This Daring Bakers challenge proves that I am still a New Englander at heart. With this Daring Bakers challenge and fall here (I can feel it even if I can’t see it here in Florida), my mind was brought back to those wonderful autumn days in New England. Days filled eating products made with sweet, local, maple goodness, pastries enjoyed with Maple Lattes or very often a warming cup of steaming hot Chai Tea. I have been yearning for the tastes of fall and I guess I am feeling inspired since it is only a few weeks until Roberto and I head to New England to visit family and friends during our most favorite season of the year. So this pastry is an ode to Autumn in New England.

In this challenge: Cinnamon Buns and or Sticky Buns we were allowed certain modifications, like changing around the spices. I have always enjoyed cinnamon buns over the years, but it is not a treat I often allow myself to indulge. Therefore, I decided since I am being forced to make them for this challenge, I might as well do them up in total Jenn fashion.

I love Cardamom, so I knew that I wanted this to be the focal spice in my cinnamon buns. See anything wrong with that statement: Cardamom as the focal point for Cinnamon buns? So clearly I needed to add cinnamon to the spice mix – it is afterall in the NAME of the pastry! Anyway, this being fall and with me already in the Chai Tea/ New England mindset I thought if I add a bit of ginger then I am really doing all the spices that go into Chai. What goes so well with Chai in my mind? Maple. So a plan came together straight from my New England Soul: adding pure VT maple syrup to my fondant glaze and topping the buns with toasted almond slices. I hope you enjoy these!

Read more…

We needed to go to the store BAD. There was just nothing in the house to eat. I could hear an echo in the fridge when I closed the door for about the 5th time, hoping that if I opened it again, I would find inspiration in the worst of times. Afterall, what kind of Leftover Queen was I if I was not able to find SOMETHING to eat! It was lunch hour and our stomachs were growling. I needed to make something, that was obvious, but what? Open the fridge…AGAIN… stare for a few minutes MORE. I was beginning to feel rather stumped and annoyed with myself for lacking all this food creativity. Hurumph.

Wait. Today was the day that my Honey Hazelnut Semifreddo had been made and we had leftover eggs that did not whip properly and they needed to be used - not gonna waste 3 egg whites on my watch! There was also some bread in the fridge and cream cheese, thoughts of lunch were beginning to form. Somewhere recently we had heard about stuffed French toast and it sounded really good, but we needed something else to round out this meal. One quick look in the freezer and there it was – Frozen mango! Perfect. Mango Stuffed French Toast!

Read more…

Well everyone, I did it!
I got through my first Daring Bakers Challenge and I am thrilled with the results. I am not sure bagels are something I would make from scratch again – they are time consuming and so easy to buy, that I am not sure it is time efficient! But I am thrilled with the fact that I was up to the challenge and met it with creativity and fun! This month’s challenge, REAL HONEST JEWISH PURIST’S BAGELS was chosen by Freya and Jenny.

Well my first challenge was not without its tragedies as baking for me generally is, but I was able to overcome them! The first hurdle was when I started the recipe and was proofing my yeast and realized that I did not have enough yeast. So I had to run out to the store for yeast and start all over again. Not much lost – just 6 TBS of honey and some poor little yeast whose dream of being baked into bagels were crushed as they were un-ceremoniously dumped down the drain. Next tragedy was when I started boiling the bagels and the beautiful smooth crust on them began to break down, and they really looked like blobs of cellulite floating in my pot. Not very pretty.

Thankfully through the baking process they smoothed out and became the beautiful little baked goods they were meant to be!

The rules of the challenge were simple – follow the recipe, do not add anything to the dough and be creative only with the toppings or the spread inside. We were reminded that this is intended to be a savory baked good – so keep the sweets out of it! So here is my version…

Read more…

This is a recipe we fashioned from leftover Easter ingredients. But in reality you can make this with almost anything. If you don’t like phyllo dough or can’t find it in the freezer section at your grocery store, you can use a store bought pie crust, or you can make a frittata which is an Italian version of a crust-less quiche.
This is a Leftover Queen classic as the only constant in this would be the eggs.
The rest is up to what is in your fridge and in your imagination!

Read more…

The Coffee Frappe in Greece is often described as a way of life. The drink is so ubiquitous with the culture that you can almost not think of one without the other. This being the case, there are often as many opinions as people on what is the correct way to make it – sweet, bitter, light, dark, etc. My take on it, not being Greek and therefore not having any real stake in it, other than enjoying it, is that it is up to personal preference. I like mine light sweet and frothy!

Read more…