BIG NEWS + MY FAVORITE COOKIES

Update:  Unfortunately, we won't be attending the Kingfield winter market at Bachman's this weekend due to the fact that the temporary kitchen we were using is no longer available.  We're sorry for the inconvenience!

Big news, I'm opening a doughnut shop!  Yikes!  Wow!  Holy MOLY!  Yes, after three amazing years of selling at the Kingfield and Fulton farmers markets, Bogart's is going brick and mortar!  I couldn't be more excited or more petrified.  My shop will be called Bogart's Doughnut Co. (see logo above) and will be a tiny doughnut and coffee place.  Just my original brioche and cake doughnuts with delicious drip coffee.  No seating, but we'll have a stand up counter looking out through a lovely picture window.  A tiny shop, making fresh doughnuts and closing when we sell out.  It is a dream come true for me and I hope to see some of you there.

Bogart Loves (the blog) was my first foray into the public food circuit and, quite frankly, the impetus for starting my bakery.  I love this blog dearly and for my lack of updates, I harbor guilt that only a mother can.  Barring any technical snafus, I plan to incorporate the blog into my new bakery website and I'll try my hardest to update it between glazing batches of doughnuts.  Stay tuned.

Also, we'll be at the Kingfield winter markets at Bachman's on January 25th and March 22nd.  Stop by to get your farmers market fix in the winter and grab some doughnuts while you're there.

Now, back to it.  I'm not even going to begin to apologize for my absence of posts on this blog.  Instead, I will bribe you with promises of what I believe to be the best chocolate chip cookies you may ever taste.  I cannot take ownership over this recipe, which has been around for awhile.  It originates from a recipe in the New York Times, but I first learned about it over on Molly's blog.  A word of caution, this is not an immediate gratification type of recipe.  What makes these cookies so awesome is that they must "age" in the refrigerator.  Bare minimum of 48 hours, in my humble opinion.  But once the wait is over you will be greatly rewarded for waiting.  Try them, you'll see.  Aging cookie dough should be the "it" new thing in the world of cookie fashion.

Recipe found here and a few photos below.

Flaked sea salt sprinkled on before baking.  

Really, really good cookies.

Also, Bogart's Doughnut Co. has a new Facebook page!

Jeni's Pistachio Ice Cream

Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home has become one of my favorite cookbooks.  That says a lot, since this is a book filled exclusively with ice cream recipes.  But I love it because the techniques are inspired and the flavor profiles are fantastic. Whenever I'm looking for some sweet flavor inspiration, it's the first book I reach for.  I've made quite a few recipes from it but the one that reigns supreme for me is the simple pistachio ice cream.  I've always loved pistachio ice cream and this version is one of the best I've tasted.  You can find the recipe here.  No fake pistachio flavoring or green food coloring necessary.  Just that pure, nutty, salty and rich real pistachio taste I love so much.  Jeni's certainly does not disappoint.

Roasted pistachios, pulverized into a thick paste.

A quick spin in the ice cream maker.

Frozen, creamy and divine.

Lamb Köfte

In our household, we really like tacos.  When I say "tacos" I very loosely mean any sort of heavily-spiced ground meat or bean mixture topped with a few sauces, possibly some herbs and a few other toppings, all wrapped up in, well, some sort of wrap. This wrap is traditionally, and usually, a plain old tortilla, but packaged naan is also utilized rather frequently here.  The meat may be spiced with a traditional dried cumin and pepper-heavy taco blend, but we've been known to switch that up on occasion as well.  (Try a curry-spiced meat, almost too amazing).  Anything goes with these tacos, really.  Usually my plan unfolds like this:  Saute some onion or shallot and garlic, add your dry spices and allow them to toast up in the pan, add your meat and serve wrapped up with the toppings and condiments of your choosing.  Toppings and condiments can be whatever sounds good to you, but for me, must always include a cooling yogurt sauce of some sort.  Tacos just aren't the same without it.  This lamb köfte recipe is one I've been making for a few years and definitely falls into this taco-esque category I've created.  Sauteed onions, lamb and spices with a cooling yogurt-tahini sauce and sweet muhammara relish.  All wrapped up in some naan.  Or a tortilla.  Or whatever wrap you have lying around.

