Almond and Cherry Palmiers

Last year for my 25th birthday, Nolan took me to Paris. A month later we began looking for a house to start over. I don't think I fully appreciated either of those two thing--no, in fact, I know I did not. I think it was too hard to look ahead. Too easy to look behind at California and the mistakes we chose to make as two separate people. I took the easy way out; keeping a grudge close to my breast like an ingot that warms with my body heat.

I don't want to be like that anymore. 

We moved into our house in January and I am in silence for the majority of the day. I have a full-time job; working remote requires conference calls, but I choose to stay on mute. I keep the TV off and the dogs bark when the mailman comes and sleep in the sunlight the rest of the day. Because of this, my mind gets to wander.

Because of this, I think about escaping with Nolan again for a week. Getting lost in the archipelago of streetlamps that pain broken sidewalks in shades of yellow light. We talk about going to London this year, but we have a wedding to plan. We talk about going to Iceland and Spain and Mexico again. We do a lot of talking and planning and it's not a quiet house when he comes home.

I made these palmiers as a relic. A promise. A souvenir. An assurance of times to come. We'll be back in France and may spend our honeymoon in Lisbon. It's all up in the air, but I'm excited to see how the lots cast themselves when it all comes back down to earth.

Almond and Cherry Palmiers

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup white sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
• 1/4 cup dried cherries

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400* and line a baking sheet with a silicon mat or parchment paper
2. On a work surface, pour out a cup of sugar and your almonds, mix with hands to evenly distribute almonds
3. Press pastry on top of this and roll out until pastry is about an even 12" x 12" square (or as close as you can get)
4. Rub remaining sugar and cherries on top of the pastry
5. Take one side of your pastry and fold to the middle. Do with remaining side
6. Fold one half on top of the other
7. Cut into one-inch slices
8. Place and press slices onto baking sheet
9. Bake for 8 minutes or until edges are golden, turn over and bake an additional six minutes
10. Allow to cool and keep in an airtight container for up to three days (though the high butter content means these dry out quickly!)

Black Forest Bread Pudding

We recycle things around here. Some Christmas cards get framed, some shoe boxes store our spices. We recycle memories, getting two aunts confused in the same anecdote. When we are done with roast, it becomes soup. When the bread goes bad, it becomes dessert.

Last year I made a bread pudding for my mom, dedicated to her, really. Large chunks of sourdough and apples in a casserole dish. This year, I recycled once again. Those same thoughts, those same memories, that said love into another recipe. I used old stoneware mugs that were my grandmother's. I used bread my father had left on the counter, not bothering to throw it away while my mother worked doubles this week. I recycled a palate I know too well, chocolate and cherries and cream on top. We ate ours so quickly and asked if anyone else wanted seconds. 

I'm moving to a farm at the end of the month. Five acres with someone I love and three dogs to keep us busy. I'm making up for lost time, baking a few of my parents' favorite dishes to say thank you for taking me in this year.

Black Forest Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

• 1 loaf of hearty bread, slightly stale, cubed

• 5 eggs

• 1 ¼ cup white sugar

• 6 cups buttermilk

• 2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract, divided

• 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier

• ¼ cup cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon flaked sea salt

• 8 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or substitute this with dark chocolate chips)

• ½ cup maraschino cherries, roughly chopped + more to top

• 8 oz Vermont Creamery mascarpone

• ¼ cup confectioner’s sugar

• Chocolate sprinkles to top, if desired

Directions:

