Lemon Ginger Drop Cookies - Martha Stewart

Lemon Ginger Drop Cookies

I love lemon.
I love ginger.
I love cookies.

So much promise.

I made these Lemon Ginger Drop Cookies from the Martha Stewart empire. They use lemon zest and crystallized ginger. You drop them onto the sheet, bake for 7 minutes, pull them out and sprinkle with sugar before popping them back in for another 7 minutes. Easy peasy.

However, even though they contain lots of my favorite ingredients, they didn't knock my socks off. But I like my flavors strong, so you might like the subtle flavors in these.

Recipe:
Adapted from Lemon Ginger Drop Cookies from Martha Stewart website (Published in Martha Stewart Living, December/January 1995/1996)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 large egg
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest (I used Meyer Lemons)
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup diced (1/8 inch) crystallized ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
2. Place 3/4 cup sugar in mixing bowl. Add zest and rub with sugar until fragrant and damp. Cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (with paddle attachment), about 5 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl. Add egg; mix on high speed to combine.
3. In a bowl, whisk together flour, ground ginger, baking soda, salt, and crystallized ginger; add to butter mixture; mix on medium-low speed to combine, about 20 seconds.
4. Drop about 2 teaspoons of batter on baking sheet. Bake for 7 minutes. Pull out trays, sprinkle cookies with sugar, rotate sheets between oven shelves, and bake until just golden, about 7 minutes more. Slide parchment with cookies onto a wire rack; let cool 15 minutes.

Coconut Tea Cake - Tuesdays with Dorie

Coconut Tea Cake

Recently, a friend of a friend started the marathon session of filling out the eHarmony questionnaire. I think applying for the Foreign Service or CIA is easier. How these 500 questions about music preferences, religion and bowel movements (towards the end I wasn't paying attention but I think they asked about regularity or something) will match you with your perfect mate on 29 dimensions of compatibility (for $50+ per month) is beyond me.

However, that got me thinking about "levels of compatibility" with food. My eFoodHarmony questionnaire will include: Bundt cakes, Thai Food, Green Tea/Matcha anything, Mochi, Hawaiian Shave Ice, Udon Noodles, Soon Tofu, Avocados, Carnitas and, of course, long walks on the beach with Lemon Curd.

And my "dimension of incompatibility"? You know....coconut strands (coconut flavor okay...but the strands and flakes have a dental floss texture that I don't hang with).

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Carmen of Carmen Cooks singled out Coconut Tea Cake on pages 194 and 195 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Made in a 10-cup Bundt and a mini 4-inch cake. I skipped the rum and used a bit extra vanilla extract.

My hate of the coconut strands prohibits me from rating this. Co-workers said it was The Yum.

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Carmen of Carmen Cooks' blog, or
Pages 194 and 195 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours

Pot Au Feu Pho Restaurant - Garden Grove, CA

My friend and I are always looking for places to eat near Disneyland (we have annual passes) so we stopped by Pot Au Feu Pho restaurant in Garden Grove. The large Vietnamese community in Orange County equals lots of yummy food.

Only 3 miles from Disneyland, Pot Au Feu Vietnamese restaurant is a world apart from the offerings at D-Land and so much less expensive!

We split two main dishes. Here is Pho Tai Nam (#P4 rice noodles with filt mignon and flank) (regular size $5.75; large size $6.50).

The pho broth was very tasty and I enjoyed this dish. I always add some sriracha sauce to my pho and pile in the bean sprouts, basil and lime.

We also ordered Bun ga xao xa ot (#B7 vermicelli with lemongrass chicken and chili) $6.50.

We got an order of Spring Rolls (#A4 goi cuon $4.50). These were my least favorite...the meat was a bit dry and I wasn't crazy about the sauce. I grabbed some of the Vermicelli fish sauce to dip the rolls.

My friend got a Vietnamese coffee (ca phe sua $2.50) and that inspired me to make a gelatin creation I'll show you during National Library Week (April 11-17)!

If you are headed to the Magic Kingdom and want something other than the Rainforest Cafe or hamburgers in the Park, stop by Pot Au Feu! Here is the Yelp listing.

