Earl Grey and Honey Cake

Now that the summer heat is starting to subside a bit, I've had a craving to start baking again. Since I'm a big tea drinker, as my blog title suggests, I decided to make a tea based cake! I found a recipe for earl grey and honey cake, which sounds quite delicious since earl grey is one of my favorite black teas.

This cake was a no brainer because all I needed to buy to make it was earl grey tea. I know, I was surprised that I didn't have any myself, but I tend to go through black tea quickly. There is a double dose of earl grey tea in the batter, both steeping tea bags in butter and milk as well as adding the tea leaves directly into the dry ingredients. The aroma when the tea was steeping made me very excited for the final result.

The cake didn't rise quite as much as I expected that it would in the oven, but it looked great in the end. After taking the cake out of the pan, I brushed on the syrupy earl grey glaze to keep it moist and it looked beautiful.

I would definitely recommend making the cake if you love earl grey since the flavor is strong, but delicious. What will you be baking this summer as it eases into fall? Let me know in the comments!

Cronuts!

I can now say that I've tried a cronut. You're probably wondering if the wait was worth it, and I'm here to tell you that it was! I don't think I'll be doing it every month to try each new flavor, but the experience itself was a lot of fun.

Matt and I met up with two of our friends nice and early at 6:20am on Saturday, went for a run from the New York Public Library down to Dominique Ansel Bakery, and got in line around 6:45am. The one hour 15 minute wait went pretty quickly, especially when we were given a lemon madeleine to enjoy halfway through. We were informed that the flavor for June is a strawberry balsamic and mascarpone filled cronut, rolled in basil sugar, and topped with strawberry glaze. My mouth was already watering.

Once the clock struck 8, we started moving forward! They only let in a certain number of people at one time, so we had to wait for the first group to clear out before making our way inside. Once we were in, we were able to witness the cronut assembly as the line slowly moved forward. 

You're allowed two cronuts per person, so of course we went for this option. In addition to our cronuts, we also got a DKA, which stands for Dominique’s Kouign Amann. The bakery website describes it as a tender, flaky, croissant-like dough with a caramelized crunchy crust.

We found a table on the back outdoor patio, and settled in to enjoy our tasty treats. The cronut had a good balance between flaky and doughy, without being too dense. The strawberry jam and mascarpone filling were sweet and creamy. All in all, the cronut was a very satisfying treat!

Let me know in the comments section if you get the chance to go to Dominique Ansel bakery and try the cronut yourself! 

Vanilla Chia Pudding

I'm so happy that we're finally feeling the sunshine in NYC! It's been a rough winter and I can't wait for spring and summer to get here. So many things to look forward to, especially the 10K I'm training for on Memorial Day! Matt and I have started working out again and we're trying to be very health conscious, but of course that doesn't mean I can get rid of sweets in my life completely. I just need to be a bit more crafty about what to make to satisfy my sweet tooth. I saved this recipe for vanilla chia pudding on Foodgawker a long time ago, but never got around to making it. Finally I decided to give it a try because it's both healthy and a little bit sweet!

This is probably one of the easiest recipes I've ever made. Three ingredients - vanilla almond milk, chia seeds and vanilla extract. How much easier can it get? After mixing up the ingredients, I put it in the fridge and stirred the mixture every 10 minutes for the first 30 minutes to avoid clumping. Afterwards, I just left it in the fridge overnight to thicken up and voila, you're done!

I left out the maple syrup so I could see what it tasted like without any extra sweetness. I think when I make it again, I would add in a little syrup because it wasn't as sweet as I would have liked. I did chop up strawberries and each bite was delicious from the sweetness of the fruit. There are so many options of fruit toppings - I'm thinking raspberries or mango next time. What would you mix into your pudding? Let me know in the comments section!

Champagne Risotto

Happy three day weekend to all my lovely readers! I'm so happy that today is still my Saturday since I don't have to go to work tomorrow! I had a productive morning, running a 10 mile relay race with two girlfriends in Prospect Park. I definitely wasn't prepared for the cold - 20s with wind - I thought my toes were going to fall off! I was happy to have a delicious post race lunch - pulled pork sandwich, fries and a beer to wash it down.

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day as well! Matt and I cooked dinner at home and watched Rush, which was a really good movie. I would definitely recommend checking it out! Our dinner menu was comprised of bruschetta, champagne risotto and chocolate cake, with a lemon raspberry champagne cocktail to finish off the night.

The champagne risotto was definitely the star of the evening. After blanching the asparagus in the chicken broth and cooking down the shallot, the time intensive (but completely worth it!) creation of this dish could really begin. I was glad to have some extra chicken broth since I ended up needing more than three cups to cook the rice enough without being too chewy.