Lamb Köfte "Tacos"
Serves 2 with leftovers
adapted from this recipe

1/2 cup full-fat Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp tahini
juice of half a lemon
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, cut in half and sliced
1/4 cup grated red onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1 pound ground lamb

1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped

1/2 cup jarred roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp pomegranate molasses
3 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped
4 pieces of naan, warm

For the yogurt sauce, stir together the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice and pinch of salt.  Cover and allow to chill in the refrigerator.

For the köfte, heat the olive oil in a large saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and saute until browned, stirring occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes.  Remove onions to a plate and set aside.  In the same saute pan, add the grated onion and garlic and cook until fragrant, or 2 minutes.  Add the paprika, cumin, salt and pepper and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the ground lamb and cook until no longer pink, stirring occasionally.  Add the chopped mint, stir and lower the heat to low while you make the muhammara.

In a small saute pan over medium-high heat, add the chopped roasted red peppers and cook for about a minute, stirring often.  Add the water and the pomegranate molasses and cook until a slightly thickened syrup forms.  Turn off the heat, add the chopped parsley and transfer to a serving bowl.

To assemble, slather some of the chilled yogurt sauce on a warm piece of naan.  Top with the lamb mixture and sauteed onions.  Finish with a few spoonfuls of the muhammara.

Spiced lamb, mixed with the sauteed onions.  

Creamy, cooling yogurt-tahini sauce.  Very necessary.

Caught red-handed.  

Back to the Market

I swear, I read so many fabulous food blogs where the authors have soccer teams of children and yet still, somehow, miraculously find the time to beautifully capture each step of their delicious creations on a weekly basis.  I, on the other hand, can't seem to get the whole cooking, chasing after a newly walking baby and snapping pictures thing down.  Maybe my brain is still scrambled from giving birth.  Maybe now my priority has become eating the food immediately after cooking it.  Probably, I'm just lazy.  Until I get my act together, below are a few pictures of things I've made recently that I didn't take the time to photograph after baking.  Guess you'll have to trust me that they were delicious.

On to more important and interesting things, Kingfield Market starts up again this Sunday!  Bogart Loves will have a shorter season this year, appearing at only about 10 markets.  Between the baby and a few things I've got in the works, the full season seemed a bit too daunting, so we're keeping it short and sweet (pun intended).  I'm really into doughnuts and have been testing many new flavors, some of which will be making appearances at the stand.  Also, yes, I will have a supply of salted caramel brownies from time to time. We hope to see you all there and can't wait to spend another summer with all of our favorite market people.  Happy summer!

Bogart Loves Kingfield Market Schedule:

Sundays, 8:30am - 1pm

4310 Nicollet Ave, Minneapolis

Note Updated date below:

May: 26th

June: 9th

July: 7th

August: 4th, 11th, 25th

September: 1st, 22nd

October: 13th, 27th

Also, Bogart Loves is on Twitter and Instagram:  @bogartloves  

Follow me only if you need more random thoughts, farmers market info, blog updates and pictures of babies in your life.

    

Unplanned doughnut "research" just outside of Naples Florida a few weeks ago.  This kind of thing makes me very happy.  

This just in . . . she loves bacon.  Phew.  

Walnut Cake + A bit on us lately

A bit on us lately . . .

Esther turned ten months old yesterday.  She can now stand up without assistance, which gives me anxiety.  We took her out to this place Friday night and after refusing to eat any of the puree I brought for her, she proceeded to eat her weight in smoked fish dip. I didn't mind because they had my favorite beer and by some miracle, two of my all time favorite songs made their ipod playlist before we left. Esther's new favorite hiding spot is under our table with the dog.

I recently cut my hair.  I am a bit obsessed with the cut despite the fact that Dave told me I now officially look like a mom.  Also, after eating the entire box in two days, I again understand why I am never again allowing myself to purchase these cookies. I decided to try to offset the cookie calories by chugging expensive beet juice and taking multi-vitamins.

