food from far away: spanakopita

straight up food porn from Greece.














spanakopita from the island of Symi, just off of the larger island of Rhodes. when I ordered it the boy working at the bakery looked at me and said, "spinach pie?"

whatever.
yes, please.

giant chocolate toffee cookies. get some.

I was inspired by my friend Nicole's hilarious post about our kitchen (in her gorgeous blog) and how, when it comes to baking, it becomes a perfect vortex of disappearing necessary ingredients and multiplying non-essentials (we currently have three full, open boxes of baking soda in our possession, for example). I haven't baked something in a few weeks, which is far too long, so I thought I'd make up for lost time and make my ultimate, conversation-stopping, friend-for-life-making, wide-eyed with delight chocolate toffee cookies. They are insane.
The recipe is from epicurious.com via Gourmet, and I follow it with very little variation and with much success (if chocolate-smeared fingers and trails of crumbs are measures of that sort of thing).

here's the recipe:

Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies
makes about 18

Ingredients
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars, coarsely chopped*
1 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped**

* I use 6 bars, usually Heath, and I kind of just bang them on the counter to break them up. You don't want the bits too small, because then you lose the rather pleasant sensation of biting into a crisp and gooey piece of toffee mid cookie

** I hate nuts in baked goods, so I skip

Preparation
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by 1/4 cupfuls onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

greenmarket goodness: heirloom cauliflower

behold.











so gorgeous and bizarre, right?
they look like sea creatures from the murky depths.
I haven't brought any of these monsters home yet. they're just too pretty to chop up.

election cupcakes

It will be two weeks ago tomorrow that Obama won the election, and I'm still giddy. I definitely woke up two Wednesdays ago pinching myself, but what with all those presidential-looking magazine covers Obama's been landing on, and the appointing of actual Cabinet members, I almost feel like it's safe to wake up.

I was home in DC a week before the election and stopped by Georgetown Cupcake. Their cupcakes really are the best. The store is teeny-tiny and there's always a line out the door, but I swooped in one morning right after it opened and snagged two election cupcakes. There were red elephant cupcakes available, too, but the thought of putting a McCain/Palin in my mouth was not so palatable. The other two cupcakes were chocolate banana (divine!) and pumpkin spice (adored!). I can safely say they put Magnolia to shame (not a hard feat, really), but I'll need to do some more taste tests before I declare them superior to the ones at Sugar Sweet Sunshine, my NYC cupcakes of choice.
I guess I don't have to choose a favorite, though. This administration I'm all about bi-cupcakisanship.