Bright green!

Apparently you all love Anne Burrell! Who knew? She rocked the poll last week with her book Cook Like a Rock Star.

As I mentioned in my review of this book many months ago, I really love the book in theory. The problem comes when you actually want to cook from it. A lot of the recipes require pretty rare and/or expensive ingredients.

So I tried to pick a recipe that would be accessible to people.

The pasta recipes called out to me. She really knows her pasta and while she pretty much always recommends making fresh pasta, a lot of the recipes can be easily adapted to use dried pasta.

This recipe caught my eye this week so I went for it. It turned out to be really interesting and delicious.

Arugula Walnut Pesto

Yield: Enough for 1 pound of pasta.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
3 cups baby arugula
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup Pecorino cheese, grated
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup hot pasta water
1/2 cup heavy cream
Kosher salt
Big fat finishing oil

Helpful Equipment:
Food Processor

Directions:

1) Lay out walnuts on a sheet pan and roast them for about 6 minutes at 350 degrees. Watch them closely and turn them once half way through.

2) Combine walnuts, arugula, cheeses, and garlic in a food processor and pulse until it's a rough paste.

3) Drizzle in olive oil and pulse again.

4) Add pesto to a small pan and add about 1 cup of hot pasta water to the pan. Stir well.

5) Bring to a simmer, stir in cream, and continue to simmer. Season with salt and pepper.

6) When pasta is done, drain it and add it straight to the pesto.

7) Serve with a drizzle of finishing oil and extra grated cheese.

Recipe from Cook Like a Rock Star.

The Basics

A normal pesto recipe is based on buckets of basil, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts. A lot of times I won’t even follow a recipe for it. I’ll just kind of wing it with those ingredients.

This is a very similar recipe in theory but substitutes arugula for the basil and walnuts for the pine nuts.

Speaking of nuts, I’m pretty sure Anne Burrell is one. Under this recipe in her book she writes in big bold type:

“I love the feel of nuts in my mouth!”

Ok Anne. I don’t really know what to think about that so here’s a photo of some nuts just so we can make sure we are on the same page.

Love these!

Anne recommends, and I agree, that you toast these bad boys before using them. Just lay them out on a baking sheet and bake them at 350 degrees for about 6-7 minutes.

I recommend setting a timer and watching them closely because these will go from perfect to burnt in about 30 seconds.

Making the Pesto

Arugula is no where near as flavorful as basil so you really need to use a lot of it for this recipe. Don’t worry about over-doing it.

No basil needed.

Once your walnuts are toasted, add them to a food processor with a good amount of arugula, grated cheese, and some minced garlic and you’re ready to go!

Ready to blend!

Pulse this down until it’s a rough paste and then drizzle in your olive oil and continue to pulse.

Perfect paste.

Finishing the Pesto

The key to finishing this pesto, which is now way to dry to really use, is to make a sauce out of it.

To do this, add the paste to a medium saucepan and get it cooking over medium heat. Then add about a cup of hot water from the pasta that you’re cooking straight to the pot!

This water will be salty and starchy and really help make this pesto into something useable.

Magic ingredient.

Once you get the pasta water stirred in, go ahead and add some cream and your sauce will really come alive.

The color of this is amazing!

Love the color.

Put this back on the heat and keep it warm until your pasta is done.

The Pasta

Anne’s big on homemade pasta and so am I. I kind of think of homemade pasta as a special occasion thing though and not an every night situation.

So I just used some dried linguine and it worked great.

Homemade pasta would be best...

Big Fat Finishing Oil

In about 25% of the recipes in this cookbook, Anne recommends finishing the dish with what she called a “Big Fat Finishing Oil.” What she means by this is a really good quality olive oil (read: expensive).

You would never actually cook with this stuff because the heat would immediately break down the flavors. You just drizzle it on right before you serve the dish.

I’m not an olive oil expert, but I picked out a nice bottle that definitely tasted a lot fresher than the stuff I use to cook. It worked great to finish the dish.

Big Fat Finishing Oil?

Once the pasta is drained just stir it into the sauce and then serve it up!

Extra grated cheese and a good drizzle of the nice oil rounds out the pasta perfectly.

Really tasty!

I’m was really surprised by the flavors in this pesto. They were very different from normal pesto.

It was a great change and Betsy and I both gave it two big fat finishing thumbs up!

My first shells!

Let’s talk about something quickly that has confused me over the years: the difference between yams and sweet potatoes.

Here’s the thing. It’s actually hard to find real yams in grocery stores. They aren’t popular in America. But, there are two kinds of sweet potatoes that are sold: ones with a lighter skin and light yellow flesh and ones with a more orange tint to it.

Unfortunately, a lot of grocery stores label the more orange sweet potatoes as yams even though they aren’t. They are still sweet potatoes but just a different variety.

My grocery store actually had these labeled as “Sweet Potatoes/Yams” as if they were the same thing!

Real yams have a dark skin and are even sweeter than sweet potatoes. They are popular in Caribbean cuisine, but are actually a bit hard to find in most grocery stores in the states.

So let the record show: These wonderfully delicious baked shells are stuffed with sweet potatoes and definitely not stuffed with yams.

Sweet Potato Stuffed Shells

Yield: Serves 5-6.

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large yams, boiled and mashed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 fresh sage leaves, minced
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1 28 ounce can tomato sauce
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, sliced
16 ounces pasta shells, cooked al dente
Salt and pepper
Fresh chives (garnish)

Directions:

1) Peel and cube yams and boil them in salted water until they are very tender, about 12-15 minutes. Drain yams and mash in a bowl.

2) You can cook shells in same water. Cook until al dente and then remove and drain shells.

3) Dice onions, sage, and garlic and saute in butter over medium heat until onions are soft, about 5-6 minutes. Don't brown the onions. Add red pepper flakes and a pinch of salt.

4) Add onion mixture to mashed yams with greek yogurt, cream, and walnuts. Stir together and season with salt and pepper.

5) Add half of the tomato sauce to the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Working with one shell at a time, fill shell with a few spoonfuls of filling. You can stuff them pretty full. It's also okay if they rip a bit.

