rugs.

Very much into the look of well-organized clutter on open shelves and rugs in kitchens.  It just feels utterly inviting, especially in the depths of winter.  



Image via Pinterest.  

coconut cream pie with macaroon crust.

This coconut cream pie has been taunting me for about 9 months now.  I had book marked it last May when I first came across it in Bon Appetit but the problem with discovering recipes like this during peak fruit season is that fruit filled desserts will always take precedence over out of season, shipped in a can from the other side of the world coconut milk and lime based pies.

But now, now we are in the throws of winter.  And when you are in the depths of winter it helps to eat things made with coconut and lime.  Coconut and lime transports you to a warmer place - dessert islands and sandy beaches.   Places you dream about in the middle of January.  

This is the coconut cream pie of my dreams.  Tangy, creamy, and crunchy.  It's like a jacked up Almond Joy but better - so much better.  The custard isn't cloyingly sweet like some cream pies can be.  Instead it's rich (coconut milk and regular milk) with the perfect hit of lime juice.   Paired with a brilliant (and easy) macaroon press-in crust (why has no else done this before?!) and chocolate covered almonds and you basically have one the best desserts I've ever made (and eaten). 

Also (and this comes as no surprise to me) the recipe comes from Tandem Bakery in Portland, Maine which just earned them 10 billion more stars in my book.   

Coconut Cream Pie with Macaroon Crust
Recipe adapted slightly from Bon Appetit

For the Crust

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 large egg white
1¾ cups unsweetened shredded coconut
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted, slightly cooled

Custard And Assembly

2 wide strips lime zest
1¾ cups whole milk
¾ cup unsweetened coconut milk
¼ cup raw skin-on almonds, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons unsweetened shredded coconut
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted, slightly cooled
3 large egg yolks
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter
2 teaspoons fresh lime juice
11/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon lime zest

Make the Crust: Preheat oven to 325°. Lightly coat a 9" pie pan with nonstick spray. Mix egg white, coconut, sugar, butter, and salt with a rubber spatula in a large bowl until evenly combined and the consistency of a stiff paste. Using your hands, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie pan. Bake until edges are golden brown and bottom is set and just barely golden, 15–20 minutes.

Transfer pie pan to a wire rack (leave oven on to toast almonds and coconut) and let crust cool. Brush crust with melted chocolate.

Make the Custard: Bring lime zest, milk, and coconut milk to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Cover and let sit off heat 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until slightly darkened and fragrant, 8–10 minutes. Let cool. Toast coconut on same baking sheet, tossing once, until edges are golden, about 4 minutes.

Stir almonds into melted chocolate in a small bowl. Spread in an even layer on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle toasted coconut over chocolate almonds and chill until firm, 8–10 minutes. Coarsely chop, then cover and chill.

Pluck out lime zest from milk mixture; discard. Return milk mixture to a simmer. Whisk egg yolks, cornstarch, salt, and ½ cup + 2 tablespoons sugar in a medium bowl to combine. Whisking constantly, gradually add ½ cup milk mixture to egg mixture. Whisking constantly, add egg mixture to milk mixture in saucepan and cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbling (it will look like thick pudding). Remove from heat and whisk in butter and lime juice.

Scrape custard into crust and press a piece of plastic wrap against surface. Chill until set, about 2 hours.

Assemble: Just before serving, whip cream, lime zest, and remaining 1 Tbsp. sugar in a small bowl to medium-stiff peaks. Spoon over custard, leaving about a 1" border, and swirl decoratively. Scatter chocolate-almond mixture around perimeter.

Do Ahead: Pie (without whipped cream) can be made 3 days ahead; keep chilled.

latest obsessions.

1 - I've been the hunt for a pair of everyday earrings that hug the ear lobe.  I had basically given-up on ever finding them until my friend Katy showed me a pair that were EXACTLY what I've been looking for.  Simple yet interesting - timeless but fun.  They can be found at Steven Alan and come in silver and gold. You can probably guess what color I got them in.

2 - Making a Murderer is what would happen if the Jinx and Serial had a baby (Netflix is killing it). It's a thought-provoking and intimate look at our legal process and quite possibly what's wrong with it.  Binge-watch as soon as you can.   

3 - I discovered this butter in upstate NY last summer and will now only eat toast if it's slathered in it. It's incredibly creamy, impossibly rich, and almost cheesy tasting.  It makes all other butter seem paltry in comparison.  Oh!  and it's salted which makes it that much better.  

