orange – Wait…are those…cookies?!

March 3, 2019

Messy delicious

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Hello!

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Happy weekend :)

It’s raining again which I’m sure is driving everyone else crazy, but I love it… I’ve always loved the rain, but within the last year I’ve noticed that bizarrely enough my autoimmune symptoms calm down in the rain, so I have another reason to love it.

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I have galette for you today! The last week FLEW by, but luckily I had stopped at the market for oranges earlier in the week, with an eye towards making this over the weekend.

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I LOVE how beautiful blood oranges are – they are like natures equivalent of stained glass! It’s so fun to slice one open and see the color gradient – my art history side comes out in spades around them! Besides that, they are of course delicious.

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It did the usual double duty for dessert+ice cream and then breakfast the next morning! C and I ate it post-climbing, and I have to say it makes a great snack.

I forgot my laptop charger at work on Friday like a dummy so I’m trying to limp my laptop through the weekend… this will probably be a short post on account of that!

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I hope you have something fun lined up this weekend – galette maybe?! :)

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Blood Orange, Hazelnut & Chocolate Galette

Gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free & arguably paleo. Lightly sweet from the oranges, with a hit of dark chocolate that doesn’t put you in a coma! Great for dessert with ice cream or on its own for breakfast. A Wait are Those Cookies original! Yield: 1 galette; serves several.

For the galette dough:

1.5 c almond flour (not meal; you want the finer flour variety)
1/2 c tapioca flour
1/4 c unsweetened cacao powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
6 tbsp salted butter, chopped (or ghee)
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract

In a food processor or high-power blender (I used a food processor), pulse almond flour, tapioca starch, salt, and butter to combine until it looks like coarse meal. Add in egg and vanilla extract and pulse just until combined. Turn out onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape into a disk and chill in the fridge for at least an hour, or up to overnight.

For the filling:

1/4c dark chocolate, melted
1/2 c hazelnut meal
2 tbsp maple
1 tbsp vanilla
2 blood oranges, peels removed & sliced
2 cara cara oranges, peel removed & sliced
Coconut sugar for sprinkling

In a food processor, combine hazelnut meal, melted dark chocolate, maple and vanilla. I leave mine pretty chunky/coarse, as opposed to making nut butter – but either one is fine. Set aside.

Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, keeping the circle to about 1/4″ thickness. Peel off the top piece of parchment, and slide the rolled out dough on its parchment onto a baking sheet. Top with the dark chocolate – hazelnut mix, spreading it carefully in order to not rip or crack the dough. Add the sliced oranges. Begin folding up the sides, creasing them together as you go – if the dough rips, that’s okay (you can crimp the cracks back together; remember: galettes are forgiving and rustic!); you can use the bottom piece of parchment to help fold up the sides. Sprinkle dough with a little coconut sugar and press the sides with sliced almonds if you want! Bake for 35-40 minutes until edges are golden brown — mine came out just fine at 35 minutes, so check accordingly.

Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then carefully slide the whole galette onto a cooling rack to let it cool completely. Serve with your fave ice cream or whatever of choice! Keeps well covered in foil on the counter.

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March 25, 2018

Nature’s ombré: blood oranges!

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Happy spring! I really can’t believe it’s almost April.

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Aside from my car blowing a tire on the bridge in the pouring rain (why is it that car trouble always comes in multiples?), things are pretty spring-like over here, especially today – the weather is cool, sunny and beautiful.

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We got in a great ridge hike yesterday, despite some really aggressive ridge top wind; the clouds were beautiful and we only got hit with a bit of light drizzle. The colors of everything were so gorgeous – not sure my photos do it justice!

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What a great weekend – quality time with fave human, hiking & healthy dessert! And pizza. Because, well, because pizza! Ha. Everything in moderation, including moderation.

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In other news, the skies have been beautiful lately.

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I have a very spring-y dessert for you today – our consensus was that this is a light, spring-like, mellow-in-a-good-way dessert – it certainly disappeared quickly over here!

