Avocado Toast

My friends from California can tell you that I live off avocado toast. When I worked at Domenicos, almost every time I opened the cafe, avocado toast would get me through the slow morning shift. Before I left, I told my Grandparents about my love for avocados and how sad I was that I wouldn't be able to get good ones in Boston, and last week they sent me a whole box of California avocados, perfectly ripe, and perfectly delicious. I ate the first one with a spoon and some hot sauce (avocados and hot sauce just go perfectly together don't they?).
Even though I have been (attempting) dieting, I can still eat my avocado toast. After all, I wouldn't want all of those beautiful gifts to go to waste! I ended up freezing the majority of them. I didn't know you could freeze them, but thanks to pinterest, I now have an endless supply of frozen avocado halves. To freeze, simply cut the avocados in half, remove the pit, and wrap the individual halves tightly in saran wrap. Once all your halves are wrapped, place them all in a large ziploc bag and freeze. Just defrost at room temperature for about an hour before you use them.
Avocado toast has many varieties: one of my favorites is smoked salmon with lemon juice, another is tomato (in season please!) with balsamic. But when I don't have any fancy ingredients, I can always create some form of the basic avocado toast (cheese optional but so good).
You have your bread, your avocado, your lemon juice, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and hot sauce. Today I added some feta cheese crumbles, but it's good without too. If you're feeling indulgent, add a drizzle of olive oil.

My personal preference for mashing the avocado is to leave some chunks instead of making it into a spread (I like my guacamole like this, too). At Domenicos, we are taught to use a butter knife to slice the avocado several times lengthwise and then again crosswise, then scoop it out and spread it on the bread. This leaves some good size chunks in there! But it's all up to you. That's what's so great about avocado toast: it's endlessly customizable.
So next time you find yourself with some extra avocados, do yourself a favor, and make some avocado toast. You can thank me later.

Avocado Toast

Ingredients:

1 slice Italian/Sourdough bread

1/2 Avocado

1/2 T Lemon juice

1/2 T Feta cheese crumbles (optional)

1 T Olive oil (optional)

Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste

Hot sauce

Instructions:

1. Toast the bread in a toaster until it's golden brown.
2. Using a butter knife, slice the avocado, still in its skin, several times lengthwise and again crosswise. Then scoop out the avocado and spread it on the bread.
3. Sprinkle the avocado with lemon juice and olive oil (if using). Top the liquids with the seasonings: salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes, and then your choice of hot sauce. Finally, finish it off with the feta cheese.
4. Cut the toast in half.
5. Eat.

Avocado Fried Egg Sandwich

Avocado Fried Egg Sandwich

Ingredients:

2 slices Italian/Sourdough bread

1/2 Avocado

1 T Lemon juice

1/2 T Feta cheese crumbles

1 egg

Nonstick spray

Salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes (to taste)

Cholula Hot Sauce

Instructions:

1. Stick both slices of bread in your toaster together (side by side) and toast to desired doneness. This toasts the outside but leaves the inside soft and warm.
2. Mash the avocado inside the skin, then scoop it out with a butter knife and spread it on one piece of toast (the soft side).
3. Sprinkle the avocado with the lemon juice, feta, and red pepper flakes.
4. Head a small nonstick pan to medium high and spray with a small amount of nonstick spray. Crack the egg into the pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and cook to desired doneness.
5. Transfer the egg to the avocado and top with hot sauce and the other slice of bread. Cut in half.
6. Eat.

Turkey Brie Salad

Here is a recipe I created modeled after a salad I had at Whole Foods. It is the salad version of my favorite sandwich at Domenico's.

Turkey Brie Salad

Ingredients:

2 cups arugula

2 oz. smoked turkey (sliced)

1 oz. low fat brie (cubed)

1 apple (cut into 1" cubes)

2 T dried cranberries

2 T olive oil

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1 t  dijon mustard

Salt and pepper

Instructions:

1. Whisk together the lemon juice and mustard until combined, and then slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper. Pour half the dressing into a container and save it for another use.
2. Toss the remaining dressing and the arugula, turkey, brie, apple, and cranberries together in a large bowl.
3. Eat.

