Pistachio Ice cream

Hi there! It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been occupied with getting the house ready to sell, starting a new job and spending time with my friends and family. I’m still trying to figure out my schedule because I want to start posting regularly!

This weekend will be the hottest days of the summer so it’s only appropriate to cool down with some ice cream!

Out of the dozens of ice cream flavors, pistachio is my favorite. Its nutty flavor and bits of crunchy pistachio contrast with the creamy and smooth ice cream.

I used salted and roasted pistachios from Wonderful and my ice cream turned out sweet and salty- MmMmMm. Feel free to use unsalted pistachios for full sweetness.

Stay cool!

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Ingredients:

1 cup shelled pistachios
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions:

1. Finely grind 1 cup pistachios in a food processor.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale yellow. Stir in milk and transfer to a saucepan. Heat the mixture on low heat until thickened, stirring constantly, about 6 minutes. Once thickened, strain mixture into a bowl.
3. Mix in ground pistachios and heavy cream. Then chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
4. Stir the mixture then pour in ice cream maker to freeze. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze to harden.

Optional: pinch of salt

Yields about 1 quarts of ice cream.

Apple Pie

I finally made an apple pie! It’s hard to believe that after  9 years of baking, I had never made this American classic. My favorite part of an apple pie is the flaky buttery crust. It’s crunchy yet melts in your mouth and with a little bit of gooey apple pie filling…. uhh can you say HEAVEN?!

I was nervous to make this because although it looks simple, pies can be quite intimidating for a first timer. Especially since I was making the crust from scratch. The key to a flaky pie crust is to keep the butter super cold and not overwork the dough. I didn’t have a pastry cutter so I used a fork and it worked just as well.

Look at that GOOEYNESS.

The perfectionist in me was a little disappointed when my dough slightly cracked while rolling but it was no biggie. Once baked no one will notice and it tastes just the same!

To save time, you can buy premade pie crusts at the grocery store.

I think my lattice crust came out pretty well. What do you think?

I ended up using Empire apples because they are the perfect hybrid of sweet and tart. I also reduced the white sugar to 1/3 cup because I don’t like my pastries too sweet.

As summer rolls around, I can’t wait to practice my pie making and experiment with more intricate crust designs with fresh strawberries, peaches and blueberries!

Definitely serve this warm with vanilla ice cream!

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Pie Crust

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
1/4 cup water

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in butter until coarse crumbs form and stir in water a tablespoon at a time until mixture forms a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
2. Flour your surface and roll dough out 9 inches in diameter.

Apple Pie

Ingredients
2 9 inch unbaked pie crusts
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tb all purpose flour
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
7 Granny Smith apples (peeled, cored and sliced)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Directions

1. Make two separate batches of pie crust.
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Melt butter in a saucepan and whisk in flour. Add water, white and brown sugar. Continue mixing and bring to a boil then simmer for 5 minutes. In a large bowl, toss apples with sugar mixture, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Place and press the pie dough into the bottom and sides of a pie plate. Fill with apples and cover with a lattice style crust. Sprinkle brown sugar on top and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 350 degrees F and bake for 40 minutes until apples are tender and crust is golden brown. Serve warm.

Butternut Squash Soup

Hope you’re all staying warm in this frigid weather! This weekend was insanely cold and all I wanted to do was stay in bed. Needless to say, I’m so ready for summer.

I made this easy butternut squash soup to stay warm. It’s super creamy and naturally sweet I could practically eat it for every meal. Did I mention it’s healthy too? It’s filled with veggies- you won’t even notice. MmMmm!

Ingredients
2 tb butter
1 onion diced
1 stalk celery chopped
1 carrot chopped
1 sweet potato cubed
1 butternut squash (about 3 lbs), peeled, seeded, cubed
2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt butter in a large pot. Over medium heat, cook onion, celery and carrot for 5 minutes or until onions are lightly browned. Add sweet potato, butternut squash and chicken broth. Bring to a boil then simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.
2. Transfer the soup to a blender in batches and blend until smooth. Return to the pot and season with salt and pepper.

Note: For a deeper flavor, drizzle olive oil, sprinkle salt and roast butternut squash in the oven at 425 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Dulce de Leche Macarons

Ingredients
30 grams egg whites (about 1 egg)
27 grams sugar
39 grams almond meal
48 grams powdered sugar
Optional: Yellow/Brown gel food coloring
1 can dulce de leche

Directions

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
2. Combine egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whip on high until soft peaks. Add food coloring and beat until stiff peaks.
3. Sift almond meal and powdered sugar in a separate bowl then add to egg white mixture. Fold until batter is smooth and flows off the spatula in a ribbon. Transfer batter to a pastry bag and cut an inch off the bag. Hold the bag vertically and pipe one inch circles, leaving space between each macaron. Tap the sheet onto the counter five times to release air bubbles and smooth shells.
4. Let cookies sit at room temperature until a thin skin forms and the tops are dry to the touch, about 20-60 minutes depending on humidity.
5. Bake at 310 degrees F for 15 minutes. Let cookies cool completely and remove from baking sheet. Fill a pastry bag with dulce de leche and pipe filling onto cookies. Yields 15 macarons.

The Rocco Cookie: Reese’s, Kit Kat & Snickers

Hi all! It’s been a while since my last blog post. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving stuffing your bellies while spending quality time with your families!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because well- there’s food involved and LOTS OF IT!

It’s also the one and only day in the year when my parents are off from work. Although we don’t do traditional Thanksgiving dinners with turkey, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce and etc. – we do get to share a meal together on Thanksgiving. Whether it’s going out for Vietnamese food, slurping soup dumplings in NYC or bringing home roast duck for dinner.

I’m hoping I can host a traditional Thanksgiving dinner next year.

It’s going to be quite a feat but I’m going to make everything from scratch- from the turkey to the side dishes, gravy and pies!

I feel like it’s some sort of rite of passage in the culinary world to be able to cook a whole turkey perfectly. I don’t know, I’m probably making that up.

Anyway, I had some left over candy lying around from Halloween [Yes, I’m surprised I haven’t eaten them all too.] so I decided to throw them into a cookie because who doesn’t love cookies right?

I used Kit Kats, Snickers and Reese’s but feel free to use any combination of your favorite chocolate bars!

I must admit that the combination of these three candies were freakin’ delicious.

The wafers from the Kit Kats gave them a nice crunch and the peanut butter from the Reese’s gave the cookies a nutty flavor.

The best part were the Snickers with their chewy caramel and fluffy nougat layers. I mean look at the caramel bubbling over the edges… You have to make this cookie!

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The Rocco Cookie

Ingredients
20 Kit Kat wafers
30 mini Snickers
30 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut Kit Kat wafers into 1/4 inch pieces, snickers into quarters, Reese’s into quarters and set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, cream sugars and butter. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well.
3. Combine dry ingredients and gradually add to sugar mixture. Stir in half of the candy pieces.
4. Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and place pieces of candy on top of the cookie dough. Bake for 13 minutes and let the cookies cool. Yields 16 cookies.