levain bakery cc cookie

Can I share a food obsession with you? Have you heard of Levain Bakery in NYC? To me, they have some of the best cc cookies. They are thick, really thick cookies loaded with chocolate chips and walnuts. A couple years ago I tried to clone their chocolate chip cookies, thought I was pretty close and then closed the book on it. Until now when I tried to clone them again, this time using a different type of butter: European butter. I think I am a tad bit closer to perfecting a clone-like version of this infamous chocolate chip cookie. The European butter did make the cookie taste far better. European butters have a higher butterfat content--so naturally anything with a higher butterfat is good for baking.

What do these taste like? First off, they are huge, can't tell from the photo, but they are about 4-5 inches across and 2 inches thick; they are like a shortbread, but moister cookie dough, a tiny bit dry, very buttery tasting, nice crispy outside, and with the addition of the European butter now it's not so dry.

Also made them into bar shapes (using a pan), then did a step further by dipping them in dark chocolate.
Seriously, it was that good, one could just open a bakery and JUST sell those choco-dipped bars.

levain bakery cc cookie (clone)
inspired from Levain Bakery NYC & CookieMadness.net
print recipe

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted European butter, (cold & shredded like cheese)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ts vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour (13 ½ oz)
3/4 ts sea salt
1 and ¼ ts baking powder
1/2 ts baking soda
12 ounces (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts

If using dough right away, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
(It’s best to chill, though; I chilled overnight (note: keep in mind this is a very dry dough, and will be hard to mix once you put the chips and nuts in; I used my hands Take the butter and using a cheese grater, shred the butter into a bowl, put it back in the freezer until ready to use.

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars just until just combined.
Don’t overbeat. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated.
Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended.
Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.
Divide dough into 12 big 4 oz lumps.
Mold into giant golfballs; do not press flat!
Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time). (I chilled my dough balls for 20 minutes BEFORE baking).

Bake times (how I’ve done it the past few times; pick one if you dare):
Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes.
When timer rings, without opening oven or removing cookies, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until cookies appear set.
OR I did mine at 365 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until done. (Mine were done in 18 minutes) Makes 12 (mine made 13)

sushi bowl

Let's just call it delish bowl. I've seen these before on Tastespotting and thought how wonderful and colorful. What a way to brighten up the senses with all these colors beaming in front of you. I do eat a lot of sushi here and am not the greatest at creating that perfect roll. So I found this much easier. Plus you can add whatever you fancy, no matter the size. Right now I'm going through an avocado craving--so far lasting now into two weeks, and as I type this I want to make another sushi bowl with fresh uni. Oh that sounds so good. Finding fresh uni on cape cod is hard, you wouldn't think so since cape cod is on the ocean. But it is. The last place I had really fresh and tasty uni was in NYC. What would you add to your sushi bowl? I love to hear what type of sushi others love-I'm always up for trying new sushi.

How to assemble this sushi bowl?

sticky rice studded with toasted seseame seeds
sliced avocados
finely shredded carrots
raw salmon (or hamachi, uni mmm uni!)
pickled ginger (I ate way more ginger that what is shown)
wasabi
(not pictured soy sauce and chopsticks)
feel free to add whatever you fancy

I'm on facebook! Come join my vanilla sugar fan club won't you?

banana cheesecake w/ caramel-rum sauce

Have I told you my love affair with banana cheesecake? I swear I must have at some point in this blogging life. I adore the banana cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory, but sadly they are located far away from me. I've had it on my list for forever to create my own banana cheesecake to indulge in. And finally I've started that process; I think I've found the perfect recipe. I'm still kind of testing and experimenting, but this one is pretty darn good. And I just had to share it with you. My blogging friend at Chez What made a banana cheesecake and shared the recipe with me. I took his advice of using the lemon on the banana, but didn't take his advice on the sheddred wheat for a crust, but trust me I will next round.

I loved the addition of the caramel-rum sauce, but completely forgot the fresh whipped cream. If you do make this, please add on a large dollop of fresh whipped cream. The Cheesecake Factory does it, and it totally adds to the dish.