Salsa Fresca

Salsa Fresca

Ingredients:

2 cups chopped tomatoes

1/3 cup finely chopped yellow onion

2 T finely chopped cilantro

2 T lime juice

1 minced jalapeno pepper (leave the seeds/membrane if you want more heat)

1/4 t salt

Instructions:

1. Put all ingredients into a bowl and toss well.
2. Eat.

Source: Whole Foods

Sugar Cookie Variations

So it's almost that time of year again: Christmas/Holiday cookie time! And because I had two days off in a row, I decided to do some experimenting on the sugar cookie front.
I have grown up using my Grama's sugar cookie recipe, which is absolutely delicious. However, because the dough isn't chilled, it spreads like crazy and all the pretty shapes that we cut out end up looking like they got run over by a bulldozer. If this isn't something that is important to you (like if you're just cutting out circles), then by all means use your old recipe. But I wanted something that would hold the sharp edges and maintain its shape.
So, I turned to Pinterest. Don't get me wrong, most of the recipes I use are from other sources or from my family. But in this case, I had been seeing this one recipe posted over and over again: no spread sugar cookies from Sweetopia. I gave it a try, and my mom has declared these her new favorite cookies. Ever. Out of all of the delicious, amazing, complicated cookies I've made, these are her new favorites.

And that's what's great about these cookies. They are simple, they are easy, and they hold their shape. But they are also pretty darn good. Especially if you use the fancy vanilla (you've read my rants about how much I love that stuff). This is THE recipe I will use from now on. And the best part is, there is a chocolate version!

So below I've written up these recipes for you, and I've included a separate (non-related) brown sugar spice roll-out cookie recipe that I tried today and loved.

But before we get to the recipes, let me give you some hints for making these cookies as pretty as they can be:

1. Many cookie recipes call for whipping the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. This incorporates a lot of air into the dough, which causes the dough to spread when baked. Instead, I beat the butter and sugar together until just combined.
2. Both the plain sugar and the chocolate cookie recipes originally had baking powder, but I left it out (Sweetopia tells you to do this because the baking powder can cause the dough to spread), The brown sugar spice cookies originally had baking powder AND baking soda, but after some research, I left the soda out and reduced the baking powder by half. Turns out, baking soda causes the dough to spread and baking powder causes it to rise. 
3. CHILL YOUR DOUGH. I cannot stress this enough. Believe me, I have tried to take shortcuts with roll-out dough and it never ends well. It's harder to work with and they won't maintain their shape. Chill the dough for an hour before cutting out shapes, and then chill it for an hour afterwards. You won't regret it.
4. Bake cookies of the same size together so everything bakes evenly. I've also tried to take shortcuts here and ended up with unbaked cookies on the same pan as overdone ones. Now I only bake cookies of the same shape together.
5. Watch your cookies carefully, but open the oven door as little as possible. The more you open it, the more heat gets out, the slower your cookies will bake.
6. Sift your dry ingredients so you don't end up with a pocket of flour/cocoa powder/cinnamon in the middle of your cookies. Ick.
7. This last one isn't for appearances, but for taste: use quality ingredients. I know you hear it all over the place, but you really can taste the difference. If you use cheap imitation vanilla, it just won't taste the same as quality vanilla. And make sure everything is fresh.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla

5 cups AP flour

1 t salt

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for a few seconds more. Do not over mix the butter and sugar in this step, it will incorporate too much air into the dough. 
2. Add eggs and vanilla slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. Add all of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is extremely important to not over mix the dough.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Cut out cookie shapes and place on parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
6. Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the edges become golden brown. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
9. Once out of the oven, leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
10. Eat.

Source: Sweetopia

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 T vanilla

4 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

1 t salt

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for a few seconds more. Do not over mix the butter and sugar in this step, it will incorporate too much air into the dough. 
2. Add eggs and vanilla slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. Add all of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is extremely important to not over mix the dough.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Cut out cookie shapes and place on parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
6. Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Bake cookies for 8-12 minutes or until the center of the cookie no longer looks wet. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
9. Once out of the oven, leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
10. Eat.

Source: Sweetopia

Brown Sugar Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups AP flour

1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t allspice
Pinch nutmeg

1/4 t salt

3/4 cup plus 2 T unsalted butter (room temperature)

1 cup dark brown sugar (firmly packed)

1 egg

1 T molasses

1 T heavy cream

Instructions:

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again for a few seconds more. Do not over mix the butter and sugar in this step, it will incorporate too much air into the dough. 
2. Add eggs and molasses slowly and mix. Make sure to scrape down the bowl with your spatula.
3. Sift your dry ingredients together. Add all of the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is extremely important to not over mix the dough. Now add the cream and mix until incorporated.
4. Roll the dough out between 2 large pieces of parchment paper until it is 1/4" thick. Place on a baking sheet and into the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour.
5. Cut out cookie shapes and place on parchment paper or silpat-lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and repeat.
6. Put cookie dough shapes back into the fridge for 10 minutes to 1 hour to chill again.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
8. Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes or until the center of the cookie no longer looks wet. The baking time will depend on the size of your cookie.
9. Once out of the oven, leave cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack. Let cookies cool to room temperature and decorate!
10. Eat.

