MOLLY YEH WROTE A COOKBOOK: "Molly on the Range", Scallion Pancake Challah, and Paris

I went to Paris last week for my 25th birthday. I brought one bag with me. One suit, one coat, one pair of sunglasses, and one book that I had gotten in the mail a day before I left for BWI. Molly sent me her new book, Molly on the Range, and I flipped through it from my middle seat on my way to Iceland. I tucked it carefully in my bag while we tried to navigate through Charles de Gaulle. It sat on the coffee table and in the mornings when we sipped our espresso, I would read a recipe, excited to explore her story through food, to see inside her world a little more. Somehow, having her book there, it was like having a friend to greet me in this new city each day.

I’ve followed Molly’s blog (my name is yeh) for years now and I am constantly inspired by her balance of personality, wit, charm, and talent. Her blog has a way of never seeming voyeuristic; but, instead, always invitational, always friendly. It’s genuine, non-practiced. It’s heartfelt. It’s effervescent. It’s a damn good blog and the success she has gained is earned and deserved.  And this book, for all of its stories, mac-and-cheese flowcharts, anecdotes, and recipes, is just an extension of her blog and her amazing personality.  I know this book will be a staple in my kitchen, as her blog has been a staple of my weekly web browsing, and I am confident it can only add to your collection, too.

With that being said, pick up a copy of this book, share it with friends, give it out as a gift for the holidays—you won’t regret it. I know I didn’t when I smelled fresh challah in our AirBnB one morning and how much it felt like home in that rented flat in the Marais. How wholesome, eggy, and sharp the aroma was as it rested before I took my first bite. And how I found myself flipping through her book one more time on the long, long flight across the Atlantic.

Scallion Pancake Challah

This was my first time making challah and I was so excited to try Molly's recipe! Having brought this book to Paris with me, I was craving it hard by the time I was able to actually make it! A couple things to note: I had to make challah knots and not a big ol' challah due to my AirBnB host not having a suitable pan to use. Number 2--the flour I got was whole grain (my French wasn't good enough to notice the difference I guess!). But the recipe is so, so good and you'll just have to buy Molly's book to bake your way through her Midwestern Chinese-Jewish life! (Note: This recipe is copied from Molly with her permission and all rights go to her. Further note that this recipe references another one from her book, which I have left as is, in the hopes you will pick it up to make more challah!!!!!!!)

Ingredients:

• ½ recipe dough from Basic Challah (page 178), made through the first rising
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 3 scallions, minced
• Kosher salt and black pepper
• Crushed red pepper
• Egg wash: 1 large egg yolk, beaten with 
• 1 tablespoon water
• Toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts and roll each part into a 12-inch log. Gently flatten each log so that it is about 3 inches wide. Brush each with sesame oil and sprinkle with scallions, salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper. Roll the logs up lengthwise like a jelly roll and pinch the seams to seal. Lay the logs seam side down next to one another and pinch them together at one end. Then braid the logs and pinch them at the other end. Place the loaf on the lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.
3. Brush the loaf with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and black pepper.
4. Bake until the loaf is golden brown and has an internal temperature of 190ºF. Begin checking for doneness at 28 minutes. Let cool slightly and enjoy.

Congratulations again to Molly! I am so lucky to have gotten to know you this year and to witness your successes! #mollyontherange!!!!!

Nut Butter Eton Mess

In two days I leave for Paris, a city of coffee and kisses and catacombs of romance. Hand holding. Scarves. Fresh bread. Rain. I am excited; I haven’t been to Europe in six years. When I lost an uncle in the war and my best friend within a month of landing in Fiumicino. I’m excited in the way I cannot fully articulate. It’s a teetering point, a precipice. One English class called this feeling “the Sublime.” That Mary Shelley’s thematic approach to this concept  was the anxiety and thrill of peering at the edge of a cliff before jumping. This adventure feels that way, sublime and beautiful and a composite of a million memories that never fully formed, never fully alive. A chimera of emotion, rough-stitched together to make a whole. I run back to the only boy I’ve ever loved.

But I have things to do before I go. Emails to write, jeans to buy. I think I may have gained weight since February, but I’m not so sure. I think all of my clothes are neutral and dark and I wonder if I am more myself than ever, or less so. I pack flannel pajamas, the house we are staying at might be drafty. I pack my camera and print out a list of one hundred things to see in Paris before I die. I kiss Milo this morning and wonder if he’d like France. He can barely remember words in English, though; he’s always running around, as wild and undisciplined as moths he chases in the morning light. I have things to do before I go, like make coffee and smoke a cigarette. I have things to do before I go, like learn French and cut my hair.

