spoon lickers

Cornbread, from a skillet!

We got a cast iron skillet (for the frying of okra which I still can’t perfect like the Frozen and pre-battered kind they sell in Arkansas), and it’s time to make Mother’s cornbread.

Here you go, just mix all this shit together:

• 1 cup cornmeal (Mother says white)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup buttermilk [I did not have any and was NOT about to go buy some.  Someone on the Internets said you can “make” it by adding 1 tablespoon of distilled vinegar to 1 cup of milk.  I did.]
• 2 eggs

Mother said to use “cooking grease” on the skillet, but I live in California and I believe that is against the law.  I forgot this step anyway.

While all that is getting the shit mixed out of it, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Put your (10 in) skillet into the oven and get it all hot and smokey because when you pour that corny batter in, that’ll make sure to give it a crunchy edge.

And don’t burn yourself.  You’ll look like a fool.

Bake that for 30 minutes or so.  Check it though, because no two ovens are alike.

-Charlie

GET 30: brown sugar cake with nutella buttercream

does this look like a happy customer or what?!

march is birthday month at spoon lickers, and this one was a biggie: my buddy stefan (pictured, morning after!) turned 30, and threw a big bash to celebrate.

in honor of the big 3-0, thought i’d try something new.  fellow (and now new orleans bound!) spoon licker lauren inspired me to attempt one of the better treannovations (treat innovation?  yes/no?) i’ve ever encountered: NUTELLA BUTTERCREAM

for my first (it will not be the last!) attempt i used the peanut butter buttercream recipe from my elvis cupcakes, and swapped peanut butter for nutella.  

a note about this:  you will need A LOT more nutella than the recipe calls for peanut butter.  you’d think nutella would hold up just as well, but if you want it to taste more like nutella than chocolate, just DUMP THAT ISH IN!  seriously, i used half a jar, and i don’t think it was enough.  

delicious though it turned out, this may not be the butter cream recipe most conducive to nutella… experiments will ensue!

ON TO THE CAKE: 

after much deliberation, i settled on yet another new recipe, a brown sugar cake lifted from adventures in the kitchen

from the looks of this photo, i feared the cake would be less like birthday cake and more like pound cake.  and here is where the EXCITING BAKING SCIENCE portion of this post begins!

i noticed this recipe was very similar to the “pure” cake, with the exception of the flour. while the “pure” cake calls for self rising cake flour, this brown sugar cake just calls for regular flour with a dash of salt and baking powder.

remembering my self-rising flour science from our dear old aunt jemima, i decided to throw caution to the wind and added an additional 3 teaspoons of baking powder, and 1 teaspoon of salt (the equivalent of 2 cups of flour).

out of the oven the cakes were a bit fragile and crumbly around the edges, but very moist:

still, they stacked pretty easy, and with enough frosting all the crumblies disappeared:

just how good is this cake?  

so good ny darlings CAVEMAN were spotted chomping leftovers on set ONE WEEK LATER: 

this cake just keeps on giving!

HAPPY 30 STEFAN!  

xx

alexandra

Chocolatehoneycakewithchocolatehoneyglaze, whatever.

We made Chocolate Honey Cake* this weekend.  I did not put those fucking obnoxious bees on it, nor was I clean in the glazing**.  I prefer a “I just dumped this shit out” look.  Eat it, Nigella.

*We did not have a springform cake pan on hand, so we split it between two 8inchers and baked it for really only 35 minutes.

**So sticky.

-C

BIRTHDAY PALOOZA CAKE!

for the past seven years, buddies nate and miguel have celebrated their birthdays with a huge blowout affectionately known as BIRTHDAY PALOOZA.  every march, friends fly in from around the globe (even nate himself, from berlin!) for the festivities, which are nothing short of dionysian.

i’ve said it before, and i’ll say it again: every birthday must have cake!

my first thought was to do cupcakes. single servings are more party friendly, so i started looking for recipes from my favorite bakeries in new york. 

i settled on a recipe from sweet revenge, an amazing little spot in the village that offers wine and beer pairings for each cupcake flavor. only then did it occur to me that i only own one cupcake pan, baking in rounds is too time consuming, and carrying dozens of cupcakes deep into the belly of clinton hill by one’s self is insanely impractical.

though my sister insists otherwise, i maintain that cupcakes are for all intents and purposes mini cakes.  it follows that a cake is but a giant cupcake.  by that logic i saw no reason i shouldn’t just pour this cupcake batter into cake pans.  and that’s exactly what i did.