6) Arrange stuffed shells in baking dish. Once the dish is full, top each shell with extra sauce and a slice of mozzarella.

7) Cover dish loosely with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Then uncover and bake dish for another 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

8) Serve shells garnished with fresh chopped chives.

Making the Filling

This is really a perfect winter filling. You could do a lot of things with it actually besides stuff it in shells. You could layer it in a lasagna or put it in manicotti. You could put it in ravioli or add some cheese and extra cream to it and make a kind of baked dip out of it.

It all starts with sweet potatoes though. Two large ones should do the trick. Just peel them and dice them into pretty large cubes.

Peeled and cubed

Boil these cubes in salted water until they are very tender (about 15 minutes) and then mash them up in a bowl. It’s okay if they aren’t completely smooth. Some lumps are just fine.

No need to be perfectly smooth.

Filling Flavors

Sweet potatoes are a good start but we want to add a lot more flavor to this filling. I really like the onion/sage flavor profile that the polenta I posted on Thursday had, so I decided to use similar stuff for this filling.

Good winter flavors.

Dice up the onion, mince the garlic and sage, and saute the veggies in butter over medium heat until the onions are soft. Be sure not to cook them on high heat or the veggies might brown which isn’t what you want.

You just want them to soften a bit so they turn slightly sweet. It should take about 5-6 minutes.

Then add in your red pepper flakes and add this mixture to the mashed sweet potatoes. You can add your yogurt and cream at the same time!

Yogurt... or sour cream.

I stirred this all together and tasted it.

Very Important: Any time you are coming up with a filling like this, it’s very important to taste it as you go.

When I tasted this, I liked the flavor, but I thought the texture was a bit mushy. So I went rummaging through my pantry and landed on some walnuts that I thought would give this filling some great texture.

Great add-in.

Just remember… if the filling tastes good on its own (which this did) then it’s going to be even better when it’s baked and covered with cheese.

The Pasta

Like I said, I wanted to use shells for this dish just because I don’t use them very often. You could use almost any baked pasta thing though for this filling, so go crazy!

Whatever pasta you choose, just make sure you don’t over cook the stuff. Pull it out while the pasta still has a very tiny bite to it. It will continue to cook in the oven later.

Be careful not to overcook these guys!

Prepping the Shells

These shells are actually really easy to stuff assuming that you don’t overcook them. Just add a few spoonfuls of filling to each shell! You can really stuff them pretty full.

Easy as that.

In a large baking dish, add about half of your tomato sauce to the bottom of the dish and then start stacking these shells in the dish.

You might have some leftover filling or shells depending on a few things, but it’s better to have leftover filling then not enough!

Might have some leftovers...

Add the rest of your tomato sauce to the top of the shells and top each shell with some mozzarella cheese.

I’m always inclined to add a large amount of cheese to dishes like this, but I would really recommend keeping the cheese light in this instance. The filling is really the star of the show and very delicious and rich on its own. So just a small amount of cheese should do the trick.

No need to go crazy with cheese.

Baking the Pasta

Cover this dish loosely with foil and bake it at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

Then crank up the heat to 400 and remove the foil. Bake it for another 15 minutes just so the tops of the pasta gets slightly browned.

Baked!

Serve these suckers with some fresh chopped chives!

Really great meal!

These were a delicious winter dinner and the leftovers were perfect also. Betsy and I ate these shells for a few days and I never got sick of them.

So remember: These are sweet potatoes, not yams.

And also remember to try this as soon as possible!

Whoa man.

Warning: Some people are going to read this post and think that either A) this requires too much work or B) sweetbreads are gross.

That’s fine.

I pretty much guarantee though that if I were to sell you one of these for $5 out of my street cart you would say it’s the best sandwich you’ve ever had. That’s because sweetbreads are delicious and maybe the most under-rated offal of all time.

Much like the oysters that are typical for a po’ boy, these little bites just melt in your mouth. And for those of us who live in the mainland and can’t get fresh oysters easily, sweetbreads are a wonderful (and much cheaper) substitute.

Sweetbread Po' Boys

Yield: 4 sandwiches

Prep Time: 30 minutes + soaking time for sweetbreads

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Sweetbreads:
1 pound sweetbreads
1 quart buttermilk
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons paprika
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 quart vegetable oil, for frying

Pickled Slaw:
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/4 red onion, diced
1/4 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup carrots, grated
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons tarragon vinegar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
Pinch of salt

Walnut Mayo:
1 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup walnuts, toasted
1 lemon, zest and 1/2 lemon juice

Other Sandwich Ingredients:
4 Hoagie buns, toasted
Lettuce
Sriracha hot sauce (opt.)

Helpful Equipment:
Mini Food Processor for mayo
Deep Fry Thermometer

Directions:

1) Soak sweetbreads overnight in cold water.

2) Poach sweetbreads in simmering water for 4 minutes. Remove and cool.

3) Slice sweetbreads into 1 inch bites. As you go, discard any tough tendons on the sweetbreads.

4) Soak sweetbread bites in buttermilk for at least a few hours.

5) When ready to make sandwiches, heat about 1 inch of oil in a large high-walled frying pan or in a heavy pot. Heat to 350 degrees.

6) Toss all-purpose flour with paprika, salt, and pepper. Drain sweetbreads and add to flour mixture. Coat well with flour.

7) Fry sweetbread bites for about 4-5 minutes until they are golden brown. Remove and let drain on a paper towel. Add sweetbreads to sandwich while still warm.

To Make Slaw:
1) Combine slaw ingredients in a large bowl. Toss with vinegars and oil and season with salt.

2) Ideally, make this a few hours before so the ingredients have some time to pickle. You could make the night before without a problem.

To Make Mayo:
1) Toast walnuts in a dry pan for a few minutes until fragrant.

2) Pulse with lemon zest and juice from 1/2 a lemon and mayo. Pulse until smooth.

3) Store in the fridge for up to a week.

To Make Sandwich:
1) Toast bread and slather with walnut mayo. Add a piece of crispy lettuce.

