before i moved down to dc, i spent 4 years at school in baltimore. people say a lot of disparaging things about baltimore (most of which are based entirely on episodes of the wire), and granted, it did take a while for me to warm up to the city, but looking back it was a really incredible place to live. one of the things i miss most about baltimore is the food.

there’s akbar, with its excellent all-you-can-eat lunch buffet that exposed me to all sorts of new indian dishes, and sterlings, a literal hole in the wall seafood joint near my old house that still stirs up hunger pangs when i think about their crab cake sandwiches. by the way, i lived just around the corner from charm city cakes, duff goldman’s bakery on the food network’s ace of cakes (we never got the nerve to actually go in).

one of my fondest food memories is of vaccaro’s, an italian pastry shop located in the inner harbor’s little italy neighborhood. a two-story sit-down bakery and cafe, it’s a great place to end a night if you’re in the mood for authentic gelati or tiramisu. if you want the most for your money though, go on a monday night, where $12.95 will get you ALL YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK (alcohol excluded)

the game wasn’t merely to see if you could eat $12.95 worth of desserts, coffees, smoothies and gelati (that could be achieved in about 15 minutes). the real fun came from seeing just how far we could go in the 3 hours they give you to order. my personal best was somewhere between $30 and $40, but i watched others approach $60 in eclairs, amaretti cookies, cheesecake, and yes, cannolis.

luckily vaccaro’s has a branch here in dc, although it’s just a stand in the union station food court. still, i can satisfy my cravings if need be.

but the only thing better than buying a fresh cannoli is making one of your own. and get this – it’s really not as hard as you think! most recipes i found for the cannoli filling included some kind of flavoring with the ricotta. after making a batch of orange-tinged filling, i made another batch with nothing but ricotta and a touch of confectioner’s sugar. i definitely preferred the more stripped down filling, but then again, i could probably just eat a tub of ricotta for dinner and be happy.

the hardest part of the whole process is getting the dough really thin, and this is where a pasta roller could come in handy. but i didn’t let that small snag keep me from enjoying more than one of these cannolis.

one last thing: i’m going to be running in a 5k on june 6 to benefit the susan g. komen breast cancer foundation. i would be eternally humbled if you could be generous enough to sponsor me, even if it’s just a few pennies. every dollar really does count, so you can click here and hit the “donate to pete” button  to donate if you are so inclined. thank you!

cannolis
makes 16 servings.

shells
2 1/2 cups flrou
1 1/2 eggs plus 2 yolks
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup marsala
1 egg white, beaten
oil, for frying

filling
1 lb whole milk ricotta, drained
3 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar
1/4 lemon, juiced (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla (optional)
2 tsp orange rind, grated (optional)
mini chocolate chips (optional)

1. make the shells: place the flour on a work surface and make a well in the center. place eggs, yolks, butter and marsala in the well and combine with a fork. gradually incorporate the flour, little by little. knead the dough until smooth, about 10 minutes. let rest, covered with a damp cloth, about 30 minutes in the refrigerator. roll the dough very thin and cut into 4-inch circles (i used a tupperware lid).

2. loosely wrap the dough circles around the cannoli tubes and seal the overlap with beaten egg white. deep fry at 325F until golden brown. remove from oil and carefully slide off the tubes. cool on a wire rack.

3. for the filling, drain the ricotta in a cheesecloth-lined colander in the refrigerator for at least an hour (overnight works best). whip in the confectioner’s sugar with a fork. just adding sugar keeps the ricotta flavor very pure, but for a more varied flavor, add the lemon juice, vanilla and orange rind.