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MONKEY BREAD

I will make this for every brunch I ever host or attend, from now until forever.

Whoa!  That’s an intense photo.  Well, this is an intense treat.  You know the inner-most piece of a cinnamon roll, the doughiest, gooiest, highest-ratio of coating-to-bread-iest part?  Pile 64 of those morsels into a bundt pan, and you’ve got Monkey Bread.  And in this case, the sum is even greater than its parts.  See all that goo dripping into the center?  The rivulets of goo running through the crevices?  And this is before the cream cheese glaze entered the picture.

Monkey Bread Recipe

Notes:

1) I added probably 1/3 cup of extra flour because my dough was crazy runny.  Add yours in smaller increments, just to be careful.  Even after it was thoroughly incorporated, the dough was way sticky.  Once it rose for an hour, though, it became very elastic and easy to work with.  So— add enough flour that the dough comes together— but sticky is okay!

2) Finding the best method to slice my dough into 64 pieces was a troubleshoot.  Sorry if it’s obvious, but here’s what worked for me:  I took a small, very sharp paring knife to cut the dough-square into 8 strips.  DRAG the knife as you cut from top to bottom, THEN separate the strips.  Any other technique mangled the dough.  Once you have your 8 strips, use the same technique to hack the strips into 8 chunks.  Then roll ‘em into balls.

3) When coating the dough balls, I suggest using one spoon to roll it in the melted butter, and then a separate spoon to roll it in the brown sugar cinnamon mixture.  (Otherwise, your butter will get thick and sugary, and your sugar will get thick and goopy— not conducive to even rolling.)  I also recommend at least an extra half cup of brown sugar than the recipe calls for— I was generous with the coating, and why shouldn’t you be?  Look at that damn result.

4) SERVE IT WARM.  SERVE IT WARM!  It will blow people’s minds.

Jenny

spoon lickers does shabbat: salty vs cinnamon buns

apologies for the horrifyingly belated post. not to be conceited, but this one is worth the wait.

as jenny so beautifully (and punctually) recounted, a few of us spoon lickers gathered and feasted in jewish celebration last week.  though there are now a few of us in new york, the founding fathers are all based in different cities, so we seized the opportunity of jenny’s visit to share the same kitchen.

jenny, as far as i am concerned, is a champion of yeast (as evidenced by her amazing challah bread!), so i decided to take advantage of her expertise, face my fears, and conquer the CINNAMON BUNS OF CHRISTMAS PAST.

as is always the case of my kitchen adventures, directions were misread or ignored, and unforeseen obstacles were faced before these puppies came out:

trials, tribulations and a photo diary of kitchen tomfoolery after the jump!

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Red Velvet Cake for no reason

We made a red velvet cake just to make a red velvet cake (and then brag about it).

I don’t have the recipe, but it came from this book which is better than the Bible.  What I can tell you is that it is a-okay to make the cake at Midnight, leave it on the counter after passing out in front of the TV from watching Fleetwood Mac: The Dance, and assemble it the next morning for breakfast.

-C

Fingerlick’d Pork ribs

While all those east coast folks were enjoying their Jew-food, I was over in the west making the most Southern, Gentile-iest heaping of meat I could think of for a large group of friends: Baby Back Ribs.  Happy President’s Day!

The craving began when my mother sent me an article on how to cook ribs in the oven.  GOODNESS, SO EASY.

I couldn’t take a picture fast enough.

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Shabbat Brunch by the Spoonlickers

I present to you Shabbat brunch by the Spoonlickers:

I believe that Alex and Brian have a more complete documentation of the process— I, however, only took a photo of the final glorious product.

The egg dish was a tribute to the “fresh ricotta and eggs” at Hot Chocolate in Chicago, which I believe to be quite possibly the best breakfast sandwich ever to grace the Earth.  Ours was adapted to be open-face atop a chunky slice of challah, but the rest was pretty true to the original: a slather of herbed-up fresh ricotta cheese (DECADENCE!), roasted tomatoes on top of that, a touch of arugula, then a fried egg on top which we hoped would wilt the greens, but it didn’t really (and it was still good).  So here’s how each component went down, from the bottom of the sandwich to the top.