This cheesecake was so good, I had to give it away ASAP because I would eat the whole thing in one sitting. That crust, man that crust was amazing. Next time I might prebake the crust a bit to get it super-crunchy. This is a cheesecake I know Emeril Lagasse would be proud of, and that makes me happy happy. Emeril if you ever do read this--I will bake one for you and deliver it right to you or you can come to my house.

Can we get a close up of the crust?

banana cheesecake with caramel-rum sauce
print recipe

cheesecake filling:
1 1/2 lb. (24 oz) cream cheese softened
¾ cup white sugar
3 eggs
4 mashed bananas, really ripe!
2 ts. good quality vanilla
1 ts. fresh lemon juice for the bananas

crust ingredients:
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 TB dark brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, melted, cooled a bit
(I put a pinch of salt in the crust)


for the crust:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
To make the crust, mix the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, salt and butter in a bowl until well combined. Firmly pat the crust into the bottom of the prepared pan. Use a glass to press in the edges—it really helps. I like to make some of the crust go up the sides, up to you of course. Then bake in the preheated oven about 10 minutes or until "almost" golden brown.

for the cheesecake:
Preheat the oven to 320˚F. (I found this was the right temp for me. I’ve heard of turning oven to 350 degrees and baking for 5 minutes then down to 310 for remaining 50-55 minutes. You really have to find what works best for you and your oven temps).

Mash ripes bananas well and sprinkle just a little bit of lemon juice, not too much about 1 ts, set aside.
In a mixing bowl or mixer, combine cream cheese and sugar; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add in the bananas and vanilla extract; mix well.
Pour into the crust. Bake for 1 hour. Or until the middle is not jiggly anymore.
Let cool in the oven for 1 – 2 hours. Do not open the oven door until cool. You must chill this in the fridge for at least 2-3 hours before serving. That amount of time was perfect for me.

caramel-rum sauce

1 cup sugar
6 TB unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream, room temp (important!)
pinch of salt, optional
a splash of rum or dark rum, optional (room temp)

Cook notes: Please use a thick, sturdy pot for making caramel as you want even heat distribution and don't want your sugar to burn. And it is best to use a pan with high sides as the caramel mixture will bubble up. Please make sure your heavy cream is room temp and not cold. The cold will make the caramel not set up right.

Heat sugar on medium to medium-high heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. As the sugar begins to color and melt a bit, go ahead and stir it with spatula or wooden spoon. You want the sugar to come to a boil. Once it started boiling I stopped stirring.
Once all the sugar has melted and you have a dark amber color, this is the time to add the butter. Stir until butter melted, take off the heat, then add in the the heavy cream, very slowly. It will make a lot of noise and bubble up. Once added whisk/stir a lot! Keep stirring until smooth, add in your splash or two of dark rum (optional) and this is when you add in a tiny pinch of salt (optional). Keep stirring. Once smooth, let the sauce sit in pan for a while. If using straight away go ahead and do so, if storing let it cool a bit more before storing in glass jar. Make sure it's completely cool before placing in glass jar and storing in fridge.

banana-espresso crumb cake

Another crumb cake? Absolutely. When you go crumb cake you go big baby! I am on a crumb cake mission: to make as many flavor combos as I can. I love a good crumb cake. Yeah yeah I know I say it all the time, but a good crumb cake should have the following: moist cake, crunchy & thick crumbs with a hint of salt, and a higher or equal ratio of crumbs to cake. Right? Good.
So this inspiration comes from Baked. Inside that little jewel of a cookbook is a banana-espresso muffin recipe that is to die for. I took that recipe and turned it into a crumb cake. I did a bunch of tweaking and think I've found the right balance. And instead of using espresso, I used those little Starbuck Via's. I love those little guys. Have you tried them? They truly taste just like espresso, no bitterness at all. My only complaint is I wish they would come down on the price a bit for those of us that buy them in mass quantities.
This crumb cake was fabulous. I did not keep it in the house at all, I gave it away and fast. The original recipe for the banana-espresso muffins are just as fabulous too.
Note: the crumb topping makes A LOT of crumbs. Now I know my foodie friends love it that way, but I'm just warning ya. It's all good--all good.

