...

What have I been making in the preparation for the bake sale?

Let's just say there is a lot of sugar involved...

And some more sugar...

But you won't be seeing these tomorrow, I ate them all...  What you'll be treated to is a similar mallomar, only with a traditional Americana twist.  That's right, a peanut butter and jelly mallomar. 

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for the bake sale round-up!  You'll be able to decide what you want to bid on when the sale starts Thursday morning at 6:00 am, EST!  There will even be some items especially for my friends in the UK and Canada!

Peanut Butter Cup Blondies

The thing that I love the most about warm weather vacations? Beach hair. There is no other time in your life that you can exert next to no effort on your own appearance and look absolutely amazing.

The pink cheeks from a day spent exploring. The effortless clothes that say 'I have no where to be.' And the salt-infused hair that tumbles around in the wind. It all says vacation.

Upon returning to the room after a day spent on the sand, I am loath to take a shower and ruin my beach-perfected look. As soon so I step foot into the fresh water my sun-kissed skin turns into a lobster red sunburn. My beachy waves lose all of their fun and I'm left looking like I spent too much time in the sun.

But you can't go on without showering. Not only are you covered from head to toe in ocean salt, sunscreen and whatever beachside drink you inevitably spilled on yourself, but if you are like me you took half of the beach home with you.

The post-beach shower is sadly necessary to remove all those rogue bits of sand that are trying to come home with you. Sure enough you'll be packing plenty of sand in your suitcase, there is no reason to let those tiny grains stowaway on your person. If I spend any time at all in the surf, I will have to spend an equal amount of time scouring myself with a loofah to wash away all the residual sand.

Beachside showers and hoses are no match for the sand, it wants to come home with you. I'll be finding bits of sand all over the apartment and myself for at least the next two weeks. Small memories of vacation or tiny little nuisances? Only time will tell.

Wilde in Chicago

Hello from the sunny Midwest!  Today I'm coming to you from my hotel room in downtown Chicago, sending you some tasty cookies rather than dinner.  Why am I in the windy city this fine Tuesday morning?  I'm off on my first official business trip!

The majority of my coworkers and I have packed up and relocated to Chicago for a week long conference.  I've been spending endless hours in dark rooms, watching powerpoint presentations and listening to scientists talk about their research.  There is a lot of biology, a little bit of chemistry and a whole lot of note-taking!  Let me tell you, my brain is fried!

 Luckily we've been able to enjoy the evenings away from the conference and in the great city of Chicago.  I've spent a lot of time here in the past, with going to grad school in Madison, Wisconsin, a mere two hours up the I-90.  It's been great being back in the city.  I've actually gotten to do a few things that I never had the chance to in the past.

I saw the bean...

I had some deep-dish pizza...

I took a walk through Millenium park...

Yay!  Tulips!  You all know how I love tulips

And I saw the new Trump building...



This building wasn't anywhere near finished last time I was in Chicago!

It's been an exhausting few days, and I've got another day before the conference is over.  I think that I'll sleep very well on my way back to New York City tomorrow night!

My Macaron Method!

Wednesday I left you with the question of whether I could reproduce my workshop macarons at home.  Today we have the answer.  Yes, I can! 

Sure, it was a little more difficult to do this on my own.  I was wishing that I hadn't gotten rid of my hand mixer while I was whisking the meringue.  All on my lonesome, my arm got pretty tired!  I had to keep switching between left and right arms.  I also learned that I am not ambidextrous when it comes to whisking things.  My left arm is terribly uncoordinated and not at all good at whipping egg whites.  I'll have to give it a bit more practice.

Boyfriend helped to style this particular photograph

The batter was flowing like lava, I think.  I'm still a fan of the disappearing line method for testing the batter consistency.  The batter piped well, forming nice round shells.  The shells dried up in thirty minutes and when I put them in the oven I was hoping for the best.  With my fingers crossed, I set the timer for seven minutes and walked away. 

When I came back to turn the pans I was thrilled to see round tops and pretty, frilled feet!  I can do this at home!  While this isn't simplest recipe, requiring you to heat the meringue over a water bath, I choose to go with a consistent recipe rather than an easy, unreliable one.

Haven't found a favorite macaron recipe yet?  Give this one a try!  I know that this is my go to recipe from now on.  Thank you DessertTruck!