(Sorry the photos aren't that great...they are all from my Android Verizon phone)

Pot Au Feu Pho Restaurant, 11915 Euclid St, Garden Grove, CA 92840, (714) 636-3687 Closed Mondays

Mocha Muffins with Chocolate Chips - Bon Appetit

Mocha Muffins with Chocolate Chips and No pecans

I started these muffins yesterday morning...until I realized that I forgot to replenish my espresso powder. Flash forward a few hours to work. I mentioned that I needed to go to Target for more espresso powder (yes, you can get instant espresso powder at Target)...and my co-worker says she has some in her desk and doesn't like it (as a drink...she's quite happy with it in baked goods). How perfect is that?! Thanks J for the espresso powder...and here it is in these muffins.

I adapted the Mocha Muffins with Chocolate Chips and Pecans recipe from Bon Appetit. Ditched the pecans and upped the espresso. I also used Trader Joe's dark chocolate that I chopped up.

I got 15 muffins out of the batter. The recipe says 12. Either they make big o' muffins, or I got bonus muffins. I'm going with the bonus muffins. Always love with you get a little bit free.

I just had 1/2 a muffin and there is lotsa espresso. Our library will be the one with people bouncing off the walls.

Recipe:
Click here for printable recipe

Adapted from Mocha Muffins with Chocolate Chips and Pecans (Bon Appetit, April 1995 via Epicurious)

1/4 cup hot water
1 1/2 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I used Medaglia D'Oro. Original recipe was 1 T)

1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
2 large eggs (Always use room temp eggs for baking...sit in warm water for 10-15 minutes)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Penzy's Dutch cocoa)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used chopped dark chocolate from Trader Joe's instead)
The original recipe has 1 cup pecans but I skipped.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line muffin tin with liners. The recipe says it makes 12 muffins, but I got 15 muffins. Dissolve espresso powder in the hot water.

Wet ingredients: Whisk together the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla in a medium bowl, then add the espresso mixture. Dry ingredients: Mix flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add buttermilk mixture and stir just until combined. Mix in chocolate chips and pecans (if using). Do not overmix your muffin batter!

Pour into muffin pan. I use a scooper to dish out the batter. Bake until tester inserted into center of muffins comes out clean, about 20 minutes (recipe says 25 minutes but mine were done in 20 so check early!) Transfer muffins to rack and cool.

Dulce de Leche Cookies - Tuesdays with Dorie

Dulce de Leche Duos

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake decided on Dulce de Leche Duos on page 161 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Have you read California girl Jodie's blog? Always a fun read...although Jodie loves coconut (my arch enemy). Her decorated cakes are really cute!

Because I live in Los Angeles, canned La Lechera Dulce de Leche is easy to find for just a few dollars. Lots of TWD bakers made their own using their ovens, stove tops and crock pots. I just reached for it on the shelf and was happy with that. Opening a can of Dulce de Leche is lovely...the sweet caramel smell is intense and you just try your darnest to not throw a spoon in there and just start eating it!

These were delicious!
The cookie (made with dulce de leche) was soft and the dulce de leche in the center? Heaven.
They were GONE at the library. Gone.

I like the cookies on their own. They didn't need the filling...but I'm not going to pass that up either! ;)

Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

Recipe:
Jodie's blog, or...
Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours, page 161

Matcha Mochi Cupcakes - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day from The Food O'Librarian

Today, I'm celebrating my Japanese and Irish roots.
What?
Yes, I may be 100% Okinawan, but somehow, my grandparents named my father Patrick!