1) CHALLAH

The challah recipe came from our heroine Deb over at Smitten Kitchen. I’ve made it about four times, and it never fails.  My only note on that recipe is that the baking time seems to be a bit under 30 minutes, rather than the 30-40 Deb suggests.  I left mine in for 30 minutes this time around, and the crust was ever so slightly burnt— no no— overly caramelized.  Yeah.  Then, I cut it into thick slices.

2) RICOTTA

Brian found fresh ricotta at an Italian grocer in the neighborhood.  I bet it can be found at any higher end grocery store, though.  We mixed in some dried oregano, rosemary, salt, and pepper, plus some garlic paste.  All to taste.

3) TOMATOES

We roasted Roma tomatoes with olive oil and salt at 450 for about 40 minutes, then pinched off the skins.  When they cooled, I cut off the core end and sliced them into halves.

4) ARUGULA

Arugula.

5) EGGS

We did these up sunny-side runny-yolk style.  That way the challah catches all the goop and it ends up damn tasty!

Served on the side we had a sweet potato hash, courtesy of Liza Shore, though I’m not sure where she got that recipe.  I’m going to guess it’s from her stint as a chef’s assitant at the Chopping Block.  That recipe is as follows:

6) SWEET POTATO HASH

1 lb red potatoes, medium dice
1 sweet potato, medium dice
1/4 lb canadian bacon, small dice
1 leek, washed and sliced
1 red pepper, medium dice
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 T sage
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Chop the bacon into pieces and cook through.  Remove bacon from pan, leaving the fat.  Add the
potatoes, sweet potatoes, and leeks to the pan, along with some extra butter and olive oil, and cook about 10 minutes, then cover and cook an additional 10. Add the red peppers and garlic and cook until the whole thing is soft and browned, about 20 more minutes.  Add the sage and season to taste with salt and pepper.

7) MINTY BERRY SALAD

Mixed berries.  Chopped mint.  Toss.

8) JERUSALEM SALAD

Halved grape tomatoes, sliced seedless cucumber, chopped flat leaf parsley, olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Toss.

NOT PICTURED:  ALEX’S CINNAMON ROLLS! They were, how shall I say… “to die for.”  Even considering that I forced her to bake them before they finished their final rise.  Sorry Alex.  Except not!  I really wanted to eat those cinnamon rolls before I had to leave the country!  Sorry!

***EDIT: ONE BUN!

Wow, was this a fun cooking/eating experience.

There was also an epic game of Jenga that I will never forget as long as I live.

Shabbat Shalom, everyone!  Let’s do it again soon!

Jenny

Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate and Cinnamon

So… I’m way late with this. I made this pie last Sunday for our own Lu and Carmine’s Southern Fried Super Bowl Bonanza and I’m just finding the time now to post. Weak, I know. That said I am pretty proud of my maiden voyage into the wild world of spoon licking. The pie came out nicely. I got the recipe from The Art and Soul of Baking.

To begin, here’s me holding my first homemade pie crust.

I made it by crushing the bejesus out of some chocolate wafers, adding a little melted butter, shaping to the dish and baking for a couple minutes. Magnifique, no? All the while my beautiful assistant was beginning the banana cream.

There was a forgotten step in the execution which may have been clutch. I was supposed to melt some chocolate down to a ganache-type-thing and coat the pie crust with it. My guess is that it would have been great because chocolate ganache is great. Also, it would have held the crust in place better. I bet it would have added a little bit of crispness, maybe even crunch, right there in the middle where you least expect it. Mmmm…

The banana cream was simple enough; ripe bananas, whipped cream, vanilla, some cinnamon, mix it up… It tasted (and I think this was a good thing) like a banana cream rice pudding, which I attributed to the addition of the cinnamon. It was special.

Entering the home stretch, we whipped up some cream which (who knew?) makes whipped cream, put her on top of the business, smoothed it out and topped that off with chocolate shavings and chocolate cookie crumbs. Boom. Pie. Done.

If anyone would like a more detailed layout of the recipe, I will gladly provide that. This wasn’t in my opinion a very challenging recipe, and it was fun in that no steps required store bought Jello brand pie filling and we got to make everything. If it were a true blue Banana Cream Pie we had been looking for though, this would not have been it. And for that, I must give this recipe a 7 out of 10. Very good, but not great. Here’s one last photo.

Dan