In the chaotic kitchen of a recipe developer, you get a food blog called FoodMayhem.
I'm Jessica, an Asian-American, born and raised in NYC, and that's Lon, my Jewish, white husband. While professionally trained as a French culinary- and pastry chef, many of FoodMayhem recipes are my attempt to preserve and share authentic Chinese and Taiwanese recipes learned from my mom. We don't eat Chinese food every day, so you'll get a little bit of anything we find delicious enough to share: from our Eastern European side; recipes and techniques learned from my restaurant days; restaurant reviews, food travel tips; and a few other juicy bits along the way. Welcome to FoodMayhem!
I couldn’t decide what to make for #NYCookieSwap 2011. It’s a big deal with cookie greats like Dorie Greenspan attending! Lon saved the day and came up with an idea I loved: a way to combine three classic cookies that everyone loves. What’s better than your favorite cookie? Three of your favorite cookies in one! It’s a Chocolate Chip Cookie in the center with a ring of Chocolate Cookie around it, with another ring of Peanut Butter Cookie around that.
I have played around with this biscuit recipe many times now, which started out as the Cheddar and Chive Biscuit recipe from BLT Fish. I have suspicions that it’s not the same recipe they use in the restaurant, but that’s a different story. I started with the recipe they shared, made it, liked it, then decided to play with it at times when I didn’t have the exact ingredients. Over the year since I tried the recipe, different cheeses have replaced the cheddar, and different herbs have replaced the chives. Almost every way is good.
*Some new photos were added on 9/20/13
There’s a couple of things that lead to the making of this pie. One, I’ve been wanting one of those ceramic deep dish pie plates for a long time, the ones with the ruffled edges. They look so modern country, new yet classic. Unfortunately, it was $44 at Williams Sonoma so I tried to forget that adorable pie plate. Months later, I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw one for $3 at TJ Max. No choice in color, but red will do for $3. I couldn’t wait to use it. (TJ Max does not have a consistent product line so you may not find this pie plate but they have great prices on kitchen stuff. You’ll find something.)
I know several people who love breakfast foods so much, they often eat it for dinner. I also know several others who look for ways to make a heartier breakfast. Either way, this breakfast burger satisfies at any time of day. Here, I cut or mold everything into a 3″ round because I’m a silly perfectionist but you can make the burger less fussy without such tight size restrictions.
MMM….runny egg yolk.
The Breakfast Burger
~6 servings
Biscuits
filling
Instructions –
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut butter and shortening into flour. Stir in 1/2 cup of heavy cream with a fork. Add up to 2 tablespoons more heavy cream in order to get the dough to stick together. Once the dough can be pushed together, flatten to a little more than 1/2″ thick on a well floured surface.
3. Cut with a 3″ circle cutter and place on un-greased cookie sheet. Push left-over dough together and cut into 3″ circles again. Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until lightly golden.
4. While biscuits are baking, cut ham with 3″ circle cutter. Set aside.
5. Heat a flat cast iron pan with just a wipe of oil, over medium high heat. Season burger patties and cook until just under desired doneness. Set the patties on a plate and allow to rest. This will also allow some liquid to drain so you don’t make the burger soggy later. (You can heat up the ham on the pan if you want – optional.)
6. Heat a large flat non-stick pan with a bit of oil (or non-stick spray) over low heat. Crack the eggs, keeping them whole, into the pan, spaced out and not touching if possible (or use more than 1 pan). Do not flip. Just cook until desired doneness. Remove from to cutting board. If the eggs are too big, cut with 3″ circle cutter.
7. When biscuits are done, split them in half very cautiously. Place ham on the bottom piece, then burger patty, then egg, then biscuit top. Serve immediately.
I have a shopping day planned with the girls (and cousin Phil) at Woodbury Commons and I wanted to pack a little treat for my friends. We have a long car ride ahead of us and then we’ll need lots of energy to power shop! I thought something like an empanada would be nice. It had to be a no-utensils-required kinda thing.
It has always bothered me that Shepherd’s pie isn’t really a pie. The standard recipe is just a meat and veggie mixture thrown in a baking dish with mashed potatoes on top. What happened to the best part of the pie?!? The flaky buttery crust?!? Fear not! I have a remedy.
Pie is not just for dessert!
I’ve seen a couple of recipes for apple pie with cheddar cheese in the crust, intending to try it out at some point. I finally got around to it and found this recipe that used a 9X13 oval baking dish. I happen to have one and have never seen a recipe using it. Boy, was I ecstatic!
After reading the recipe more carefully, I realized a couple of problems. I didn’t want the raisins in this recipe (no general prejudice against them) and I wanted a double crust pie, not just a top crust. Luckily, it seemed this recipe made more then enough dough for a double crust, and you’ll still have left-over. (I’ll try to do something with this another day.) Lastly, I like tall pies. (Have you heard of Mile High Apple Pie?) So, I increased the apple filling.
*this photo added 12/05/10
Being a fan of all things cheesecake, I was excited by the cheesecake “throwdown” a few weeks ago and made an Apple Caramel Cheesecake inspired by Flay’s entry. However, having a bit of cream cheese left over from the massive amount we purchased at Costco, I’m making a new cheesecake inspired by the competition, Junior’s, and their entry the Devil’s Food Cheesecake.
Some may ask why on earth I didn’t just travel over to Junior’s, with two of their locations being within 20 minutes of my home, so let me answer: because I do not like Junior’s cheesecake! I have tried their cakes on at least four occasions and am less than impressed. They taste bland, overly sweet, too dry, and generally a day old. So rather than go overpay for one of their crappy cakes, I made my own, and besides, I prefer vanilla over chocolate.
This recipe basically requires three nine-inch cake pans on hand, I have two and a spring form, which works fine.
I used a Basic Cheesecake Recipe:
Cream cream cheese and sugar, then add sour cream, then one egg at a time, followed by lemon and vanilla. Scrape down sides, mix again and bake in a 9-inch cake pan (with NO CRUST) in a waterbath at 325 degrees F for 50-60 minutes– until center is jello-like and the outside is firm. Then let stand in over for another hour before chilling over night.
And then prepared a basic Yellow Layer Cake recipe (from About.com):
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl set aside. Cream sugar and butter in a large bowl, until light and fluffy, then beat in one egg at a time. Mix in half the flour mixture followed by half of the milk. Add vanilla. Mix until blended; add remaining flour and milk and beat until smooth. Fill two greased and floured 9-inch cake pans. Bake at 375° for 25 to 35 minutes, until toothpick in center comes out clean.
The next day, I whipped up some Butter Cream Icing (from Wilton):
Cream butter and shortening with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often throughout whole process! When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. This is enough icing to do a thin layer– perfect for us. If you want a heavier layer (i.e. crumb coat and top coat) you’ll need to increase the icing recipe by 50% or 100%.
Then it was time to Assemble the Cake:
Frost top of cheesecake with about 1/2 cup of icing, then invert last layer cake on top, with bottom facing up. Do not frost top at this point.Enjoy. We did. See the rest of the pictures in the Flickr set.
