I’d always look forward to the end of summer when I was younger. It sounds crazy for any kid to WANT summer to end, but I loved the fall. I loved the back-to-school excitement, buying all my school supplies and new school outfits. I loved raking pine needles and red-orange-brown maple leaves into piles, feeling so accomplished when I’d see them all tucked into big black garbage bags (even though the yard would be covered with leaves again within two days). And I loved going apple picking.

When you’re a kid, there’s something so magical about running around to pick and gather something that you can actually eat. Because when mom comes home from the grocery store with a bag of apples or a box of blueberries, it’s just not the same. You can’t feel the energy and sunlight and crisp fall air, or be awed by the efforts of the universe that went into creating that piece of fruit (granted, there are few things that don’t awe a six-year-old).

It’s fitting then, that just before heading off to college, my friends and I went blueberry picking. It was sort of a farewell to childhood (as was watching the last installment of the Harry Potter movies). Still, that doesn’t mean we can’t indulge our childish sides every so often. This isn’t the last time we’ll go blueberry picking.

***

Both of these blueberry treats were irresistible straight out of the oven (scones slathered with butter that melted on contact, warm coffee cake alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream… tell me anyone who could resist that). By the second day though, my personal favorite was the coffee cake. The scones were somewhat like cornbread (which I never pass up), and they demanded a cup of tea- though I guess that’s what scones are meant to do. I just prefer moister sweets, and the coffee cake had the perfect amount of moist cake and buttery crumble topping.

Plain (now, that’s just being modest) Blueberry Coffee Cake

from The Joy of Blueberries

serves a 9×9 (or similar size) pan

Cake:

1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup butter, melted (originally margarine)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Crumble Topping:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C

2. Grease a 9×9 or 8×10 inch pan.

3. Beat milk, butter, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl.

4. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl; mix into first mixture.

5. Fold in blueberries.

6. Mix all topping ingredients until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over batter.

7. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (Ours took about 60-70 minutes, so be sure to check that the center is fully baked.)

Storage: The cake will keep for at least 3 days at room temp. It also freezes well.

Morning Fresh Blueberry Scones

from The Joy of Blueberries

serves 2 rounds of scones, about 16 triangles

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
2/3 cup cold butter
1/3 cup buttermilk (we used 1/3 cup milk + 1 tsp white vinegar, allowed to sit for a few minutes)
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
1 egg, beaten (you won’t need the whole thing)

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C

2. Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.

3. Stir in buttermilk, then blueberries.

4. Form a dough, adding more flour if necessary.

5. Divide dough in half.

6. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Shape each half into a 1-inch thick circle (about 5-6 inches in diameter) . Score each half into eighths (if it’s too hard, quarters are fine for now), but don’t cut all the way through.

7. Place on buttered baking sheet and brush with beaten egg.

8. Bake 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.

9. Separate scones into eighths while still warm.

10. Slather with butter and jam. Eat with a cup of tea.

I think if happiness were a food, it would be cupcakes. Well actually, that’s debatable, since ALL food makes me happy.

But there’s something about cupcakes that just makes me feel all warm and happy and smiley (part of it could have to do with cakespy‘s incredibly cute cupcake cartoons). You won’t see me grinning quite as much at a slice of pizza, as much as I love myself some pizza.

So if cupcakes are happiness, they are the perfect subject for this post. Because I don’t think I’ve felt so happy for years. My mom is so accustomed to me spilling out all my troubles to her that she is pleasantly surprised when I tell her no, nothing is worrying or bothering or stressing me. And I really can’t think of a single thing that could cause me trouble right now, except maybe the possibility that this won’t last forever. But that’s an inevitable problem of life– time is limited. So that one doesn’t really count. On to cupcakes!

Coffee Hostess Cupcakes

adapted from 17 and Baking

serves 24 cupcakes

Cake:

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 four-ounce stick) butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I used 1/2 tbsp ground coffee)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk (or 1/2 cup milk plus 1-2 tsp white vinegar)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 24 cupcake tins with paper liners.

Microwave the chocolate on high for 45 seconds then stir gently to melt. It’s okay if there are a couple unmelted pieces; the residual heat will melt them. Cool chocolate to room temperature.

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. With an electric mixer, beat together the brown sugar, eggs, butter, espresso powder/ground coffee, and vanilla extract for 3 minutes until smooth. Beat in the melted chocolate until well mixed, then beat in half of the flour mixture. Beat in the buttermilk, then the remaining flour mixture. Beat a minute until smooth.

