about
about me.
i'm kelly.
26 year old stressbaker.
about-to-graduate grad school.
new england transplant.
eating through philly & the burbs.
baking my way into the hearts of friends.
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Sunday, October 24, 2010 @ 7:20 PM
eating Manhattan: a day in food and kitchen design.
It pays to have friends all over the place. It's even better when they're foodies. Two weeks ago, I ventured to NYC with my friend Chelsea. We had a vague idea of what we wanted to do when we booked our bus tickets, but nothing was set in stone. A few days before we left, I messaged my friend Michael who lives in Brooklyn asking if he'd be around and if he had any suggestions of places to eat. I expected a quick reply with a semi-famous restaurant to try or a local bakery or two. What I got back was a detailed, organized list of places to try, spanning different courses and cuisines from cupcakes to Milkshakes to Venezuelan and menu suggestions and specialties for each establishment. Had we been blessed with more time and super-rapid metabolisms, we would have tried them all. Instead, we picked a few and centered our day around eating. (Welcome to traveling with Kelly...)
Our first stop was Shopsin's, a tiny eatery located within the Essex Street market.
Don't let the size fool you. Even though they only have a few tables, their menu is EXTENSIVE.
Creamy mac n cheese meets fluffy corn pancakes.
I wasn't sure I'd like them, so I didn't order them. Chelsea let me have a bite of hers and boy was I surprised! The textures and flavors meshed so perfectly that I couldn't believe I had ever doubted them. It was like mac n cheese and pancakes were meant to be together in breakfast bliss. Now if only I knew how to make them...
I went with Michael's recommendation of Blisters on My Sister: a skillet dressed in corn tortillas smothered in black beans and kidney beans and greens, topped with sunny side up eggs. A mix of melted cheeses coats the whole thing, marrying all the components together, making for one delicious Tex-Mex breakfast.
Of course the other part of being a tourist is that you can never take your leftovers with you, so I was forced to eat the whole thing (not that I'm complaining).
Normally, I like to walk off a breakfast like that before attempting to eat again, but my food plan for the day led us right around the corner to Sugar Sweet Sunshine, a bakery that brought all three words into my life.
I went with pistachio.
They have a whole case of tantalizing trifles, but I had heard promise of better-than-Magnolia cupcakes and I would not let even the most perfect pudding detract me from my goal. I spotted pumpkin cupcakes in the case and normally I'd partake in the seasonal sweet, but I wanted a rare flavor that I couldn't get at every cupcake shop in town.
I went with pistachio.
A slightly dense cake with a hint of green color and just enough pistachio flavor. The frosting was perfect silky meringue buttercream with a light flavor to compliment the cake beneath it and the whole thing was topped with a dusting of pistachio crumbs. Perfection.
We picked up some banana pudding to go to bring over to my friend at work to say thank you (he was very appreciative!) before heading over to the MoMA for their exhibit on kitchen design and women's liberation.
The exhibit was fantastic. As someone who values counter space more than any designer handbag, I have to say that this was worth the entire trip! It told the story of kitchen design after World War I through a socio-political-historical lens. It also featured kitchen appliances through the years (my gadget-collecting self was in heaven!) and art featuring cooking, food and kitchens.
Our last stop of the day was Grand Central Station. By the time we got out of the MoMA, it was pouring rain and we were tired, cold and wet. We headed into the food court for some chili and cornbread.
Our last stop of the day was Grand Central Station. By the time we got out of the MoMA, it was pouring rain and we were tired, cold and wet. We headed into the food court for some chili and cornbread.
After paying for my food, I turned to find a place to sit and was confronted with a line of people standing in front of Magnolia Bakery. Call me greedy, but I couldn't resist. I've never had one and the reputation was too big to pass up the chance at having one.
I went for red velvet and while I'd like to say that these lived up to their reputation, I'd be lying if I did. I didn't get to try my cupcake because the day ended in tragedy.
Rainy city meant wet bag and that wet bag didn't hold up to the weight of my cupcake. The box fell out somewhere between 31st and 38th and I was cupcake-less and out $3.75. [womp womp]
Labels: banana, breakfast, chili, cornbread, cupcakes, eggs, Mexican, NYC, pistachio
2 Comments:
this post makes me so happy. knowing you got to try shopsin's is fulfilling on some deep personal level. and it looks like you had a blast.
also fulfilling? that banana pudding your brought me. good lord kelly, you reignited an old addiction.
let me know the next time you're coming up this way, and we'll partake in all the foodie offerings bklyn has to offer.
By 
, at
October 28, 2010 at 8:44 PM
haha I would go back just to try the banana pudding! I'm glad you enjoyed. Thank you again for all the recommendations. I mean the MoMA was great and all, but the food shaped the whole trip!