Source: The Art of the Cookie

Walnut Baklava

So the other day my mom and I got take out Afghani food, and they had baklava on the menu. If you don't know what baklava is, it's a Mediterranean dessert made with many layers of phyllo dough and pistachios* and a lemony honey syrup. As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting as many recipes recently because I have been wayyy too lazy to just recopy the recipes I use, but in this case, I combined two recipes and I need to write down what I did so I can remember!
The recipes I combined were Michael Symon's Baklava and The Kitchn's Baklava. I was originally going to use Michael Symon's, but when I was at the grocery store, I could not find the Zwieback crackers it called for. I decided to just use the alternate bread crumbs, but when I got home, I discovered that all I had were Italian seasoned breadcrumbs. My mom stopped me from using panko (probably not a good idea) and told me that her baklava recipe didn't use breadcrumbs. Sure enough, most of the baklava recipes I could find did not.
So, I turned to the Kitchn. I used their recipe for the most part, but changed the layering order and added lemon to the syrup. I also cut the baklava into the diamond shape from Symon's recipe. The end result was delicious and beautiful, and my family can't stop eating it.
Tips for using the phyllo dough:

• Defrost it completely in the fridge overnight. I was impatient and unrolled it as it was defrosting on the countertop, and it cracked.
• Cover the phyllo dough with a damp towel while you are not using it. Remove one sheet at a time and then recover it with the towel.
• Rips and tears are okay; they're just more difficult to work with!

*I used walnuts because I could not find unsalted pistachios at Safeway and I didn't want to go through the trouble of shelling them.

Amanda's Walnut Baklava

 Ingredients:

16 oz walnuts (coarsely ground)

1/4 cup sugar

1 t cinnamon

3 sticks unsalted butter

1 package 16 sheets frozen phyllo dough (thawed)

For the syrup:

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup water

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the walnuts, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Set aside 1/4 cup of the mixture.
2. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. When the butter is mostly melted, remove it from the stove and let the residual heat finish melting it.
3. Carefully unroll the thawed phyllo dough, leaving the plastic sheet underneath the phyllo sheets. Cut the sheets in half lengthwise (make sure the phyllo matches the dimensions of your pan). Cover the sheets with a damp tea towel (not too wet!)
4. Using the pastry brush, brush a thin layer of butter all over a 13x9x2" pan. Make sure to get all of the bottom and the sides. Fold back the tea towel, carefully remove one sheet of phyllo dough and place it on the bottom of the pan. Butter the top of the phyllo lightly, making sure you are going out all the way to the edges. Repeat with layering 9 more sheets to total 10 sheets of phyllo, buttering the top of each sheet of phyllo before placing the next. Be sure to re-cover the remaining phyllo with the tea towel each time you remove a sheet.
5. Sprinkle a quarter of the nut mixture over the dough. Layer 4 pieces of phyllo on top, brushing each with butter before adding the next; sprinkle with another quarter of the nut mixture. Add 4 more phyllo pieces on top, brushing each with butter, then add another quarter of the nut mixture, 4 more pieces of phyllo with butter, and the remaining nuts.  
6. Place a phyllo sheet on top of the nuts and brush lightly with butter. Repeat, layering 9 more sheets of phyllo, with butter between each layer, to total 10 sheets.
7. Cut into the baklava to make strips, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Then make diagonal slices, about 1 1/2 inches apart, to create a diamond pattern.
8. Bake the baklava for 45 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate the pan once while baking to ensure even browning.
9.  Remove the baklava from the oven to cool and recut the squares to make sure they are cut all the way through.
10. To make the syrup, combine the water, sugar, and honey in a sauce pan and stir to combine. Boil for 10 minutes and then add the lemon juice. Boil for two more minutes and remove from heat. Carefully pour over the baklava, making sure to coat each piece.
11. Sprinkle some of the reserved walnuts on each piece. Cover the baklava and let it sit for several hours or overnight at room temperature.
12. Eat.

Orange Sorbet

Ingredients:
1 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
2 cups fresh squeezed orange juice
1 T Grand Marnier (I used Triple Sec)

Instructions:

1. Place the water and sugar in a pan over medium heat. Cook until all sugar is dissolved, stirring occasionally, about five minutes.
2. Remove the syrup from heat and stir in the orange juice and liquor.
3. Refrigerate the mixture until completely chilled.
4. Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
5. Eat :).