2) Top lettuce with fried sweetbreads. Add slaw to top of sweetbreads and drizzle with hot sauce if you want.

3) Slice the sandwich in half and serve immediately.

Planning and Prep

Unfortunately, this isn’t a sandwich that you’re just going to toss together on a whim. It requires a bit of planning.

For starters, the sweetbreads which we’ll get to in a minute, require at least a day of prep. You need to soak them overnight to clean them well.

Besides the sweetbreads, I also recommend making the slaw for the sandwiches in advance as well. The quick pickled slaw will just taste better on day two.

So, while none of the individual steps for this sandwich are super-hard, it does require some planning to pull it off.

If I can do it, you can do it.

The Slaw

The sweetbreads and mayo on this sandwich are really buttery and creamy so I thought it would be a good flavor addition to add something acidic. This quick slaw that I came up with was literally from leftovers in my fridge. It worked great though.

Basic stuff.

Just dice up all the ingredients pretty finely and toss them in a bowl with the vinegars and oil. Season this with a pinch of salt and let it sit for at least an hour or two.

Like I said, it would be best if you could make this the day before, but it’s not completely necessary.

The day before would be good...

Walnut Mayo

Any good sandwich worth its bread will have some sort of dressing. I started by thinking that a spicy mayo would work well with this sandwich. I still think that it would. So if you wanted to make a chipotle mayo like this one, it would also work well.

I ended up going a slightly different route though. For this mayo, I just toasted a handful of walnuts in a dry pan until they were fragrant (about 3 minutes), then pulsed them with some lemon zest and lemon juice and mayo until it was relatively smooth.

This is really good stuff and would be awesome on a bunch of different sandwiches actually.

Not bad at all!

Ok. Enough with the condiments. Let’s get down to business.

The Sweetbreads

Sweetbreads, if you’ve never used them, are from the thymus gland or pancreas gland of a cow. The ones I’m using for this post are the pancreas.

While they look intense, they have a super-mild flavor. Once they are fried, they melt away in your mouth. Like butter.

One of the hardest parts about sweetbreads is just finding them! Most likely, your grocery store won’t carry them. They just aren’t popular enough to keep in stock. You’ll have to ask around at butchers and farmer’s markets and you can normally get your hands on some.

The good news is that they won’t be very expensive if you can find them. They are, after all, a gland that most people just throw away…

I was pretty nervous about prepping these guys, but it turned out to be pretty straightforward.

To start, soak the sweetbreads in cold water overnight. This will help flush out any blood or liquid in the glands. It’s probably a good idea to change the water at least once also. (top left)

Next, you need to lightly poach the sweetbreads. This really just makes them easier to work with because they firm up a bit when they are poached. I cooked mine for about 4 minutes in simmering water.

After the sweetbreads are poached, slice them into 1 inch bites. While you do this, remove any tough tendons that are attached to the sweetbreads. It’ll be pretty obvious what you should be removing as it will be very tough while the actual sweetbread material is very tender. (top right)

Once the sweetbreads are soaked and poached, soak them in buttermilk for a few hours. You could do this a day or two ahead of time though if you wanted. I just soaked mine for two hours before frying them. (bottom left)

When you’re ready to fry, drain the sweetbreads and toss them in the flour mixture (all-purpose flour, salt, pepper, paprika). Now they are ready to fry!

Frying the Sweetbreads

You don’t need a lot of oil to fry these guys. Just about an inch of oil in a large pan with high edges is more than enough.

I did a test run with just one sweetbread bite to make sure these were going to work.

I can’t really explain how delicious this was. Golden brown and slightly spicy on the outside with a really creamy and delicious center. So good!

Testing testing...

I fried my sweetbreads in two batches at 350 degrees.

As always, I highly recommend using a deep fry thermometer to make sure your temperature is in a safe range.

Just a few minutes will do the trick.

The setup.

When the sweetbread bites are done, let them drain briefly on a paper towel.

I can’t get over how good these were.

Very good.

Making the Po’ Boys

Ok. Now for the easy part.

Toast your sandwich bread and slather both sides with some of the walnut mayo (or spicy mayo if you went that route).

Then lay down a piece of crispy lettuce and add a good thick row of the fried sweetbreads.

Pile it on.

Top with the slaw and, as an optional step, add a good drizzle of sriracha hot sauce.

How could you not want this?!

Had to do the hot sauce.

These sandwiches are messy, but man are they good. I sliced mine in half to make it a bit easier to eat.

Adventurous, but delicious.

This is an adventurous meal. No doubt about that.

But the payoff is awesome. Definitely one of the most unique and interesting sandwiches I’ve ever made.

If you love sweetbreads, hate sweetbreads, or have questions about sweetbreads, leave a comment!

Broccoli rabe... you so cool.

I’m not really sure what I was thinking when I included “Under 15 minutes” as a possibility for last week’s poll. I mean… what complete meal takes less than 15 minutes to make? Boxed macaroni and cheese? Popcorn?

So I’m glad you guys picked the Under 30 minutes option. It gave me a bit more to work with.

In fact, it gave me a lot more to work with. It gave me just enough time to work with some broccoli rabe.

Speaking of broccoli rabe, I have a really hard time writing or saying it without thinking of Andy‘s a capella group on The Office. He had a friend in the group who’s nickname was Broccoli Rabe and for some reason I find this incredibly hilarious.

Anyway, back to making a delicious dinner…

Braised Broccoli Rabe

Yield: Serves 4-6.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients:

1 pound (or bunch) of broccoli rabe, blanched and chopped
1 pound round pasta like campanelle or orecchiette
3-4 cloves garlic
1 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
3 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 cups vegetable broth
2-3 cups water
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
Salt and pepper

Directions:

1) Chop off the tough stems of the rabe. I usually cut off about 2-3 inches of stems.

2) Blanch rabe in boiled, salted water for about a minute. Drain rabe and run under cool water. Roughly chop the rabe.

3) In a large pot, add oil, garlic, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. Set over low to medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes until it's very fragrant.

4) Remove rosemary sprigs and add vegetable broth and water. Turn up heat and bring to a boil.