Dave's birthday was on Saturday and all he wanted was for me to make him this cake. I found the recipe in an issue of Bon Appetit about a year ago.  It's a really dense and moist cake with loads of ground walnuts, almond flour and eggs.  It doesn't have a lot of sugar, which is why Dave likes it so much.  I pair it with bourbon-spiked whipped cream, but it's just as delicious on it's own.

Walnut Cake
adapted slightly from this recipe
Serves 12-18 generously

2 sticks butter, at room temperature, plus more for greasing pan
1/2 cup turbinado sugar, divided
7 cups raw walnuts
1 1/2 cups almond meal
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup plain full-fat yogurt
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
1 tsp kosher salt

1 cup heavy cream + 2 tsp sugar + a splash of good bourbon for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 9x13 metal cake pan then sprinkle the bottom with 1/4 cup of the turbinado sugar.  Set pan aside.

Pour walnuts into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.  Set 2 cups of the chopped walnuts aside.  Add almond meal and flour and pulse until walnuts are finely ground, 1-2 minutes.  Set walnut mixture aside.

In an electric stand mixer, beat the butter with the granulated sugar for 2-3 minutes or until whipped and light in color.  Add eggs, one at a time and mix until combined.  Add cream, yogurt, vanilla and salt and mix to combine.    Add the walnut mixture and mix until just combined.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in the reserved chopped walnuts.  Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top to form an even layer.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup turbinado sugar over the batter.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out cleanly.  Allow cake to cool completely before serving.  Cut into squares.  Whip cream, sugar and bourbon and dollop a mound on each slice.  Cake is also delicious served cold.

Big bag of walnuts.  All going into this cake.

Thick, nutty batter.

Spread evenly into your pan.

Yum yum.  

Grilled Cheese Egg in a Hole + Winter Market

Lately, my life has been consisting of little, defined pockets of time.  These pockets are filled with either, (a) playing with and or supervising a nine month old or, (b) doing decidedly non-baby things while said nine month old is napping. Esther likes to play piano.  She stands up, bends at the waist and pounds on her toy piano keys while kicking and tapping her right leg.  It's all very extreme. We call her Jerry Lee Lewis.  After a few hours of that, she sleeps and that's when I try to do very adultish things such as catch up on the Sunday New York Times, fold laundry or, most importantly, make myself something to eat.  Recently during one of Essie's naps I decided to do something crazy.  I wanted a grilled cheese, but I also wanted an egg.  Blammo, the grilled cheese egg in a hole was born.  No recipe needed, the steps are below.  Warm, butter-toasted bread filled with melted cheddar and a fried egg.  Sprinkle it with cracked black pepper and good salt.  Cut it in half to let that golden yolk run free.  Pick it up, dunk it in yolk, bite and repeat.  That's it.  It's pretty delicious.  Not the most adult-like thing I've ever made but delicious nonetheless.

On another note, Bogart Loves will be at the Kingfield / Fulton Winter Market next Saturday, March 23rd at Bachman's.  Stop by to say "hi" and grab a doughnut or a salted caramel brownie.  Find more information here.

Add a generous hunk of butter to your hot cast iron pan (or non-stick), allow butter to get toasted then add your cheese-filled bread slices.

Allow first side to toast, flip, cut hole in bread, remove center and add egg.  Season egg with sea salt and black pepper while you munch on the circular, mini-grilled cheese innards.

Flip again and cook until egg whites are firm and yolk is still soft and runny.  (Or cook until egg is to YOUR liking).  A bit more S&P on top.

