Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Posted on March 9, 2025 by Emily Wasserman

February was one of the hardest months I’ve experienced in a while. It was bitterly cold in St. Louis, I got the flu, and didn’t leave my apartment for eight days straight. At one point when I could barely breathe because I was so congested, it started snowing and I wanted hot chocolate, so I made myself a cup and chugged it out of deprivation. Note to self: Never do that again.

ANYWAY. Now I’ve thankfully turned a corner and things are mostly right side up again. I can’t speak to the state of the world, but I can speak to the state of my very small piece of it. Luckily, things are better and I’m back to my usual routine, which involves drinking too much coffee for my own good, going on long walks around St. Louis, and baking on Sunday mornings with the music turned up.

Which brings me to these lemon poppyseed muffins. As I’ve written extensively on this blog, I love poppyseeds. I don’t know why, other than they’re nature’s sprinkles. They make everything look cute, and they’re fun to throw into the flour mix. They basically deserve an Oscar for best supporting actor/actress.

I sent a photo of these muffins to my friend after we got brunch this morning, and he said, wow, you made those fast. Honestly, I could probably make muffins with my eyes closed, but in general this is also a super simple recipe. You whisk together some dry ingredients, whisk together milk with egg, melted butter, lemon juice, and lemon zest, and then use a rubber spatula to gently combine the two. I like to use an ice cream scoop to portion out the batter between the paper liners in the muffin tin.

About halfway through baking these muffins, the power went out in my apartment. I’m still not sure why, but I’m going to blame it on us losing an hour today with the time switch. I had a brief panic attack because there’s nothing worse than putting something in the oven and realizing you can’t finish it. I guess the time I set my oven on fire from melted butter from an apple tart was worse.

In any case, luckily this morning’s power outage was only a momentary hiccup. These muffins came out springy, light, and fluffy. They’re like little rays of sunshine, which we desperately need after weeks of snow and gloom.

Here’s a song to get you started on your lemon poppyseed muffin journey. I have *very* complicated feelings about Taylor Swift, which I’m sure is alienating a ton of people as I type this. Most of her songs make me feel embarrassed, like when your mom shouts at you out the window after dropping you off your freshman year of high school. But some really speak to me, and this is one of them.

Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Ingredients

254 grams all-purpose flour
150 grams granulated sugar
2 Tbsp poppyseeds
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp fine salt
237 grams whole milk, at room temperature
113 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, poppyseeds, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the cooled melted butter, milk, egg, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Use a rubber spatula to mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you can’t see any traces of flour. Don’t overmix.

Use an ice cream scoop or large spoon to portion the batter between the paper liners. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the muffin tops spring back to the touch. Cool completely. Enjoy!

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Hazelnut Raspberry Friands

Posted on February 2, 2025 by Emily Wasserman

Friands are one of my favorite French pastries to bake. Why? you ask. They’re incredibly easy. All you do is combine some regular flour, nut flour, egg whites, and sugar in a food processor, spin it until the batter is combined, and then spoon it into a prepared friand pan (or a muffin tin, if you don’t have a friand pan…which honestly, I’m guessing most people don’t).

My two favorite parts of making these friands are the egg white part, and the raspberry part. The egg white part might throw some people for a loop. Why would you enjoy separating egg whites when that’s objectively one of the worst parts of baking, you might be asking. Well, for me it’s cathartic. I even alternate the way I do it: Sometimes I use the shell (here’s a good tutorial), or other times, I use my hands. The second way is a little dicier because you’re relying on your hands to be a sieve for the egg whites, but in my opinion more fun.

My second favorite part of making these is the raspberry part. If you have huge raspberries, which you probably do if you’re living in the Midwest in the middle of the winter and that’s all that’s at the grocery store, you can probably drop two of these on top of each friand before they bake in the oven. Otherwise, go for three, because the more raspberries, the merrier.

A couple words to the wise when making these friands: One, grease the pan within an inch of its life. You want the softened butter to form a thin layer so the cakes don’t stick to the mold. You can use a pastry brush or your fingers, which I did when I got impatient with the brush. At this point in the blog post, it sounds like I don’t use any baking tools and only use my hands, which kind of makes me look like a baking OG, or just someone who scorns modern day conveniences.

