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scordatura) wrote2020-01-20 01:36 pm
scordatura) wrote2020-01-20 01:36 pm
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2019 Recap: Recipes!
Aaaand time for my final recap of the year: recipes!! I made 67 distinct dishes in 2019, which is, by my count, more than I've made since I first started keeping track in 2011 -- which is very exciting!! But the first half of 2019 WAS spent entirely unemployed and in my parents' big kitchen with access to their food budget, ha, so it definitely does make sense. :") (I also spent the past several months making a LOT of "throw a bunch of stuff in with rice" dishes, which I don't really count as recipes, though maybe I should??)
But of those 67, while most were old favorites, some were new standouts that I really look forward to coming back to again and again in the future. So let's talk about my NEW favorites of those!!
The Ten Best New Recipes I Tried Last Year
• Gnocchi
I've wanted to make these forever and I finally got the chance to try -- and oh, they turned out SO WELL. They're time-consuming, but not at all difficult to make, they freeze beautifully, and they bake up SO WELL. I've been boiling them, then pan-frying them (to make sure they're thoroughly cooked through, but also to get that nice golden toast on them!), and doing them with a wide variety of delicious sauces/veggies/meats. Would absolutely recommend for anyone who's a fan of potatoes and doesn't mind dedicating some time to prepping a large batch of food!!
• Chicken cheddar pot pie with cheddar biscuits
Oh my god, this was SO rich but SO good -- it took surprisingly little time to make, all things considered, and I couldn't believe how delicious it turned out, how hearty and flavorful and just!! perfect!!! It ended up not baking quite as evenly as I would have liked, and I'm not sure why (the bottom of the middle biscuits didn't cook all the way through), so I'll have to fiddle with that more in the future -- but otherwise, OH, would I ever make and eat this again and again. I'M GETTING HUNGRY FOR IT JUST TALKING ABOUT IT NOW.
• Apple honey challah
I've made this recipe three times now, and I keep adjusting it to try to figure out the perfect balance and formulation of the ingredients and instructions -- and each time there's something wanting, but each time it is STILL INCREDIBLY FUCKING DELICIOUS. And so fun to make!! The actual bread I make most often is no-knead, so I have a ton of fun actually working the hell out of this one, and the flavor profile is so fucking delicious, so dessert-y even on its own and even better when toasted with apple butter. I thought about how good leftovers would taste as French toast each time I made it, and each time, it didn't last more than a couple days, LEFTOVERS WHOMST. One of these days I'll make either a giant loaf or two loaves at once and actually test this theory, because I bet it would be so fucking tasty!!
• Waffles
This was a really simple but really delicious recipe; I got briefly super into waffles for a couple months, mostly because I remembered that I had a wafflemaker, ha -- but after doing a couple yeasted waffle recipes, it was nice to go with a much simpler and quicker version, and this one definitely delivered! Really simple to make, really delicious to eat; what more does anyone ever really want, honestly?
• David Leite's consummate chocolate chip cookies
I've meant to make these for ages and it finally happened, and THEY WERE SO GOOD!! Absolutely worth the lengthy prep time and even lengthier resting of the dough; definitely cookies that are fabulous for special occasions, treats that feel decadent totally out of the proportion to how much effort they actually take, long prep period aside. Absolutely full of all of the textural and tasty goodness that's hyped up in the recipe -- much of their magic is admittedly in their huge size and giant chocolate chunks (I use Hershey's special dark bars, each segment broken in half, because I am NOT here for buying giant quantities of expensive shit for my food experiments), but the taste is also exceedingly good all around. They're definitely not an everyday cookie, but absolutely one I want to keep in my freezer for said treat-based occasion, whenever it may arise!
• Red wine chocolate cake
So deceptively simple -- how can one extra ingredient elevate your average chocolate cake this much? -- but oh, SO WORTH IT. This takes next to no time to put together, and the results are phenomenal. Absolutely one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever made, so small yet so potent!! I'm not a huge fan of whipped cream, but I felt like this cake needed a little something extra, so I've been making a ganache to pour over the top, and imo it's turned it up to eleven in every way, so I must recommend you do the same. Even without it, though, it is a damn excellent cake and I'm so happy to add it to my repertoire.
• Boston cream pie
I have definitely made Boston cream pie before, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this recipe, so I'm including it here because said recipe was so easy and so delicious -- it came out pretty much the platonic ideal of Boston cream pie, structural issues aside! (I tried to bake it in a 9x13 with the idea of cutting it in half and layering that way, but it came out... DEEPLY uneven, sob, so I must try again more traditionally.) I was a little nervous about the creme pat, as I always am, but I found this came together INSTANTLY, and every part of it was so delicious, especially after a night in the fridge, and I can't believe it's been months since I made it, why am I not making it and eating it again RIGHT NOW??