I will definitely make another trip. I've been scoping out the brooklynauts site (when my gmail told me who commented, I had no idea who it was until I read your comment). Today I got an overwhelming craving for apple pie and your award-winning butter bourbon apple pie (btw that's like combining so many of my favorite things into one recipe) has only made this craving worse. Pie crust from scratch is on my baking fears to conquer list, so I think it's fate that you commented and I read your post.
I love having foodie friends. It makes my little heart so happy (and my stomach too, though mostly vicariously).
By 
kelly, at
October 29, 2010 at 7:05 PM
Thursday, September 9, 2010 @ 6:30 PM
Cupcakes, inspired by Cupcakes!
If you don't get the reference, I'm not sure we can be friends anymore.
Anyway, so two weekends ago, my summer dream came true when I chased down the elusive Philly Cupcake Truck. I had two cupcakes from Buttercream: one chocolate cupcake with peanut butter buttercream and one banana cupcake with nutella buttercream. When I tried them both, I smiled so much I had to close my eyes as to not distract my senses from the amazing taste I was experiencing. I needed more than a moment. I needed a few minutes.
Even though I told just about everyone I knew (and even people I didn't) about my epic quest, I still couldn't get those cupcakes out of my head. I frequently found myself in a silky buttercream frosting daze and the hum of my kitchenaid haunted my dreams. I was hopeless.... or so I thought.
When I got back from Ireland this summer, I brought back the usual souvenirs--Bailey's, Butler's and brown bread. I also came home with something unexpected: an attitude to conquer all my fears, especially those in baking. My new mantra had me thinking, "If you can dream it, you should bake it" and believe me, I have!
So I set out to replicate the delicate yet pungeantly banana flavored cupcakes I had been mentally savoring for days. I was skeptical that the recipe I was going to try would just turn into dry, dense banana muffins, not resembling my fluffy cupcake dream in the least. But, in lieu of my new take on baking, I fearlessly baked on...
Look at those hunks of banana and those beautiful vanilla bean specks!
While we're on the subject of bananas, I have to say that mashing bananas is not only therapeutic, but it's incredibly transformative. Take ugly, spotted ripe bananas, peel away the skin and watch as these pale, matte, bananas turn golden and shiny and release their sugary sweet flavor with every smash of a fork. I'm always amazed.
Soon after came the moment of truth. My cupcakes were out of the oven, lovely little yellow cakes flecked with a dusting of golden brown.
(It's called buttercream for a reason...)
Silky smooth and super simple to make. Swiss meringue buttercream with 5T Nutella added.
(who am I kidding? More like 7 tbsp, but who's counting?)
et voila! easily the tastiest cupcake I have ever made.
Cupcakes (from Bon Appétit | April 2010 as seen on epicurious.com):
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe large bananas, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
For cupcakes:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.
Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups (generous 1/4 cup for each).
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center of each comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.
I would be lying to you if I told you I didn't try one at this point. I had to. The anticipation, the trepidation, the doubt was all too much to suppress during the ten minutes it would take to make the buttercream frosting. Ten minutes would be an eternity! And why bother with buttercream if the cupcakes are sub-par?
I was speechless when I tried the cupcake by itself. I was standing in my kitchen grinning like an idiot at 11:30 on a Thursday night. All those doubts I had? Gone. Even the dream of banana nutella bliss was thrown out of my head with this naked cupcake alone. I couldn't wait to make the frosting.
(It's called buttercream for a reason...)
Silky smooth and super simple to make. Swiss meringue buttercream with 5T Nutella added.
(who am I kidding? More like 7 tbsp, but who's counting?)
et voila! easily the tastiest cupcake I have ever made.
Cupcakes (from Bon Appétit | April 2010 as seen on epicurious.com):
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 very ripe large bananas, peeled
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
For cupcakes:
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line 12 standard (1/3-cup) muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Mash bananas with fork in another medium bowl until smooth. Mix sour cream and vanilla into bananas.
Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat until well blended. Add flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with banana-sour cream mixture in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating just until blended after each addition. Divide batter among prepared muffin cups (generous 1/4 cup for each).
Bake cupcakes until tester inserted into center of each comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer cupcakes to rack and let cool completely.
Nutella Swiss Meringue Buttercream Frosting
(adapted from nutellaforum.com - who knew such a heavenly site existed?)
Ingredients:
4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
250g butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons Nutella
Directions:
1. Combine the egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl and whisk over a saucepan of simmering water until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is as hot as you can get it without the egg whites cooking.