My second tip is the “spring” test. A lot of people think baking is all about using your sense of smell and taste, which it is, but it’s also just as much about touch. You’ll know the friands are done when you crack open the oven and press lightly on the top of one and it springs back. Resist the temptation to take them out before this happens.

I can’t wait to bring these into work tomorrow and enjoy one with a cup of my morning coffee. Here’s a song to get you started on your friand journey, should you choose to embark on it. It also happened to be playing when I was making these this morning.

Hazelnut Raspberry Friands

Ingredients
115 g unsalted butter, melted, plus more for greasing the pan
90 g all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
90 g superfine almond flour
40 g superfine hazelnut flour
190 g confectioners’ sugar
5 egg whites, lightly whisked
2 tsp vanilla extract
fresh raspberries
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions

Preheat the oven to 320 degrees F. Grease a friand pan or muffin tin with butter and set aside.

Combine all the ingredients except the raspberries in a food processor and spin until well combined, about a minute or two. Spoon the mixture into the molds, filling them about 3/4 way full, then top with up to three raspberries (depending on how big they are- I could only fit two in each mold).

Bake the friands for 15 to 20 minutes until the tops spring back to the touch. Allow them to cool in the molds for about 15 minutes, then carefully remove them to cool the rest of the way on a wire rack. Top with a generous dusting of powdered sugar. Enjoy!

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Matcha Madeleines

Posted on January 19, 2025 by Emily Wasserman

I think we’re a year (years?) past the trend of putting matcha into everything imaginable, but still, I had strong desire to make matcha madeleines this weekend. I hate trends, so maybe that’s part of it. I also hadn’t made madeleines for a while, and they’re a fun project, especially when the temperatures drop below zero and you’re stuck inside.

Also, I knew these would brighten my day. As I mentioned before, I hate winter with a fiery, burning passion. To make matters worse, there was a blizzard and ice storm in St. Louis, and the city decided not to clear any of the ice off the roads or sidewalks. I can’t count on two hands the number of times I have almost died trying to get to and from work, or even going on a short walk in my neighborhood. There are people literally ice skating down major thoroughfares and skiing to and from the grocery store. Is this normal? No. Do lawmakers care? Not at all.

Instead of going live on social media and describing why every city lawmaker should be impeached for gross negligence, I decided to make these madeleines. It was probably a good choice, given the fact that the city isn’t listening to anyone.

Madeleines are also a good project to let off some steam because they require you to be very present. You can’t just turn the mixer on high and beat butter and sugar. You have to go step by step and delicately incorporate ingredients. If you don’t, the batter will not be the right consistency, and chances are the madeleines won’t bake correctly in the oven. Ideally, you want them to have the little hump in the middle. This means they’ve baked up correctly.

A couple of tricks to making good madeleines:

  • Prep the molds: I think one of the easiest mistakes to make with madeleines is not preparing the molds correctly. Make sure you brush the molds with softened butter (not melted) and dust them with a little flour before you fill them with batter.
  • Do not overwork with the batter: This is probably the most overlooked step. Once you combine the sugar and egg and add the dry ingredients, use a spatula to mix in the melted butter and milk. You want the batter to have a soft, ribbon consistency. You want it to be pourable, not super thick.
  • Stay with your madeleines: Oddly enough (or perhaps not so strangely), this step makes me think about Ludo Lefebvre, a French chef who said to always stay with your bird (chicken) when you’re roasting it in the oven. Similarly, stay with your madeleines when you’re baking them. They don’t need a lot of time in the oven. Watch them carefully. The second they get golden around the edges and puff up, take them out of the oven. You can remove the madeleines from the mold carefully with a spoon, or you can do what I do, which is much more fun: Invert the mold so the madeleines are facing the counter and bang one edge against the counter. They’ll all fall out at once (you might have one straggler).

I enjoyed these with a pot of maple walnut sencha tea this afternoon and they hit the spot. They almost made me forget my disillusionment…but not quite.

Here’s a song to get you started on your madeleine journey. It’s one of my favorite French ballads. It also reflects my feelings about the present moment.