5) Add pasta and rabe, cover, and simmer for about 15 minutes (depends on pasta cooking time... add a few minutes to time on box). Make sure the braising liquid is almost or slightly covering the pasta and rabe. If not, add more water.

6) Meanwhile, lightly toast walnuts in a dry pan.

7) Serve pasta and rabe with walnuts and maybe a dash of hot sauce.

Roughly adapted from Eating Well in Season

Dealing with the Rabe

Broccoli rabe isn’t a common ingredient for most people I would guess. For this reason, it happens to be pretty cheap.

Have no fear though, it’s actually really easy to cook despite it’s strange broccoli hybrid appearance.

The Greenage.

Chop off some of the larger stems on the rabe. I usually chop off about 2-3 inches of stems.

Then dunk them in boiling salted water for about a minute. This will blanch the the greens and really bring out their bright green color. It’ll also make them a bit easier to work with!

Once they come out of the boiling water, run them under cold water to stop the cooking and then roughly chop them up. Big pieces are good for this recipe since they are going to cook a second time.

Quick blanch and a quick chop.

The Braise

This is a quick braised dish. Really you’re just braising the rabe while you are cooking the pasta.

It does help though to have a really flavorful braising liquid. Besides vegetable stock, which is the base, these three ingredients will go a long way to giving us some really awesome flavors.

Goood flavors.

In a large pot over medium-low heat, add a good drizzle of olive oil along with your garlic, red pepper flakes, and rosemary. Keeping the heat low will give the garlic and rosemary time to really flavor the oil. If you turn up the heat too high you’ll run the risk of burning the garlic.

Fragrant stuff!

After about 4 minutes of cooking on low, remove the rosemary sprigs and go ahead and add the vegetable stock and water to the pan. Turn the heat up at this point and bring the braising liquid to a boil.

When it comes to pasta, any pasta that would be good in a pasta salad would work here. I went with a campanelle which is a fun and relatively quick cooking pasta.

You could use a lot of different pastas.

Once your braising liquid is boiling, add the pasta and broccoli rabe to the pot. Give it a good stir and check the level of your braising liquid. You want the liquid to be just barely covering, or slightly under is fine, the pasta and rabe.

If you need to, feel free to add more water to get your braising liquid to this level.

Just barely covered.

Put the lid on this and let it simmer for about 15 minutes (check your pasta cooking time and add a few minutes onto it). Stir the pasta every few minutes to make sure it’s cooking evenly.

Believe it or not, almost all of the liquid will be absorbed by the pasta. What’s left of the broth will be reduced to this delicious silky sauce.

This was my finished pot.

Steamy!

The Walnuts

The original recipe for this dish called for chopped walnuts as a topping which I thought was pretty weird. I figured I’d try it out though and guess what: I was wrong.

The walnuts really kind of made the dish. I think you could use a lot of different nuts (pecans would work), but having something crunchy as a topping really helps.

Anytime you’re using nuts in a savory dish like this, it’s always a good idea to toast them in a dry skillet for a few minutes until they are fragrant.

Lightly toasted...

Besides the walnuts, I also topped my dish with a few dashes of hot sauce.

Ok... Maybe under 40 minutes...

This dish makes a lot of food and it’s really pretty healthy. It would be a fantastic lunch dish for the week.

OK. I’ll admit it though. This dish really took me closer to 35 minutes to make. Come on though… Give a guy a break!

It’s funny, when I moved to Sofia, Bulgaria three years ago, I didn’t like cucumbers. I avoided them on veggie platters and ate around them in salads. However, pretty quickly I realized that cucumbers weren’t worth worrying about especially when you move to a country where you can’t speak the language, you don’t know the Cyrillic alphabet and you don’t know anyone in the city.

I also figured that we move abroad to try new things, to test ourselves, to have an adventure and to learn to love new things. Cucumbers or краставица (krastavitsa) were an easy stepping stone into Bulgarian culture.

Now here I am sharing two different Bulgarian dishes that revolve around cucumbers.

Shopska Salad and Tarator Soup

Yield: Serves 4.

Prep Time: 30 minutes (for both)

Total Time: 30 minutes (for both) + chill time for soup

Ingredients:

Shopska Salad:
3-4 tomatoes
1 medium large English/European cucumber (if you can't find this you can use any cucumber you can get your hands on. If the seeds are too big or bitter tasting remove them)
1 medium to large onion
1/8 of a pound feta cheese (Greek feta is a substitution the Bulgarian cheese сирене--sirene. I've seen Bulgarian feta at shops like Whole Foods before and it's worth looking. Bulgarian feta or white cheese as Bulgarians translate this cheese for foreigners is softer and less salty than Greek feta.)
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil and vinegar dressing (traditionally Bulgarians use sunflower seed oil and grape vinegar but olive oil and red wine vinegar is what I used)

Tarator Soup:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup finely diced English/European cucumber (if you can't find this you can use any cucumber you can get your hands on and if you think the seeds are too big or bitter tasting remove them)
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3-4 tablespoons chopped dill
1/8 to 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Shopska Salad:
Chop the tomatoes and cucumber into bite size pieces. Eye-ball the amounts. Your goal is to have an equal amount of tomatoes and cucumbers. Chop the onion into pieces about half the size of the tomatoes and cucumber that is unless you want a big bite of onion in your salad but I assume you do not want this.

In a large bowl mix together the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. In terms of portions you are aiming for a ration of about 1/3 onions to 2/3 of the tomato and cucumber mixture. Crumble feta cheese on top and mix. At this point you have a choice you can dress the salad with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper or you can serve the salad and let people dress their own. This is what Bulgarians do. Anywhere I've ever been in Bulgaria you dress your own salad at the table be it a restaurant or a friend's house and then you eat this salad washing it down with a homemade grape brandy called rakiya.

Tarator Soup:
In a container with a lid mix together the yogurt, water, cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts. Shake. Chill in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

Before serving, taste it and add salt and pepper accordingly. The thing that makes or breaks this soup is the size of the diced pieces of cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts. You really want these as small as possible. I used a knife to slice and dice the cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts because I like being in control but my mom asked me while I was shaking my soup together: Do Bulgarians really chop up everything by hand and then shake the soup? Me: I don't know. Mom: I bet you could have saved some time using the food processor.