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The panna cotta is very lightly citrusy, which plays nicely against the cornmeal & meyer lemon crust. Cornmeal is an easy sell with both of us, so no complaints there (except for some extra flossing). We ended up serving this with extra sliced citrus – both of us are really into tart things, but it’s also great on its own. I’d say that I like it with ice cream (because we know I love ice cream in general), but it’s not absolutely necessary, and could easily overwhelm the delicate panna cotta – in which case I’d say to skip it, just this once.

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This is a dessert that sounds complicated but comes together super quickly and requires minimal baking time. The only consideration is allowing enough time to let the gelatin set, but that’s just a small bit of planning ahead – I like to make this the night before and let it set overnight.

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Happy spring baking! Get on those blood oranges before they disappear!

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Citrus Panna Cotta Tart on a Cornmeal Lemon Coconut Crust

Gluten free and refined sugar free. Definitely could be done with coconut milk and dairy free yogurt for a df version! To me, this has the flavor essence of a creamsicle or a 50/50 bar, only lightyears better and not full of processed nastiness. Despite sounding complicated, this comes together quickly & easily, and can be made the night before. Yield: 1 9″ tart, serves several! A Wait are those Cookies original.

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For the crust:

1.5 c almond flour
1/4 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c cornmeal
heaping 1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
6 tbsp coconut oil, melted
zest of 2 small meyer lemons (or 1 large)

In a large bowl, stir together almond flour, shredded coconut, cornmeal, sea salt, and baking soda. Add in vanilla, maple, melted coconut oil, and lemon zest, and stir until completely combined. The dough will look crumbly, but you’ll be able to press it together with your fingers.
Preheat the oven to 350, and lightly grease a pie plate with coconut oil. Press the crust into the plate and up the sides with a spoon or your fingers, creating a smooth edge (or not, your call!). Poke the bottom with a fork a few times, and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and let cool for a few minutes.

Panna Cotta:
1 package unflavored powdered gelatin
3/4 cups whole milk, divided
2 tsp vanilla
Scant 1/4 cup maple
zest of two oranges
zest of 1 meyer lemon
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

In a small bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup of the milk. Let stand without stirring until the gelatin is moistened, about 10 minutes.

Pour the remaining 1/2 cup milk into a small saucepan. Add vanilla, maple & zest into the milk. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring consistently. Remove from the heat. Add the gelatin mixture and stir until completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Strain into a large bowl to remove the citrus zest and cool until lukewarm, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the yogurt until well blended. Pour the panna cotta mixture into the cooled tart shell. Place in the refrigerator until set, approximately 4 hours or, better yet, overnight.

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February 15, 2018

Happiness is jewel-hued citrus

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We bucked the Valentine’s Day trend with something that ISN’T chocolate! Isn’t that a novel idea?! Also, that chocolate banana cake last week kind of put us (temporarily) over the chocolate edge, so a little break didn’t come amiss.

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Besides that, the citrus situation right now is beyond awesome – blood oranges are beautiful! I love them – they’re remind me of mother nature’s version of stained glass.

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This galette was so satisfying to make, purely from indulging in the beautiful, jewel-toned citrus slices and their range of colors. I probably took an excessive amount of photos but I just couldn’t help it. Too pretty!

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I used a combination of blood orange, cara cara orange, and a small grapefruit, but you could really use whatever floats your boat! No hard and fast rules for this one, other than it’s generally delicious and makes a great breakfast.

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Grain free, gluten free, refined sugar free and pretty much paleo (depending on your personal paleo rules ofc). Super sturdy: you can fly wedges around like star destroyers, ha! I couldn’t decide whether I preferred this for dessert with ice cream or for breakfast – it really shines both ways.

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Let’s see what else is new. I did some hiking over the weekend on the ridges and had some beautiful weather.

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If you get a three day weekend this weekend, maybe treat yourself to some galette! Ours didn’t last long… there was really only about one (large) slice left after the dessert & breakfast shenanigans. Not sorry!

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Happy February! Go forth, enjoy the citrus season!