1. Put bread in a large bowl
2. In a separate bowl or measuring cup, whisk together eggs and sugar until light and combined
3. Continue whisking and add buttermilk, 1 ½ TB vanilla, Grand Marnier, cocoa powder, and salt. Whisk until ingredients are completely combined with no lumps
4. Now, slowly pour your wet ingredients over your bread, turning with a rubber spatula to get all of your bread moistened
5. Add chocolate and cherries and stir to combine
6. Cover loosely and allow to rest for 30 minutes
7. While your mixture is resting, preheat oven to 325*F and prepare your pan with a liberal amount of butter. I used stoneware mugs, but any pan can do (this recipe is very forgiving in this way)
8. When 30 minutes have expired, divide your mixture for your baking vessels. This recipe puffs up slightly, so I suggest filling until you reach a half inch from the top. If you are using mugs or smaller vessels, place on a cookie sheet for easy transportation
9. Bake for 35 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Begin checking at the 30 minute mark for smaller pans/mugs and you may go well into 45 minutes for larger vessels
10. While dish is baking, whisk together mascarpone, confectioner’s sugar, and remaining vanilla until well combined. If you would like to cut the sweetness, add a pinch of salt (to your taste)
11. When bread pudding is done baking, allow to cool before assembling
12. To assemble: top with mascarpone mixture, a couple cherries, and some chocolate sprinkles. Enjoy immediately (while delicious, this recipe does not last longer than a two days)

This post was inspired by Vermont Creamery, who excel at making quality dairy products. In this recipe I used their mascarpone to top these bad boys, which is an Italian-style cream cheese (but is way more flavorful than cream cheese and is super versatile!). Check out their website, Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter for more information. Thank you, Vermont Creamery!

COOKIE EXCHANGE!

There are many things I love about the holidays, but at the top of my list is baking cookies with my mother. Now that I am home, this will be at the top of my list. Two years ago, she taught me how to make candies from her shop. This year, we will be baking at my sister's, balancing a baby in one hand and a cookie tray in another.

These Cornmeal and Cherry Shortbread Cookies are the first of many cookies that I'll be baking here soon. They're a taste of home, and one that I have used a couple times before (here and here). I didn't want to reinvent the wheel, but I wanted to share my world with Rachel of Bakerita, as part of our blogger cookie exchange that was coordinated by one of my absolute FAVORITE blogger friends, Rebecca of Displaced Housewife. See the rest of those participating by following the hashtag #holidaycookieparty2016 on Instagram!

Cornmeal and Cherry Shortbread Cookies

Makes roughly 18 cookies, depending on your cutter size.

Ingredients:

• 16 TB unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cup AP flour
• 1/2 cup fine cornmeal 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 TB dried cherries
• 12 oz good quality white chocolate, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper
2. In a food processor, pulse together butter, sugars, flour, cornmeal, and salt until it is fine and crumbly
3. Dump out onto a floured work surface and knead in dried cherries
4. Pat into a rectangle
5. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out until dough is about 3/4 inch thick
6. Cut into desired shapes and transfer shapes onto your prepared baking sheet
7. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden and edges are only slightly browned
8. Allow to cool, then dip in chocolate and sprinkle with a bit of white sugar or salt
9. Can be kept for up to 5 days or a week in an airtight container

And here is the list of everyone else participating this year!

Wife Mama Foodie | Gluten Free Icebox Cookie

Now Forager | Vanilla Bean Marshmallow & Pink Peppercorn Shortbread Cookies

DisplacedHousewife | Chocolate Peppermint Crinkles

Tutti Dolci | Brown Butter Chai Snickerdoodles

The Daley Plate | Romany Creams

Cloudy Kitchen | Anzac Biscuits

The Beach House Kitchen | Double Chocolate Peppermint Sugar Cookies

Vanilla and Bean | Cocoa Nibby Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Chez LaRae | White Rollout Cookies

Husbands That Cook | Apple Cider Snickerdoodles

Rainy Day Bites | Melody Cookies

Bakeritablog | Brown Butter Shortbreads With Dark Chocolate

The Jam Lab | Thandai Shortbread Cookies

Katie Clova | Espresso Caramel Thumbprint Cookies

Food Fashion Party | Stuffed Shortbread Cookies

My Kitchen Love | Chocolate Toffee Shortbread

No Crumbs Left | Peanut Butter Blossoms

Cherry and Beer Poptarts

When I was 7, I got my first pair of glasses. My brother cried because he said I didn’t look the same. We haven’t spoken in three years.

When I was 17, I moved out. Went to college, rode the train. When I was 17, I had my first boyfriend; the string of inconsistencies that have allowed me to know who I am through a process of elimination. When I was 17, I got lost in downtown Pittsburgh, throwing up in alleyways and walking back to campus. The next day, I got my lip pierced. I think to show others I could be tough, even if I couldn’t grow facial hair or hold my liquor.