The first dish is called Shopska salad and is the traditional Bulgarian salad. It’s a dish best made with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and feta cheese. Depending on your taste you can also add diced bell peppers and black olives. Everything is diced and combined in a bowl. Traditionally you dress the salad at the table yourself with salt and pepper, sunflower seed oil and grape vinegar. It’s light summery and very easy to make. The dish relies on ingredients that are readily available in Bulgaria during the summer–it seems like everyone knows someone growing tomatoes and cucumbers.

This dish entered popular culture during communism in Bulgaria thanks to the state tourism agency–Balkantourist. Apparently the agency thought they needed a little more than the Black Sea, the Balkan mountain range and rose oil production to really “sell” the country. Enter shopska salad–named after a region just outside of the capitol Sofia. Today you can’t go to a Bulgarian restaurant and not see this salad on the menu.

I spent my whole first year eating shopska salad every where I went. My Bulgarian friends and colleagues insisted on it and I wasn’t in any position to say no. So I ate it and ate it. By December I was sick and tired of the salad and the produce was no longer as fresh as it had been in August when I’d first arrived. Luckily by then I’d found a Bulgarian pizza joint with a walnut, pear, blue cheese and romaine lettuce salad. Now I eat shopska salad between the months of May and October. In fact, the last salad I had before flying home this summer was a shopska.

Another cucumber dish I am in love with is tarator soup. It’s a cold yogurt soup with finely diced cucumbers, garlic and dill and topped off with some chopped walnuts. Again, it’s easy to put together but what’s great about this dish is that it tastes even better after a few hours in the refrigerator. On the Black Sea, men walk through the sun-bathers selling cups of tarator as a refreshing snack in a cup. So this dish screams summer to me–sand, sun, yogurt and cucumbers. In restaurants it’s dished out in bowls and eaten with a spoon and Bulgarians shake on plenty of salt and pepper. Twenty-somethings swear by this dish as a hangover cure.

In the summer both of these dishes are served up with grilled meat be it chicken or pork shish kabobs or minced meat hamburger-like patties called kufteta.

Shopska Salad

Chop the tomatoes and cucumber into bite size pieces. Eye-ball the amounts. Your goal is to have an equal amount of tomatoes and cucumbers. Chop the onion into pieces about half the size of the tomatoes and cucumber that is unless you want a big bite of onion in your salad but I assume you do not want this.

In a large bowl mix together the tomatoes, cucumbers and onions. In terms of portions you are aiming for a ration of about 1/3 onions to 2/3 of the tomato and cucumber mixture. Crumble feta cheese on top and mix. At this point you have a choice you can dress the salad with olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper or you can serve the salad and let people dress their own. This is what Bulgarians do. Anywhere I’ve ever been in Bulgaria you dress your own salad at the table be it a restaurant or a friend’s house and then you eat this salad washing it down with a homemade grape brandy called rakiya.

Tarator Soup

In a container with a lid mix together the yogurt, water, cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts. Shake. Chill in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours.

Before serving, taste it and add salt and pepper accordingly. The thing that makes or breaks this soup is the size of the diced pieces of cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts. You really want these as small as possible. I used a knife to slice and dice the cucumber, garlic, dill and walnuts because I like being in control but my mom asked me while I was shaking my soup together: Do Bulgarians really chop up everything by hand and then shake the soup? Me: I don’t know. Mom: I bet you could have saved some time using the food processor.

And you know what? She’s probably right. Moms are like that.

Besides checking out her blog, be sure to follow Carolyn on Twitter!

I like butter.

It’s not quite zucchini season yet. And what I mean by “zucchini season” is the point where you are hurling large zucchini out your car at passers by. Anything to get rid of the things.

If you really want to get rid of your zucchini this year though, what you can do is make these muffins. Then give these out. If someone has one of these bad boys, they’ll be chasing you down the street – begging for more.

I decided to not plant zucchini this year in my garden because I figure I can trade for whatever zucchini I need. And I’ll need some to make more of these as soon as possible.

Zucchini Walnut Muffins

Yield: 12-14 muffins

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup ground flax seed (optional, but if you skip it increase flour to 3 cups)
1 Cup unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 Cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 Teaspoons vanilla
2 Teaspoons baking soda
1/2 Teaspoon salt
2 Teaspoons cinnamon
1 Teaspoon nutmeg
1 Cup Walnuts
2 small zucchini (or 1 large), shredded. Should be about 3 cups.

Directions:

1) Melt butter and add to a bowl along with brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Stir until combined well.

2) Add flour, baking soda and flax to the batter and stir until mixed well. Try not to over-mix the batter though.

3) Fold in shredded zucchini and walnuts.

4) Butter (or spray with nonstick spray) muffin tins.

5) Fill tins to the top with batter.

6) Bake muffins at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes until they are lightly browned and a tester comes out clean.

7) Let cool for a few minutes before serving.

Making the Batter

This is a pretty straightforward muffin batter to make. I’ll cite the obvious that this recipe has two whole sticks of butter in it. I think you could get away with a stick and a half if you want, but I don’t really recommend it. They are perfect just like this.

The basics.

Start by melting the butter and letting it cool slightly. Then add it to a large bowl along with the sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Stir this all together until the sugar is well-dissolved.

Then stir in your eggs, one at a time.

Then add your flax (if you’re using it) and flour and baking soda and stir to combine. Try not to over-mix it. Keep it nice and light.

Once your base batter is ready, stir in all of your shredded zucchini. It’ll look like a lot, but it works.

Zucchini livin' the dream!

Then fold in your walnuts and your batter is ready for baking!

I had to force myself to stop eating this...

Baking the muffins

To prepare your muffin tins, spray them with a bit of nonstick spray or give them a very light coating of butter. I’ll give you two guesses for what I did. The first one doesn’t count.

When you fill your muffin cups for these guys, you can fill them completely up. They won’t rise as much as some muffins because of all the add-ins.