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Citrus Galette with Walnut Frangipane

Grain & gluten free, refined sugar free, paleoish. The crust is one I’ve used many many times on here – it’s my go-to galette crust when I want to stay gluten and grain free. Use whatever combination of citrus you like – I ended up with one small grapefruit, 3 blood oranges and two cara cara oranges, plus some meyer lemon zest. The walnut frangipane is a snap in the food processor (actually, you don’t even need to clean out the food processor all that much between dough and frangipane, so that’s a win) and adds a nutty sweetness to complement the citrus. Perfect for winter dessert or breakfast, or both! Yield: 1 galette, serves 2-6.

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For the galette dough

1.5 c almond flour (not meal; you want the finer flour variety)
1/2 c tapioca flour
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
6 tbsp salted butter, chopped (or ghee)
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the galette filling

3 blood oranges
2 cara cara oranges
1 small grapefruit
zest of 1 meyer lemon
*Use whatever floats your boat and fits your dough here! There are no hard and fast rules for this galette.

For the frangipane

scant 1/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1/4 c almond butter (mine was roasted unsalted)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Blend everything in a food processor or high powered blender until smooth. Can be made ahead and stored overnight in the fridge if needed.

For finishing

1 egg, beaten
1-2 tbsp coconut sugar, for sprinkling

Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper, keeping the circle to about 1/4″ thickness. Peel off the top piece of parchment, and slide the rolled out dough on its parchment onto a baking sheet. Top with the frangipane, spreading it carefully in order to not rip or crack the dough. Add sliced citrus, in whatever pattern you like! Begin folding up the sides, creasing them together as you go – if the dough is cracking, that’s okay (you can crimp the cracks back together; remember: galettes are forgiving and rustic!); you can use the bottom piece of parchment to help fold up the sides. Brush the edges of the dough with the beaten egg and sprinkle the whole thing with a little coconut sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes until edges are golden brown — mine came out just fine at 35 minutes, so check accordingly.

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May 14, 2017May 14, 2017

Just can’t get enough of all the citrus!

Hello, internet friends, and happy Mother’s Day to the moms out there! I do like my little corner of the interwebs… there’s so much STUFF going on in the world right now, I like to keep a little spot that’s just pretty food & friends.

I went on my annual yoga retreat last weekend! So lovely as always – love, laughter and light with friends (and delicious food, and beautiful scenery)!

But I’m back now, and fully back into the dessert swing of things – party snax, plus another citrus tart! The brownies are barely adapted from Ambitious Kitchen, here – I doubled the recipe & used blackberries instead with excellent results.

My kitchen currently smells like heaven – two desserts in under two hours is my kind of morning.

More progress on the SF series!

But this tart. Let’s get back to the tart…

Citrusy (though not as much as my meyer lemon curd/blackberry iteration) – this one is lighter on the citrus front, which makes sense since oranges are less in your face than lemons anyway.

Lingonberries are delicious – tart like cranberries but… different! Apparently they’re high in antioxidants too, whoop whoop! I have a largish jar of lingonberry jam that I wasn’t really going to get through using it just for toast, so I decided to introduce it to my orange curd and see if they got along. Turns out they pair surprisingly well, especially with a vanilla crust to bring it all together.

Lightly sweet and perfect for spring – this tart does double duty as dessert and breakfast (as so many of my desserts do; why be limited?). I mean, it’s basically fruit and nuts…

Have a great weekend, friends in my little corner of the internet!

Orange Curd Tart with Lingonberry Swirl on an Almond Vanilla Crust

More citrus! Tart, lightly sweet, and perfect for spring. Gluten free, grain free, refined sugar free, dairy free. Yield: 1 9″ tart; serves 6-9 (or two. your call). Incidentally, curd freezes quite well in airtight container – I made this ahead of time and froze it for about a week since I wasn’t quite sure when I would use it. Tart is a Wait are those Cookies original!

For the orange curd:

4 eggs
1/2 c coconut oil
scant 1/4 c honey
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 c orange juice
juice of 1 meyer lemon
zest of 3 oranges
1 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan over medium-low heat, combine eggs, coconut oil, honey, sea salt, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Whisk to combine and continue to cook, whisking constantly for about 10-15 minutes – it should be just on the edge (but not there yet!) of a low boil. The curd should thicken and your whisk will make tracks – don’t let it boil. It will still be slightly runny but will firm up in the fridge. While it’s still warm, strain curd through a metal strainer into a glass container and let cool completely before storing in the fridge (overnight is preferable, but at least 4 hours if pressed for time).

