Today, I continued my foodie adventures and went to LA to try the infamous Umami burger. I tried both the Umami burger and Truffle burger and they were both delicious. But, the Truffle burger wins my top pick. It was AMAZING. It was pretty much just meat and cheesy goodness, but not just any cheese…Italian Truffle Cheese! The burger was bursting with truffle flavor from the cheese and truffle glaze. Afterward, we made a stop at Blanc Haute yogurt, a gourmet frozen yogurt place in Beverly Hills…of course. I wasn’t too impressed by this place. Definitely overpriced and the gourmet toppings didn’t really wow me, but its fun to try something new every once in awhile.

I’m gonna need a break from eating after this weekend. So stuffed. I don’t know how Man v. Food does it.

Great Balls on Tires Truck - Meatball sandwiches

Ciao Balla - Italian Meatball Sandwich

Ball Gogi - Korean style meatball with rice noodles

White Rabbit Truck - Filipino Fusion Tacos

Ludo Truck - Really wanted to try this truck, but they ran out of food!

Dogzilla Truck - Dozilla Hot Dog with avocado, bacon, onions, the works!

Yakisoba Dog!

Cool Haus Truck - Ice cream sandwich truck

Guy making my order

They ran out of cookies, so we had to settle for cookie ice cream sundaes with the broken cookies they had left lol. Top left: Balsamic Fig & Marscapone (my favorite!) Bottom: Dirty Mint (tasted like a Mojito) Top Right: Brown Butter w/ Candied Bacon

Umami Burger

Umami Burger - with cheese crisp, shitake mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, and sauteed onion. In my haste since I was busy devouring my Truffle burger, I didn't take a picture of it.

Blanc Haute Yogurt

Gourmet toppings

More toppings - they even had champange grapes!

I love how they have to mention the chocolate is from France.

My Blueberry Pomegranate yogurt with chocolate covered truffle figs, chocolate pear pieces, and nut toffee nuggets.

As for non-dessert news, I got to check out the Top Chef tour while it was in town.  Richard Blais from Season 5 and CJ Jacobsen from Season 3 were there doing cooking demos and question and answer sessions. It was a lot of fun and the best part was we got to try the dishes they made. So far, I’m having a good summer and the best part is it’s not over yet! Looking forward to more food and fun!

My box of goodies (from left to right) : Gourmet ding dongs, cake truffles, chocolate cupcake, moonpie, lemon bar, and a slice of lemon-coconut cake

Red Velvet Ding Dong - So so good!

A look inside

Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cake Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory - Decadent all the way

Top Chef Tour

Richard and CJ doing their cooking demo

Brussels Bistro - Pot of mussels and Belgian pommes frites. I have a weakness for mussels and fries. Delicious!

Lemon Cupcake

Lemon Cupcakes
(adapted from allrecipes.com)
makes about 24 cupcakes

In the last month, I discovered (actually a friend told me) about a hole in the wall baking supply store that has become my new favorite store. I love how the store front can look so deceivingly small, but once you enter its like a whole other world. They have pretty much everything imaginable there, a baker’s dream. Quite the selection of cupcake liners, all kinds colors and patterns and an impressive array of bakery boxes to hold cakes and cupcakes. I could spend hours in there. My friend’s birthday gave me the chance to bust out my window cupcake box that I just bought from there and I absolutely love it! It’s got the Sprinkles vibe with the brown cardboard box look, but the best part is the window and the holders inside.I made dark chocolate cupcakes with pink vanilla bean frosting and H-A-P-P-Y B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y candles on top. I guess the box made it look so legit that my friends thought I bought cupcakes from a real bakery haha. So, thank you to my new baking supply store for helping my cupcakes step it up a notch in the presentation department!

Dark chocolate cupcakes with brown liners like Sprinkles!

Pink vanilla bean frosting

Cupcakes placed in the holders

Check out the window!

Love these candles!

Let’s start with the ingredients. This recipe required quite a few specialty ingredients: quality dark baking chocolate, Valrhona cocoa powder, and instant espresso powder. Took a few phone calls to find the elusive Valrhona cocoa powder, but I finally tracked it down at my local Sur la table. Next was the dark baking chocolate which I also found at Sur la Table. I decided to go with Scharffen Berger Dark Baking Chocolate (62% cacao) which was one of the suggested brands. Buying the best ingredients comes at a hefty price. One 6 oz. Scharffen Berger bar was $8.50 and a box of Valrhona cocoa powder was $10.50. Taking another look at my shopping list I realized I needed 11 oz. of chocolate, so I had to grab one more bar and that brought my total to $27.50 for just those two ingredients. Ouch. This is when the fear started to set in. What if it doesn’t turn out? What if I completely hate it? I’d hate to waste the most expensive brownie I’ve ever made. Not gonna lie here, I’m a brownie mix type of girl. Betty Crocker $2.99 box mix to be exact and I think it tastes better than some of the from scratch recipes I’ve tried in the past.