Fill each cupcake tin 2/3 – 3/4 full and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack before assembling, otherwise the frosting will melt!

Coffee Frosting:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
3 tbsp softened butter, cut into cubes
3/4 tsp instant espresso powder (I used 1 1/2 tsp Nescafe instant coffee)
1 1/2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the espresso/coffee powder with the milk to dissolve the powder. Beat the butter with an electric mixer and add the powdered sugar. Beat in the coffee-milk and vanilla extract until the frosting is fluffy and smooth. There will be some leftover. Spread it on toast or something. I’m sure you won’t have trouble finding a use for it!

Ganache: (the tricky part)

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used semi-sweet)
1 tbsp butter

Heat cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat until it is steaming (not boiling! Too hot and the ganache may not turn out). Remove from heat and add chocolate. Let sit five minutes, then stir SLOWLY to melt the chocolate (stir too fast, like I did the first time around, and you’ll end up with a grainy, clumpy mess). Stir in the butter until melted. Let cool a bit.

To assemble:

Fill a piping bag (with a 1/4 inch round tip) with the coffee frosting. Stick the pipe tip about halfway into a cupcake (you may have to wiggle it around a little to make a little cavity) and squeeze to fill the cupcake with frosting. Fill all of the cupcakes, making sure you have enough extra to make the little Hostess squiggles at the end. If any frosting is poking up from the cupcake cavity, wipe it off.

Holding a cupcake upside down, dip it in the ganache, then flip it right-side up once it’s covered. Gently move it from side to side or tap it on a table to help the ganache distribute evenly. If you try to spread/smooth it with anything, it won’t look as lovely and smooth. Ganache-ify all the cupcakes, then stick them in the fridge for a few minutes to set.

Using a small round piping tip, pipe the Hostess squiggle on top of the cupcakes using the coffee frosting. If your first few look bad, it’s okay. You’ll get better. And then you can eat all the mess-ups for yourself.

All intiative abandons me.

And so I lapse into a deep pit of television marathons, reading food blogs, sleeping, and eating. Nothing else.

Until I summon the will to write up a full post, I’ll share one of my recent online finds: Inhae Renee Lee’s “My Milk Toof.” Cute and creative, it’s like a picture book following the adventures of two…milk teef.

"Careful not to break the eggs."

Phew, what a busy last couple of weeks! (My attempt to make an excuse for the large gap since my last post.) But really, it has felt like things are going so fast all of a sudden. But more on that later. For now, let’s get on to the food.

***

Zuma is, without a doubt, one of Dubai’s best restaurants. Look at any “top ten restaurants” ranking for the city, and Zuma is sure to be there. It has been on my must-try list for a while now, and I decided I absolutely had to have it before leaving Dubai. After my plans to have dinner there with a group fell through last week, it was the obvious choice for my celebratory post-grad dinner.

We arrived at Zuma flustered, having rushed out of the grad reception to make our 8 pm reservation (we arrived 40 minutes late but managed to hold onto our table despite their 20 minute tardiness policy). Yet as soon as we entered the lounge/restaurant, the cool, relaxed vibe put us at ease. With soaring two-level ceilings, dark wood accents, and dim, muted lighting, Zuma screams–or rather, seductively whispers in your ear–cool, understated sophistication.

Service was just as relaxed, but professional and prompt–a rarity in dubai.

We started with a bowl of edamame, fried with chili, garlic, and ginger. Even with the chili tingling my tongue, I couldn’t resist licking the sauce off my fingers. Rounds of sake, sweet and mild, accompanied the meal, a carafe of it sitting by in an icebox (literally–a wooden box filled with crushed ice).

We started with ebi no tempura, rock shrimp tempura with lime and chili dip. Though as a general rule, fried food can never really be wrong, the tempura was right in every way. Lightly battered, so as not to be greasy and heavy, the shrimp was all too easy to pop in my mouth, especially with a squeeze of lemon and dip in sauce. Half the bowl was gone within 30 seconds.

After hearing rave reviews about the miso marinated black cod (gindara no saikyo miso yaki) from my friend N, I had to try it. Being somewhat of a Japanese food newbie, I’d also heard that miso black cod is one of those must-have (if not predictable) Japanese dishes. The chocolate fondant of Japanese food, if you will.

