Granola bars

The weather in this city is always changing. One day it's 16 below, the next day it's 9 above, and I find myself stripping off layers of scarf and sock, which I hadn't worn on the previous day (when my toes and fingers turned purple). How must one prepare for this weather? Wouldn't it be convenient to have some sort of invisible (dark oak) closet, that simply goes where you go, following you around, but so discretely that you don't even know it's there. Suddenly, you're boiling! Those stupid, useless scarves. This stuff! "Why do I have so much STUFF?" But then you remember the closet, that beautiful, elegant closet...

Perhaps you become extremely famished, conveniently you have an invisible closet, which also contains snacks, granola bars in fact.

Granola Bars

Adapted from Ina Garten & America's Test Kitchen

2 1/2 cups oats

1 cup sliced almonds

1 cup shredded coconut

3/4 cup honey

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup dried fruit (chocolate chips & nuts can also be added)

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Butter a baking dish (9x13) and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together in a bowl. Spread evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until browned lightly. Lower the temperature to 300F.

3. While the mixture is still warm, stir in the honey, vanilla and salt, then add the dried fruit, nuts, and chocolate. Pour into baking sheet and press down firmly, until the mixture is extremely compact.

4. Bake for 30 minutes, until light brown. Cool for 2-3 hours before cutting into squares.

Coffee, chocolate, and cream ... possibly the 3 best ingredients in the world?

It seems that I am now to pay for my sleepless holiday. My health has decided to have its say in the whole matter, first taking hold of the little energy that I have left, and sending me onward, "to bed," it demands, which is now a place I yearn for almost all the time. The hideous virus finds its way into my throat, clawing from the inside out. I can feel its progression, as it rests at the back of my tongue, and sneakily creeps its way down and down, and down, until... AHA! It's got me! I'm in its grasp! I am sick with the flu. A terrible, terrible thing. Apparently I become quite dramatic as I talk about the issue.


So moving on to happy and yummy things... that is, cream, coffee and chocolate. These 3 ingredients come together and form bliss, in cake form. Truly, I tell you, this cake is delicious. Smitten Kitchen dubs it "Tiramisu" cake, but when I think of tiramisu, I imagine store bought ladyfingers, cool whip and Folgers, not that there's anything wrong with such things, it's just, this recipe is slightly more complex and time consuming. But again, I tell you, it's delicious and well worth the time. Be sure to clear at least 4 1/2 hours of your day if you've decided this cake is the one. It also makes a great birthday cake!

Tiramisu cake
Smittenkitchen.com

For cake layers:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking power
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup buttermilk

For espresso extract:
2 tbsp ground espresso
2 tbsp boiling water

For espresso syrup:
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp brandy

For filling and frosting:
1 8 oz container mascarpone (or cream cheese)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp brandy
1 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 oz bittersweet/semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. First off, preheat the oven to 350F. Butter two 9x2 inch round cake pans, and dust the insides with flour to prevent from sticking. Line the bottom of both pans with parchment/wax paper and place on baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, b. power, b. soda, and salt together. In a second bowl, beat the butter until creamy with a hand beater on medium speed. Add sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add eggs one by one, and then the yolk, beating for 1 minute between each addition. Beat in vanilla. Reduce the mixer to low and add the dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk.

3. Divide the batter evenly between the two pans and smooth the tops. Bake for 28-30 minutes, rotating the pans at the halfway mark. Leave to cool.

4. For espresso extract: stir the ground espresso with boiling water until blended.

5. For espresso syrup: bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Pour the syrup into a small bowl and add 1 tbsp of espresso extract and the brandy.

6. For filling/frosting: Whisk together the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and brandy in a large bowl until smooth.

7. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until it holds firm peaks. Stir about 1/4 of the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture. Then fold in the rest of W.C with a gentle motion.

8. Place one layer of cake on wax paper. With a pastry brush, soak the top of layer with 1/3 of espresso syrup. Smooth approx. 1 1/4 cups of mascarpone over the layer. Gently press the chopped chocolate into the mascarpone.

9. Soak the second cake layer with half of the remaining espresso syrup. Soaked side down, position over the filling of the first cake layer. Soak the top of the cake with remaining syrup.

10. For the frosting: whisk 1 1/2 tbsp of the remaining espresso extract into mascarpone mixture. Add more if you desire. Smooth the frosting around the sides of the cake and over the top.

11. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving.

At last, I return with key lime pie!

Now that it's been nearly two years, with the encouragement of friends and my mother, I've come to a decision that it's now time to REVIVE my blog! An exciting and perhaps absurd endeavour. But I am committed! Perhaps I'll add the upkeep of my blog to my list of new year resolutions, that way I can be held accountable for such a task, considering it is now in (internet) print, for ALL of cyberspace to see.

Yes. That's right, I'm doing this.

Fortunately I love to bake, cook, AND eat! So I'm quick to think (but mostly hope), that this now written commitment won't be an overwhelming or stressful one. It really does help to say these things out loud you know, or rather write them down, so to eaaaaaase my own doubt, as if I'm asking you, whoever you are, to reassure me, because it really shouldn't be that bad. I mean, all I have to do is take a few pictures and write a couple of paragraphs............ Right? Don't you think? ...............Right?.......

I will do my best.

Here, I have a simple but tasty recipe for key lime pie. I found this recipe on the blog: thekitchensinkrecipes.com. I've made it countless times, and it's almost always a success, so definitely worth a try!

Key Lime Pie

crust:

11/4 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 Tbsp b. sugar

5 Tbsp melted butter

pinch of salt

filling:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

4 large egg yolks

zest of 2 key limes (or 3 for more ZING)

1/2 cup & 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

1 cup whipping cream (optional)

To make crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Stir together crust ingredients with fork and press mixture into a 9inch glass pie plate. Be sure to surround half way up side of pie plate.

3. Bake for 10 minutes and let cool.

Make filling:

1.Whisk together condensed milk and egg yolks in a bowl. Add lemon juice and zest. Whisk until well combined and thickened.

2. Pour filling into crust and bake for 15 minutes. Cool and let chill for 8 hours.

3.Whisk the cream and spread over the cooled pie. Sprinkle with lime zest.

ENJOY!