The Hipster Home

This is a hard recipe. It is incredibly simple but also probably the most light-handed recipe I’ve ever made. The problem is it’s simplicity and delicacy, which is also what makes the end result so amazing.

Behold: Thomas Keller’s French Laundry Shortbread. If you’d just like to full recipe, go to Chef’s Blade (if you have a baking scale) or Epicurious (if you don’t). Or you can follow along below…

An aside: thanks to the Mr. for allowing me to spend his Williams-Sonoma gift card to buy a baking scale. Which I use all the time!

To start, measure out:

• 8 oz. all purpose flour
• 2 3/4 oz.  caster sugar
• 5 1/2 oz. ROOM TEMP unsalted butter, chopped into pieces

You’ll also need a vanilla pod*.

THAT’S IT. 4 ingredients, seriously. You will also want some coarse see salt to add that special magical kick. So I guess 5 ingredients.

First you’ll want to pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then dump the flour and sugar into a sifter of some sort and shake. One pass works great to make a fluffy base.

Take out that ole vanilla bean and slice through one side of it just enough to expose the seedy center. Use the back of your knife to scrap out the black seeds. Add the insides to the flour/sugar mixture.

Here comes the tricky part: add the butter. You’ll want to massage it in, “rub the flour into the butter until incorporated” says Chef’s Blade. But don’t over do it! It should make some loose ball-y clumps. Then you have the joy of trying to make some sort of a ball out of it in the bowl. I’ve had the most success pressing it together then adding the remainder, pressed clump by pressed clump down on a lightly floured surface.

The Chef’s Blade recipe says to not overwork the dough, but that’s a tough call. How do you know it’s overworked? It’s almost impossible to make a cohesive ball out of this stuff so have patience and don’t be afraid to keep shaping and pressing it together.

Once you get it all out on that floured surface, roll it out. Using a heavy rolling pin, it definitely starts to come together even more. So keep up with that patience. When you get to a half-inch thick, stop. I used my blunt knife edge to press together the ragged edges.

Cut into longish rectangles and gently place on a baking sheet using a spatula. Sparingly sprinkle some coarse sea salt onto the tops. Put into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. I like mine toasty golden, so I flip the pan around and bake for another 10 minutes.

We brought these to a family Thanksgiving and they turned out great! I packed the perfect cookies on the bottom so pay no attention to the few wonky ones on top in this pic. I’ll have to purchase more vanilla beans and try, try, try again but man, this a simple recipe that pays off in spades.

*PRO TIP: If you live in San Francisco’s Mission district, the people that opened the newish ice cream shop Xanath Ice Cream are also heavy into vanilla and saffron import/export. They’ve been handing out whole vanilla bean pods as a promotion for the ice cream shop. If you see them handing something out in front of the store at 20th and Valencia, STOP AND TAKE IT. You will not be sorry. And presto, you automatically have all ingredients for this recipe!

I hope your Thanksgiving is full of family, friends and delicious edible treats!

I’m thankful for Willo who was so instrumental for getting this blog up, the Mr. for all of his never-ending support, my parents for their unconditional love and my sisters for always being a source of hilarity and sharing. And I suppose thanks to my friends for putting up with bad jokes, body odor and my constant dog talk.

Oh and thanks to whoever invented corned beef hash, the cappuccino and for whoever designed the most perfect fruit on the planet, the pineapple.

Cupcakes.

You know what’s better than a cupcake? A WHOLE GODDAMED CAKE.

Each bite is different. You have cake and frosting and cake and frosting again! Best of all, there is no last bite that is just the crummy butt. There’s a reason Larry David made an entire Seinfeld episode about that close bastard brother of the cupcake called the muffin. You know the episode. Jerry & co spend the whole time trying to dispose of bags FULL of crappy muffin butts because everyone loves muffin top. I dare to suggest people only eat cupcakes for the tops as well. And you know what? A well made cake is like BITE AFTER BITE of cupcake tops!

Also a CAKE is a collective experience. You share a whole cake with people, friends. And you can eat just a sliver or a gigantic slice and not feel guilty. But the cupcake? You eat one. Or two and feel like a  cow. But with a cake, it’s easy to negotiate around the serving size.