Sitting on a hoba leaf, the filet of cod separated into perfect flakes at the gentle touch of my chopsticks. After a few bites of the light yet buttery-rich fish, I realized it reminded me of something I’d had before… what was it? Ah yes, peking duck! An unexpected comparison, but it was true–the flavors of the cod perfectly matched those of the fatty, rich Peking duck I ate in one of Beijing’s finest duck restaurants. Perhaps they were even better! For though the cod lacked the crispy skin and substance of the duck meat, its rich flavors were balanced out by the accompanying sauce, which carried a hint of refreshing wasabi.

Spicy beef tenderloin (gyuhire sumibiyaki karami sauce zuke) was also on the table, and naturally I tried a bite. The tenderloin came beautifully crosshatched from the grill, and glazed with a flavorful chili-sesame-soy sauce. Though I’m still not a big lover of steak, (I know, I know. I don’t know how that’s possible either!) I could appreciate the fact that this was extremely well prepared– juicy and moist with just a hint of pink, cooked to a perfect medium as requested.

Dessert naturally followed; I’m never one to resist sweets. I opted for the light and refreshing yuzu custard, served atop rhubarb compote and garnished with some sort of crumble and lemon (or perhaps yuzu…) sorbet, a dessert that lended a sweet ending to the meal without making me feel overly full. Other desserts on the table were chawan mushi, a coconut foam-custard served over “exotic fruits,” providing a compelling play on different textures with a backdrop of tropical flavors. But my favorite was easily the green tea & banana cake. Served warm and surrounded by a pool of toffee sauce, a generous sprinkle of crumble, and a perfect sphere of coconut ice cream, it provided the classic and comforting combination of warm-cold, smooth-crunchy that I love in desserts, whether its in an ice cream sundae with hot fudge and peanuts or a warm chocolate fondant with a bruleed crust and malted ice cream.

Just as with La Petite Maison (they are both owned by the Waney family…), I feel Zuma is one of the few fine-dining resturants in Dubai where the food– and overall experience– is worth the steep price. Hopefully I’ll make a return visit soon, as the menu was much too long to get a complete taste of all Zuma has to offer.

When I visited Paris in April, I’d grab breakfast from Eric Kayser every morning before heading off to tackle the city’s food. It was just around the corner from my hotel, and as I passed it every day walking to the Metro, I’d inevitably be tempted by one of the delicious-looking treats and breads. Warm baguettes with chunks of salty Comte, pain au raisin with coffee, chunky and complex walnut-chocolate chip cookies…

But my favorite was the financiers. Buttery but not greasy, sweet but balanced, they were like glorious muffin tops (the best part of muffins, of course) with crisp-chewy caramelized edges. I only wished I could reproduce them when I returned home.

Without realizing it, I found all the elements of financiers that I loved– in this Swedish Visiting Cake. I actually decided on the recipe because I was on a lemon spree (after making some incredible lemon bars) and the cake seemed quite simple to make. The beautiful photos over at honey & jam didn’t hurt either.

Swedish Visiting Cake

adapted from Dorie Greenspan

serves a 9-inch round pan (8-10 slices)

1 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on top
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional- I left this out because I don’t like the taste)
1 cup all-purpose flour
8 tbsp (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
approx. 1/4 cup sliced almonds for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C

2. Butter a 9-inch cast-iron skillet or regular cake/pie pan.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the 1 cup sugar and zest and blend with your fingers, rubbing the zest and sugar together until the sugar is moist and lemony. Lick off the sugar that is stuck to your fingers.

4. Whisk the 2 eggs in one at a time. Whisk in the salt and extract(s).

5. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the 1 cup of flour. Fold in the melted butter.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and sugar (I used large crystal turbinado sugar). I don’t know if it made a difference, but I put extra sugar on the edges to make sure I’d get those lovely caramelized edges.

7. Bake the cake for 25-30 minutes, until it is golden and somewhat crisp. I left it in a little longer to make sure it got really crisp edges, and it still stayed moist inside!

8. Let the cake cool for a few minutes, then run a knife around the pan to loosen it. Serve warm or at room temperature. I found that by the second day, the lemon flavor had intensified a bit, but the trade-off was losing some of the crispiness of the edge crust.

Storage: The cake will keep for about 3 days, covered and at room temperature.

Enough of this suspense and drama. This quiche is awesome. Everyone should eat it.