You know the rest.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Coffee cake reminds me of my great Aunt Esther.  She and I often baked when I went to visit her at her home on Long Island and later at her home in Michigan.  Cookies, cakes, jelly rolls, bars, we baked it all.  But my favorite treat was always the coffee cake.  I remember the cake as buttery and densely moist with that chunky and rich cinnamon crumb topping.  We would cut ourselves generous slices each morning and sit down with orange juice at her sunny breakfast table.  When Aunt Esther died, I acquired her tube pan.  The same tube pan we baked angel food cakes in, always allowing the light cake to cool upside down by inverting the pan to fit through the neck of an empty wine bottle.  The same pan I burnt myself on as a young girl, imprinting my wrist with a scar that I am proud to still have.  I pulled out Esther's pan a few weeks ago and decided to make a coffee cake.  Sour cream makes this cake unbelievably rich and moist.  A bit of cardamom mixed in with the cinnamon adds incredible flavor.  Generous, buttery crumbs on top and a ribbon of spiced brown sugar in the middle.  A simple milk and sugar glaze, dripping down the sides.  Just like Aunt Esther and I used to make.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake
adapted from this recipe
Serves 8-10

for the streusel topping:
2 cups flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp kosher salt
6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter, cut into chunks

for the brown sugar center:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cardamom

for the cake:
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
4 oz (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature

for the milk glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and set a rack to the middle position.

Next prepare the streusel topping.  In a medium bowl, combine all of the streusel ingredients except for the butter.  Whisk to combine.  Add in the cold butter chunks and work into the dry ingredients with your fingers until totally combined, sandy and without large chunks of butter.  Transfer bowl to the refrigerator until ready to use.

To prepare the brown sugar center, combine the sugar with the cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl.  Set aside until ready to use.

Generously grease a tube pan with a few tablespoons of butter.  To prepare the cake batter, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.  Mix the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric stand mixer (or in a large bowl using a hand mixer) on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the butter is light in color and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and continue to mix until just combined.  Add the vanilla and mix until combined.  Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  Add the sour cream and mix until just combined.  Finish with the remainder of the flour mixture and mix until just combined.  

Place half of the batter into the prepared tube pan and spread out to an even layer.  Sprinkle the brown sugar center mixture evenly over this batter layer.  Top with the remaining batter and again spread out until even.  Top evenly with the cold streusel topping.

Bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly.  Allow the cake to cool in the pan set on a baking rack until completely cool.  Mix the powdered sugar and milk together to make your glaze.  Remove the cooled cake to a serving platter and drizzle with the milk glaze.  Allow glaze to set a few minutes before slicing and serving.

Sour cream makes the breakfast cake dense and moist.  Brown sugar gives it a warm caramel depth.

A generous amount of buttery streusel sets this cake apart.

A classic cake, still as irresistible as ever.

Beurre & Sel Jammers

This was the first year in a very long time that I didn't make decorated sugar cookies for the holidays.  For some reason all of the colored royal icing and intricate piping seemed a bit too daunting.  So I made Dorie Greenspan's jammers instead.  I'm a huge fan of Dorie, and so excited about her tiny new cookie shop, Beurre & Sel.  So I was very excited to discover the holiday spread in the December issue of Bon Apétit, featuring these cookies.  They consist of a shortbread base with streusel and a bit of blackberry preserves on top.  Festive and delicious, yet simple.  These may just be my new holiday cookie tradition.

Beurre & Sel Blackberry Jammers
makes about 30
minimally adapted from this recipe

cookie base:
8 oz unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

topping:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 oz unsalted cold butter, cubed
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup blackberry preserves

for the cookie dough:
In a stand mixer, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugars on medium speed until creamy or about 3-5 minutes.  Add the salt and beat until incorporated.  Reduce speed to low and mix in the egg yolks and vanilla.  Turn off the mixer, add the flour and mix on low until just combined.  Be sure not to over mix.

Divide dough in half.  Place each mound of dough between two sheets of parchment paper and roll to 1/4 inch thick discs.  Leave dough in parchment, stack rolled discs on a baking sheet and freeze until very firm or at least 2 hours and up to a few days.

for the struesel topping:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.  Add the cold cubed butter and rub butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it is the consistency of sand.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator.

to assemble cookies:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Using a 2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out circles from the frozen sheets of dough.  Transfer rounds to ungreased muffin tins.  Re-roll scraps and cut more circles until you have approximately 30 cookies.  Place muffin tins back in the freezer for about 20 minutes to firm up the dough.  Just before baking, remove tins from the freezer and spoon a teaspoon of preserves onto the center of each cookie dough round.  Remove streusel from refrigerator and sprinkle approximately 2 Tbsp around each drop of preserves.