High end ingredients in hand, the moment of truth was just a recipe away. The process was relatively simple: combine dry ingredients, melt chocolate, mix, and bake. I made sure to be extra careful, following the directions closely and rechecked that I didn’t leave out any steps or ingredients. About 27 minutes later my brownies where baked and ready to be cooled. The aroma of deep rich chocolate filled my kitchen and it smelled so delicious. It was hard to be patient and wait until the brownies cooled before I could cut myself a piece, but when I did let me tell you it was unlike any other brownie I’ve tasted. So chocolately, so fudgy, so moist, and oh so yummy! I could really taste what a difference quality chocolate and cocoa powder could make. The chocolate taste was much more richer and deeper. I absolutely love dark chocolate and this brownie exudes dark chocolate to the point that I can’t help but love it. So, know I now exactly why this Baked Brownie was dubbed the “Best Brownie” and why it’s Oprah’s favorite and now it’s mine too. Don’t get me wrong, I still have love for my Betty Crocker brownie mix which is much more wallet friendly, but now I’ll have a favorite brownie recipe for those special occasions that will help it make it even more special and decadent.

Love my new cookboook

The Baked Brownie

The Baked Brownie
from Baked:New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Yield: 24 brownies

Baked Note: A great brownie is easy to make, but here are a few pointers: 1) Use a dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona. A pale, light-colored cocoa does not have enough depth. 2) Make sure your eggs are room temperature and do not overbeat them into the batter. 3) Make sure you check your brownies as they bake. An even slightly overbaked brownie is not a Baked Brownie.

• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp Valrhona dark cocoa powder
• 11 ounces quality dark chocolate (60-72%), chopped coarsely (I used Scharffen Berger Dark Baking Chocolate (62% cacao))
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 9 by 13 inch pan. (Quick tip: I used the wrappers of the butter to grease my pan. Fast and simple.)

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder together.

Place the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water (creating a double boiler), stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler and add both sugars. Whisk the sugars until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. Mixture should be room temperature.

Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining 2 eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over beat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk) fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until there is just a bit flour visible.

Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake the brownies in the center of the oven for about 30 minutes (rotate the pan half-way through baking) and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the brownies. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it.Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.

Tightly covered with plastic wrap or in an air tight container, the brownies keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Scharffen Berger Dark Baking Chocolate (62% cacao) Bars and Valrhona Cocoa Powder

The cocoa powder has a deep dark color.

Melting my chocolate and butter together.

Fudgey goodness.

Although, my first instinct is to pick something with chocolate, giving up chocolate helped widen my view about desserts I would’ve never chosen otherwise. I was able to try all sorts of yummy non-chocolate desserts (strawberry tiramisu, salted caramel macarons, maple bacon donuts) on various outings and it didn’t make me miss chocolate at all. Maybe I’ve changed? But, then again I think I would still have to fight the urge to pick something chocolate over a non-chocolate dessert. At least I feel like I’ve tried a lot of new things and I know that I can live without chocolate, but in all honesty I wouldn’t really want to haha.

For Easter, I decided to make mini cupcakes (vanilla with vanilla frosting, it wasn’t Easter yet when I made this hence no chocolate). To make them egg-stra special, I decided to color the frosting with some nice pastel colors and arrange them in an egg carton. This makes for a great gift idea; easy to whip up and cute packaging!

On a side note, if you’re wondering what my first chocolate dessert will be, its a Sprinkles’ Red Velvet cupcake. I also picked up one of their flavors for the season, Brown Sugar Praline, which is really good. Love that praline topping! Too bad its seasonal, I think they should make it one of their regular flavors.

Looks like a regular egg carton from the outside...

Surprise!

A Dozen Mini Cupcakes - Ready for Easter

Sprinkles Cupcakes - Top Row: Brown Sugar Praline and Vanilla Cupcakes, Bottom Row: Red Velvet with a cute bunny

After doing some research, I decided to try to use a regular vanilla cupcake recipe and add some green tea (matcha) powder. Luckily, for me it turned out well and the combination of the vanilla and green tea tasted good. The best part about these cupcakes was definitely the frosting.  It’s like a lighter more heavenly version of a buttercream frosting. I used a green tea frosting recipe from the Baked cookbook and I’m so glad I decided to try it. This frosting recipe definitely requires more effort, but the results are worth it! The frosting + cupcake made for an excellent pairing. I think everything had the right amount of green tea flavor. It was subtle and not overpowering.