Matcha Madeleines

Ingredients
45 grams all-purpose flour
1 tsp matcha green tea powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of Kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
43 g unsalted butter, melted
unsalted butter, softened, for brushing the pans
43 g white chocolate, melted and still liquid
1 Tbsp milk, at room temperature
powdered sugar for dusting

Directions

Prepare the madeleine pans by brushing them with softened butter, spreading it very thin, and dusting the pans with flour. Set aside.

Whisk together the flour, green tea, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk the sugar, egg, and vanilla extract on medium high for a couple minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, using a spatula to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl if needed. Use the same spatula to incorporate the melted butter by hand. Then incorporate the melted white chocolate until combined. Add the milk and use the spatula to mix into the batter until combined, being careful not to overmix.

Put a teaspoon or two of batter into each madeleine shell, filling to almost full. Place the molds in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bake the madeleines for about eight minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the middles are puffed up. Remove them from the oven and tap an edge of the pan onto the counter so they fall out of the molds. Dust them with powdered sugar. Eat immediately. Leftovers will keep for about a day, but these taste better fresh out of the pan. Enjoy!

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Morning Glory Muffins

Posted on January 5, 2025 by Emily Wasserman

The weather forecasters predicted up to 79 inches of snow in St. Louis this weekend, so Friday, I did what any normal person would do: I went to the grocery store five times, and I got the ingredients to make these morning glory muffins.

A fun fact about me is I love snow, but I hate winter. I guess I’m a fan of snow from an aesthetic standpoint. I love feeling like I’m inside a snow globe. Stepping out into it is another story. I’m secretly counting down the days until I can move to Southern California and leave all this behind.

Until then, I’m making lots of morning glory muffins. These muffins are the equivalent of a hug in muffin form. They are warming, comforting, and everything a good muffin should be if you’re stuck in your apartment for 24+ hours and don’t have any plans of going out.

They also stake a claim at being “healthy,” although with the generous amount of turbinado sugar I sprinkled on top, I don’t think they’re in that category anymore. They do have lots of healthy things in them though like chopped walnuts, grated carrots, grated apple, flaxseeds, and sunflower seeds. Honestly, they’re a little like carrot cake without tons of sugar and cream cheese frosting. Who would want that? you might be asking. You do- trust me.

These muffins avoid tasting too healthy because of two star ingredients: Brown sugar and cinnamon. If brown sugar and cinnamon were a composite character, it would be a sweet grandmother who wraps you up in a blanket and tells you everything will be okay. The brown sugar in these muffins balances all the earthy ingredients and provides some much needed sweetness. The cinnamon adds depth and gives these muffins a fragrant, comforting smell, kind of lighting one of those bakery-scented candles. Except in this case, luckily, you can eat what you’re smelling.

As I mentioned earlier, I dumped a ton of turbinado sugar on top because I have a huge sweet tooth, and I knew I would want that extra touch of sweetness. I also like the crunch of turbinado sugar on baked goods. It adds texture without overpowering the muffins. However, if you really want to scale back on sugar, you could leave this step out.

I already ate two of these with my first cup of coffee this morning. I can’t wait to eat more, possibly with some Irish butter spread on top. It’s now snowing so hard I can’t see across the field in the park next to my apartment, so it’s the perfect excuse to hunker down with bottomless cups of coffee and muffins.

Here’s a song to get you started on your morning glory muffins. There are some songs you listen to and they always make you happy for no reason. For me, this is one of them.

Morning Glory Muffins

Ingredients
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
1 apple, peeled and grated
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1/2 cup golden raisins, soaked in warm water and drained
1/2 cup sunflower kernels
1/4 cup flaxseeds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs
2/3 cup grapeseed oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 whole wheat flour, sifted (I used Janie’s Mill Artisan Blend)
turbindao sugar for sprinkling on top

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Put the grated carrots and apple in a large bowl and use a rubber spatula to toss it with the brown sugar. Mix in the walnuts, raisins, sunflower kernels, flaxseeds, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and baking soda, and toss everything until it’s well combined.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk in the carrot apple mixture until everything is well combined. Then, use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour until there are no traces of it left in the batter. Do not overmix.

Use an ice cream scoop to divide the batter between the muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops generously with turbinado sugar.