At 18, I stayed in Italy. I worked at a gas station to pay for my ticket. My mom kept the apron for when she cleans the house. I didn’t keep in touch with those I lived with abroad. I didn’t see a point. They saw me as a child who shaved his head and smoked short cigarettes. I think I spent that time convincing myself I didn’t need anyone. I moved back to Pennsylvania December 16th. I started dating my boyfriend on January 1.

In May, he went to China and I got my first tattoo. I didn’t need him for anything. A small act of rebellion, small needles and antiseptic smell mixed with the blood-rust under the cottonball.

I tanned before moving to California, still wore a lot of black, still smoked a lot of cigarettes. I drank juice and coffee; I ate candy during law school finals.

Got more tattoos, lost a job.

Moved to Texas, put to roses on my arm.

Moved back to California, fell in and out of love. Fell in and out of a understanding of what I wanted, but I know I wanted out.

This time I got the word “eleven” tattooed on my arm for my dad. It was his baseball number. They retired it when he graduated from South Ripley County, Indiana.

And last week I got a nose ring. I’m 24 and still changing things. Still speaking through layers of performance, latent cues and failed attempts at seeming aloof. That’s the beauty of being so young still—I have grown accustomed to being someone else and somehow all the iterations of that person are all still me.

And today I was someone who created photo backgrounds, who propped the board up with an old coffee mug from my week in Belgium. I was someone who made poptarts, handpies, whatever you want to call it—like I used to when I was six and the world was blurry and my skin unblemished.

Cherry and Beer Poptarts

Ingredients for the crust:

• 8 TB unsalted butter, very cold
• 6 TB shortening, very cold
• 2 cup AP flour
• 1 cup almond meal
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• ¼ to ½ cup ice water

Ingredients for the filling:

• 2 cups cherries, pitted and halved
• ½ cup brown sugar, dark
• ¼ cup beer, any variety (can sub red wine if you’d like)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 TB lemon or orange zest
• Juice from half a lemon or ¼ of an orange
• A slurry of cornstarch (1 TB cornstarch whisked in 1 TB water) – do not make until cherries are reduced by hal

Directions for crust:

1. In a food processor, pulse together butter, shortening, flour, almond meal, and white sugar until fats are pea-sized
2. Add vanilla extract and pulse once or twice
3. With motor running, pour ¼ cup of water into feeding tube in a gradual stream until a dough forms. You may need an additional couple teaspoons of ice water until dough clumps and begins to pull away from edges of the bowl
4. Turn out onto a floured work surface and divide into two discs
5. Wrap both discs in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to res

Directions for filling:

1. In a medium sauce pan, combine cherries, sugar, beer, salt, and lemon, stir with a spoon to ensure liquid is covering everything
2. On medium heat, allow for cherries to release their juices and for sugar to dissolve
3. Continue heating until juices simmer and reduce by half (during this time, whisk together your slurry)
4. Reduce heat to low and vigorously whisk in the slurry
5. Mixture will begin to thicken and continue thickening as it cool

Assembly:

1. Preheat your oven to 400*F
2. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper
3. Take one disc of dough out of the fridge and roll out onto a heavily-floured work surface into a rough rectangle that is about 12” by 10” (this will vary slightly, so don’t stress it too much)
4. Using a sharp knife, cut your dough into rectangles. For a guide, I actually used a 3”x4” index card, but you can measure with a ruler if you so choose
5. With each rectangle, carefully place onto your prepared baking sheets. You should have 9 rectangles total (if using the very scientific Index Card Method)
6. Now, re-flour your board and roll out your second disc of dough
7. Measure and cut your rectangles out again, but do not immediately place on your sheets
8. At this point, you will have to do three things in succession: make an egg wash to brush edges of the dough, spoon in some of your cherry filling onto each rectangle (I’d say about 2 TB per pie, but this is based on preference mostly), and place second top dough layer on top
9. Do this for each pie
10. Crimp the edges of each pie with a fork, pressing slightly to seal
11. Brush tops of pies with remaining egg wash and sprinkle with a little sugar
12. Using a paring knife, cut a couple small nicks in the top crust to vent dough
13. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and tops
14. Allow to cool completely before adding your topping (my glaze was ½ cup confectioner’s sugar, 4 TB half and half, and 1 TB vanilla extract, then topped with almond slices and sprinkles)
15. Can be kept for up to 3 days in an airtight container, but I like them served warm.