For the lingonberry swirl:

I used about a 1/4 c lingonberry jam (on the tart side) blitzed a few times with an immersion blender (a food processor would be fine too), just to get rid of the whole berries (cause piping those through a pastry bag or ziplock is a recipe for disaster, just saying)

For the crust:

2.5 c almond flour
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
3 tbsp melted coconut oil
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 c unsalted almond butter
2 tbsp maple syrup

In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, and sea salt. Add in melted coconut oil, vanilla, almond butter, and maple syrup, and stir until combined – the mixture will be crumbly.

Preheat the oven to 350, and press the mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9″ pie plate. Poke the bottom a few times with a fork, and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and fill with the orange curd. If you’re planning on the lingonberry swirl, use a ziplock bag with a teeny corner cut off to pipe the sauce into the curd, and then use a knife to swirl it around (alternatively, use a pastry bag if you’re less lazy than me!). Bake for 8-10 minutes to set the curd, then let cool completely at room temperature. Top with sliced oranges and shredded coconut if desired. I prefer to chill mine in the fridge for at least two hours before serving.

Leftovers keep well covered in the fridge (though I dare you to have any!).

November 28, 2016December 13, 2016

Orange bars: like a creamsicle only WAY better

Hello!! I have citrusy goodness for you today, because this time of year is all about the citrus and scurvy is bad news.

Besides that, I used to LOVE 50/50 bars when I was a kid (you know, those popsicle-looking things that were orange on the outside and vanilla on the inside? also known as a creamsicle?) and I wanted something that tasted sort of like that, only WAY better and not filled with all the junk. So I made these!

Orange bars with a vanilla almond crust… pair them with vanilla ice cream and they are pretty much the perfect citrus dessert.

Let’s see, what else is new… more drawing, of course — still on the SF series, naturally.

I think that’s about it, otherwise I’m business as usual over here — didn’t really bake diddly for Thanksgiving so I’ll have to make up for it at Christmas, which is (gasp) rapidly approaching.

Citrus was requested and I was thinking of doing something along those lines anyway, but I really wanted to do something besides lemon. I LOVE lemon, but… it’s always the favored child when it comes to citrus desserts. Let’s let oranges have their time in the limelight, ya know? …. Limelight? Really?? That just happened. Let’s see how many citrus references can fit in one sentence…

Anywayyyy. Make these! Eat them! Your neglected oranges will love you, and you’ll get a nice blast of creamsicle nostalgia.

Orange Bars with Vanilla Almond Crust

(Otherwise known as Creamsicle bars but that’s probably trademarked…)

Gluten & grain free, refined sugar free, easy dairy free option, probs paleo depending on your definition… all around delicious. I was going for the creamsicle flavor profile here and I haven’t eaten a 50/50 bar in years, but I’m pretty sure this really close (and, frankly, better tasting… let’s be real). These bars are light and citrusy, easy, delicious, and free of all the junk!

Sorry for some of the strange measurements — I prefer this in an 8 by 8 pan and I like my layers a little thicker, which is why the measurements are a little weird. Don’t forget to zest your oranges and then juice them! Nothing like attempting to zest pre-juiced oranges, it might be one of the more annoying kitchen things I’ve inadvertently done.

For the crust:

1.5 c almond flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
heaping 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/4 + 1/8 c unsalted almond butter
1.5 tbsp pure maple syrup
1.5 tbsp salted butter, softened (or coconut oil for non dairy)
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

4.5 eggs*
scant 3/4 c pure maple syrup
zest of 3 oranges, roughly chopped
1/4c + 1/8c fresh orange juice
pinch of sea salt
4.75 tbsp coconut flour
2 tsp vanilla extract

* to achieve half an egg: crack an egg into a small bowl and whisk it; then either measure or eyeball half and use that. or just use a whole one as long as it’s small, I doubt it would affect the consistency of the bars all that much…

Preheat the oven to 350, and grease an 8 by 8 pan.