2. With the whisk attachment on your mixer whisk the egg white and sugar mixture on high speed until a stiff meringue is formed and the mix has cooled down to room temperature.
3. Put the paddle attachment on your mixer and with the mixer on a low speed add a tablespoon or two of butter at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until the mixture is light and fluffy again.
4. Add the vanilla extract, almond essence, and Nutella, and mix on medium speed until the frosting is a good piping texture.
(adapted from nutellaforum.com - who knew such a heavenly site existed?)
Ingredients:
4 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
250g butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
5 tablespoons Nutella
Directions:
1. Combine the egg whites and sugar into a heatproof bowl and whisk over a saucepan of simmering water until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is as hot as you can get it without the egg whites cooking.
2. With the whisk attachment on your mixer whisk the egg white and sugar mixture on high speed until a stiff meringue is formed and the mix has cooled down to room temperature.
3. Put the paddle attachment on your mixer and with the mixer on a low speed add a tablespoon or two of butter at a time. Once all the butter is incorporated turn the mixer up to medium speed and mix until the mixture is light and fluffy again.
4. Add the vanilla extract, almond essence, and Nutella, and mix on medium speed until the frosting is a good piping texture.
Labels: banana, cupcakes, nutella
2 Comments:
Nutella frosting! Genius! (Sidenote that your blog always makes me smile. I'm instantly happier than I was five minutes ago, now that I've read about your cupcake creations and ice cream adventures! :D)
By Jess, at
September 12, 2010 at 5:05 PM
aww, thanks, Jess! They're a contender for class on Thursday, so we'll see ;)
By kelly, at
September 12, 2010 at 7:56 PM
Saturday, August 28, 2010 @ 8:01 PM
THE PHILLY CUPCAKE TRUCK!!! (finally!)
Just as I was about to move to Pennsylvania from Connecticut, I heard about the New Haven cupcake truck. It offers several decadent flavors, such as salted caramel and hummingbird (pineapple and banana), as well as a variety of toppings like standard sprinkles or edible gold flakes, if you're feeling fancy. They even offer shots of frosting if you'd rather skip the cake altogether (that's my kind of truck!). I was pretty bummed that I didn't have time to check it out before I moved, but after a quick Google search, I realized that Philly had its own cupcake truck, Buttercream.
I'm ashamed to admit that despite my excitement, it took me a year to finally stalk out the cupcake truck. I came close to visiting a few times, but for one reason or another it never happened. A few days ago I took a look at my "Things to do in Philly this summer" list and realized that I only had a few weeks left. So, I made myself a hair appointment at the Aveda Institute (on my list), found out where the truck was parked and was off!
I headed over to Clark Park in University City. I was greeted by an array of vibrant vegetables, jars of jams and jellies and beautiful bouquets of wildflowers at the farmers market that was going on.
I quickly brushed by the stands, on a mission for one thing and one thing only: cupcakes. I had the white van in sight and nothing could deter me from the allure of bright colored sprinkles and the promise of year-anticipated cupcakes.
At $2 a pop, flavors were selling out fast (the truck had only been parked for an hour before they ran out of ganache!), so I settled on two flavors: banana with nutella buttercream and chocolate with peanut butter buttercream.
Let's start with the chocolate cupcake. As you can tell from the photo above, there wasn't much frosting for such a big cupcake. I was worried that the peanut butter frosting wouldn't have a strong flavor and that it would be lost amidst all that chocolate.
The peanut butter flavor was perfect. The buttercream was silky and light. It's no wonder why the Cupcake Lady chose Buttercream as the name of her operation. It was so smooth and perfectly blended... I was surprised at how beautiful the texture was. As for the chocolate cake, it was moist and soft, but a little messy. If it had been a little more moist or maybe a tad denser, it might have stayed together better.
Let's move onto banana.
Banana can be tricky. Too little and it lacks flavor and can be dry and crumby. Too much and the cake will be flavorful but dense or worse--undercooked. This little guy was denser than the average vanilla cupcake, but was too light to be confused with banana bread or even a banana muffin. It had just enough banana and the perfect amount of buttercream. The nutella was delicious on its own (I sneaked a lick), but, despite the amount of it, the hazelnut flavor was so subtle that it played second fiddle to the banana flavor of the cupcake.
I had such a lovely time hanging out in Clark Park today; the sky was brilliantly blue and cloudless and everyone was enjoying cupcakes and the farmers market in the lovely weather. Tracking down the cupcake truck forced me to take a detour from my normal weekend routine--I got to relax and poke around the city by myself at my own pace. I wish I had found the cupcake truck sooner!
Labels: banana, chocolate, cupcakes, nutella, peanut butter