Note: If you end up with an odd number of muffins, be sure to fill any empty muffin tins with water before baking.

Fill them to the top!

Bake these guys at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until they are nicely browned on top. A testing skewer should come out clean.

Let them cool for a few minutes and then either serve them warm or let them cool completely. If you have some wire racks, they work best for cooling.

About as good as zucchini gets.

You do have to be careful with these muffins though.

You might get sued for serving people something that sounds healthy (zucchini, walnuts, flax) in what is essentially a delivery system for butter and brown sugar.

Go nuts!

I’d like to introduce you to the newest drug on the streets: Sweet and Spicy Nuts. These are one of those snacks that you can nonchalantly set out on the table during a party, turn around, and BAM. They’re gone. Not only will they be gone, but people will be itchin’ for more.

They’ll be going through your pantries and stuff.

You’ll be known as an official dealer in the sweet/spicy nut department which is a very enviable position. And in just this one instance, it’s okay to get high on your own supply.

Sweet Spicy Nuts

Yield: 2 pounds nuts

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 Cup brown sugar
1 Cup sugar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 Teaspoon smoked paprika
1/8 Teaspoon cayenne (opt.)
1 1/2 Teaspoons cinnamon
2 Egg whites
1 Tablespoon water
1 pound walnuts
1 pound pecans (you can use all pecans or walnuts or many other nuts if you want)

Directions:

1) Mix together sugars and spices in a large bowl. Whisk really well so the spices are evenly combined.

2) Whisk egg whites with water until frothy, but not stiff.

3) Toss nuts into egg whites and coat well.

4) Sprinkle in sugar mixture and stir really well to combine.

5) Lay out nuts in an even layer on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

6) Bake at 300 degrees, stirring every 5 minutes or so. They probably need to cook for 15-20 minutes until they are nicely browned.

7) Remove and let cool. Break up the nuts as they cool.

Adapted from a Smitten Kitchen recipe.

Mixing up the product

These are pretty simple to make. You probably even have most of the stuff laying around your kitchen, except maybe the nuts.

Speaking of which, nuts can be pretty expensive. If you keep your eyes peeled though you can sometimes find them pretty cheaply for a few bucks a pound. Definitely check wholesale stores as well.

Various good things.

Take all your dry ingredients and just mix them up in a bowl. Make sure the spices are mixed in well so they evenly coat all the nuts.

If you want to give these guys an extra kick, add in some cayenne to the party. I left it out though and they were still spicy enough.

Sweet and spicy were made for each other.

I’ve seen some recipes for nuts like this that use melted butter to get the sugar and spices to stick. That seemed a bit intense for me and I liked the idea of egg whites as a binder.

Just whisk up the egg whites with a tiny bit of water until it’s frothy, but not stiff at all. Then toss in your walnuts/pecans and stir really well so the nuts are very evenly coated.

Egg whites are magical.

Then toss in your sugar/spice mixture and stir until the nuts are very evenly coated.

Man these are good.

All spiced up!

Lay these out on a few baking sheets (you’ll need two). Make sure to line them with parchment paper. The nuts will possibly burn if they are directly on the baking sheets because of all the sugar.

Bake these guys at 300 degrees for maybe 15-20 minutes. Give them a stir every five minutes or so and keep a close eye on them.

I burned a few of mine because I thought they’d be okay for 10 minutes or so.

Watch these guys closely.

Keep an eye on them and stir them every once in a while and you should be okay though.

Remove them after 15-20 minutes and let them cool. Break them up as they cool and then store them far away from people until you need them!

Give them away if you can part with them.

These are pretty dangerous to just leave around as a snack. Because you’ll eat them all.

I like to give them away as gifts though or they’d be great for say… A SUPERBOWL PARTY.

For as quick as these are to make, it’s almost silly not to try them out!

These are packed with stuff.

This was shocking to me, but I’ve never posted a waffle recipe on Macheesmo. This is numero uno. And yes, that means that I frequently forget what recipes I’ve actually posted and have to look through the archives.

Waffles fall cleanly into the category of foods that I don’t understand why mixes exist for them. Sure, you can go to the store, buy a waffle mix, add some eggs/milk/etc. and produce a fantastic waffle. Or you can mix together a few dry ingredients that you probably have on hand, save a few bucks, and end up with, most likely, a better finished product.

What’s great about this recipe is that it’s very flexible. You can substitute different flours (rice/oat/whole wheat) and tons of different add-ins. I went with banana and walnut because I had those around, but seriously almost any fruit or nut would rock in these guys.

Banana Walnut Waffles

Yield: 8 waffles

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup oat flour (sub for your favorite flour)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3 Eggs
2 Cups milk or buttermilk
4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
Pinch of salt
1 banana, mushed up
1/2 Cup walnuts, crushed
2 Tablespoons poppy seeds

Helpful Equipment:
A Waffle Maker obviously! (This is the model I'd probably get today if I had to replace ours.)

Directions:

1) Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix wet ingredients (eggs/milk/butter) in a smaller bowl.

2) Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients until well combined. The batter should be thick, but not dry or clumpy.

3) Stir in any add-ins that you want.

4) Heat up waffle iron and spray it with nonstick spray or rub it down with some oil.

5) Add batter to iron (1/2 cup is a good start) and cook until waffle is crispy and golden brown, about 5 minutes.

6) Serve with butter, honey, syrup, or jams.

The Batter

The great thing about making a batter like this from scratch is that you can sort of customize it to your liking. At the same time, because of these customizations you might need to adjust it a bit.

For example, these are the dry ingredients I used. I thought oat flour was a nice touch.

Sub your favorite flours!

Depending on the flour you use, you might need more or less milk because different flours will absorb different amounts of milk.

Don’t freak out about it. Just start with the recipe I gave above and if your batter is too thin or two thick, you can always adjust it by adding a bit more milk or flour.

Start by just mixing all your dry ingredients in a bowl and your wet ingredients (butter/milk/eggs) in a separate bowl.

The dry and the wet.