One more thing before I go and eat another cupcake, if you are wondering where you can buy green tea (matcha) powder, you can usually find it at specialty food stores or better yet at Japanese markets if there’s one in your area. If you still can’t find it, you can also order it online. Just make sure you buy unsweetened green tea (matcha) powder. Also, the higher the quality green tea (matcha) powder you purchase, the brighter green your baked goods will turn out. Good luck!

A Peek Inside

Green Tea Cupcakes (makes 12 cupcakes)
by iheartdessert

Ingredients

• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (minus 1 Tbsp of flour to replace with the green tea (matcha) powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 Tbsp green tea (matcha) powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cream butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
2. Next add eggs, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and green tea powder until thoroughly mixed. Mix in mik.
3. Divide batter into 12 muffin liners. Bake for 15-20 min or until tops are golden brown.

Green Tea Frosting
(adapted from Baked:New Frontiers in Baking)

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/6 cup flour
• 1/2 Tbsp + 1tsp green tea (matcha) powder
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/6 cup heavy cream
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. In a saucepan, whisk sugar, flour, green tea (matcha) powder together. Add milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally. Cook until mixture comes to a boil and has thickened.
2. Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the mixture on high until cooled. On low speed, add butter and mix until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high until the frosting is light and fluffy.
3. Add vanilla extract and beat until combined. If frosting is too soft, place in refrigerator until it is firmer.

Green Tea Batter

Out from the oven

Green Tea Frosting

Green Tea (Matcha) Powder from a Japanese market

Backside of the can

Lovely bright green tea powder

Thankfully, the food stylist, Susan Spungen shared this bruschetta recipe which she developed for the film in an article. I tried it and it tastes exactly how the actors portrayed it in the movie, delicious! At first I made a small batch just to test it out, but I had to make more because I couldn’t get enough. It was that good. So, if you haven’t seen the Julie & Julia, I suggest you make some bruschetta or something just as delectable and watch as you eat, because you will definitely get hungry watching this film.

Beautiful Heirloom Tomatoes

Love the colors!

Tomato & Basil Mixture

Bruschetta

Julie & Julia’s Bruschetta Recipe
(adapted from Susan Spungen’s recipe)

Ingredients

• Provincio Artisan Roasted Garlic Bread (this can be found at Costco in a 2 loaf pack)
• olive oil
• kosher salt
• ground pepper
• heirloom tomatoes
• fresh basil

Directions

1. Cut tomatoes into chunks and tear lots of basil leaves into medium-small pieces. In a bowl, toss tomatoes and basil with a good quality olive oil. Marinate for 1 hour at room temperature.

2. Cut bread into slices about 3/4 inch thick

3. Pan fry the bread in olive oil  to get it toasted on the outside while retaining some softness in the center. After pan frying, sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

4. Season tomato mixture with salt and pepper about a half hour before serving. The salt makes the tomatoes release their juices and you don’t want that happening too soon.

5. Top bread with tomato mixture. If the bread is really crunchy, let the tomatoes sit for a few minutes before serving to soften the bread.

Note: I used the roasted garlic bread as a shortcut which I highly recommend because that bread is amazing, but if you can’t find it just substitute with any rustic loaf with a stretchy interior with lots of holes and a crisp crust. If you go the regular rustic loaf route, the original recipe tells you to rub a whole garlic clove onto the pan fried sliced bread. That’s the only difference.

I thought it would be perfect to make mini heart shaped red velvet cheesecakes for V-day and I’ve been dying to make them ever since I tried it for the first time at Magnolia’s Bakery in NYC. I had to make up my own recipe because I couldn’t really find any red velvet cheesecake recipes. I guess they aren’t that popular yet.

I was scared that this project would become a complete fail for several reasons: 1) I’ve only made one other cheesecake before and that time I had an actual recipe to follow 2) I couldn’t find instructions on baking times for mini cheesecakes, so I had to guesstimate and 3) did I mention that I’ve never done this before?!? Experimenting makes me feel really out of my comfort zone haha.

Anyway, after all my worrying and stressing and peeking into the oven every 5 minutes, the cheesecakes came out a beautiful shade of red and there were no cracks at all. Success! The final test was the taste test and it was…GREAT! It really reminded me of Magnolia’s version (maybe even better? haha) and I’m so excited that I don’t have to fly 3,000 miles to get some now. I topped it with some whipped cream and it complemented the cheesecake perfectly. Make sure to make these for your sweetheart because there’s nothing that says I love you more than a Red Velvet Cheesecake <3

Red Velvet Cheesecake

Red Velvet Cheesecake
by iheartdessert
(makes 3 mini cheesecakes or double recipe to make a full 9 inch cheesecake)

Ingredients

Right before I placed them in the oven. I love the luscious red color!