The absolute best part of this dish had to be the crispy prosciutto. I've had prosciutto on its own, or with figs, but never cooked to a crisp. The crunch, the smoky bacon flavor...I could go on forever. I'm going to have to find ways to incorporate this into other dishes, or maybe I'll start sprinkling it on top of all pasta dishes. I think that's the right way to go!

Matt approves!

The risotto turned out wonderfully. The dish was creamy and pepper-y, with a crunch and freshness from the asparagus and smoky crunch from the prosciutto. If you're willing to put in the time for this dish, you'll be so happy with the outcome!

Poached Pear Olive Oil Cake

You're all going to fall in the love with this beautiful, easy to make poached pear olive oil cake. I loved the cake so much that I made it twice within a few weeks! I may be hiding the reason why I made it twice since that's usually not my style. Here's the real story:

I was writing a blog post so I had to upload pics from my memory card onto my laptop. After I had finished my post, a few hours passed and I decided I wanted to bake something. I had already bought the pears for this recipe so I got to work. I was taking some great pictures of the cake before and after it went into the oven, really loving my shots. I was so excited to blog about this recipe! Well, maybe an hour or so later, it all of a sudden hits me that I never put my memory card back into my camera. All of those lovely pictures never even existed. I definitely went to bed angry that night.

So here we are, with cake number two. This cake could not be easier to make. The pears are cooked in sugar water for about five minutes to soften them up and add a little extra sweetness. The cake batter was quick to whip up in my food processor. Just like that, I'm ready to put everything together and stick this bad boy in the oven.

The big lesson I learned from the first time I made this was not to overfill the loaf pan. I had too much batter and filled it almost to the top, which led to a lot of burning batter on the bottom of my oven. The second time around, I used the extra batter to make individual cakes in my muffin pan...yum! This cake is really tasty on its own, a refreshing lemon flavor coming out from the lemon juice and zest added to the batter.

This one turned out much better looking than the first since I had some trouble getting it out of the loaf pan before. The cake just looks so beautiful once you cut into it. Each piece has a cross-sectional slice of pear and this moist, citrus-y olive oil cake that perfectly compliments the mild sweetness of the pear. I highly recommend you try this cake right away...you won't be disappointed!

Dried Cherry and Orange Peel Bark

Wow, it has been such a whirlwind during the last few weeks! Our two week vacation started with a week in North Carolina, a wedding in Tampa, and a week lounging on the beach and drinking out of coconuts in the Dominican Republic - it was just what we needed. It felt like we had been gone for a month, with all of our flight hopping to new places. After all the traveling, we were happy to come back to New York and get in the holiday spirit!

Hello DR!

We bought our Christmas tree the day after we got back to jump right in! Decorating the tree, listening to Christmas music, and having a Home Alone night (large cheese pizza and Coca Cola are a must!) kicked us right into holiday mode - especially with some snow last Sunday evening!

I got even more into the Christmas spirit during my book club. We decided to have a favorite things gift exchange, where you bring three of your favorite thing (all the same item), draw names, and hand out your gifts to your friends while explaining why they are your favorite thing. My favorite thing was a hand painted mug and a box of English Breakfast tea! We had a great time, complete with wine, prosecco, and of course, a holiday spread of delicious goodies!

I had a busy week so I knew I wanted to make an easy, but delicious sweet treat. And what's easier or better than holiday bark?! There are limitless combinations of chocolate and toppings to make any type of holiday bark you fancy. 

Bark before going in the fridge to harden

I knew I didn't want to go with the classic white chocolate and peppermint, so I looked for a recipe with dark chocolate and pops of flavor. I found a great recipe for dried cherry and orange peel bark that was beyond easy to make.

After I melted a pound of semisweet chocolate, I poured it into a 9 x 13 casserole dish covered in parchment paper (a baking sheet of the same size would also work - I just didn't have one that size). I then added zest from one orange and 1/4 cup of chopped dried cherries evenly on top. I wanted to add a little extra crunch element so I toasted some slivered almonds, chopped them up a little, and sprinkled them on top too.

After firming up the bark in the fridge for at least an hour (I did mine for about 1.5 to 2 hours), you can break it apart into random shapes. The flavor is really great - the chocolate is sweet and a little bitter, the almonds add a nice crunch and nuttiness, and the dried cherries add a chewy element and sweetness. The best ingredient by far was the orange zest. The touch of citrus and acidity really made all of the elements of the bark really come together. I highly recommend bringing this to your next holiday get together - it will definitely be a hit!