Then whisk your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients. The batter should be a tiny bit thicker than pancake batter which means that it should be thick, but not clumpy or dry at all.

The fun part of the batter is the add-ins. These were my add-ins of choice for the day.

Flavor and texture join the party.

Making the waffles

Heat up your waffle maker until it’s ready. Most waffle makers will have a light saying when they are hot enough. Give the waffle maker a quick spray with some non-stick spray or rub it down with a paper towel lightly covered with oil.

Depending on the size of your waffle maker, you might have to adjust the amount of batter you use. For mine, a heaping half cup of batter per waffle worked great.

When in doubt, add more batter. Worse case scenario it will squirt out the sides as it cooks which isn’t a big deal.

Lumpy is good!

You can kind of see the consistency of my batter in the above photo. It’s thick enough that it doesn’t flow easily, but it’s definitely not dry.

When you close it down, they’re will be some steam and probably some extra batter that will make a big mess.

It’s cool though. Just let it happen!

Steamy!

Again, depending on your waffle iron and the amount of batter you use, your waffles might take a different amount of time to cook. Mine took about 5 minutes per batch.

You’re looking for a waffle that’s nice and crunchy and golden brown on the outside while still being moist on the inside.

Serve these guys with butter, syrup, honey, or your favorite jams.

These freeze surprisingly well also.

These are pretty quick to make and really delicious. The bonus fact about waffles is that they actually freeze really well. Just make sure they are completely cool, then store them in the freezer in a freezer bag.

When you want a waffle, just heat it up in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes and it’ll be almost as good as new!

If anyone has any good ideas for other add-ins or flours to use in these guys, leave a comment!

Tastes like Thanksgiving!

It’s always a good idea to have a bunch of snacks out for people during a holiday feast. This is because it’ll take you 2 hours longer than you expected to actually get dinner on the table.

Oh sorry. I’m projecting again.

I always like to have snacks out that way I don’t feel pressured if dinner is a few minutes (120 say) late.

Peanut brittle is a great treat for just such a thing, but sometimes I find it to be too sweet so I thought I’d add some herbs and spices to it to change it up a bit. Betsy and I brought this big bag of Thanksgiving toffee to a party and the verdict was split: Betsy didn’t like it. Everybody else did.

What’s that they say about your loved ones being your biggest critics??

As an aside it happens to be my biggest critic’s birthday today… so Happy Birthday Darlin’!

Ok. Sorry. Back to toffee.

Thanksgiving Toffee

Yield: 2 sheets

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Cups sugar
1 Cup light corn syrup
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Cup water
1 Cup peanuts
1 Cup walnuts
1/2 Teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 Teaspoon fresh sage
1 Teaspoon fresh rosemary
1 Teaspoon fresh thyme
2 Teaspoons baking soda
4 Tablespoons butter

Helpful Equipment:
Silpat Baking mats
Candy Thermometer

Directions:

1) Prepare all ingredients before you start cooking toffee.

2) In a large pot over medium-high heat, add sugar, corn syrup, and water. Stir and cook until sugar is dissolved and syrup reaches 280-285 degrees.

3) Stir in nuts, herbs, spices, and salt. Keep cooking until toffee reaches 310 degrees.

4) Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and butter.

5) Spread toffee out on silpats or parchment paper. Let toffee cool to room temperature.

6) Break toffee up and enjoy!

The thing about toffee

Toffee is a really simple thing to make up to a point. You just stir a bunch of stuff together until it’s ready and then spread it out and let it dry. Sounds easy right?

The trick is knowing when to stop cooking because if you cook it for a minute too long, you’ll burn the stuff.

I’m getting ahead of myself though. To start, you need some sugar and corn syrup.

Not great for you but oh well.

And some chopped herbs and spices. My favorite part of this toffee was actually the red pepper flakes. The spice worked great with the sweetness of the toffee.

I also overdid it on the sage. Sage is a pretty intense flavor and kind of overpowered my candy. I toned it down in the recipe though.

Too much sage!

You could use almost any kind of nut for this. Peanuts are standard and you could use all peanuts if you wanted. I decided to throw in some walnuts also.

This is getting nuts.

No matter what herbs or nuts you use, make sure you have everything ready before you start on the toffee because you don’t want to have to waste time measuring or chopping once the toffee is going.

Making the Toffee

Start by adding the water, sugar, and corn syrup into a heavy pot.

Serious Syrup

You will 100% want to use a candy thermometer for this. The only reason why you would be able to do this without a candy thermometer is if you’ve made toffee for like 20 years and can tell when it’s ready by sight. Of course, if you’ve been making toffee for 20 years then you probably also have a candy thermometer.

SO use a candy thermometer no matter what.

Stir this mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved and the temperature is 280-285 degrees. That’s very hot by the way, so don’t touch it or anything.

I know this because I accidentally drizzles some hot syrup on my skin and it burned like Hades.

Anyway, when your toffee mixture reaches the right temperature which will take about 10 minutes probably, very quickly stir in all your nuts, salt, herbs, and spices.

You’ll end up with something like this. It’ll be sticky for sure.

Temperature is very important.

Keep stirring and keep it on the heat until it reaches 310 degrees. This part will go really fast and is the tricky part. Try not to let it go too far over 310 degrees or the sugar will start to burn.

You need to keep stirring it constantly and keep your eye on the temperature. For stirring, use a silicon spatula if you have one. The toffee mixture won’t really stick to it.

Spreading the Toffee

Once your toffee reaches the right temperature, take it off the heat and quickly stir in the butter and baking soda. Then pour it out onto a silpat. If you don’t have a silpat, get one. They rule.

But you can also use parchment paper I think. The toffee shouldn’t stick to it.

Work quickly and spread it out as thin as you can.

Work quickly people.

I needed two Silpats for mine so plan accordingly.

Let the toffee cool to room temperature and then you should be able to break it up into shards. This is the fun part.

Take out some aggression!

I thought this stuff was pretty addictive which is always the sign of a good toffee. In all honesty though, I think it would’ve rocked with just the spicy pepper flakes in it. That was the part that did it for me.

Toffee is an easy thing to play around with once you get the technique down.