My grandfather traveled from Okinawa, Japan to Hawaii in the early 1900's to work on the sugar plantations...as did many Issei (first generation Japanese Americans). Later, he went back to the little island of Okinawa and met my grandmother. They settled in California as farmers and began to raise their family of six kids. When son #3 came along, they named him Patrick. They were Christian (named the first two sons John and David), but not Catholic so I'm not quite sure where the name came from. However, I attribute this bit of Irish to my craving for some corned beef and cabbage every March 17th. And the McDonald's Shamrock Shake. :)

So, to combine the Irish and Japanese (hee hee), I whipped up some Matcha Mochi Cupcakes. Using matcha (green tea powder) and mochiko flour (sweet rice flour), these cupcakes are chewy and a bit dense. And they are such a pretty color of green! It is similar to my Blueberry Mochi Cake, Cherry Mochi Cake, and Matcha Mochi Bundt but it uses whole milk and oil instead of butter and evaporated milk. It is less buttery than the other cakes, and I enjoyed it a lot!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Recipe:
Find the recipe here on my friend Azusa's blog, Humblebean. Check out all her beautiful photos and food! This recipe is gluten-free too!

Soft Chocolate and Blueberry Tart - Tuesdays with Dorie

For this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection, Rachelle of Mommy? I’m Hungry! chose Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart on page 354 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

This tart is supposed to have raspberries but the ones from Chile didn't look so great, so I subbed these New Zealand blueberries. And since I didn't feel like eating lots of butter, I skipped the tart shell. So, here is the Soft Chocolate and Blueberry Tartless Tart.

The combo of blueberries and chocolate is yummy. I ate this warm and enjoyed it very much! Be sure to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers!

P.S. I love you daylight savings time! It was after work and guess where I was today? The beach! By the way, my little plan of moving up the clock 10 minutes a day the week before the change has really helped!

Recipe:
Rachelle of Mommy? I’m Hungry! 's or...
Page 354 of Dorie's book, Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Los Angeles Marathon 2010 - Cheer for my friend Dave

Los Angeles, FIND THIS MAN!

Find my friend DAVE on Sunday....running the sold out Los Angeles Marathon!

I met Dave at UCLA in 1989. I was the one sleeping in the hall outside Calculus class in Dodd Hall. Darn, over 20 years later and we are still good friends!

Come out and cheer on my friend Dave and thousands of other runners. The LA Marathon has a great new route from Dodger Stadium to Santa Monica Pier...it is actually going to pass places where you live and visit! Going to the Sunday Hollywood Farmer's Market? Hang out there between 8:52 and 9:25 am and look for Dave! (edited to add: Okay, the Hollywood Farmer's Market is postponed til after the runners go by (opens 11 am), but you can still go early and cheer on Dave! ;) Are you near the Mormon Temple in West LA? Find Dave between 10:14 and 10:55! See the graph below for times.

Do you like to play Where's Waldo? You can play a live version! Look for my friend Dave (Bib #18870). He trying to break a 4:00 hour marathon time.

Team Dave (crazy-ass friends and family) will be along with course cheering on Dave. We'll be holding Davey-Pops. Don't you want to join the fun?! You can make your own by downloading the PDF here. Yah, we crazy, but when your legs are dying and you are hitting the wall at Mile 21, you need some cheers!

Dave will be wearing a hat, running with a backpack with his special foods and liquids, and a camera to take photos! Bib #18870. Dave is raising money for charity too! Noah's Wish (providing disaster relief assistance and care to animals). Check out Dave's blog: Dave's Travels.

Dave (@davery90230) will tweet while he runs (crazy multi-tasker) and I (@foodlibrarian)will be tweeting while my friends and I eat donuts. Go figure.

Dave's Timing (He is going for a 4 hour marathon). Here is a map of the course!