Almond Sugar Cookies

Hi Everyone, I hope that your weekend treated you well!  Boyfriend and I ventured into the city today for a macaron class (more on that later) then made our way in the chilly cold to S'Mac (our favorite comfort food place!).  If I had known that it would be this cold today, I would have scheduled the class for another weekend.  Really, any other weekend this winter would have been warmer!  Since I booked the class in September, I really had no idea how the weather would be.  At least spring is on its way!

Since it's Sunday and I'm cold, I'm going to leave you with this delicious cookie recipe.  Then I am going to climb under a pile of blankets, snuggle up to boyfriend on the couch and try to steal all his body heat.  Stay warm out there fellow freezing friends!

Why Bother? 2012 - Fondant

Sorry for the delay in this challenge post, my kitchen was all in boxes from our move!  Believe me when I say, this was worth the wait!

Fondant is a strange concept.  When explaining what I was making to my friends and coworkers, they were all confused.  They asked "What is fondant?"  "Is it that stuff you peel off of wedding cakes?"  "Why would I want to eat solid frosting?"  Those who watch too much Food Network knew exactly what I was talking about, most were still confused until I brought in the goodies.

 I'm sure you've all had an experience with fondant.  Generally it covers wedding cakes and has a minimal amount of flavor.  Mostly sugary, sweet, stretchy and tough, most people I see at weddings have removed the outer shell of the cake to eat the insides.  So I wondered, does fondant have to taste so gross?

I looked through several of my cake cookbooks, searched the internet and read through old baking magazines until I found two different fondant recipes.  Traditional fondant, made with gelatin and glycerin as additives, is pegged as the trickier version to make.  Marshmallow fondant, made with marshmallows and powdered sugar, is billed as the "everymans" fondant recipe.  I found this to be exactly the opposite.

I started the day with making the marshmallow fondant.  The recipe calls for melting an entire bag of mini marshmallows in the microwave.  Once the mini mallows are melted you pour in almost a whole 2 pound bag of powdered sugar and start mixing.  Then comes the messy part, you have to knead all of the sugar into the marshmallows, by hand.  Even with repeated greasing of my hands with shortening, I was a big mess.  The fondant was sticking to everything it touched.  It took a good fifteen minutes to incorporate all of the sugar into the marshmallow and form a smooth fondant.  My arms were tired.

Once the marshmallow fondant was safely in a zip-top bag, I started with the traditional recipe.  The most difficult thing required of me was to microwave some gelatin in water.  The remainder of the hard work was complete by my stand mixer.  Everything mixed together much more easily that in the marshmallow recipe and required only two minutes of hands on kneading to finish.

You might be wondering if there was a difference in the outcome of the two recipes.  First, they both rolled and shaped easily.  Other than a modest color difference (the traditional fondant was pure white, while the marshmallow fondant was slightly off-white), I found no physical difference in the recipes.  The major difference came with the taste. 

The marshmallow fondant tasted just like a marshmallow, like vanilla.  I used this fondant to cover the cookies and they were a smash hit.  People were raving about how good the fondant was and how delicious the cookies were (Click here for the cookie recipe).  The traditional fondant had the same texture, it was just almond-flavored (because I added almond extract).  I enjoyed the fact that I could flavor the fondant with whatever extract or oil that I wanted.  Imagine chocolate cake, covered in mint fondant or red velver cake covered in cheesecake flavored fondant.  So many possibilities!

In the end, I think that I preferred the traditional fondant recipe for two reasons.  1. The ease of preparation.  This fondant came together so much quicker and cleaner than the marshmallow fondant.  2. The flavor.  Being able to add different flavors to the fondant open up a whole world of possibilites. 

I don't think that I will be buying prepared fondant in the future.  Comparing all three recipes, the store-bought stuff comes out as a definite loser. 

Cherry Stripper Cookies

Here we go, the first full work week of the year.  And you know what?  We don't have a holiday for five whole months!  I really think that there needs to be an extra holiday thrown in the calendar around the middle of March.  Looking at our corporate calendar and seeing that the next long weekend isn't until Memorial day makes me think about last year at this time.