But I take a moment for myself, a moment just for me, and I baked these Eton messes last night. They’re mashmallowy, sweet. They’re soft and chewy. They’re something to calm me before our 8 hours in the air. They’re something to center me before I become unhinged at my lust for a world I haven’t seen in far too long: a world where I am content again with the mess I have created for myself.

Nut Butter Eton Mess

Ingredients for Meringues:

• 4 egg whites, room temperature
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup nut butter (I definitely loved using Beardy Boys’ Pecan Smash for this recipe)

Directions for Meringues:

1. Preheat oven to 250*F and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper
2. In a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat your egg whites on medium-high until round peaks form
3. Add your vanilla and continue to beat
4. In a slow stream, add your sugar until your whites are thick, glossy, and hold a peak
5. Fold in your nut butter with a rubber spatula and transfer to a piping bag
6. Pipe onto your prepared pan—don’t worry too much about the shape, as you’ll be breaking these up (hence the “mess” part of this!)
7. Bake for 45-50 minutes until your meringues have a nice shell on them
8. Turn oven off, but keep meringues in for an additional two hours to dry out
9. Remove and use immediately for the recipe or store in an airtight container for a day or two

Ingredients for Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• ½ tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup confectioner’s sugar

Directions for Whipped Cream:

1. In a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat your heavy cream on medium-high until round peaks form
2. Add your vanilla and continue to beat
3. In a slow stream, add your sugar until your whites are thick, glossy, and hold a peak
5. Turn mixer off and use immediately to assemble your Eton Mess

To assemble: In any container (I used 2 Ball jam jars, but a small trifle dish would work, or even a bowl) layer your meringue cookies, then more almond butter (will need approximately 1 cup additional for this recipe), then whipped cream. Keep layering until you fill your container. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and a little confectioner’s sugar and enjoy immediately or refrigerate for a couple hours before ready to eat.

This post was sponsored by my partners at Beard Boys, Inc. Their nut butters really are superb and provide a natural, delicate flavor in every spoonful of this dessert. Check them out on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!

It's Finally Fall! Roasted Sweet Potato Monkey Bread

There wasn’t an autumn in California, only an endless summer and a few mornings with frost on the windshield. I wasn’t used to it, I never adapted to it. I hated it, the long drag of the same temperature. I got rid of all my sweaters the first month we moved out there. It never felt like home.

Autumn in Pennsylvania is different. Bright and dark all at once. Desaturated in the morning fog and then it burns up to reveal patches of leaves missing from the oak and apple trees in the backyard. It’s Fall now, with its promise of apple cider and corn mazes. Its promise of coffee to warm your one hand; a boy’s hand to warm your other one. A promise you can’t take for granted, because it’s a type of beauty that is a whisper, a mumble, and gone in an instant.

It’s the beginning of the time when we leave the windows open all day and night. When my mother lights apple-scented candles and the cat in the windowsill lazily watches the leaves fall to the ground. I used to ask for a pumpkin pie on my birthday instead of cake. I used to ask to stay home with her instead of going to school, to go for walks and jump in the leaves. Then come inside to fresh bread or cake or anything to warm us up.

Fall has always been magic. It’s my first time having one in four long years.

Roasted Sweet Potato Monkey Bread

Pillowy, sweet, delicate, yet filling. The very essence of comfort food.

Ingredients for Roasted Sweet Potato Puree:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 TB brown sugar, dark
• Pinch of sal

Directions for Roasted Sweet Potato Puree:

1. Preheat oven to 425*F
2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil
3. Cut your sweet potato in half and cover each side with oil, sugar, and salt
4. Roast for 15 minutes or until tender and caramelized
5. Remove from oven, allow to cool
6. Scoop contents into a food processor and blend until smooth; alternatively, smash with a fork
7. Use for below monkey bread recipe

Ingredients for Roasted Sweet Potato Monkey Bread:

• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 5 teaspoons active dry yeast (my absolute favorite brand to use is Red Star Yeast)
• 1 ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup white sugar
• Roasted sweet potato puree (see above, yields about 1-1 ½ cups)
• 1 egg
• 4 TB melted butter
• 1 TB pure vanilla extract
• 5 – 5 ½ cups AP flour
• ½ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup walnuts or pecans
• 1 cup mini marshmallow

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, pour in your water, yeast, salt, and sugar. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until the top of the water is marked with bubbles
2. Turn mixer on medium-low and add puree, egg, butter, and vanilla. Mix until all is incorporated
3. Turn mixer speed down to low, add flour one cup at a time. You may need a little more or a little less of the flour, depending on altitude. You will know when you have enough when dough is not sticky and pulls slightly away from the sides of the bowl
4. With floured hands, change the paddle attachment for the dough hook and turn on medium speed to knead for 3 minutes
5. When three minutes are done, turn out onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for an additional five minutes until springy and elastic
6. Place in a well-greased bowl to rest for one hour with a tea towel to cover
7. During this time, preheat oven to 350*F and grease a standard bundt pan with a lot of butter and flour. Pour ¼ of your brown sugar and a few marshmallows and nuts into the bottom of your bundt (which, when inverted, will be the top)
8. When hour is done, punch dough down (it will inflate quite a bit) and use a sharp knife or bench knife to cut into small one-inch balls. To do so, cut dough into fourths, then cut each of these fourths into eight equal pieces (for a total of 32 pieces). Roll each one in your hand into a ball and place into bundt
9. Repeat this for the remaining dough, alternating layers of dough with remaining sugar, nuts, and marshmallows
10. Allow to sit for 10 minutes to rest a bit then pop into the oven to bake (here, I suggest placing on a cookie sheet to avoid any messes in your oven—the marshmallow can get sticky!)
11. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown and puffed. Your house will have the aromatic, yeasty smell of fresh bread and a slightly caramelized smell of brown sugar
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. With oven mitts, invert bundt onto a plate and gently remove pan, leaving only your doughy hodge podge of marshmallow, sugar, and bread
13. Serve as immediately as possible, but definitely with a day or two 

Thank you to Red Star Yeast for sponsoring this post. I believe in using quality products when it comes to baking and I am always confident my dough will rise beautifully with Red Star! Check out the active dry yeast I used for this recipe and others on their website, follow them on instagram and like their Facebook!

Strawberry Pretzel Salad: Two Ways

Today I bring you two recipes, the last ones of the summer. They’re reiterations of a dish I ate in church basements and birthday parties. At a beach in New Jersey once and at a middle school graduation. The strawberry pretzel salad.  My mother made it the night my sister said she was pregnant; it’s always been her favorite. It’s a dish that’s as economical as it is regional, as chimeric as it is delicious. A hodgepodge of flavors, strawberry Jell-O and crushed pretzels, a layer of sweetened cream cheese and set in a casserole dish. Salad in the loosest sense of the word. And here it is as a galette and as a handpie. For a different take on the dessert I ate by the bowlful, the taste of chlorine still on my lips from the three lazy months I could sit by the pool with no responsibility to keep me up at night.

Strawberry Pretzel Salad: as Handpies and Galettes

If you are unfamiliar with this dish, here is a pretty good version of it. The below two recipes are two sides of the same coin and can be made for any time of year. Frozen strawberries, while a good substitute, seem to yield a slightly thinner filling. 

For the Crust: Use this recipe for either of the below recipes

Ingredients:

• 4 TB unsalted butter, very cold
• 3 TB shortening, very cold
• 1 ½ cup AP flour
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ TB pure vanilla extract
• 2 to 4 TB ice water

Directions:

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 water into feeding tube in a gradual stream until a dough forms. You may need additional couple teaspoon or two 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 rest

Ingredients for the Handpie/Galette filling: Use this recipe for either of the below recipes

• 3 cups strawberries, roughly chopped and hulled
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1/8 cup dark beer (I used Yuengling)
• 2 TB water
• Pinch of salt
• 1 TB orange juice
• A slurry of cornstarch (1 TB cornstarch whisked in 1 TB water) – do not make until cherries are reduced by half

Directions for the Handpie/Galette filling:

1. In a medium sauce pan, combine strawberries, sugar, beer, salt, water, and juice, stir with a spoon to ensure liquid is covering everything
2. On medium heat, allow for strawberries 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 coo

Assembly of Handpies:

1. Preheat your oven to 400*F
2. Prepare 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 8” 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 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 strawberry 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
15. Make a glaze of 4 oz softened cream cheese, 1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar, and 3 TB milk – whisk until pourable but viscous. Pour over your handpies. Top each pie with crushed pretzel chunks
16. Enjoy within 2 days for best taste and qualit

Assembly of Galette:

1. Preheat your oven to 400*F
2. Prepare 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
3. Take disc of dough out of fridge and roll onto a heavily-floured work surface into a large circle about ¼ inch in thickness
4. Spoon half of your strawberry into center and spread around the surface of your dough, leaving about a two-inch margin
5. Make an egg wash and brush along your margin, crimp edges inward
6. Repeat with second disc of dough
7. Bake for 30-35 minutes until edges are golden brown
8. Allow to cool completely before topping with your glaze (4 oz softened cream cheese, 1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar, and 3 TB milk) and crushed pretzels
9. Cut and serve immediately. Leftovers can be saved for up to two days. 

Almond Plum Loaf

A week goes by fast when you’re not doing much of anything. The day after New Orleans, I packed up my car and drove seven hours to my parents’ house in North Carolina. They bought it a year and a half ago, from my brother and his wife. They bought it as a homestead for us, a central place for holidays and to run away.  One not tainted by the gravitas of childhood arguments and grudges we hold onto and fortify each Thanksgiving. It’s beach-themed, though it’s three hours from any beach. It’s only half-done, the foyer is still the color of bruised floral patterns and wicker.

I brought Milo on my trip. He sat and licked my hand when it started to get dark, when the traffic slowed down, when the thunder hit the distant Appalachia. He’s a nervous dog when he’s alone, when he’s unsure if he can sleep and what he’ll miss if he closes his eyes. He slept well the first night, curled up on the pillow beside me, his small breaths swaying the threadbare pillowcases just gently enough to know he was dreaming. He sat by my side for hours while I worked, stepped on my booked and wrinkled their pages when he got bored. His favorite time was our morning walk, when the sun hadn’t hit its shadowless apex.

He sat at my feet while I was baking. So small, but never in the way. He spent his first three months as a stray, I think he got used to dodging people’s footsteps. Batter would fall from my spatula and he would dutifully clean up my mess. My little helper, my copilot. The dog I took back to Pennsylvania with me when my world had fallen apart.

And for four days I did nothing but bake and do dishes. Tested recipes, threw away the leftovers that had gone stale. I went through a carton of eggs and two bags of sugar. I forgot to set a timer and burned a dozen cookies. I forgot to turn the water off when my mother called to say she missed me. I’m not used to living alone; it takes practice and the wet kitchen floorboards reminded me of that. And the day I left North Carolina, I stopped by my brother’s house for the first time in my life. I dropped off a cake I’d made and hugged his wife. We talked for ten minutes and I left when I could. We don’t see each other much, and maybe the time apart has been a good thing.

Almond Plum Loaf

One last glance at summer's stone fruit before Fall sets in.

Ingredients

• 1 cup AP flour
• ½ fine almond meal 
• 2 TB cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ unsalted butter, softened + 2 TB for topping
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 eggs + 1 yolk
• 2 plumed, pitted and halve

Direction

1. Prepare an 8 or 9-inch loaf pan with butter and parchment paper
2. Preheat oven to 350*F
3. In a medium-sized bowl, sift together flour, almond meal, cornstarch,  and baking powder, set aside
4. In a small measuring cup, whisk your cream, zest, juice, and vanilla
5. In a large bowl (or a stand mixer, but it’s honestly easier to do by hand), cream together your ½ cup butter and sugar with a wooden spoon until well-mixed and light
6. Add eggs and yolk, one at a time, until each one is fully incorporated. The mixture will appear curdled, but will set once you add your remaining ingredients
7. Alternate between wet and dry ingredients, stirring slowly and constantly, until a batter forms. It will be velvety and a pale, pale almond color with a yellowish tinge
8. Pour into your prepared loaf pan
9. Lightly press your plums, cut side up, into the top of the batter
10. Sprinkle top with brown sugar and dot with remaining butter
11. Bake for 42-50 minutes, checking at the 40-minute mark for any browning
12. Cake will be done when a toothpick comes out clean and edges pull away from side of pan
13. Allow to cool and remove from pan.
14. Eat within a day or tw