Bake the muffins for about 22 minutes, or until the tops spring back to the touch. Remove the tin from the oven and allow the muffins to cool in the tin for five minutes. Enjoy!

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Buttermilk Roast Chicken from Salt Fat Acid Heat + Thoughts on Roasting

Posted on December 24, 2024 by Emily Wasserman

I think it’s safe to say Samin Nosrat completely changed the way I cook. It sounds like an exaggeration, but it’s true. Up until I read her cookbook, “Salt Fat Acid Heat,” I was a good cook, but I lacked confidence. I was the type of person who followed a recipe to the letter, thinking that if I even went a toe print astray, my work would go up in flames.

Then an old coworker of mine told me about “Salt Fat Acid Heat.” I saved up for a while and bought the cookbook. It’s very large and thick, which makes it seem somewhat intimidating, but it’s actually the opposite. It has advice and tips that guide you every step of the way, from how to salt food (spoiler: use more salt), to how to cook meat and poultry.

Which brings to this buttermilk roast chicken. I made this recipe from the cookbook several years ago for myself and my now ex, and I’ve never stopped thinking about it. The piece of advice that stood out the most for me was salting a chicken. It may seem like common sense, but a lot of people skip this step. I get it: Who wants to massage salt onto slimy, disgusting chicken skin that literally feels like guts between your hands. It’s not pleasant, but it’s necessary. The salt tenderizes the bird and creates a more moist, delicate end product. Don’t take my word for it: Take Samin’s.

Samin advocates for salting a chicken as soon as you unwrap it from the plastic (or I guess, paper, depending on where you get it). I would tend to agree. The sooner you get salt on the bird, the better.

Aside from that, there’s not too much to this roast chicken. After you get done dousing it in salt, you throw it in a plastic bag with a buttermilk salt mixture, seal the bag, and move the chicken all around so the buttermilk gets into every nook and cranny. Saying that last part made me feel like a British grandmother, but it’s true.

Then, you let the bird sit in the fridge for 24 hours. Samin recommends putting the bagged chicken on a plate in the fridge, and again, I would agree: Even though a well-sealed bag will probably be safe, there’s always the possibility that buttermilk or chicken juice could come out, and no one wants to deal with that mess.

If you have time during the 24 hours the chicken is marinating, turn the bag so the buttermilk mixture distributes more evenly. You can even pat the mixture into the bird if you want. I usually wouldn’t have time for this because I’d be at work all day on a Monday, but luckily I was working from home today, so I could pat away.

Another key to this recipe is letting the chicken come to room temperature before you roast it. This is another step where you’re probably thinking, why should I bother doing this? The answer is similar to the salt quandary: Letting the chicken come to room temperature will create a softer, more delicate end product. No one wants dry, rubbery chicken.

Finally, my last chicken roasting tip actually comes from a different chef, Ludo Lefebvre. Way back in 2018, I was watching his episode on the PBS series Mind of a Chef about roasting chicken. Ludo said when you’re roasting chicken, you don’t go get your nails done or read a magazine. “You stay with your bird,” he said. That tip has stuck with me to this day. I treat my chicken like a parent would a toddler on a playground: I let it do its thing, but I keep a close eye on it to make sure it’s doing okay. I’m never far away.

Well, that kind of attention paid off tonight. I took the chicken out of the oven when the skin was perfectly crispy and golden brown. I waited 10 painstaking minutes to cut into it, per Samin’s instructions. I started by cutting the thighs off, because dark meat isn’t my favorite. Then, I snuck a taste of the white meat, which actually led to me getting into the dark meat underneath. Soon, I was eating torn pieces with my hands like an animal. I cried silently. Am I ashamed?…No.

Eating the chicken skin took me back to my childhood. I would have rotisserie chicken for dinner, and the skin was always my favorite part. I guess it had the most flavor. Nothing could beat tonight’s skin, though, which was perfectly crisp, salty, and tender. I honestly feel like crying again just thinking about it.

Lucky for me, I have plenty of leftovers to last me a few days. Until then, I’ll leave you with this song, which pretty much sums up how I feel about this roast chicken.