Bake cookies until the streusel is golden, approximately 22-25 minutes.  (If you don't have multiple muffin tins, assemble and bake the cookies in batches).  When done, allow cookies to cool for 15 minutes in the tins.  After 15 minutes, run a sharp knife around the edge of the cookies and remove them to a baking sheet to cool fully.

Dorie, her cookies and a group of lovely ladies.  

Thick preserves work best.  Use whatever flavor you like.

Cut circles of buttery dough.

Preserves in the center.

Streusel around the edges.

Perfect for the holidays.

Basic Country Bread + Thank You Kirsten

I don't know Kirsten all that well.  Not personally, anyway.  She writes a food blog that I check religiously for it's witty writing and totally aspirational weekend menu posts. I especially appreciate her writing on bread baking, and went out and bought Tartine Bread after her post on homemade English muffins.  Kirsten and I have never hung out.  We only know each other because we have a mutual friend and because we once worked together for a bit.  Despite this, she gave me some of her starter. To be more specific, she gave me some of the Tartine Bread recipe starter.   To clarify even further, she drove to my house and hand-delivered to me a container of this precious starter.  Amazing.  To make a starter, you mix flour and water into a culture and allow it to ferment naturally using only the wild yeasts found mainly in the air.  This gives bread flavor and rise.  It takes quite a few days for the starter to ferment and scratch made starter is the ideal beginning to any great bread.  Needless to say, I was thrilled with Kirsten's gift.  It gave me the motivation I needed to make my first foray into the somewhat intimidating pages that make up Tartine Bread.  To ease into the process slowly, I decided to begin with the basic country bread recipe.  This recipe yields fantastic results and will quell any misguided beliefs that one cannot make a great loaf of crusty bread in a home oven. The process takes a lot of time, but the results are well worth the work. You will produce loaves that are thickly crusty on the outside, yet lightly tender and subtly sour on the inside.  Really delicious bread, made at home.  I owe it all to Kirsten.

To find Tartine's basic country bread recipe, buy the beautiful book or click here.

The starter that (ahem) started it all.

All of the kneading is done by hand in a bowl or plastic tub.

Rounds of dough resting before the final rise.

Crackly crusted and delicious.

Dark Chocolate Pots

There isn't much to say about these little pots except that, by my estimation, they encompass all things desirable in a dessert.  Warm and rich chocolate cake, made a bit sweet by a dollop of softened vanilla ice-cream.  I've been making these for a long time and they never get old.  The edge of the cake cooks to a moist brownie-like consistency while the middle stays soft and rich, soaking up all of the melting cream.  Brown sugar brings out the richness of the dark chocolate.  A little instant espresso powder and pure vanilla do the same.  Perfection in a pot.

Dark Chocolate Pots
makes 4

4 oz butter, cut into small cubes
4 oz dark chocolate (preferably 60-70% cocoa)
2 eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp flour
2 tsp cocoa powder (preferably Dutch processed)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp instant espresso powder or instant coffee granules
kosher salt
good quality vanilla ice cream or gelato

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Generously butter four small ramekins and arrange them on a rimmed baking sheet.  Set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a medium, heat-proof glass bowl set snugly over a small pot of simmering water.  Alternately, melt the mixture in the microwave at 30 second increments, stirring between each.

Allow the chocolate mixture to cool a bit and then whisk in the eggs, brown sugar, flour, cocoa, vanilla, espresso powder and salt.  The batter should be very smooth and glossy.

Pour batter evenly between the four prepared ramekins and bake on the rimmed baking sheet for 20 minutes or until the edges are just set and the centers are still a bit underdone.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Dark chocolate.  The base of this heavenly dessert.

Allow the ice cream to gently melt into the warm cake before digging in.

Heaven.