4. in a pasty bag (or a sandwich bag with the corner snipped), pipe the filling into the shells just before serving. sprinkle with chocolate chips and dust with confectioner’s sugar.

can we all agree that winter dragged on for far too long this year? in dc, we’ve been eagerly awaiting spring, but instead we skipped straight to summer – literally a 40 degree temperature change over one week. at this point, it’s easier to just accept the weather.

the only problem is, skipping over spring means less time to find delicious rhubarb. to be honest, i’d only used rhubarb one time before this, in a traditional strawberry rhubarb pie, but earlier this week i had the pleasure of guest-judging a foodie fight where the ingredients were rhubarb and coriander, so my eyes have been opened to some more creative preparation.

but i love sweets, so i had to try this tart with an orange glaze that ended up being so good, after a huge dinner and swearing we would only split a piece, it disappeared in a matter of minutes. it’s sweet without being cloying, and tempered perfectly by the puff pastry. the only drawback is that the glaze is incredibly sticky, so be careful you don’t, say, drop a piece sticky side down on yourself. i suggest enjoying this tart on your front stoop (if you’ve got one), watching the last minutes of sunlight dip below the horizon on a warm spring/summer evening. romantic, eh?

rhubarb tart with orange glaze
makes 8 servings. from Epicurious.com.

1 cup fresh orange juice
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 lb rhubarb stalks, thinly sliced diagonally (1/8 inch)
1 sheet frozen puff pastry (from a 17 1/4-ounces package), thawed
1/2 tsp grated orange zest

1. preheat oven to 400F with rack in middle. stir together orange juice, lime juice, and sugar in a bowl. add rhubarb and let stand, stirring occasionally, 10 minutes.

2. meanwhile, cut pastry in half lengthwise, then roll out each piece into an 11-by 7-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. arrange pastry rectangles side by side on an ungreased large baking sheet. make a 1/2-inch border around each pastry rectangle by lightly scoring a line parallel to each edge (do not cut all the way through). prick pastry inside border all over with a fork (also called “docking,” this helps the pastry from puffing in the middle so the filling stays in).

3. strain rhubarb mixture through a sieve set over a bowl, reserving liquid.top 1 pastry rectangle (within border) with half of rhubarb, overlapping slices slightly. repeat with remaining pastry and rhubarb. bake until pastry is puffed and golden (underside of pastry should also be golden), about 30 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, boil reserved rhubarb liquid in a small saucepan, skimming foam if necessary, until reduced to about 1/4 cup, 15 to 18 minutes. transfer tarts to a rack. Brush rhubarb and pastry with glaze and sprinkle with zest.

so we have a new president! since i live in washington dc, the center of all of last week’s inaugural commotion, you might think i’d take advantage of living up the street from the white house and haul my butt to the mall to witness history. don’t get me wrong – i love democracy and i’m incredibly excited about barack obama, but i was a little busy, um, making sticky buns. i mean, look at these things! i knew you’d understand.

while i can’t offer you photos of the millions who flocked to the capitol on tuesday, i can show you what i was doing while i watched all of the speeches and ceremonies on tv (i’ll be honest, i teared up a few times). and though it wasn’t quite as powerful as actually standing in the cold cheering on our new commander in chief, i could still feel the energy that permeated the city.

one more thing about the inauguration: the weekend before, i went to the hair cuttery for a trim. the woman snipping away casually remarked that earlier that morning, she cut john mccain’s mother’s hair. i was skeptical, not that she cut mrs. mccain’s hair, but that mrs. mccain was still alive at all. embarassingly, i had to check when i got home, and indeed, roberta mccain is still kicking (at 96 years young and with a great looking head of hair).

moving on…these sticky buns are awesome. the dough comes together quickly and easily, they come out of the oven looking beautiful and taste even better. my advice for the recipe below – don’t use all of the caramel glaze. i made the mistake of just pouring it all in (i used a 9-inch cake pan to bake them), and while the apartment smelled great for a few minutes, it quickly turned to the smell of burnt sugar as the glaze bubbled out of the pan and onto the oven floor.