I'm not terribly sad about not having a long weekend because I'm still in a very happy place.  Last year at this time I was still a postdoctoral associate, working long, long hours in my lab at Yale.  It was a very stressful time of year because we were right in the midst of job hunting season and I was toiling away, trying to finish my total synthesis.  The four members of my lab would inevitably be at their hoods seven days a week, putting in 70 hours a week, easilly.  According to most professors - Evenings and weekends aren't holidays.  (Holidays generally weren't holidays either, I remember spending a few Easter Sundays in lab)

A lot has changed in 365 days.  These days I get two whole days off, every week!  Those of you who have been working like a normal person for a while might see my glee as strange, but a five day work week makes me so happy!  And do you know what I do with those weekends? 

 Whatever I want!  Go sky diving!  Build a house!  Train seeing eye puppies!  Spend hours at Starbucks thinking deep thoughts!  Make ever more creative yoga poses and name them after my friends!  Paint exact copies of the Mona Lisa!  Write profound statements in library books!

But mostly, I make cookies...

Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Bars

Slowly, I'm coming back from the dead.  The cold virus that knocked me down like a freight train has been galliantly fought off by my immune system and I'm on the mend.  It has been rough, being sick at this time of the year, because this is the most fun time of year to cook!  This is the time of year that you can make everything red, green and blue, cover everything in sprinkles and frosting and feed your coworkers endless supplies of sugar.  They don't complain because it's festive.

I had big plans to make you lots of cookies the week leading up to Christmas, these bars are as far as I got.  While they were certainly delicious, I can't say that they are terribly festive.  Now that we've made it past December 25th and the presents have been put away, I suppose that you need some treats to celebrate the New Year.

Now that I'm living withing throwing distance to New York City, I've been getting lots of questions about what I'm doing for the big night.  Sadly, since I've been sick, we haven't made any plans at all!  A few years ago, before we were living here, boyfriend and I came to New York for the ball drop.  We figured, "You have to do it once!" 

Unfortunately, that year it was freezing cold.  I'm talking single digit temperatures as we approached midnight.  We had layered pants upon pants and sweaters under our jackets, yet still, we were cold.  There was no way we were going to sit still in Time's square for eight hours.  We would have been peoplesicles.  Instead we wandered the city from four in the afternoon until the ball finally came down to ring in the new year. 

We actually had a good view of the descending ball from our final position at the southeast corner of Bryant park.  The winds were even blowing in our direction and we got a nice shower of confetti and balloons.  However, moments after midnight, the crowds quickly dispersed and we hoofed it back to our hotel room as fast as our frozen bodies could take us.

This year looks to be a lot warmer here in the Big apple.  Does that mean that you'll see me in with the throngs of people in Time's Square?  Not a chance!  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I hope you spend it with people you love, whether you decide to ring in the new year at eight o'clock or midnight.

Peppermint Mallomars

We are two weeks away from the culmination of the holiday season and my house is full of delicious cookies!  Yes, I've been making dozens and dozens of cookies, but that is not the only reason why I am buried in deliciousness.  Perhaps you have noticed a theme among some of your favorite food blogs today.  The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! 

I'm so happy to be a part of such a fun, creative and generous group of people.  I originally saw the idea posted on Love and Olive Oil a few weeks ago.  A grand cookie swap between the bloggers of the world.  A massacre of flour, sugar and butter that would culminate in the biggest collection of holiday cookies in one place. 

It was probably not very simple to orchestrate, so many thanks to Lindsay from Love and Olive oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen.  They were able to organize over six hundred bloggers in a complex cookie swap, each blogger sending out three dozen cookies and receiving a three dozen cookies in return, mmm cookies...

I tried out a whole bunch of different recipes before I finally came up with this one.  Something that really represents what I have been doing all year long.  A combination of candy and cookie, I give you the holiday mallomar.  The marshmallow is coated in sparkly sprinkles, rather than chocolate, on top of a dark chocolate cookie.  If you haven't tried making marshmallow yet this year, you should dust your candy thermometer off and get into the kitchen.

Peanut Butter Brownies

Sooo, tis the season, right?  The season where we make nothing but cookies in our kitchens and get to real food as an afterthought?  Well, that's how things turned out in my kitchen this weekend.  These brownies are the product of a cookie-filled weekend at the Wilde household.  If you're already brownied out after last week, just tune back in on Thursday when I make some real food!