What do you think? Does herbs in toffee sound like a good idea?

There's coffee. In the cake.

If English isn’t your primary language, coffee cake must be very confusing. I mean, there’s no coffee in it normally. It should be called “Cake you eat with coffee.” Of course, that doesn’t roll off the tongue really so people just say coffee cake.

My point is that some people are probably disappointed when they eat their coffee cake and discover that it has no actual coffee IN IT.

So I decided to fix that.

Coffee Coffee Cake

Yield: Makes a bundt cake or 9x13 dish.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients:

Streusel:
3/4 Cups pecans or walnuts
3/4 Cups sugar
1 Teaspoon cinnamon

Cake:
3 1/3 Cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
2 Teaspoons baking powder
1 Teaspoon baking soda
3/4 Cups buttermilk
3/4 Cups strong coffee, cold
2 Teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, soft
1 3/4 Cups sugar
3 large eggs

Glaze: (Optional)
1/4 Cup strong coffee
2 1/2 Cups sifted powdered sugar

Helpful Equipment:
Bundt Cake, but you can also use a normal baking dish

Directions:

1) Brew a very strong cup of coffee and cool it off in the fridge before continuing. You could do this the day before.

2) Finely chop your pecans or walnuts or pulse them a few times in a food processor. Then mix them with the cinnamon and sugar to finish the streusel. Set aside for later.

3) Combine all your dry ingredients for the cake and mix together.

4) Combine the cold strong coffee with the buttermilk and vanilla and whisk together. Set aside.

5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and if you're using a bundt pan, lightly butter it and dust it with flour so your cake will come out easily.

6) Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat together the sugar and soft butter until light and fluffy. About 5 minutes with a stand mixer or 10 minutes with a hand mixer.

7) Mix in one egg at a time, mixing on low after each egg.

8) Add your dry and wet ingredients to the batter in the following order, stirring after every step: 1/3 dry mix, 1/2 wet mix, 1/3 dry mix, the remaining wet mix, the remaining dry mix. Mix well and scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well combined.

9) Pour half of your batter into your dish or bundt pan. Add all your streusel in an even layer. Then top with rest of your batter.

10) Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden skewer comes out cleanly, about an hour but it could vary based on your pan so just check it regularly.

11) Cool the cake for 10 minutes on a rack and then, if you used a bundt pan, invert it on a plate to carefully remove the cake. You can slide a knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake a bit.

12) Cool the cake completely.

13) If you're using glaze, mix sifted powdered sugar and coffee until smooth, then drizzle over cake.

14) Let glaze harden for a few minutes then serve immediately.

Adapted from a Gourmet Today recipe.

The Coffee

So, I’ll be completely honest. I’m not the first genius to think of baking a coffee cake with coffee. Joy and Ree have done it for starters.

A lot of recipes like this use instant espresso but I just decided to brew a really strong pot of french press coffee and use that in place of some of the liquid. It worked like a charm.

Strong brew.

The Streusel

So this coffee cake is like most coffee cakes in that it’s filled with a really tasty cinnamon sugar streusel. There are some pecans mixed in as well although they are totally optional.

If you’re using the pecans though, chop them really finely or give them a spin in a food processor.

All ground up!

Mix the chopped nuts with the cinnamon and sugar and set it aside for later.

The liquids

Once you have your coffee brewed, be sure to cool it off in the fridge. Adding hot coffee to a cake batter is a recipe for failure.

But eventually you’ll want these things.

Strong flavors.

Then just mix all these together. This will smell really intense actually.

For those that are recipe curious, I just adapted the recipe I was using to replace 1-for-1 the buttermilk for the coffee. But I still kept a good amount of buttermilk because it gives the cake some great moisture.

This smells good already.

The dry stuff

No photo but just mix together all the dry stuff in a separate bowl and set it aside.

Making the Batter

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until they’re light and fluffy, about 5 minutes with a stand mixer or 10 with a hand mixer. Then add the eggs one at a time, mixing in between each one.

Next, you need to incorporate the dry ingredient mix and the wet stuff into the creamed butter. This is the same process for pretty much every cake, but it goes like this:

- Add 1/3 of your dry ingredients to the creamed butter and combine.
- Add 1/2 your liquid and mix together.
- Add 1/3 of your dry ingredients and stir.
- Add the rest of your liquid and stir.
- Finally, add the rest of your dry ingredients and combine. If you’re using a stand mixer, be sure to scrape the bowl down.

You should end up with a really light and fluffy batter that smells like, well, COFFEE.

I had a feeling this was going to be good.

If you’re using a bundt cake (which I recommend), be sure to lightly butter and flour the pan so the cake comes out easily after baking. Then pour HALF of your batter into the prepared pan and even it out.

Add all your streusel evenly and then pour the rest of your batter over the streusel. It’s okay if some of the streusel is poking through, just do your best to even everything out.

The bundt pan is a good idea.

Baking the Cake

Bake your coffee coffee cake at 350 degrees until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Mine took about an hour. Be sure to check it with a skewer though because depending on the pan you’re using, your cooking time could vary by 10-15 minutes.

Anyway, you’ll end up with this delicious looking thing which you should let cool on a rack for 10 minutes.

Cooked.

Once it’s reasonably cool, you should be able to remove it from the pan pretty easily. I just flip my pan over onto a plate and the cake should come out. If you’re worried about it, slide a knife around the edges to loosen it.

The Glaze

I decided to prepare a quick coffee glaze for the cake also. Just combine some coffee with sifted powdered sugar until it’s smooth. Then drizzle it over the cake! Be sure that the cake is cool before you glaze it though. I let mine cool for about an hour before I glazed it.

Simple glaze on the cake.

Slice it up and serve it! This cake will keep pretty moist for 3 or 4 days as long as you don’t slice it all and wrap it well in plastic wrap.

A good way to start the day!

When I started making this recipe I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to taste the coffee and then I was worried that the coffee flavor would be TOO intense, but it turned out about right honestly.

The cake was very moist and had some great flavor. So give this a shot if you’re in the mood for some REAL coffee cake!