Dear Anthropologie,

Please stop making things I want.  I'm broke.

Anthro Wish List by Jellyby featuring Anthropologie

That's all.  Thanks.

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Recipe Inspirations: Sites to Dream From

In my last post, I listed some of my go-to websites for accessible recipes.  And several of you rewarded me tenfold by introducing me to your e-recipe favorites.

Sometimes, though, it's just as fun, if not more, to browse as to cook.

So where do you go when you want to go window-eating?

"Surely, you don't mean I have to choose just one?"

When I'm just trolling for inspiring, fun, and whimsical things to make (or just dream of making), I visit some of these sites:

• Aapplemint (Beautiful food photography. Recipes look delicious too, though I haven't made anything from the site yet.)
• Bakerella*
• Cakespy*
• Chez Pim (Listed as one of Anthony Bourdain's favorite blogs.  What's good for Tony is good enough for me.)
• Chocolate & Zucchini (How could one not be in love with a gorgeous blog written by a Parisian woman named Clotilde?)
• David Lebovitz (Former pastry chef at Chez Panisse becomes Parisian expat and starts blog.)
• Food52 (The Bride Concierge, aka Tracy at BusyButtons, introduced me to this brilliant "online community cookbook." Tons of delicious recipes and even more delicious photography.)
• Avec Eric (Chef Eric Ripert's blog.  It should be super intimidating, but the recipes actually look very accessible.)
• Joy the Baker*
• La Tartine Gourmande (Bea's food photography is drool-inducingly stunning.)
• Momofukufor2 (Lover of all things Momofuku who is blogging her way through the insanely complicated Momofuku cookbook. Very "Julie and Julia."  But if you can get past the comparison, it's such a fun read.)
• Orangette (Dreamy and ethereal food photography, elegant writing.)
• Ruhlman.com (Another Bourdain favorite. Beautiful food photography and instruction; this guy literally wrote the book on great food, having co-written the French Laundry Cookbook, among many others. Love his mini-tutorials on fancypants ingredients like vanilla sugar.)
• Sunday Suppers (Blog for "a class-cooking-dining experience" run out of Brooklyn.  The food photography and styling are spectacular.)
• Tartelette (If my husband didn't object, I would decorate our kitchen with the photos in Tartelette.  And then I'd eat them.  Even though they'd taste like paper (or bytes), they'd still be tasty.)

* There are a number of baking blogs on this list, ironically because I am not a very good baker: since I'm not talented enough to make any of the goodies in these blogs, all I can do is look.

And then there's Foodgawker -- my current obsession.  And not just because my Compost Cookies post was on the front page a few days ago, stuck between a lovely fruit tart and a green concoction that looks like something only Dr. Seuss could enjoy.

Where do you go when you're in need of culinary inspiration?

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Recipe Inspirations: Sites to Cook From

A few very kind readers (readers? really? I have those!?) -- Christina, Nicole, and Sugarpond (the woman behind the delicious food blog, Five Spice Duck) -- have asked me recently about my favorite sources for recipes.  (Actually, Sugarpond asked about my ridiculously large cookbook collection, which I'll post about shortly.)

Even though I own way too many cookbooks, my go-to source for recipes is nonetheless the internet.  Because the only thing I enjoy more than eating is research.  And I am nothing if not relentless and intrepid in my search for awesome recipes.

Look at the intensity in my five-year-old eyes.
This girl doesn't just eat, she eats with purpose and seriousness.

I thought I'd put together a list of my favorite food-related web resources, and then invite you to do the same, either in the comments or in your blog.

Are you up for a round of share the food love?  Say yes!

Same day, still eating with purpose and seriousness.

My web resources break down into two categories: (1) sites I go to when I have a particular ingredient or dish in mind and (2) sites I go to for inspiration.  I'll deal with the first category in this post and the second category in my next one.

I'll look at the camera for the picture, but I'm not going to stop eating.
Because eating requires concentration, damn it!

I pretty much always start with Epicurious, with a second stop at the Foodnetwork*.  What I like about both of these sites is that they allow you to search by ingredient, meal, mode of preparation, etc.  Sometimes when it's cold, and all you have in the house is a package of chicken thighs, you want to be able to find efficiently a chicken dish you can make in the oven.  (Yes, I turn on the oven for warmth. Don't worry, mom, we're not that poor . . . yet.  But I'm a big believer in multi-tasking.)