These brownies were the first of three recipes that I tried out this weekend.  I had big plans for these cookies.  They were to be packaged up and sent around the country as a part of the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011!!!  I have made these in the past and the note in my cookbook read "12/05/09 - Delicious!"  Thinking that I could probably trust myself, I got out of bed in the early morning hours of saturday to make these bad boys.

To give my past self credit, these brownies are delicious, they just won't be sent to my cookie swap friends.  You might be asking yourself why, especially if you are my secret cookie swap friends, but there is a good reason for it.  The delicious chocolate glaze that sits on top of these brownies didn't really set up.  If I mailed these delicious brownies to my secret cookie swap friends, they would be greeted to a big chocolate mess when they opened the box. 

So, if you don't need to ship brownies to anyone and you want an entire 15x10-inch pan of brownies all for yourself, make these!  And don't worry, I wound up with an awesome treat for the Cookie swap, I hope my secret matches like them!  You'll all have to wait until next Tuesday to see them!

Coconut Brownies

Did anyone else wake up this morning and wonder how it came to be December 1st already?  I know that I did!  It feels like we should still be working our way through September right now.  Maybe it's the warm weather that we've been experiencing in the Northeast (not that I'm complaining one bit!).  Maybe it's the fact that this is the first time in my life that is gorverned by the real calendar and not the scholastic calendar (where was the influx of undergrads to mark the beginning of September?)  Maybe it's because I kinda skipped out on the whole Thanksgiving dinner thing?

Some of you were wondering why I missed out on my turkey dinner last Thursday, I promise I had a good reason!  Instead of partaking in a Thursday evening food-fest, boyfriend and I spent the usual binging hours flying from New York to Florida.  We flew down to warmer weather to visit his parents on the sunny Gulf coast and that's why we missed our turkey and stuffing.

Yes, I know that New York City enjoyed near record temperatures last weekend, but it was still warmer in Florida.  Plus, boyfriends parents live a mere seven-minute walk to the beach.  It would take me hours to walk to the beach from my apartment in New Jersey, then I would find myself confronted with the chilly Atlantic.  Brrr...

I enjoyed a restful weekend at the beach and got a little sun, then I fell asleep in the back seat of the car when returning to the airport.  Yes, I was thoroughly made fun of.  What can I say Vicki plus sun plus car ride equals nap time!  Who am I kidding, I fall asleep in the car all the time.

Since I know that you aren't feeling bad for me now for missing thanksgiving dinner, here are some brownies.  They are awesome and one of the tastiest treats to come out of the Wilde kitchen in a while!

Did you also notice the new tab at the top?  Be sure to stop by and check out my upcoming challenge for 2012!  I need your help, I need your input, I need you to challenge me!!!  Go on, it will be fun.

Honey Roasted Peanut butter cookies

Just when I had thought that we were back to our normal sleeping schedule, daylight savings time rolls around.  Nuts!  I was just getting back to sleeping normal person hours again and now I'm waking up an hour early again.  At least I'm not waking up four hours early, so it should be a little easier to adjust, two days instead of an entire week!

After readjusting to Eastern standard time, I felt like I could finally get back into the kitchen this weekend.  It's been a little while since I was in front of the oven, so I needed a little help in deciding what to make.  Early Saturday morning I was looking through recipes and trying to decide what to make for the week and I thought that we could use some cookies.

I turned to boyfriend and asked what kind of cookies he wanted.  "Peanut butter."  Okay, plain and simple.  I've posted a few peanut butter cookies on here before and thought you could use something a little more special than just plain peanut butter cookies.  Then I remembered a recipe that I made a number of years ago while I was in grad school.  I remember making them so vividly because how long it took to make the recipe. 

This is not a complicated recipe, but as written in the cookbook, this recipe yields over eight dozen cookies.  Between making the dough, baking the cookies and icing them, it took an entire evening to make the recipe as written.  I wanted to make them again, but not nearly that many cookies.  So, I present to you a smaller batch, with a bigger boost of peanut butter.  I also thought we could use a little whole grain in our treats this weekend and swapped out half of the flour for whole wheat flour. 