Mile	Street	Intersection	Landmark	Earliest	Latest
0	Dodger Stadium	Parking Lot	Dodger Stadium	7:20	7:35
3	Cesar Chavez	Broadway	Chinatown Gate	7:45	8:07
4	1st Street	Grand	Disney Concert Hall	7:55	8:17
8.5	Hollywood	Vermont	Rite Aid	8:35	9:05
9.5	Hollywood	Western	Metro	8:44	9:15
10.5	Hollywood	Vine/Ivar	Farmer's Market	8:52	9:25
11	Hollywood	Highland	Grauman's Chinese	8:55	9:30
12.5	Sunset	Fairfax	Griddle Café	9:10	9:47
13.5	Sunset	La Cienega		9:20	9:57
15	Santa Monica	Doheny	Troubador	9:35	10:13
15.25	Doheny	Beverly	Bristol Farms	9:37	10:15
16.5	Santa Monica	Rodeo	Rodeo Dr	9:50	10:28
17.25	Santa Monica	Wilshire	Beverly Wilshire	9:57	10:37
18	Santa Monica	Century Park W	Century City	10:05	10:44
19	Santa Monica	Westwood	Mormon Temple	10:14	10:55
20	Ohio	Sawtelle	Veterans Admin	10:23	11:06
21	San Vicente	Federal	VA Exit	10:31	11:16
22	San Vicente	Bundy		10:40	11:26
23	San Vicente	26th		10:50	11:37
25	San Vicente	Ocean	Palisades Park N	11:05	11:58
26.2	Ocean Ave	Santa Monica	Finish Line	11:15	12:10

Lemon Meringue Cupcakes - Martha Stewart Cupcake Club

For this month's Martha Stewart's Cupcake Club, Megan from My Baking Adventures chose Lemon Meringue Cupcakes on page 142 of Martha's book: Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book

I made half the recipe in minis (about 48 cupcakes). My torch was unavailable (don't ask) and my whisk was missing (again, don't ask). So I opted for a quick cream cheese frosting. I want to try them again with the proper meringue.

The combo of Meyer lemon zest and a dollop of lemon curd...delicious!

Be sure to check out the other Martha Stewart Cupcake Club members and their version of the recipe! I'm sure you'll see lots of yummy torched meringue!

P.S. On the Ides of March, I wish my friend Jun a happpppy birthday!

Recipe:
Martha Stewart's Cupcake Book: Lemon Meringue Cupcakes, page 142

The Martha Stewart Cupcake Club doesn't post the recipe, but you can find this one on Martha's website here. You can use WorldCat to see if your library has this book in their collection.

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins

As we head into Spring next week, I'm trying to do Spring stuff. No, not buy a new wardrobe (dude, I live in Los Angeles, we only have one season...you just put on or take off the jacket as needed ;). I'm trying to do some Spring cleaning. And that includes my cache of orphan blog posts.

This is where it is like spring cleaning. Pulling out stuff you don't remember buying. Things you meant to do. And picking up stuff and having no idea how it got there.

This is one of those recipes.

I vaguely remember my mom throwing Costco bananas in my car after a visit. Then I remember them sitting on the table for a little too long. One fine morning long ago, I found this recipe and made it before work.

I took Bon Appétit's (January 2003) recipe by Jennifer Martin for Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel and made it into muffins. Fast and easy. But I have no memory of how many were made or how long they took to bake.

Because I didn't put a middle layer of streusel (like they do in the cake), I remember having a boatload of streusel leftover. So cut the streusel in half. And put more on...mine look skimpy in that department.

Expect a few more of these posts as I continue my computer Spring cleaning...if only I can find the recipe for this mysterious carrot cake bundt that is in my photo file. Sigh.

Recipe:
Adapted from Bon Appetit, Jan 2003, found on Epicurious, by Jennifer Martin, Portland, OR. Click here for the original 8x8 cake recipe.

Click here for printable recipe

Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel Muffins

(This is about half the original streusel recipe...you don't need that much for muffins because they don't have two layers of streusel)
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional) (I skipped this)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 large)
3 tablespoons buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with liners or spray. Stir chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in small bowl until well blended; set streusel aside. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Using electric mixer (I used my Kitchenaid with paddle attachment), beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and blend well. Beat in mashed bananas and buttermilk. Slowly add dry ingredients until just incorporated. Don't overmix.

Scoop batter into muffin tins (2/3 full) Top with streusel. Bake until toothpick comes out clean. Cool and serve.

Note: I don't remember how long these baked...I would check after 13-15 minutes as it depends on your oven. I also don't remember how many muffins these made, but I see at least 14 in my photo above. Hey, it was early in the morning! If you make these, let me know! :) Cheer, - mary the food librarian

JustJenn's O.G. Book: Road Trippin'

My friend JustJenn had a bad year.
You think your day sucked? Her grandpa died on his 92nd birthday. And Jenn lost her job.