before i knew it, the kitchen had filled with black smoke and the excess glaze had solidified into rock hard blackened tuiles. i had to crawl on my hands and knees to the oven so i could get a baking pan in there  to catch the falling glaze. i couldn’t bring myself to turn off the oven while the sticky buns were only partially done, so i let them finish. the apartment still smells a little burnt, but the sticky buns came out perfect. the things i do for baked goods.

bonus sticky-bun-related headache: in the picture above, you can see a little sugar on the right bottom corner. shortly before this picture, i knocked over a giant tupperware container full of granulated sugar which quickly became a giant tupperware container full of nothing. i spent a few hours vacuuming and sweeping up tiny granules in my living room (note to self: make sure lid is actually on container next time). in the end though, the sticky buns were worth it. i’ve been eating them for breakfast each morning after a few seconds in the microwave.

one last thing – i have to apologize if i’ve been a little neglectful of comments or emails lately. i’ve actually just started going back to school part time (yay!), and i’m still figuring out how to balance work, class and baking. i’m enrolled in a program at the boston university center for digital imaging arts (they have a campus in dc), and in 18 months i’ll have a certificate in graphic design and web design. it’s a really incredible program, and i’m excited to be excited about school again. after years of self-taught trial and error in photoshop and html, i expect that finding out all the things i don’t know will be a totally humbling (and fun!) experience.

sticky buns
from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

sticky buns
6 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 Tbsp shortening or unsalted butter or margarine
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp lemon zest, grated
3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour or all-purpose flour
2 tsp yeast
1 1/8-1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk , at room temperature
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (6 1/2 Tbsp sugar plus 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon)
walnuts or pecans or other nuts (optional)
raisins (optional)

caramel glaze
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 lb (2 sticks/15 Tbsp) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 tsp lemon, orange or vanilla extract

1. make the buns: cream together the sugar, salt, and shortening or butter on medium-high speed in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a large metal spoon and mixing bowl and do it by hand). whip in the egg and lemon extract/zest until smooth. add the flour, yeast, and milk.

2. mix on low speed (or stir by hand) until the dough forms a ball. switch to the dough hook and increase the speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes (or knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes), or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. you may have to add a little flour or water while mixing to achieve this texture. lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. cover the bowl with plastic wrap. let rise at room temperature for about 2 hours.

3. mist the counter with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. roll out the dough with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the top with flour to keep it from sticking to the pin, into a rectangle about 2/3 inch thick and 14 inches wide by 12 inches long for larger buns, or 18 inches wide by 9 inches long for smaller buns. sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the dough and roll the dough up into a cigar-shaped log (starting at the long end), creating a cinnamon-sugar spiral as you roll. with the seam side down, cut the dough into 8 to 12 pieces each about 1 3/4 inches thick for larger buns, or 12 to 16 pieces each 1 1/4 inch thick for smaller buns.

4. make the glaze: in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, brown sugar, salt, and butter, at room temperature. cream together for 2 minutes on high speed with the paddle attachment. Add the cup corn syrup and 1 teaspoon lemon, orange or vanilla extract. continue to cream for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy. use as much of this as you need to cover the bottom of the pan with a 1/4-inch layer. refrigerate and save any excess for future use; it will keep for months in a sealed container. i only needed about 1/2-3/4 of the glaze.

5. in your glazed pan, sprinkle on the nuts and raisins. lay the pieces of dough on top of the caramel glaze, spiral side up, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag. let rise for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the pieces have grown into one another and nearly doubled. preheat the oven to 350 F with a rack on the lowest shelf.

6. bake the sticky buns for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown. remember that they are really upside down (regular cinnamon buns without the glaze are baked right side up), so the heat has to penetrate through the pan and into the glaze to caramelize it. the tops will become the bottoms, so they may appear dark and done, but the real key is whether the underside is fully baked.