4 - These socks are my saving grace in the winter.  Incredibly warm, the perfect amount of cheeky, and made in the USA.  What more could you want in life?  (My favorite striped ones are pictured above.)

5 - Our puppy-bear.  Jackson Randall was adopted 12/27 and is quite simply the best (minus his aversion to going down stairs).  A 2 year old lab-pit mix (or so we think).  He gets called handsome a lot and loves the ladies.   In addition he is a little foodie (with a particular fondness for beets, carrots, and parmesan), loves ripping apart squeaky toys, and is very big on snuggling and giving kisses. Quite frankly, we are in love.    

roasted yams with honey, aleppo, and lime yogurt.

I received the Gjelina Cookbook for Christmas (thanks Aunt Carol and Uncle Dennis!) and have been blown away by how good it is.  The book itself is gorgeous but the real kicker is how accessible everything is.   These aren't labor intensive weekend long projects.  These are realistic meals and side dishes - things you can make even if you only have 35 minutes to throw dinner together.   

The chapter that has me most captivated is the vegetable chapter.  Gjelina (like a lot of restaurants now a days) treats vegetables like the main attraction and it's fun and exciting to learn new ways to make vegetables shine. Yogurt shows up a lot and deservedly so; it can add a richness to a dish that people love.  Spices are used with abandon and roasting seems to be the cooking method of choice.   The whole thing feels very here and now.  It's how I want to eat come 2016.  

I've made a handful of dishes thus far but my favorite may be this roasted yams dish.  In January when you are trying to wean yourself off holiday cookies and cake, this dish is a welcome distraction. It has depth and an absurd amount amount of flavor and the lime yogurt just brings the whole thing together.  Serving it with some crusty bread and leftover roast chicken makes for a most excellent meal.   

Roasted Yams with Honey, Aleppo, and Lime Yogurt
Recipe from Gjelina Cookbook

1/2 cup Greek Style Yogurt
Juice of 2 limes
3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
2 medium to large yams/sweet potatoes
2 tablespoons honey (I used Mike's Hot Honey because I love the extra heat)
1 tablespoon Espellete, Aleppo, or crushed red pepper flakes
Flaky sea salt
2 green onions (white and green parts cut on the bias) or 2 tablespoons chives minced

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

In a small bowl combine the yogurt with the lime juice, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.   Set aside.

Cut the yams lengthwise into 8 - 10 wedges (about 3/4 of an inch).   In a medium bowl toss the yams with the honey, 1/2 teaspoon of the Espellete/Aleppo/Crushed red pepper flakes, and the remaining olive oil.  Season with sea salt and pepper.   Marinate for 10 minutes tossing once or twice to coat.  

Transfer the yams to a rimmed baking dish and roast until they are nicely caramelized around the edges and soft when pierced with a fork at the thickest part, 25 - 35 minutes.   

Transfer to a serving platter, drizzle with yogurt all over, and garnish with green onions or chives and the remaining Espellete/Aleppo/Crushed red pepper flakes.   Season with flaky sea salt.  Serve warm.   

2015 - a year in review.

2015 was a good year.  With 2014 being the year of the wedding, it was nice to return to a state of "normalcy" in 2015. A year where I could focus on myself and the things that make me happy.  It felt good to grow and explore and to enter into a new decade (thirties!).  As I think back over the past 365 days, I feel an overwhelming sense of happiness which makes me feel profoundly lucky.  

2015 was the year of travel - 8 US cities (Boston, Baltimore, Philly, Nashville, Chicago, Portland (OR and ME), and Seattle.  It was the year of the polar vortex and conquering the perfect homemade birthday cake.  There was a lot of reading (especially books about WWII) and discovering the perfect jam (INNA JAM!).  Falling hard for a bakery in Portland, Maine (and obsessing over their banana bread and chocolate chip cookies) and purchasing myself the perfect gold hoop earrings as a 30th birthday present.  A weekend trip to Hudson, N.Y. that involved a pretty sweet pool and a phenomenal firework show.  I made homemade nutella and then ate it all myself (it was that good).  I got into running (or as into it as someone who doesn't really like running can).  I listened to a lot of podcasts and Adele Hello on repeat.   I discovered Anson Mills and fell in love with their flours.  I rode a horse on the beach and hiked a waterfall.  I consumed one too many doughnuts and had the perfect summer beach day with my husband.   I tackled homemade ice cream cake and the perfect roast chicken.  I ate some killer ham sandwiches and some equally amazing poached pears.  I learned to make a smashed burger that can satisfy my Shake Shack cravings and found the closest thing to the perfect pair of jeans.  There was an unexpected and incredibly awesome date night involving Superiority Burger and ice cream. I celebrated one year of marriage with Tyler over an unseasonably warm weekend in Chicago and finally saw the Bean!  And then there was the puppy - the newest member of the Cavagnolo/Randall family and definitely the most adorable member.  He has stolen our heart.  Not a bad way to end the year.  