Pumpkin Pie Mallomars

 Hello there!  I'm a Nabisco Mallomar!  I was born way back in 1913 and sold in a grocery store in Hoboken, New Jersey.  You've never heard of me?  Well, if you live outside of the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut), you probably won't find me at your local grocery store.  70% of all mallomars are sold to the fine people on the east coast!

I'm super delicious!  Look at my rich, chocolatey coating.  It's so... oh, hello over there!  Who are you?

What are you?  Are you a fried egg?  Maybe you're a delcious ravioli?  Hmmm, you do look kinda familiar.  Have we met before?  Ohhh, I know, we're cousins!  You're from the Wilde side of the family!

Let's be friends! 

Look, we're so much alike!  I'm a vanilla cookie, topped with fluffy vanilla marshmallow!  Do you like my coat?  It's made of pure chocolate!

Oh wow, look at your outfit!  Look at that thick, white chocolate coat you have!  I'm so jealous!  My coat is a little thin, I get cold sometimes.  And is that a graham cracker cookie?  And pumpkin marshmallow?  Wow, you're like Fall in a bite.  Well, more like three or four bites, how did you grow so big?

Hi Nabisco Mallomar, no need to be jealous!  We're each special in our own ways.  You're a classic, people love you!  I'm a little wacky and crazy and I'm perfect for Fall!  People should definitely run out and buy some of your friends, you're only available at this time of year!  I'm also only around in the Fall because who wants a pumpkin pie in April?

Congo Bars

Welcome to a new week everyone, I hope that you had a great weekend.  It feels like the summer is slowly winding down and the cooler days of fall are easing in.  Boyfriend and I spent this weekend enjoying New York and paying some tribute to the people that lost their lives ten years ago.  Saturday night we were headed home from the grocery store and noticed a bright spot on the clouds.  After pondering for a moment we realized that the bright spot was caused by the Tribute in Light in Lower Manhattan.

We took a drive up the hill, to the Eagle Rock Reservation, and spent some time enjoying this view...

We weren't the only people to have this same idea.  Even though it was 8:30 at night and the night air was getting chilly, dozens of people were milling about.  They were enjoying the view, remembering the day and what I found most interesting, sharing the story of 9/11 with their children and grandchildren.  The day is so bright in my memory, that it's still strange to think that it was ten years ago.

Ten years ago, I was just an undergraduate.  I had just completed my first analytical chemistry exam of the semester and was headed to the bank.  The radio was streaming news of the events in New York City and I was very confused.  Coming into the story in mid-conversation was very difficult and trying to determine what was happening from the radio was not easy.  From the bank I headed home in time to see the both World Trade Center towers engulfed in flames.

Upon returning to campus, there were televisions everywhere.  About 30% of the student population came from the metro New York area and this event hit our campus very close to home.  With my friends, in the campus lounge, we watched the events of the day unfold.

Yesterday, boyfriend and I headed to New York.  We headed to the New York Times building to check out their pictoral gallery in the lobby.  I had been seeing this 9/11 tribute gallery for the past few days and really wanted to walk through.  If you happen to be in NYC today, you should stop by and have a look, it was very well done. 

On a completely different note, I spent some time this weekend baking.  Boyfriend had some work to do on his computer and I decided that I had some work to get done in the kitchen!    I had a bunch of coconut to use up and thought these bars would be the perfect vehicle for them.  Throw in your favorite nuts and chocolate chips and you've got yourself a perfect treat.  Oh yeah, and did you know that nothing smells better than Graham cracker crumbs and butter?  Delicious.

Congo Bars

Adapted from Fat Witch Brownies

So, I was a little lazy this weekend and bought pre-crumbed, Graham cracker crumbs.  You can, of course, use whole Graham crackers and crust them up.  Take 11 crackers and put them in a zip-top bag, bash the heck out of them with a rolling pin!  Oh delicious graham crackers!

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup Graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup brown sugar
7 tbsp butter, melted

1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Pre-heat oven to 350 and grease an 8x8-inch pan with cooking spray.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar.  Add melted butter and mix thoroughly.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove the crust from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack.  While the crust is cooling, combine all the remaining ingredients in a bowl.  Add the coconut mixture on the top of the crust and spread evenly.  Bake for another 20 minutes to set the topping.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  Loosen the edges with a spatula and invert on a cutting board.  Flip over and cut into 9 pieces, OM NOM NOM!!!