7. cool the buns in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove them by flipping them over into another pan. carefully scoop any run-off glaze back over the buns with a spatula. wait at least 20 minutes before serving.

i first saw david eyre’s pancake when it cropped up in the new york times last year and although i had it bookmarked for some time, i never got around to actually making it at home. this weekend i was in the mood for dessert for breakfast (i actually remember eating birthday cake for breakfast several times growing up so it’s nothing new for me), so i fired up the oven and whipped up one of these bad boys. it’s so light that it’s almost like eating a crepe, and the wow factor of an inflated pancake coming out of the oven just seals the deal. i will be making more of these in the very near future. and although it looks very delicate, it’s pretty idiot-proof.

traditionally, the pancakes are doused in lemon juice and sprinkled with a generous amount of confectioner’s sugar before serving. i upped the ante with a simple apple syrup that i first created on one cold morning a few years ago. i was looking for something that would warm me up, and i was bored with maple syrup. basically, you cook down apples until you have a sticky, sweet, bubbly mess in a saucepan, and pour it over anything you want to taste delicious.

david eyre’s pancake with homemade apple syrup
pancake from the New York Times, apple syrup is my own creation.

pancake
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 pinch nutmeg
2 1/2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar
juice of half a lemon

apple syrup
2 cups apples, peeled and cubed
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon

1. make the apple syrup: heat the cubes apples, brown sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in a saucepan on medium heat until it the apples break down and the mixture becomes thick and bubbly. feel free to add a tablespoon of apple juice or lemon juice if sticks to the pan too much. applesauce also works well to add some liquid if you have it handy. since we’re not making a completely smooth apple butter, the finished syrup will have some good soft apple chunks in it. best served warm over the pancake.

2. make the pancake: in a large bowl, mix together the flour, milk, eggs and nutmeg until moist and slightly lumpy.

3. in a 12″ oven-safe skillet, melt the butter. pour in the pancake batter and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes until it is golden and puffy. quickly remove from the oven, dust with confectioner’s sugar and return to the oven for 1-2 minutes. remove and sprinkle with lemon juice and serve.

let me start by apologizing for my lack of posts lately. moving into a new apartment coupled with a vacation in california (including a much-needed vacation from the computer) left me with little free time to bake. but now i’m back, wooden spoon in hand, ready to take on another recipe and make up for lost time. let’s get to it.

i had my first portuguese egg tart in america, but they did come from a portuguese bakery. during college, my old roommate’s mom came to visit for a few days, bringing with her boxes and boxes of pastries, including about 4 dozen egg tarts. let’s just say they didn’t last too long in our house. unfortunately, they’re not something you typically see in american bakeries, but if you look around a little bit, you’ll come across them.

pastéis de nata are thought to have been created by catholic sisters in a convent in lisbon. the convent belonged to the belém parish in lisbon, and so they are known there as pastéis de belém. pastéis de belém is also the name of a now world-famous pastry shop in lisbon, specializing in, of course, these egg tarts. my girl was lucky enough to eat there during her trek around europe last year and can attest to their incredible and well-deserved reputation. as for my tarts, she thought they tasted more like the chinese egg tarts you can get at dim sum places, which i am still happy with.

this week i used *gasp* store-bought puff pastry instead of homemade pastry dough. two reasons – i made these on a weeknight where time constraints kept me from dedicating the proper amount of time to a pastry dough and leaving me enough light for photos. secondly, i’ll be making a homemade pastry dough in a day or two for another recipe i can’t wait to make. and while store-bought puff pastry may make some of you cringe, the real star here is the creamy and decadent filling. if you’re going to sit and eat a dozen tarts at once (which is more plausible than it seems once you eat one), just avoid looking at the filling ingredients in the recipe. i’m almost glad i don’t have a neighborhood bakery churning these out – i’d be an extra 200 lbs by next month.

pastéis de nata
adapted from several websites (can’t find the originals, sorry).

1 box puff pastry dough
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
6 egg yolks

1. dissolve the cornstarch in 1/4 cup of the heavy cream in a medium bowl. add the remaining cream and sugar and stir until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is completely dissolved.