In a large bowl, stir together almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Add in almond butter, maple syrup, softened butter, and vanilla, and stir until combined and crumbly. Press the crust dough evenly into the prepared pan, and poke with a fork a few times. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside when done.

While the crust is baking, make the filling! In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, maple, orange zest and juice, seal salt, coconut flour (sifted if lumpy) and vanilla until smooth. Pour into the parbaked crust, and bake for 30-35 minutes. The top should be mostly firm and the filling set, with just a small amount of wiggle (it’ll firm up as it cools). Let cool completely and eat immediately or chill in the fridge for later (I like them cold!) — serve with vanilla ice cream for maximum creamsicle flavor :) Store any leftovers in the fridge.

September 28, 2011

Now Panic and Eat Cake!

The caking continues!

Hello everybody! This is Kira, Hayley’s recently-arrived roomie. You might remember me from the banana cake issue preceding this. As the newest occupant of the Nerd-aerie (aka our apartment) I feel it is my solemn duty to make an appearance here in order to introduce myself, since I’ll be sharing in many of the cooking adventures to be featured in the coming posts. And what better occasion than the baking of a cake in celebration of my roomie/partner-in-crime’s 21st birthday? None, I say!

Let me just start off by saying that, while I do love me some good foods, and making them too, I have never been much of what you would call an instinctive or experimental cook. As a rule I find me a recipe and follow it! But living with Hayley (and reading her blog!) is challenging me to get a bit more creative, so for my first project I gave myself a little creative license and even improvised a bit.

I came across a recipe (in one of Hayley’s cookbooks) for orange cake, which sounded perfect, since we even had a lone orange that was lurking around the kitchen just waiting to be used (and the theme of this blog is cooking with what you have!), and since I wanted to make something a little different than just your typical chocolate birthday cake.

Orange Cake with Dark Chocolate and Orange Glaze

I found the original recipe in Hayley’s Moosewood Cookbook. That one calls for an orange glaze, but I thought that was much too boring, especially for a birthday cake. A birthday cake should have at least some chocolate! Plus the idea of orange with dark chocolate has been on my brain ever since a potluck I went to a few weeks ago where someone had brought candied orange rinds dipped in dark chocolate– heavenly! (And something on my list of future experiments)

What you need for the cake:

butter for the pan
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp grated orange rind (I upped this slightly, as I wanted it to be really orangey)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 Tbs baking soda
Whisked together:
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 10-inch tube or bundt pan (I halved this recipe on account of not having enough butter, not having a bundt pan, and not having 12-16 people to share it with! The halved recipe still makes a respectably-sized cake that fits great in a 9×9 in. cake pan).

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.

Stir in the orange rind and vanilla. Set aside.

Sift together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add this to the butter mixture
alternately with the combined yoghurt and orange juice, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix by hand after each addition–just enough to combine well.

Turn into the prepared pan. Bake 50-60 minutes, or until a knife inserted all the way down comes out clean. (*Note: if you make a half recipe, like I did, definitely set it for 50 minutes first and make sure to check it–60 min would have gotten me a burnt cake for sure!) Cool for about 15 minutes, then invert onto a plate (if you’re using a bundt pan, otherwise ignore). Allow to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Glaze with Orange

Okay, so this is where I got creative. The recipe calls for an orange glaze, but I’m going to give you my chocolate one instead, as I think it was superior.

What you need:

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 Tbs butter
small amount boiling water
grated orange rind

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a small saucepan, then add the boiling water until you get the consistency you want–pourable but preferably not watery. Add orange rind to taste. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for about 3 minutes, stirring often. Pour the hot glaze onto the cooled cake and garnish with sliced orange peels. Let stand at least 10 minutes before slicing.

*Note: these are the glaze proportions I used for my half-recipe cake. If you go whole hog (in a manner of speaking) you might need to double this, depending on how much chocolatey goodness you want on your cake.

Also, food for thought–you could try adding 2-3 Tbs orange liqueur to the glaze mix as well! It would have been exceptionally fitting in Hayley’s 21st birthday cake, but sadly I had none to hand at the time.

In conclusion…

The cake was a delicious success, not too sweet and excellent with vanilla ice cream and fresh-picked blackberries, or (in the spirit of the thing) Kahlua!