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Linzer Cookies

Posted on December 15, 2024 by Emily Wasserman

Linzer cookies are my favorite holiday cookies to bake, and one of my favorites-if not my favorite-to eat. Buttery, crunchy, zesty cookies dusted with powdered sugar and filled with sweet, tart raspberry jam…what’s not to love?

I went to find the recipe for these by searching my blog earlier this week, and I realized I never shared it with you, which meant I also didn’t have it. BIG mistake. I’m sharing it with you now so we never run into that problem again.

A few things to note about making Linzer cookies: First, it’s a labor of love. These are not the kind of cookies you scoop out of a mixing bowl and throw onto a baking sheet and finish in 10 minutes. You make the dough, let it chill until firm, cut out the cookies, and then let them chill some more on baking sheets. They take time and effort, but the reward is well worth it.

Second, don’t skip the chilling process. Cold dough is critical to these cookies, the same way it is when you’re making a pie crust. If it’s too soft when you’re rolling it out, it will start sticking to the counter or not holding its shape. It’s definitely a sweet spot, but I would say, err on the side of having firmer dough.

Finally, the filling makes all the difference. I think the traditional route is raspberry jam, and that’s what I always use, but feel free to get creative. I was thinking these would taste good with strawberry or even cherry jam. Maybe I’ll do a repeat bake and test this the week of Christmas.

I have so much fun putting the jam on the cookies and sealing them with the sugar-dusted top cookies with the heart cut out. It’s definitely satisfying to know that all my effort created something beautiful and delicious. I had one spare cookie that didn’t have a top, so I spread some jam on it and ate it with my coffee this morning. It hit the spot.

Here’s a song to get you started on your Linzer cookie journey. I’ve been really into Spanish music lately, at least partly because I’m teaching myself Spanish. This one is good for car karaoke, or really anytime.

Linzer Cookies

Ingredients
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
raspberry jam for filling
confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Directions

Beat the butter, sugar, and lemon zest in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Scrape the bowl. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, almond flour, and sea salt. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Give the mixture a few turns with a rubber spatula if you need to. Divide the dough in half, pat into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for at least an hour or two until firm.

Once the dough is thoroughly chilled, remove one from the fridge and let come to room temperature for a few minutes. Dust a worktop with flour and a rolling pin, and roll out the dough to 1/8 inch thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut the cookies out of the dough. There should be about 15. To get to that number, keep gathering the scraps of dough after you cut out some, roll them into a bowl, and roll out the dough again. Repeat until you have 15 cookies. Place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Repeat this process with the second chilled dough disc, except this time, use a small cookie cutter to cut a shape out of the center (I used hearts). Put these cookies on a second parchment paper lined baking sheet and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Once it’s ready, bake each cookie sheet separately for about 15 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden brown. Let them cool for five minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, take the ones with the hearts cut out and dust them with confectioners’ sugar. Take the other cookies, turn them cut side up, and place 1/2 tsp of raspberry jam on the center of each. Top with the sugar dusted cookies to form a sandwich. Store these at room temperature. Enjoy!

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Baby’s First Thanksgiving Turkey (+ Rolls)

Posted on November 29, 2024 by Emily Wasserman

Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday of all time. Why? you ask. The food. I know there are some people who want to puke at the sight of all the starches, carbs, and meat on a Thanksgiving table, but I’m not one of them. The more rolls and pie, the merrier. For the past several years, I’ve cooked almost a full Thanksgiving dinner on my own. Everything, that is, except the turkey.

It might seem impossible, but it’s true. Growing up, an adult in my family would always handle it. Once I became an adult, I punted the responsibility off on someone else like my ex. To be honest, I was scared. There was something about putting a 20-pound bird on a roasting rack that completely unnerved me. I guess it’s somewhat unnatural if you think about it, but honestly, it wasn’t even that. I think I just thought it was super complicated, and I’d probably screw it up because I barely cook poultry or meat at home.

Then I found myself single this year, and I asked myself what I wanted to do. I thought I would make a roast chicken, because that’s definitely in my repertoire, but then I thought, “No way.” It’s the year of the turkey, I said to myself, and I’m finally going to roast one myself. I had a little trepidation, especially after I went to a wine bar last weekend and my waitress mentioned the Butterball hotline for “emergencies.”

