At my office, we always celebrate birthdays with a cake of that person’s choosing, and I usually bake it the night before to bring in the next day. This past Monday was my birthday, and since I’m the only one out of my colleagues who bakes, they let me choose a bakery to purchase a…
delicious
Matcha Coconut Energy Balls
Matcha and Coconut are two of my favorite things. It was only a matter of time before I put the two together to create a satisfying treat. These energy balls are raw vegan, and come together in a matter of minutes. Matcha ( a special form of green tea from Japan) has many health benefits and also gives you a boost thanks to the caffeine. Matcha is made from high quality tea and the leaves are ground down into a fine powder. Because whole leaves are injected, this makes Matcha a more potent source of nutrients than green tea. It is rich in antioxidants that can help prevent cancer and heart disease, and can help to regulate sugar levels in the body.
Tramezzini NYC Preview
Last week I was fortunate to get to preview the offerings at Tramezzini’s first brick and mortar location on the Lower East Side. Tramezzini began their business as a vendor at the weekend food fair ‘Smorgasburg’ in Williamsburg and Prospect Park and was founded by brothers Filippo and Massimiliano Paccagnella, and their friend Davide Pedon, all hailing from Venice, Italy. For those of us not yet in the know, a tramezzino is an Italian sandwich made with soft, white bread with the crusts removed.
Black Sesame & Chia Seed Granola
I grew up in New Zealand eating toasted muesli with milk for breakfast. I never liked the untoasted kind, it just didn’t taste as good to me. As far as I know, we didn’t have granola, that was more of an American thing (which I didn’t discover until adulthood). Both muesli and granola are made with nuts,…
Hot Cross Buns
Hot cross buns are a staple at my house during Easter. My Mum is a big fan of them, however it wasn’t until I became an adult that I got a liking for them. I was one of those children that used to turn my nose up at anything with raisins in it. I’d eat the raisins by themselves, but if they were in a muffin, I wouldn’t touch it. How times have changed! Now I can’t get enough of cinnamon raisin bread and hot cross buns.
Salted Peanut Butter Cookies
If you read my food reviews, you’ll recall a recent post about Ovenly and how sinfully delicious their baked goods are. Especially their salted peanut butter cookies! I was so taken aback with how good these cookies were, that I knew I had to find the recipe and try to recreate them myself. Well I did it! It wasn’t such a hard task, thanks to Ovenly having this recipe in their cookbook. Smitten Kitchen featured the recipe on their website, so I was only a short amount of time away from having these amazing cookies baking in my oven.
For this recipe to be successful, you need to use a processed peanut butter such as Skippy or Jif. The natural peanut butters are too runny so don’t be tempted to make these cookies more healthy. Just enjoy them for what they are: pure peanut butter heaven. To achieve the shape seen in the photos, you will need to use a cookie scoop. Freezing the dough is mandatory if you want to get the pretty striations on top of the cookies.
This Pie Is Nuts
This Pie Is Nuts is a range of healthy pies and granola, which are free from preservatives and are nourishing for the body. I first tried these delectable pies at the Bryant Park Holiday Market and I got to meet the pie creator herself, Diana. The pies come cutely packaged as individual squares and the flavors are Key Lime, Chocolate Mousse, Purely Pumpkin, Coconut Cream and Sweet Potato & Ginger.
I chose a Key Lime pie and a Coconut Cream pie. The Key Lime was definitely my favorite, with its zesty tartness mixed with creaminess. Pie perfection. The Coconut Cream was really luscious, with flakes of unsweetened coconut adorning the top of the pie.
Authentic Isan Thai Food at Larb Ubol
Larb Ubol, in Hell’s Kitchen, serves up authentic Isan Thai food that will have you coming back for more. Isan, a region in northeast Thailand, dominates the food scene across the entire country despite containing only 30% of the population.
I ordered the Larb Moo (pork) salad ($9), which consists of finely ground pork, shallots, fresh mint, scallions, cilantro, chili powder and lime dressing. Larb is a Thai salad, although instead of a vegetable salad, it’s a meat salad. If I’d never had a taste explosion before now, this dish would definitely cause one. Upon first bite, I exclaimed ‘wow!’ It was like being hit in the face with a fish. But in a really good way! The flavours in this dish really delight the senses: you have spicy, salty, sweet and sour all in the same plate. Make sure to order a side of sticky rice.
Treats from Ovenly
One of my co-workers used to live in Greenpoint and I remember her sharing a baked good with me one day, which had berries and tasted incredible. This was my first time trying anything from Ovenly, and I was so impressed I had to try more. I finally went there last weekend around 11am. I spied one last Blueberry Cornflake Muffin. It was mine! I have a thing for good berry muffins. Then, I thought, I can’t come all the way here and just get a muffin. So I also chose a Salted Peanut Butter Cookie and a piece of Espresso Burnt Sugar Shortbread, A.K.A The Stumptown Shorty.
I had heard claims that Ovenly’s Salted Peanut Butter Cookies were the best you could find anywhere. I had even read these claims in online reviews. But I’m not going to lie: when I first saw these cookies in person, I thought they looked too small and how could anything that small be the best? Well that old cliche, ‘good things come in small packages’, definitely applies here!
Pancakes with Caramelised Bananas & Maple Syrup
In 2010, 2 years before I came to live in NYC, I read about Clinton St. Baking Company and how famous they were for their breakfast items, especially the pancakes. I went on Amazon and ordered their cookbook so I could make these, along with other specialties, at home. These are quite simply the best pancakes you can ever have. Neil Kleinberg, co-owner and chef at Clinton St. Baking Company, perfected the recipe entitled ‘Neil’s Pancakes’ and made them classically authentic – something delcious, wholesome, truly satisfying and as natural as can be. Two flavors were put on the menu: blueberry, using tiny wild Maine berries, and banana-walnut. After weeks of experimenting, Neil came up with his now famous pancake base: fluffy, chewy and crispy on the edges, with all the complexity of a yeast-risen cake.
I wanted to put my own spin on this amazing recipe, so I decided to caramelise bananas using coconut sugar, cinnamon and a touch of coconut oil for frying – keeping with the natural tradition of Clinton St. Baking Company