Potato and Leek Quiche

adapted from Tartine Bakery, SF

makes 2 9-inch quiches, or a 10-inch plain quiche (without any add-ins)

Note: This quiche recipe is pretty versatile, so you can really throw in any add-in you want (spinach, broccoli, ham, salmon…) or have it plain. The quantities of potatoes, leeks, and cheese in my recipe is pretty rough and open to adjustments depending on your preferences. Just keep in mind that if you put 2 potatoes and 2 leeks in, your quiche will be more chunky add-ins than custardy egg filling.

2 pastry/tart shells, baked until golden-brown and cooled in pan (A crust recipe complete with 3 sticks of butter is in the link above, but I cheated and used crust from the freezer. I prefer shortcrust over puff pastry, but either will taste good–puff pastry just gets soggier.)

1-2 potato, peeled and cubed
1-2 leeks, washed and chopped (rinse the outside, slice in half lengthwise, chop in ~1 cm slices, separate layers, swirl around in a bowl of water, scoop out leek slices)
6-8 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
olive oil

5 eggs
3 tbsp flour
1 cup creme fraiche
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp fresh thyme, finely chopped (optional)
(optional: ~1/2 cup shredded cheese–I used a few handfuls of gouda and emmental)

1. Have the oven at 375°F/190°C.

2. Boil the cubed potato for about 7 minutes, until almost fully cooked. Drain.

3. Heat some olive oil in a pan over medium heat and saute the leeks until wilted and just starting to brown.

4. Beat 1 egg and 3 tbsp flour at high speed with an electric mixer or by hand until smooth. Beat in the remaining 4 eggs until blended.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the 1 cup creme fraiche until smooth, then whisk in the 1 cup milk.

6. Pour the egg mixture through a strainer/fine-mesh sieve into the milk mixture. Whisk in the 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1 tbsp thyme. Stir in the leeks and potatoes. Stir in shredded cheese. You can also add some cheese on top when the quiche is almost done cooking.

7. Divide the egg mixture equally between the two tart shells. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325° and bake 30-40 min longer, until the filling is just set. (Alternatively, be lazy like me and just bake for about 45-50 min. at 350°F/180°C). The center of the quiche should be somewhat firm, not liquidy.

8. Let the quiche cool for about 20 minutes to let the custard set. Serve warm or at room temperature. Or straight out of the fridge at 2 A.M.

Isn’t it wonderful when you make something that you truly enjoy eating- something that you would gladly pay money for (that is, if you hadn’t just fixed it up yourself at home)?

I usually find that when I cook or bake foods, I don’t really feel like eating them (though that never really stops me- I eat them anyways!). There’s just something infinitely more appealing about food that someone else prepares for you.

Maybe it’s because after putting so much time into making a dish, you just can’t bring yourself to end its delicious existence. Or maybe it’s just because along the way you’ve so filled yourself up with the spoonful-tastes of sauce and the finger-licks of batter that you’re simply too full to enjoy the final product!

These lemon bars are an exception. Even though I licked up much more than a finger’s worth of batter, I still had room for an embarrassing number of lemon squares after dinner. (I had to make sure they tasted good, after all…!)

They’re so easy to put together, irresistibly bright and tangy, and they freeze well- perfect to save for those afternoons when you’re craving something summery and bright.

Lemon Bars

adapted from David Lebovitz

serves an 8 x 8 in. pan

Crust:

1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt (I love salty-sweet baked goods, so I added a pinch extra)
8 tbsp melted unsalted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Filling:

1 lemon, organic or unsprayed
1 cup sugar
1-2 tbsp water (this was 3 tbsp lemon juice in the original recipe, but I had no extra lemons on hand. The lemon flavor was still fantastic!)
3 eggs, at room temp.
4 tsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp melted unsalted butter

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C

2. Line an 8 x 8 in. pan with foil. This is easier if you turn the pan upside down and wrap the bottom with foil to get the lining in the right shape before pressing the foil lining into the inside of the pan.

3. In a medium bowl, mix the 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 8 tbsp melted unsalted butter, and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, stirring until smooth. My “batter” seemed too crumbly, but it turned out great- almost like a sugar cookie!

4. Press the “batter” into the pan using your hands or a spatula.

5. Bake the crust for 25-30 min., until it’s “deep-golden brown”.

6. While the crust bakes, cut the lemon into chunks and remove the seeds.

7. Put the chunks of lemon into a food processor or blender and add 1 cup sugar and 1-2 tbsp water (or 3 tbsp lemon juice), then blend until the lemon is completely broken up. Add the 3 eggs, 4 tsp cornstarch, 1/4 tsp salt, and 3 tbsp melted unsalted butter, then blend until almost smooth (tiny lemon chunks and pulp build character).