Thankfully, I didn’t have to call. As it turns out, roasting a turkey is one of the easiest things ever. There’s probably someone somewhere cursing me for saying that, but I stand by it. If you have ever roasted any kind of bird before, this is basically the same thing, only a slightly longer process because it’s a very big bird. Even if you haven’t, following a good recipe step-by-step makes it very manageable. I used this recipe as a guide and I will use it every year to come.

Some things to note (I realize some of these may be divisive):

  • Don’t bother brining your bird. In retrospect, I think this was one of the things that turned me off roasting a turkey the most or the reason I never tried it. I’ve marinated chicken plenty of times, but creating a brine and dunking a giant turkey into it seemed…unappetizing. Good news: You don’t need to do it. My turkey was tender and flavorful without going through the process.
  • Dry off the turkey after you unwrap it. It is kind of nasty? Yes. Is it worth it? Also yes. Pat the turkey dry with paper towels before you do anything to it. It will result in a crispier skin later.
  • Let the turkey come to room temp for an hour before you prepare it. This might seem obvious, but it’s easy to just grab the bird straight out of the fridge and proceed to cooking. If you let your turkey come to room temperature for an hour before you prepare it, it will result in a more flavorful end product.
  • Don’t skimp on butter. The garlic herb butter I prepared for this turkey made a HUGE difference. My friend Lynn told me to put some under the skin of the breast, so I did, and that was a great idea. It tenderized the meat underneath. I also drizzled some melted herb butter over the skin and massaged it all over. I was a lot less disgusted by this than I thought I would be. The resulting skin was crispy, flavorful, and delicious.
  • Try not to open the oven. We’ve all done it: We get impatient, and we want to see how the bird is doing. That’s fine, but try to limit the amount of times you open the oven so you don’t slow down the roasting process. It’s already pretty long as it is.
  • Tent the turkey toward the end. I thought this note in the recipe was pointless, but as it turns out, it’s not. Keep an eye on your bird through the oven window using the oven light. If it looks like it’s getting too past golden brown, take a piece of aluminum foil and place it over the top of the breast. You don’t even have to seal it around the pan.

So yeah. Those are my turkey roasting tips from a complete novice. If it turned out this well this year, I can’t wait to see what happens for round two. Maybe I’ll do another bird for Christmas.

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with this milk bun recipe (also a must for your Thanksgiving table…see the photo below), and this song. It’s good any time, but especially when you need a confidence boost pre-bird roasting.

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Posted on November 3, 2024 by Emily Wasserman

Pumpkin and chocolate chip is one of the most iconic yet underrated combos in baking history. I was trying to think of a music analogy, and the closest thing I could think of are Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell duets. Everyone knows and loves “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” but have you heard, “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing“? I’m not saying it surpasses it, but it is way more intriguing and full of depth.

ANYWAY. Before I feel like I’m writing a dissertation on music and muffin analogies, I’ll tell you more about these pumpkin chocolate chip muffins. They were basically born because I had leftover pumpkin puree from a pumpkin spice cake I made a few weeks ago, and I wanted to use it up. Also, I was craving chocolate chips. I decided to throw everything into the mixer this morning to create these pumpkin muffins.

My favorite thing about baking with pumpkin is that without fail, the end product will smell and taste like a doughnut. I guess it has something to do with the starch of a pumpkin, but I’m not a food scientist, so I’ll leave the pondering there. Smelling these muffins after they came out of the oven was a somewhat surreal experience, a cross between stepping into a doughnut shop and lighting a pumpkin candle.

Also, the chocolate: I like dark chocolate chips in pumpkin baked goods, but semi-sweet will work just as well. I actually used semi-sweet this time because they were all out of dark chocolate chips at the grocery store. The chocolate chips add a little more sweetness but are happy to sit back and let the doughnut-like pumpkin muffins be the star of the show.

These go great with a cup of strong coffee or tea. I imagine they’d freeze well, too, so you could pop some in the freezer and reheat them throughout the week for breakfast or basically whenever. There is no wrong time to eat a muffin.