Nathan Miller Chocolate: A Tour, a Recipe, a Takeover

Life works in funny ways, it has a sense of humor. I thought I was too good for everything Pennsylvania offered; so I left. I found myself trying my damnedest to recreate it any chance I had. I found a Steelers jersey at a Goodwill once in San Diego. I bought it on the spot.

I thought the Laurel Highlands and the Cumberland Valley were relics, stale, stagnant. I thought I had created a mythology around them. I feared it on the plane, when the wheels hit the tarmac, when my dad picked me up in his Pathfinder. I worried I had missed something that never existed. That I had become a refugee to my wild imagination. That my mother never loved me. That the effervescent greenery would wear me down. That there would be nothing for me to come back to in Pennsylvania.

But there was. There was a community. Whether you spend your time hanging out in gas stations or ice cream stands, there was a community I came back to. And when I drove US-30 to get to Chambersburg last Sunday, I felt that community grow.

I visited a chocolate factory. My community grew while I was there. I began to understand more about the products I love. I passed farmland and barbecue to get there and everything felt satisfyingly familiar. I questioned why I had left Pennsylvania, wasting money and years and friendships trying to leave a place I’ve loved for so long.

I visited a chocolate factory last week. Nathan Miller Chocolate invited me to see the entire bean-to-bar process in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. We toured the café, we toured the factory, too. We saw how the beans were sorted and smelled their earthy burlap sacks. Large slabs of chocolate and delicate bars being wrapped. Vats of chocolate with 55% buttermilk. Small tasting spoons weren’t enough and I bought 3 bars. I learned the difference between South American chocolates. I learned how professionals wrapped their bars. I learned everything I could and couldn’t wait to go back. For another day, another road trip. Any chance I had to see the beauty that’s in every pocket of Pennsylvania. Five years ago I left and never thought I’d see an artisan chocolate factory in rural Pennsylvania. But I’m so glad it’s there, waiting to be discovered. Waiting to share with you.

Check out the gallery above and the video of my tour during my FeedFeed takeover. You can also visit Nathan Miller Chocolate on their website, their instagram, Twitter, and their Facebook. These lovely bars are also available on Food52, because they’re just THAT gorgeous.

And speaking of FeedFeed, I am an editor over at the Nostalgic Desserts feed and it is one of my favorite things as a food blogger that I get to do. My community has grown and I have grown with it. I'm different than I was 5 years ago. I'm more me than ever before.

Happy Tuesday.

Black Forest Scones

With the Nathan Miller Cherry Pretzel bar, I was inspired to make these scones. You can view me making them in-action in the video below as well.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 TB white vinegar
• 1 TB vanilla
• 1 chocolate bar, pulsed until crumbs
• 2 1/2 cup flour, plus more if it is a sticky dough for you
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder, highest quality you can get
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 TB shortening, cold
• 4 TB unsalted butter, cold
• 2 cup whipped cream (I made mine from scratch, adding Gran Marnier as I had some leftover)
• 2 cup cherries, halved and pitted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450*F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Combine milk, vinegar, and vanilla in a cup and refrigerate while you prepare the remainder of the dough
3. In a food processor, combine chocolate flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pulse a few times to combine
4. Add fats and pulse 6-8 times until pea-sized and combined into flour mixture
5. Get your milk mixture from the fridge. With the motor of the food processor running, slowly pour in the milk mixture
6. Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and pat into a round
7. Cut into 8 triangles
8. Place onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 14-18 minutes, they will be done when firm and browned on the edges (but not burnt!)
9. Allow to cool from oven, top with whipped cream and cherries and enjoy!