• Sour cherry slab pie
This was a pretty simple take on a recipe I've done many a time -- the same pie crust I always make, with a fruit I haven't done before but a filling recipe that's very similar -- and yet it somehow emerged COMPLETELY TRANSCENDENT?? Friends and I were absolutely bowled over by how good the first edition of this pie was, and I've made two since that never quite lived up to that first magical one, but that have still been really, really delicious, absolutely transformative of what I previously imagined a pie could be like. If you can manage to find the rare, coveted fresh sour cherry (or even the frozen kind!), please do yourselves a favor and make this pie.
• Chai pumpkin cupcakes with maple browned butter frosting
This was linked to me shortly before I needed to make desserts for an autumnal friend gathering and I couldn't resist the opportunity to go for it, and BOY AM I GLAD I DID. The cake itself is very delicious (I made them in cupcake form, the perfect small bite-sized pieces of fall!), the chai spice giving a new depth to the pumpkin spice flavor that I'm a huge fan of, but OH, THE FROSTING!! I didn't wait for the browned butter to fully solidify (which I absolutely should have, THANKS FOR PUTTING THAT ADVICE WAY DOWN DEEP IN THE COMMENTS, RECIPE AUTHOR), so it had some structural issues, but OH MY GOD, THE TASTE, THE TASTE!!! WHY AM I NOT BROWN-BUTTER-ING ALL OF MY FROSTINGS FOREVER?!? Holy shit, it was so so delicious, I ended up making another cake just to use the extra frosting because IT COULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO GO TO WASTE. Have I yelled enough about it yet?? Do not wait for fall to make this, do not pass go, do not collect $200 -- just give it a try and watch your life change before your very eyes.
• Salted caramel pretzel blondies
These popped up on my radar shortly before Boyfriend's birthday and he expressed interest in them, so I put that on the backburner as a potential birthday dessert for him -- and they were a HUGE, RAVING SUCCESS. Like, he -- a person who has known me for the entirety of my baking career -- asserts that it might be one of the best things I've EVER baked. And it all comes from the collection of flavors contained herein!! It's not complicated at all; it just puts together a lot of really delicious flavors into one mind-bogglingly tasty little package. Super simple to make, super enjoyable to eat; definitely, definitely going into my back pocket for future occasions in which I need to pull out something simple but singular.
But of those 67, while most were old favorites, some were new standouts that I really look forward to coming back to again and again in the future. So let's talk about my NEW favorites of those!!
The Ten Best New Recipes I Tried Last Year
• Gnocchi
I've wanted to make these forever and I finally got the chance to try -- and oh, they turned out SO WELL. They're time-consuming, but not at all difficult to make, they freeze beautifully, and they bake up SO WELL. I've been boiling them, then pan-frying them (to make sure they're thoroughly cooked through, but also to get that nice golden toast on them!), and doing them with a wide variety of delicious sauces/veggies/meats. Would absolutely recommend for anyone who's a fan of potatoes and doesn't mind dedicating some time to prepping a large batch of food!!
• Chicken cheddar pot pie with cheddar biscuits
Oh my god, this was SO rich but SO good -- it took surprisingly little time to make, all things considered, and I couldn't believe how delicious it turned out, how hearty and flavorful and just!! perfect!!! It ended up not baking quite as evenly as I would have liked, and I'm not sure why (the bottom of the middle biscuits didn't cook all the way through), so I'll have to fiddle with that more in the future -- but otherwise, OH, would I ever make and eat this again and again. I'M GETTING HUNGRY FOR IT JUST TALKING ABOUT IT NOW.
• Apple honey challah
I've made this recipe three times now, and I keep adjusting it to try to figure out the perfect balance and formulation of the ingredients and instructions -- and each time there's something wanting, but each time it is STILL INCREDIBLY FUCKING DELICIOUS. And so fun to make!! The actual bread I make most often is no-knead, so I have a ton of fun actually working the hell out of this one, and the flavor profile is so fucking delicious, so dessert-y even on its own and even better when toasted with apple butter. I thought about how good leftovers would taste as French toast each time I made it, and each time, it didn't last more than a couple days, LEFTOVERS WHOMST. One of these days I'll make either a giant loaf or two loaves at once and actually test this theory, because I bet it would be so fucking tasty!!