Here’s a song (and another duet) to get you started on your pumpkin chocolate chip muffins journey. I was just thinking about it yesterday when I went to get tacos at the farmers’ market from my friends at Brew Tulum and I asked for a little of everything on top. “A little bit of this, a little bit of that,” I said. “Isn’t that a song?” the owner exclaimed, and started singing the chorus with me. I love impromptu karaoke.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose or gluten-free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 large eggs
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups fresh or canned pumpkin puree
half a bag of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners and set aside. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt, ground nutmeg, and ground ginger in a large bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the eggs, sugars, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract. Whisk in the pumpkin puree until smooth. Add the flour mixture a little bit at a time until everything is combined. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Use an ice cream scooper to scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling each liner until it’s almost full. Bake the muffins for 18-22 minutes or until the tops spring back to the touch. Remove the tin from the oven and allows the muffins to cool for five minutes in the tin before cooling them the rest of the way on a wire rack. Enjoy!

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Monster Cupcakes

Posted on October 27, 2024 by Emily Wasserman

Halloween is low key one of my favorite holidays. I say “low key” because I haven’t really celebrated it in years, beyond giving a bucket load of candy to children who come by my house for trick-or-treat, carving pumpkins, and putting fake eyes on baked goods.

However, there is so much more to love about the holiday. Around October 1st, buckets of candy start showing up everywhere. There was even one at my yoga studio. “It’s candy season!” I exclaimed after coming out of class the other day, and an old lady laughed. I also got into a somewhat heated debate with my yoga teacher and the owner of the studio about why tootsie rolls are the worst Halloween candy ever invented. “How can you not like tootsie rolls?” the owner of my studio said. “They’re like chocolate wax.” “You’re proving my point,” I said.

ANYWAY. I digress. I think the reason why I love Halloween is because it gives you an excuse to be whimsical, if you couldn’t find one already. I love costumes. I love celebrating essentially nothing (honestly…what is Halloween about?), and I love eating enough candy and sweet things to make you want to puke.

Which brings me to these cupcakes. They were originally going to be chocolate cupcakes with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, but then I decided to go for it and make them monster cupcakes. Basically, the only thing that changed was the chocolate frosting became “monster” frosting, i.e., dyed purple with food coloring.

I’m glad I went for it because when I look at the cupcakes on my counter, they make my inner child happy. I can’t wait to share them with everyone at work tomorrow. If your baked goods aren’t looking back at you on/around Halloween, it’s probably a good sign that you need to go deeper into spooky season.

Here’s a song to get you started on your monster cupcakes journey.

Monster Cupcakes

Ingredients

for the cakes:
2 cups sifted all-purpose or gluten-free flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup unsalted butter (1 1/3 sticks), softened to room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 cup milk

for the buttercream frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1 lb (454 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
purple food coloring

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two muffin tins with paper liners. In a large bowl, sift the flour and whisk in the baking soda and salt. Sift the cocoa powder into the same bowl and whisk everything to combine it.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it’s lighter colored and a creamy consistency. Add the vanilla extract and sugar and mix to combine. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom. Then, add the dry ingredients alternating with the milk until you’ve added them all. Give the mixture one more stir with the spatula, scraping the sides and bottom and mixing again as needed to make sure everything is combined.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tins, filling each cup 2/3 full. Bake the cupcakes until the tops spring back to the touch, about 25 minutes. Let them cool in the tin for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way. Do not ice the cupcakes until they’re completely cool.

While the cupcakes are cooling, make the frosting. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and salt for about a minute. Then add the sifted powder sugar in batches, mixing on the lowest setting and using a spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom as needed. Once it’s mostly combined, add the vanilla and a tablespoon of heavy cream at a time. Increase the speed of the mixer and beat everything until it’s light and fluffy.

To make the frosting purple, add the purple food coloring one drop at a time, beating after each addition, until the frosting is your desired color.

Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and top with sprinkles. Enjoy!

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Chicken Milanese

Posted on October 13, 2024 by Emily Wasserman

Today marked two milestones for me: I made one of the best dinners of my life, and I set off the fire alarm for the first time in my new apartment.

Sometimes, we have to take the bitter with the sweet.