banana-espresso crumb cake
fron vanillasugarblog.com
inspiration from Baked
print recipe

1 and ½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 4)
¼ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup half & half
1 large egg
1 and ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 and ½ packets of Starbucks Via
1 and ½ ts baking soda
1 ts sea salt
¾ cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I swear by Ghiradelli)
crumb topping (see below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 8 ½ x 8 ½ pan (or a 9 x 9) with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, stir together the bananas, sugars, butter, half & half, and egg.
In another medium bowl, whisk together the flour, instant espresso powder, baking soda and salt.
Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.
Pour the wet ingredients into the well and stir just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Pour mixture into pan, then top with crumbs (see below).
Recipe by Dawn Finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com Bake in the center of the oven for 35 - 45 minutes, depending on your oven. Watch them at the 35 minute mark; turn pan around midway through baking. Will be done when a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out clean. Let cool for 15-20 minutes before slicing in. If it’s hard to cut them, just stick it in the fridge to harden up.

crumb topping
1 and ½ cups flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 ts coarse salt
1 ts ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled
Confectioners' sugar for dusting, optional

In a medium bowl combine all dry ingredients, pour melted butter over and toss with a rubber spatula until large crumbs form. Sprinkle crumbs over batter.

raspberry buttermilk crumb cake w/ lemon crumbles

Good crumb cake, I mean good crumb cake with those crispy edges, warm moist center, a light fruit filling, and sweet GIANT crumb topping-- make that double thick crumb topping. Are you feeling me? Are you feeling the love? Good. Because you so need to make this. Are you a fan of the whole buttermilk-raspberry-lemon? Awesome. Then do me a favor? Make this. Why is this crumb cake so good? Well, I made it, hello. No, just kidding. It's so good because I put the lemon zest in the crumbles not the cake batter. So the lemon zest mixed with salt, butter and the brown sugar equals flavorlicious.
Note: I think you all know I am a crumb-freak, like my crumb cakes with a lot of crumb topping. So I made 1 and a half batches of the crumb topping and used it all.

raspberry buttermilk crumb cake w/ lemon crumbles
print recipe (recipe from vanillasugarblog.com)

cake:
2 cups AP flour
1 ts baking powder
1 ts baking soda
½ ts sea salt
1 stick unsalted butter, very soft/room temp
1 & ¼ cup granulated sugar
2 TB fresh lemon zest
1 large egg & 1 egg yolk
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup fresh raspberries

lemon crumbles:
1 cup AP flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ ts sea salt
2 TB (or more if you're daring) fresh lemon zest
1 stick unsalted butter, melted & cooled

Preheat your oven to 350°F and place the rack in the middle.
Make the lemon crumb topping by melting the butter, letting it cool. In a bowl mix the flour, brown sugar, salt, lemon zest and add the cooled butter to it and stir well. Set aside till ready. Butter and flour a 9" round springform pan.
In small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream (with mixer or by hand) the butter, sugar until pale yellow and fluffy; add the zest, eggs, and beat well for an additional 2-3 minutes.
In batches, add the flour, alternating with the buttermilk until all is combined.

Pour your batter into the baking pan and use a spatula to smooth. Don't fill pan with batter, only fill about 1/4 full. Top batter with the raspberries, Don’t push the rasp down into the batter; the berries will sink in during baking. Now top the cake with the lemon crumb mix; use large clumps and disperse evenly.
Note: there will be extra batter and possibly crumbs leftover. I made an smaller cake with the leftovers.
Bake for approximately 30 - 35 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the middle comes out clean and the top is golden brown.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes, before releasing the sides of the spring form and sliding off bottom to transfer to a cooling rack (with the berry/sugar side up).
Let cool completely before serving.