• Waffles
This was a really simple but really delicious recipe; I got briefly super into waffles for a couple months, mostly because I remembered that I had a wafflemaker, ha -- but after doing a couple yeasted waffle recipes, it was nice to go with a much simpler and quicker version, and this one definitely delivered! Really simple to make, really delicious to eat; what more does anyone ever really want, honestly?
• David Leite's consummate chocolate chip cookies
I've meant to make these for ages and it finally happened, and THEY WERE SO GOOD!! Absolutely worth the lengthy prep time and even lengthier resting of the dough; definitely cookies that are fabulous for special occasions, treats that feel decadent totally out of the proportion to how much effort they actually take, long prep period aside. Absolutely full of all of the textural and tasty goodness that's hyped up in the recipe -- much of their magic is admittedly in their huge size and giant chocolate chunks (I use Hershey's special dark bars, each segment broken in half, because I am NOT here for buying giant quantities of expensive shit for my food experiments), but the taste is also exceedingly good all around. They're definitely not an everyday cookie, but absolutely one I want to keep in my freezer for said treat-based occasion, whenever it may arise!
• Red wine chocolate cake
So deceptively simple -- how can one extra ingredient elevate your average chocolate cake this much? -- but oh, SO WORTH IT. This takes next to no time to put together, and the results are phenomenal. Absolutely one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever made, so small yet so potent!! I'm not a huge fan of whipped cream, but I felt like this cake needed a little something extra, so I've been making a ganache to pour over the top, and imo it's turned it up to eleven in every way, so I must recommend you do the same. Even without it, though, it is a damn excellent cake and I'm so happy to add it to my repertoire.
• Boston cream pie
I have definitely made Boston cream pie before, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't this recipe, so I'm including it here because said recipe was so easy and so delicious -- it came out pretty much the platonic ideal of Boston cream pie, structural issues aside! (I tried to bake it in a 9x13 with the idea of cutting it in half and layering that way, but it came out... DEEPLY uneven, sob, so I must try again more traditionally.) I was a little nervous about the creme pat, as I always am, but I found this came together INSTANTLY, and every part of it was so delicious, especially after a night in the fridge, and I can't believe it's been months since I made it, why am I not making it and eating it again RIGHT NOW??
• Sour cherry slab pie
This was a pretty simple take on a recipe I've done many a time -- the same pie crust I always make, with a fruit I haven't done before but a filling recipe that's very similar -- and yet it somehow emerged COMPLETELY TRANSCENDENT?? Friends and I were absolutely bowled over by how good the first edition of this pie was, and I've made two since that never quite lived up to that first magical one, but that have still been really, really delicious, absolutely transformative of what I previously imagined a pie could be like. If you can manage to find the rare, coveted fresh sour cherry (or even the frozen kind!), please do yourselves a favor and make this pie.
• Chai pumpkin cupcakes with maple browned butter frosting
This was linked to me shortly before I needed to make desserts for an autumnal friend gathering and I couldn't resist the opportunity to go for it, and BOY AM I GLAD I DID. The cake itself is very delicious (I made them in cupcake form, the perfect small bite-sized pieces of fall!), the chai spice giving a new depth to the pumpkin spice flavor that I'm a huge fan of, but OH, THE FROSTING!! I didn't wait for the browned butter to fully solidify (which I absolutely should have, THANKS FOR PUTTING THAT ADVICE WAY DOWN DEEP IN THE COMMENTS, RECIPE AUTHOR), so it had some structural issues, but OH MY GOD, THE TASTE, THE TASTE!!! WHY AM I NOT BROWN-BUTTER-ING ALL OF MY FROSTINGS FOREVER?!? Holy shit, it was so so delicious, I ended up making another cake just to use the extra frosting because IT COULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO GO TO WASTE. Have I yelled enough about it yet?? Do not wait for fall to make this, do not pass go, do not collect $200 -- just give it a try and watch your life change before your very eyes.
• Salted caramel pretzel blondies
These popped up on my radar shortly before Boyfriend's birthday and he expressed interest in them, so I put that on the backburner as a potential birthday dessert for him -- and they were a HUGE, RAVING SUCCESS. Like, he -- a person who has known me for the entirety of my baking career -- asserts that it might be one of the best things I've EVER baked. And it all comes from the collection of flavors contained herein!! It's not complicated at all; it just puts together a lot of really delicious flavors into one mind-bogglingly tasty little package. Super simple to make, super enjoyable to eat; definitely, definitely going into my back pocket for future occasions in which I need to pull out something simple but singular.