2. in a small bowl, blend the yolks with a fork until smooth. add the yolks to the cream mixture and stir gently to combine.

3. thaw 1 sheet of puff pastry dough until workable by hand. roll out on a floured surface until 1/16 inch thick.

4. roll the puff pastry like a long cigar, snugly but not tight. just avoid a lot of space in between layers. you may want to put the dough back in the fridge for a few minutes.

5. place the pastry roll length wise and cut into 6 equal sections. repeat entire process with the second sheet of puff pastry to get 12 snugly rolled dough spirals.

6. take each piece of dough and gently press down the center of the roll to meet the opposite side, creating an indentation with your thumb. carefully work the spiral into a dough cup with your fingers and place into muffin tin. i should note that there tons of different ways to make dough cups with frozen puff pastry. this was the easiest for me, but my tarts didn’t puff quite as much as i had hoped.

7. fill each dough cup a little bit more than 3/4 full with the egg cream mixture. bake at 350 for 25 minutes. allow the tarts to cool completely in the muffin tin before gently taking them out. they can be eaten warm or chilled in the refrigerator, and with a little sprinkle of powered sugar or cinnamon.

8. to get the slightly burned tops, you can sprinkle with white sugar and either use a little kitchen torch or put in the broiler on high for just a few minutes. if you go with the broiler, watch your little tarts like a hawk. they can go from golden brown to black in seconds.

growing up, danishes were reserved for special occasions – in particular, christmas and easter morning breakfasts. these were never homemade danishes; they usually came in a big plastic container with bear claws and rugelach, but they were special nonetheless. i tried to recreate what i remember having as a kid, but it was surprisingly hard to track down a good recipe that didn’t start out with ready-made puff pastry. i finally found something that seemed to resemble what i was looking for in the Taste of Home Complete Guide to Baking, a gift from my mom.

this recipe has several parts to it, so i gave myself pretty much a whole day to tackle the danishes. it turned out to be especially challenging for me, mainly because it’s made with pastry dough, which is not something i often use. it was also my first time using shortening ever – i think i could have replaced it with cold butter, but i decided to stay faithful to the directions.

the danishes came out looking great (if i do say so myself), but the pastry was not nearly as flaky as i would have liked. i assembled these without a picture reference, basically wrapping lengths of dough into little birds-nest type holders for the cream cheese filling. you could probably replace the dough recipe below with puff pastry and just assemble these any way you think would look great, but it’s a great experience to work with a sweet yeast dough. to be honest, these didn’t quite live up to the store bought pastries i remember, but they came close.

cheese danishes
adapted from the Taste of Home Complete Guide to Baking

dough
1 package instant dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
4 1/2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp grated lemon peel
3/4 cup shortening, divided
1 cup warm milk
3 eggs

filling
2 8oz packages of cream cheese
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla

glaze
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

1. in a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. add the milk, 1/4 cup shortening, sugar, 2 eggs, salt, lemon peel, vanilla and 2 cups flour. beat until smooth. stir in enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.

2. turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth an elastic. place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat. cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled (about an hour).

3. punch dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface. roll into a 24×16 inch rectangle. dot half of the dough with 1/4 cup shortening; fold dough in half lengthwise. dot with shortening and fold lengthwise into thirds. dot with remaining shortening and fold widthwise into thirds.

4. roll dough into a 16×15 inch rectangle. cut into 8×3/4 inch strips, coil into spiral shapes, tucking end underneath the coil to form a bottom. place on a greased baking sheet and cover and let rise until doubled (about an hour).

5. in a bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. beat remaining egg, make a depression in the center of each roll and brush with egg. fill each with the cheese filling.

6. bake at 375 F for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. remove from pans to wire racks to cool. while baking, combine the confectioners’ sugar, milk and vanilla to form the glaze. drizzle over the danishes while they are still warm.