* On the Foodnetwork website, though, I admit I'm a total snob when it comes to the recipes: Barefoot Contessa, yes; Rachel "Everything is Undiscerningly Yummo" Ray, no. Mario Batali, yes; Sandra "Drunken Tablescape Lady" Lee, hell no.  Alton, always; Giada, sometimes.  

Rodin had "The Thinker." My mom had "The Eater." Both equally contemplative.
Yes, this is still a photo from the same day, and I am still eating.

Beyond these two databases, here are my other favorite sites for "holy crap, I have an hour to get food on the table" type of recipes:

• Amateur Gourmet (Adam not only has a great palate, but an eye for finding the best version of any given dish.  I found many of my chicken recipes here.)
• The Kitchn (This Apartment Therapy site often has great tutorials alongside a diverse array of accessible recipes.)
• The NY Times Dining & Wine Section (Mark Bittman is the love.)
• Simply Recipes (Elise's recipes are fun, accessible, and sorted by ingredient and meal-type.)
• Smitten Kitchen (Lots of gorgeous photos, and recipes that are easy, comforting, and non-fussy. Recipes are delivered in a narrative style and can thus sometimes be hard to cook from.  But you can usually break the narratives down into discrete steps or find the original of the recipe elsewhere.)
• Steamy Kitchen (The motto of "global flavors . . . fast, fresh, simple" says it all. Particularly good for Asian recipes.)
• Viet World Kitchen (Andrea is the queen of accessible recipes for Vietnamese and Asian foods. She's doing a Peking Duck series now that is very instructive.)
• 101 Cookbooks (A great resource for vegetarian recipes.)

Those are some of my favorite go-to sources for accessible recipes.  Are your favorites on my list?  Which delicious sites am I missing out on?   

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Momofuku Milk Bar's Compost Cookie

A really delicious cookie is more than food . . . . After all, a mere bite inspired Proust to write volumes.

And this cookie is an experience.

I saw this recipe for the Momofuku Milk Bar's Compost Cookie on the Amateur Gourmet, and I just had to try it.  I've been dying to get to the Momofuku Milk Bar ever since I read the New York Times review (and the review was rather tepid).  Banana cake with hazelnut crunch?  Yes, please.

Since I've been too busy and lazy to drive to NY, I figured I'd have to make do with what I got here.  And literally, what I got are potato chips, pretzels, chocolate chunks (left over from my Thomas Keller cookie experiment).  Turns out you can throw all of these things together into a cookie, and the result's pretty darn delicious: an unexpected swirl of salty, sweet, chewy, crunchy goodness.

Momofuku pastry chef Christina Tosi's cookie recipe is unique not only for the sundry snack foods you can crumble and embed in the cookie, but also for the dough -- the mixture is beaten for much longer than one would usually do for a cookie dough, and the resulting mixture is much airier (probably necessary to offset the chewiness or heaviness of the snack ingredients).

Was the cookie as good as the banana cake is in my mind?  No.  The Thomas Keller cookie might actually have tasted better.  But it certainly has a whimsical, unexpected quality that I love.  Plus you know how I feel about sugar and salt!

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Regis and Kelly and Christina Tosi:

Ingredients:

1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 Tbsp Corn Syrup (like the Amateur Gourmet, I skipped the corn syrup because I didn't have any)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 3/4 cups AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 cups Your favorite baking ingredients! (I used chocolate chunks)
1 1/2 cups Your favorite snack foods (I used classic Lays Potato Chips and Rold Gold Pretzels)

Directions:

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size. 

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 sec until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated. 

Using a 6oz ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week.

DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

Heat the conventional oven to 400F. (350F in a convection oven)

When the oven reads 400F, arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4" apart in any direction. 

Bake 9-11 min. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.

At 9 min the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies stills seem pale and doughy on the surface. 

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, cookies will keep fresh 5 days. In the freezer, cookies will keep fresh 1 month.

Yield: 15 6oz cookies

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