I was supposed to have my friends (a married couple) over for dinner tonight, but then one got sick. I had all the ingredients to make Chicken Milanese so I decided to forge ahead. It’s been a while since I’ve cooked chicken at home. I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m not a big poultry or meat eater, either, so I was a little apprehensive as to how it would turn out. I’m a good cook, but sometimes cooking with a certain ingredient is like riding a bike when you haven’t been on one for a while. It can be awkward, but you get back into the swing of things quickly.

There are three keys to making really good Chicken Milanese: One, use fresh ingredients. You’re essentially putting a salad on top of fried chicken, so it helps to have the freshest tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese possible. The tomatoes make their own salad dressing, because you toss them with some lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a mashed clove of garlic, and let it all sit for a while you work with the chicken.

Two, pound the chicken breasts really, really thin. It had been probably at least half a decade or more since I used a meat mallet, and let me tell you, it was cathartic. If you have any frustration or anguish, take it all out on the chicken. I’m not going to lie to you: I probably took out a little too much frustration because there were chicken shards (is that a thing?) on my shirt, but that’s okay, because the breasts got flattened, which made them easier to bread and fry.

Finally, watch the frying oil carefully because things can change in a hot minute. I ended up having to get out a second pan and heat up a second batch of oil after I set off the fire alarm and was running around my apartment opening every window and blasting the vent fan. Was it a little traumatic? Maybe. Was it worth it? Yes.

All’s well that ends well because after the smoke plumes, slight oil fire, and delay in frying, I was rewarded with perfectly crispy fried chicken on a bed of lettuce, basil, and fresh tomatoes in their dressing. I thought of a line from one of my favorite writers, Virginia Woolf: “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” Well, I’ve dined well tonight. I can honestly say I feel better overall, which only proves Virginia’s point.

Here’s a song to get you started on your Chicken Milanese journey.

Chicken Milanese

Ingredients

for the salad:
2 pints assorted cherry tomatoes cut in half
1 clove garlic, smashed
juice from one large lemon
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 oz mixed greens or arugula
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
grated Parmesan cheese for serving

for the chicken:
2 ½ cups panko breadcrumbs
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 Tbsp finely minced fresh parsley
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese, divided
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thinly sliced
vegetable or canola oil for frying

Directions

First, start the salad. Toss the cherry tomatoes with the garlic, lemon juice, salt, black pepper, and olive oil in a large bowl. Set aside until later.

Next, work on the chicken. Thinly slice the chicken breasts. Use a meat mallet and a cutting board to beat the breasts to 1/2 inch thick. Season both sides of each breast with salt and pepper and set aside on a plate.

In a medium shallow bowl, toss the breadcrumbs with the minced garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, and about half the grated Parmesan cheese. In another medium shallow bowl, whisk the eggs with the rest of the grated Parmesan cheese, a little salt and pepper, and a tablespoon of water. Spread out the flour in another medium shallow bowl.

Assemble your chicken station so the plate with the seasoned, flattened chicken breasts are on the left, the bowl with the flour is next to it on the right, the bowl with the egg mixture is to the right of that, and the breadcrumb mixture is on the very end at the far right. Place a baking sheet to the right of the breadcrumbs so you can place your breaded chicken there once it’s done. Use a spatula to flip your chicken in the flour, shaking off any excess. Do the same thing with the egg mixture. Flip the floured, egged chicken into the breadcrumb mixture, making sure you press down on both sides so the breadcrumbs adhere better to the chicken. Place the breaded chicken on the baking sheet.

Once you’re finished breading all the chicken, heat up a generous pour of vegetable or canola oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. I would start with medium heat because you don’t want it too hot. Once the oil is heated, start frying your breasts a couple at a time. Do not crowd the pan. Flip the breast over when one side is golden brown, and cook the other side until it’s the same color. Remove the fried chicken to a wire rack placed on top of a baking sheet, or you can set it on a plate. Repeat until you’ve fried all the chicken.

When you’re ready to serve, remove the mashed garlic from the bowl with the tomatoes. Spoon out some dressing and toss it with the salad leaves and basil. Put the dressed salad greens and tomatoes on a plate, sprinkle on some grated Parm, and nestle in the fried chicken. Enjoy!

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