2016 - There will be more traveling (Nashville again, maybe Austin or New Orleans, possibly LA, most definitely Italy (I hope)).  There will be a lot more chocolate almond croissants and lazy Saturday mornings.  I hope to edit my life and teach myself to buy less (but better).  I will make more of the things on my list of things to cook (like rice balls and babka!) and I will try not to get hung up on things that don't matter.  Bring it on.   

rugelach.

As we near the end of 2015, I've begun to think about how I want to celebrate the new year.  Ideally it would involve pizza, cookies, and snuggles on the couch with our new puppy (yes we got a dog and he is a little ball of love and kisses but more on him later), but realistically it will involve a low-key dinner with friends. There will be glasses of bubbly, an absurd amount of cheese, and cookies, because it isn't a celebration without something sweet.

Normally, I would stick to tried and true chocolate chip cookies - they are a crowd pleaser after all, but stepping it up a notch seems appropriate considering it's a holiday (though I imagine no one would be sad to see a chocolate-chip cookie served at a fancy party).  Rugelach to me are the holiday cookie of choice.  Their full of flavors and textures (jam! nuts! chocolate!) yet slightly more sophisticated then your standard cookie.  Not to mention they are equally enjoyable the morning after your soiree with a mug of good coffee and sweatpants.  

Rugelach
Recipe adapted slightly from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

I've always shied away from making rugelach because the traditional process of rolling the dough into a circle and then rolling each rugelach individually was way to fussy for me.  This recipe is genius since it has you roll the dough like a log and then slice each cookie.  Wee for ease! Also, I upped the amount of nuts, fruit, and chocolate in my recipe because well, more is better in my book.

Makes 40 to 48 rugelach

Dough

2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
1/2 pound (225 grams) unsalted butter
1/2 pound (1 8-ounce or 225-gram package) cream cheese

Filling

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup miniature chocolate chips or finely chopped bitter- or semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup toasted nuts, chopped small (I used walnuts)
1/2 cup dried fruit, chopped small; (I used tiny dried currants, no chopping needed)
1/2 to 3/4 cup jam (I used seedless raspberry, apricot is more traditional)

Finish

1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water or milk
Remaining cinnamon-sugar from above

Make the dough: In a food processor: Place flour and salt in work bowl fitted with standard blade. Pulse to combine. Add cream cheese, chopped into large chunks, and run machine until it’s fully dispersed into the flour. Add butter in large chunks and run machine until dough starts to clump. Dump out onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form into a flattish disc.

With a mixer: Let butter and cream cheese soften at room temperature. Beat both together until light and fluffy. Beat in salt. Add flour, beating until it disappears. Scrape dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and form into a flattish disc.

Both methods: Chill dough until totally firm — about 2 hours in the fridge you can hasten this along in the freezer for about 30 minutes. (Dough keeps in fridge for up to a week, and in freezer much longer.)

Form the pastries: Heat oven to 350 degrees F and line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.

Stir cinnamon and sugar together in a small dish. Combine coarse mixture of chocolate, nuts and dried fruit in a second dish.

Divide dough into quarters and roll first quarter out on a floured counter into a rectangle about 12 inches wide and 7 to 8 inches long, with the wider side to you. Thinly spread dough to all but the furthest 1/4 inch from you — which seals better once rolled if bare — with about 2 to 3 tablespoons jam. (I find that with seedless raspberry, 2T covers nicely but with thicker jam, you’ll need 3T to coat it thinly. If your jam is difficult to spread, you can warm it gently in the microwave for a few seconds first.) Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cinnamon-sugar mixture, then  1/4 of the coarse fruit and nut mixture.

Roll dough from the 12-inch side in front of you into as tight as a log as you can, using your fingers to lightly seal the ends onto the log. Repeat with remaining logs.

Place log of filled dough in freezer for 10 to 15 minutes; it will cut more cleanly once semi-firm. Trim ends from log so they have a clean shape. Cut log into 10 to 12 even slices. Arrange on prepared baking sheets a couple inches apart from each other.

Brush top(s) lightly with egg wash and sprinkle with a total of 1 teaspoon of the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Cooled cookies keep in a container at room temperature for a week, and in the freezer for a month.