8. When the crust is done, reduce the oven temp. to 300ºF/150ºC. Pour the lemon filling over the (hot) crust and bake for 20-25 min., until the filling is just set and stops jiggling.

9. After removing from the oven, let cool completely. Once cool, lift out the giant lemon bar by grabbing the foil. Cut the bars however big you like. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Storage: The bars will keep up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temp. I prefer to store them in the fridge, where they’ll keep for about a week. You can also freeze them for up to one month.

I’ve learned that in the food world, it’s so easy to go from being conscious and ingredient-aware to being flat out pretentious and snobby. I admit, I’ve fallen into the latter all too often, especially when I scoff at other people’s baked treats-from-a-box. After reading all my food blogs and recipes, I (arrogantly) think that I know food, that I do food right, more than anyone who eats fast food or makes brownies from a box.

Except brownies from a box…are pretty amazing. Making brownies from scratch- melting the chocolate, whisking in this and that- it all just feels excessively laborious considering how good brownies made from a mix can be.

Maybe it’s just the familiarity, the childhood memories of baking the Betty Crocker mixes with my sister and thinking that we were such good cooks. There’s that certain burnt-chocolatey taste that only seems to come from brownies from a box (especially in the chewy-crunchy edge pieces- my favorite!) and I simply cannot manage to recreate in homemade brownies.

Another added plus: with less time spent on preparing the actual brownies, it opens up more opportunities to play with the flavors and additions.
Take these mint chocolate brownies, for example.

I’ve been craving mint chocolate brownies for a few weeks now. The fudgy brownie, the creamy, light green mint topping, the ganache-like chocolate shell. I never really ate them much as a kid, yet suddenly I longed for all the non-existent memories attached to them, embedded in their familiarity.

But when I’m really craving something, I don’t have the patience to make it from scratch. I usually end up buying it (and more often than not, being disappointed), or I try to find some shortcut that will get the food I crave in my belly ASAP. So here comes in the brownie mix. Literally five minutes later, the brownies are in the oven, and I can focus on getting that minty green color just right. It’s really a snap to pull together now- so easy, that I almost feel guilty. Almost. But I’m too busy stuffing these delicious bites of fudginess in my mouth.

Mint Chocolate Brownies

(Adapted from Joy of Baking & Scrumptious Photography)

Makes enough for a 9 x 9 inch pan of brownies

Brownies:

Give in and buy the box! Prepare according to instructions. Make your life easier and line your pan with foil or parchment paper.

Mint Layer:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup + 2-3 tablespoons confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted
1-2 tablespoon hung yogurt (this was heavy cream in the original recipe)
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract or 1-2 tablespoons crème de menthe
green food coloring (optional)

Chocolate Glaze:
3 ounces (90 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter
(my chocolate glaze was nearly melting at room temp., so use a bit less butter if you want a firmer chocolate shell)

Mint Layer: Using an electric mixer, beat all the ingredients until smooth. Add a few drops of green food coloring if you like. If the frosting is too thick, add a little extra cream/yogurt. (The frosting should be just thin enough to spread.) Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled brownie layer. Place in the refrigerator for about 5-10 minutes or until firm.
Put in freezer just before covering with chocolate glaze.

Chocolate Glaze: In a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (or in a double-boiler), melt the chocolate and butter. Let cool a little so it doesn’t melt the mint filling. Spread over the mint filling and refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until the chocolate glaze starts to dull.

To Serve: Remove the brownies from the pan (lift the ends of the foil) and transfer to a cutting board. With a sharp knife, cut into squares (makes about 45 squares 1.5 inch squares). Rinse off your knife with hot water after each cut, to make the cuts cleaner. The brownies can be stored in the refrigerator for several days or they can be frozen. They’re actually quite good eaten straight from the freezer, late at night…!

Henri Le Roux caramels from Paris

You’d think that a bon bon made almost entirely out of butter and sugar would be much too sweet, but the salt- that wonderfully addictive salt- balances everything out nicely. It slowly melts in your mouth, leaving a lingering complexity of sweet-saltiness. Irresistible.

I swear I’d eat in in any form.

Inside tarts.

CBS Tart by Sadaharu Aoki

On top of millefeuille.

CBS-Praline Millefeuille from Gosselin

In the center of chocolates.

Bernachon chocolate with Le Roux CBS center

…by the jar?

I need to get on that.