She spent this past year hanging with her 80-something year old O.G. (Original Grandma).

Planning the funeral.
Designing a headstone.
And, as usual, eating tacos.

You can read about Jenn and O.G. in Jenn's new book, Road Trippin'.

24 full-color pages for only $4.00. For less than a frozen yogurt, you can laugh and laugh at this duo of Los Angeles natives. Read more about it on JustJenn's site.


Click here to buy O.G. - Road Trippin' by JustJenn **
**This is an online only pre-sale with books to be shipped in April! (The book will officially be out for Comic Con 2010). I have Jenn's other two comics and they are hilarious! Her O.G. is the best and you won't be disappointed!

FTC disclosure: I'm getting nothin' in compensation for this plug...except for the occasional cupcake dropped off on the porch by my friend, JustJenn. But that isn't for the plug, it is in retaliation for the buttery foods I keep leaving on her porch.

Saucepan Fudge Drop Cookies

Brownies in Cookie form

So, I've been trying to get up 10 minutes earlier every day this week in anticipation of the daylight saving time change. As I'm getting older, Springing Forward has been kicking my butt. The week following the change, I feel like I'm in a jet lag haze. So, I keep moving my clock up each night and have made a big effort to go to bed early (thank you DVR for helping me time shift!). Next week, I'll let you know if it works.

This morning, since I was up early, I decided to make a quick batch of cookies, and remember seeing these on Tracey's Culinary Adventures blog. Tracey is a blogger friend who has great recipes and photos, and is always making something mouth watering!

This recipe was adapted from the book Bittersweet by Alice Medrich. Oh, it looks so good. Yet another book on my wish list!! The original recipe calls for a sprinkling of powdered sugar before baking, but we all skipped that.

Ok. I gotta run. I have to GO TO BED soon! I am totally looking forward to the time change though..."playing in the street" after work or heading to the beach for a sunset walk. Awesome.

I hope you make these lovely cookies...seriously, you can get them done in 30 minutes, including washing the dishes while they are baking. Thanks Blue Ridge Baker and Tracey for introducing these gems to me! Good night and enjoy!

Saucepan Fudge Drops
Adapted from Bittersweet by Alice Medrich (as seen on Blue Ridge Baker and Tracey's Culinary Adventures)

See if your library has the book Bittersweet: recipes and tales from a life in chocolate by clicking here.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (I used natural cocoa powder, not Dutch)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar, tightly packed
1/3 cup yogurt (I used whole milk Greek yogurt, but I think all plain yogurts will work)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

As Tracey says, you need to work fast with the batter. I suggest having all your ingredients ready to go so you can assemble and dish it out in just a few minutes. These cookies take no time at all!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl, and set aside. Place the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat and melt. Once the butter is melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa until smooth. Switch to a wooden spoon, and add both sugars and stir until blended - the mixture will be stiff and sandy at this point. Stir in yogurt and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Don't go crazy and overmix.

Immediately scoop dough onto baking sheets. I used a cookie scoop/disher and got a total of 22 cookies. I must have made 'em big...Bittersweet's recipe says you should get about 32 cookies!

Bake the cookies until they look dry on top and are cracked all over, but are still slightly soft when pressed, about 10-12 minutes. Mine were done in 11 minutes. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back about half way through to ensure even baking. Slide the parchment, cookies and all onto racks to cool.

French Macaron Class with Tartelette

Tartelette in the house! (Well, at least in Southern California).

Thanks to the efforts of Rachael, Gaby and Jenny, Helene Dujardin (Tartelette) came out to Los Angeles to conduct macaron and food photography classes. Whoo hoo!

Having never made French macarons before (but eaten plenty), this class was great. Who knew aged egg whites, almonds, powdered sugar and granulated sugar could make such pretty treats!

The class was fun because I also got to meet a bunch of food bloggers and catch up with ones I met at BlogHerFood.

This is the best "to go" box ever.

Thank you sooo much Rachael, Gaby and Jenny for setting up these classes!
Both classes totally rocked!