Posts by: Kelly
After the first bite of these mini pavlovas with blood orange curd, Pat pronounced them one of the best desserts he has ever had. I can’t make this stuff up folks! Given the crazy amount of time and effort that goes into making things like cakes and how easy these were to whip up, it’s safe to say I’ll be making pavlova more often!
In less than two weeks, residency placements will be announced, in a fun-but-terrifying “ceremony” held by the medical school. Basically, the residency placement process after medical school involves you making a ranking list of all the places you interviewed at, and the programs do the same of all the applicants that they interviewed. A giant computer locked in a super secret location (at least that’s how I envision it) combines all the data and spits out your perfect “match”. It sounds like speed dating, doesn’t it?
Matches are revealed on March 15th. The ceremony involves people opening their match letter and reading it out loud in front of the whole school. As someone who doesn’t like surprises, this sounds horrifying to me! I’m planning to open my letter in private with Pat instead, even if that makes me a wet blanket.
Mini Vanilla Bean Pavlovas
From Camille Styles
4 egg whites, at room temp – you can save the yolks for the curd recipe below
1 cup sugar, preferably superfine
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 vanilla bean
1. Beat room temperature egg whites on medium high until thick. With the motor running, add the sugar very slowly.
2. Add salt, cream of tartar and the seeds from vanilla bean. Continue beating on high until mixture is glossy and stiff peaks form.
3. Drop 8 scoops of mixture, about 1/2 cup each, onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use a spoon to make a well in the center of each meringue.
4. Bake for 2 hours at 200 degrees F. Turn the oven off and allow meringues to cool in the oven with the door ajar for 2 more hours.
Blood Orange Curd
From Domestic Fits
Blood orange zest from two blood oranges
1/2 cup blood orange juice, about 3 blood oranges
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. corn starch
1 whole egg plus three yolks
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1. Combine the zest, juices, sugar, cornstarch, and eggs in a small saucepan and whisk until combined. Add the butter and cook over medium/low heat. Whisk until thickened, about 10 minutes.
2. Allow to cook to room temp. You can refrigerate until ready to use, up to three days.
Mini Pavlovas with Blood Orange Curd
Mini Pavlovas
Blood Orange Curd
1 cup whipping cream
2 T. sugar
Blood oranges, for garnish
1. Whip the cream and sugar until it holds a soft peak.
2. Layer the homemade whipped cream and blood orange curd onto each mini vanilla bean pavlova.
3. Garnish with sliced blood oranges, if desired.
I have wanted to try a s’mores cupcakes recipe for so long! I’ve seen several recipes online for cupcakes with a chocolate base, but I really wanted to replicate my favorite cupcakes from Cupcakes a Go Go, a local bakery in Madison. Luckily, I came across a great recipe from Bon Appetit. I also loved that it had a chocolate ganache on top. I paired this with Martha Stewart’s marshmallow frosting recipe to create the ultimate s’mores cupcakes recipe!
These cupcakes will also be making an appearance on my wedding dessert table. So far the plan is Carrot Cake, Chocolate Cake with Caramel Buttercream, decorated sugar cookies, blueberry pie, and cheesecake! I can’t believe the wedding is less than three months away. There is still a lot to do, but I feel like I’m making great progress.
Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache
Adopted from Bon Appetit
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 15 whole crackers ground in processor)
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp
- 3/4 cups sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions
-
Line cupcake tin with paper liners. Combine graham cracker crumbs, flour, baking powder, and a pinch of salt in medium bowl.
-
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating to blend between additions. Add vanilla. Add graham-cracker mixturein 3 additions, alternating with milk, beginning and ending with graham-cracker mixture.
-
Divide batter among cupcake liners.
- Bake at 350F for 17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
-
Place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream just to boil in microwave or saucepan; pour over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute; stir until smooth. Cool ganache until lukewarm.
- Push apple corer about 1 inch into top of each cupcake; remove cake, forming hole. Pipe ganache into holes in cupcakes and spread two teaspoons of ganache over each cupcake.
Homemade Marshmallow Frosting
From Martha Stewart
Makes enough for 24 cupcakes
Ingredients:
- 8 egg whites
- 2 cups sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Directions
- Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan filled with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.
- Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.
S’mores Cupcakes Recipe
1. Cover graham cracker cupcakes with ganache, as above
2. Pipe homemade marshmallow frosting on each cupcake. I used a Wilton 1M tip but next time I will probably use an open large tip, like the Wilton 1A. I think it would toast a bit easier this way
3. Use a kitchen torch to “toast” the marshmallow frosting. Alternatively, you could use your broiler but you have to keep a very close eye on them as there is a very fine line between toasted and charred!
