Here's To The New Year

New year, new you. Isn't that what they say? Dramatic, certainly, but I'm embracing the old adage this time around. 2013 literally flew by (anyone else feel the same way?) and with it my grand plans for the blog. I barely posted here all summer then fall came & went with hardly a peep. Hopefully that'll change in the coming year, helped along by a little elbow grease and more than a few ch-ch-changes headed my way in 2014. Career. Life. Everything. When it rains it pours, right?

I know every good blogger uses year-end moments like this to reflect on the past 12 months, but good blogger credentials haven't quite made it to my doorstep yet, and this year was eclipsed by one very momentous highlight: the birth of my niece Ailey. She's absolutely changed my family in such a profoundly positive way it's difficult to put into words. When she smiles, her little three-tooth grin just lights up a room. No matter how frequent the visit, you're always greeted with a face of pure wide-eyed joy. In 2014, if I accomplish nothing else besides learning how to eagerly anticipate life's new experiences with Ailey's sense of excitement, then whew boy everything's gonna be allllright. Thank you so much for reading and lots of warm wishes to each of you for a wonderful new year. xo

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Flourless Chocolate Cake

The prospect of making this cake intimidated the heck out of me. As still somewhat of a novice baker, I've yet to attempt anything "flourless" in the kitchen. The thought of missing so crucial an ingredient (even gluten free recipes call for some form of flour) gives me the heebee jeebees. So, what's a fearful baker who's conveniently home for the holidays to do? Call in the big guns: DAD. You might notice much older (and wrinklier?) hands in some of the pics; wouldn't want you thinking those were mine. To be perfectly honest, my dad baked this entire cake. I just supervised and annoyingly peeked over his shoulder the whole time snapping away. Does that make me a bad blogger? If so, what a delicious cheat and done only with the best of intentions. If you like chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, this cake is for you. Who needs flour?

We worked from an old, dusty recipe torn from the pages of a nondescript newspaper circa 1992, so I can't properly credit the original source, but a similar recipe can be found here.

Ingredients:

1 lb bittersweet chocolate or four 4 oz. bars (we used Ghirardelli's bars here)
2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/4 cup hazelnut liqueur (or coffee, almond, chocolate)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
7 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar


Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter a 9-inch springform pan, line with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. In a saucepan, simmer the bittersweet chocolate (broken up into pieces), butter, and the coffee liqueur. When the mixture is fully melted & smooth, stir in the vanilla extract and set aside to cool. While that's cooling, beat your eggs for several minutes until they're fluffy (don't worry if this takes a bit longer than you expect) and add the sugar. Combine chocolate mixture with the eggs/sugar and blend. Pour batter into pan and bake for one hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out virtually clean. Let cool in the pan, then loosen springform and remove. When the cake is fully cooled (we allowed it to sit overnight), dig out your sifter and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top. In a pinch, use a sieve for this step (amateur hour in this house!) and feel free to throw in a paper cutout of your favorite holiday shape to form the "blank space" in the center. We went with the obvious--a tree! Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

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Banana Chips

I made these banana chips weeks ago, deep in the black hole of my extended blog "vacation" from July-November, so they never made it on here. Today's the day! Apologies to those of you frantically searching for holiday recipes for the 5,378 parties you'll be attending/hosting over the next two weeks...banana chips are probably not the answer. But these little guys are delicious & super easy to make. With only two ingredients (who am I kidding this isn't even a real recipe): Bananas. Coconut Oil. Boom. Your non-festive holiday party snack ready to go.

Ingredients:

Three large bananas
Coconut Oil (or any kind of oil)

Directions:

Slice the bananas very thin, coat in oil, and spread evenly across a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 250° for about 2 hours, turning after 90 minutes. Let cool. The longer they cool, the crispier they become. If eaten right away (which I usually do), you'll have chewier "chips." Either consistency is equally yummy.

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Jennifer's Way Gluten-Free Bakery

I know I know, "gluten-free" is all the rage these days and only seems to grow trendier by the day with every celebrity endorsement (ahem, Gwyneth Paltrow). But with my recent diagnosis of Celiac disease,  I've struggled to adopt the gluten-free way of life, oftentimes feeling reluctant to embrace the trend and espouse its virtues a la the Gwyneths of the world. In large part because...I miss gluten foods. A lot. Pizza, cake, bread, cookies, the list could go on. I've had some luck in finding decently tasty gluten-free alternatives, or attempting a recreation in the kitchen, but it's hit or miss. Plus, the gluten-free versions never quite taste the same. So when I heard about Jennifer's Way Bakery, newly opened by actress Jennifer Esposito here in NYC, my hopes were low and doubts high.

Oh me of little faith. Skepticism quickly dissolved into elation at first blueberry muffin-filled bite. I mean, just look at this beauty...

When it comes to gluten-free baked goods, I find that most are either super bland & tasteless or chock full of sugar to over-compensate the lack of wheat flour. Happily, this time, with bases like almond flour and quinoa flour + whole natural ingredients, neither was the case!

Jennifer herself manned the cash register the day I visited (photo proof below!) and she personally bakes a good portion of their treats.

Plus, all items are organic/non-GMO and free of soy, dairy and refined sugar. Though your taste buds wouldn't know it. Everything I tried could stand on its own in a taste-off against a regular bakery any day. With gluten-free alternatives this sweet, I just might come around to the Gwyneth way of life. But with a lot less designer duds & quirkily named children.

P.S. for those of you outside NY, the bakery does ship their flour/pancake mixes and a few other items nationwide (through the website here) so go on--treat yoself!

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The Return Of The Blog

I'm back on the blogging train! Who can really say for how long, but I will say I'll make my best effort not to wander off again on an extended "vacation" for five months.  I know you might be assuming a lot of very important & life-changing events must have gone down over the past several months, gobbling up my time and keeping me from hanging out here. Welllll not quite. In a nutshell: my one year blog-iversary came and went unceremoniously, I celebrated turning twenty-nine not unceremoniously (the big 3-0 officially looms), took my first visit to the lovely and windy city of Chicago, made countless Minnesota trips for some quality niece time, was diagnosed with Celiac disease with many subsequent hours spent in the kitchen (homemade banana chips!), aaaand--for the grand finale--found out my company is closing its New York office in 2014. So if y'all know of an opportunity for a bright, young(ish) whippersnapper on the rise, well, I might know someone. All of this is to say, yes things have been busy, but not nearly as eventful as they should be to legitimatize a five-month hiatus. My apologies for leaving you hanging. So with the new year around the corner, I'm taking the opportunity now, on this unceremonious Tuesday in December, to make a virtual (and cliche) cheers: to new & unknown adventures in 2014. And to documenting them here on this little blog. At the risk of sounding like a broken untrustworthy record, see you back here soon! And, as always, thank you for stopping by.

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