Because it was the closing weekend of the film festival, there wasn’t as much going on. It seems like most of the celebrities had already slipped town. This was definitely a disappointment, as I was absolutely convinced that I was going to run into Susan Sarandon and George Clooney. The biggest celebrity we saw was main actress from the most terrible doctor show on television right now (and that says a lot as most of them are pretty terrible), Mob Doctor. I just went to google it now, and it looks like it was canceled halfway through its first season.
We recovered from the disappointment by pretending that we were celebrities instead. Cue sunglasses, big cameras and headscarves:
“No photos please!”
Luckily, our friend Steve is a photographer, so we were able to take our own celebrity glamour shots:
I’m really photogenic, don’t you think?
All photos courtesy of Steven Knurr
Happy Monday! For whatever reason, I feel absolutely refreshed by a wonderful weekend and ready to tackle the week. That doesn’t happen that often!
By February, it always seems that winter has outstayed its welcome. One of my favorite things about winter is that citrus season. Although grapefruit are on the way out, there is still time to pick up a bag to make this amazing grapefruit sorbet recipe! It is the perfect mix of tart and sweet, and is absolutely refreshing. The color is absolutely stunning too! It’s enough to make me wax poetic.
I remember reading somewhere that if you put your citrus in the microwave for a few seconds before squeezing, it makes it easier to get every last bit of juice out. Of course, I forgot to try it, but let me know if you do and have any success!
Grapefruit Sorbet Recipe
Adopted from How Sweet Eats
Ingredients:
5 1/2 c. freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (from about 6 large grapefruit)
1 1/2 c. sugar
Directions:
1. Combine grapefruit juice and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and whisk until sugar dissolves, around 5-6 minutes.
2. Refrigerate for 25 minutes, or until chilled.
3. Pour the chilled mixture into your ice cream maker and churn according to the directions – for me, this was about 25 minutes.
4. After churning, pour into a container and freeze for 6-8 hours until frozen.
As a part of the residency interview process, I had a job interview at the children’s hospital in Salt Lake City. It just so happened to be the same weekend as the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, which was only 45 minutes away in Park City. The Sundance Film Festival has always been on my bucket list, so I knew I had to make it happen!
Pat was already out in Colorado skiing, so he drove to meet me in Salt Lake City. We were also joined by our friends, Holly and Steve. Thanks to some work rewards points, Holly was able to snag us a beautiful room at the Marriot Mountainside, at the base of the Park City Ski Resort! The best thing about the rooms is that they have full kitchens.
We decided to take full advantage of all the Mountainside had to offer. Before Pat left, I packed his car with the spices and dry ingredients to make several meals for us, as well as lots of snacks for when we were hitting the slopes! I don’t think the staff at the Marriott had seen anything like us. It took two hotel carts to unload Pat’s car – it was like the Beverly Hillbillies were moving in!
We had the last laugh though – we ate like kings all weekend! We stopped at the Costco in SLC and picked up a huge fillet of salmon, a 2.5 pound bag of spinach (!), blue cheese, eggs, and yogurt. This was enough food that we did not have to eat out all weekend. We had pomegranate-balsamic glazed salmon, turkey chili, egg scrambles, couscous, delicata squash and lots and lots of spinach! It became a running joke that the spinach bag refilled itself. Even though it felt like we had used so much of it, it never showed signs of emptying.
Our kitchen was stocked with bright yellow Fiestaware – isn’t it gorgeous? I had to suppress the urge to run out and buy a set as soon as we got home.
We also packed some homemade limoncello and some Wisconsin beer, anticipating that alcohol would be expensive and hard to come by.
We were able to see three films over the course of the weekend. They all turned out to be in the ‘Next’ category, which is reserved for up-and-coming filmmakers with small budgets. I wish I could say that our minds were blown by the films we saw, but unfortunately they all seemed to teeter on the brink of art and….what-the-heck?
Our favorite film was This is Martin Bonner, which won the audience favorite award. It tells the story of a man just out of prison and his mentor, Martin Bonner, as they both help each other get their lives back on track. It was definitely a gem.
The other two films – Computer Chess and I Used to Be Darker – were just a little too weird for our simple tastes.
Stay tuned for the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, Part II on Monday!
All photos courtesy of Steven Knurr
Pat and I ran the UW Running Club Valentine’s 5K last weekend. It is put on by the local university running club, and even though it’s an off season race, some of the fastest people in Madison turn out to run it. The bad weather definitely selects for a more hardcore group of runners! It was a little icy and a little windy, but I’ll take those conditions over Wisconsin’s humid and hot summer weather any day.
The race is set up as a team competition. Neither of us had our best race, but we still managed to take 8th place out of 54 teams. The fastest couple ran 17:51 and 16:05 races! That is so fast.
The price was right for the race – it cost only $8 for the two of us to get out their and check our off-season fitness. Time to get things in gear to be ready to race in May!
Here we are, tired but happy:
← Previous Entries
-
Let’s Stay in Touch!
-
Check Out My Lovely Sponsors!