It was these feelings that brought me to check out a book from the library called 500 Cakes, alleging it was the only cake compendium I’d ever need. I’ve since made 2 recipes from it and while I shant RAVE about it, the results were pretty good. Both the recipes aren’t actually for cakes in the classic sense but ended up being more like loaf breads and were both devoured at the Mr.’s office! The easy lime loaf cake was moist and delicious but didn’t look anything like the picture. (Clearly the food stylist thought the lime glaze was groody looking.) Today I’ll be sharing with you the recipe for the…

Apple & Cinnamon Loaf Cake

adapted from 500 Cakes

• 1 stick butter, room temp
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 extra large eggs (or 2 large eggs plus 1 tablespoon additional egg)
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 small apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 4 tablespoon jelly of choice (I used plum, they suggested apricot)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a loaf pan and line the bottom with waxed or parchment paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy. Taste test to make sure the butter and sugar isn’t rancid. Hmm, not sure? Have another little taste. YUM.  Beat in the sour cream and cinnamon. Beat in each egg and sift the flour, baking powder and salt over the top. Fold it together until a relatively smooth batter.

Spread half the batter in your loaf pan. Put a generous layer (or two) of apples down. Add the remaining batter and smoosh another layer of apples on the top. You’ll be able to see it, so if you’re at all anal retentive, make sure it looks good. (Note If you’re not using jelly to top the baked loaf, I’d recommend putting a little butter on the top layer of apples as they got very dried out in the oven.

Bake for an hour until the loaf passes the toothpick test (a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle). Let the cake cool and remove from the pan once cool enough to handle.

Heat the jelly in a small pan until hot, then brush over the still-warm cake to glaze. Totally cut and eat and enjoy!

Oh this won’t be the last of the cake posts. Expect more. Many more. What kind should I next tackle?

(photo by swankdollar)

What started as a ode to machine knitting turned into full blown blog admiration for this former Target designer and superwoman behind Swank Dollar, Annie Larson. She mixes bold colors and geometric prints that when combined, give you a Fight Club style punch to the eyeball. And you thought machine knits couldn’t be sexy! I am totally ready to drop an imaginary $1,000 on a purl monster. As always, Craft Magazine was on top of Annie’s awesome work. For more of Annie’s inspiring work, check out her Flickr stream.

Sweartogod I DON’T EVEN LIKE PRINTS. But lately, it’s a weak spot, especially the vaguely tribal and westernized ikat prints popping up all over the place.  Rachel Comey did up some hiking gear and it’s deeelightful. I’ve got For You, for Me and Refinery29 to blame again for this awesome tidbit of internet covetousness. You’ll eventually be able to snag these totes and accessories on tenover6.com.

Now to get nerdy, because not everything I wwwant online has to do with wearable (although technically this does). Let’s trod thisaway, to the technology isle. Here we’ll find a SHIRT I got free from Threadless that is now an ELECTRIC new iPhone case entitled Clouds within the Thunder. (LOOK HOW OLD THAT PHOTOBOOTH PICTURE IS.) Design Crush, you are so fired for posting such a great collaboration between Threadless and Griffin Technology.

(Photo by Sarah London)

If you follow The Hipster Home on twitter, you’d have seen that I’m slowly working on the Sarah London mystery crochet project (now revealed to be an advent calendar). Besides sounding like a soft, sweet soul, Sarah’s work is fantastic. The tutorials are really top notch and easy to follow. But I am not here to wax poetic about that. She recently re-highlight an older project because of a reader creation. The inspired scarf is nice but OH MY THAT BLANKET!!!! If you light bright colors and crochet, her flickr stream is your hook hand’s day dream. (I’m tempted to make this one my iPhone wallpaper!)

These next two I wwwant that mentions are the actual devil. By that I mean they’re the reason that this post even exists. Two internet commerce sites designed to make you squeal, faint and then open your wallet. Say YES! to hoboken shares with us a way to bypass all the regrEtsy by using Supermarket, a store for designer created products. You barely have to browse without wanting one thing or another. Is it weird I’m so drawn to this cicada ring??

Next site is Gretel Home. The best way to describe their wares is if instead of getting lost in the woods, Gretel went to school for design and absorbed a simple and modern Scandinavian aesthetic and curated a store using those skills. OF COURSE the items are mostly expensive but OF COURSE they feature craftsmanship and design that warrant the prices. Oh if I were a rich man….

That’s it for this week guys! If you see something you wwwant too, share it below or hit me up on the twitxors.

No one in this world is perfect, especially my CSA. First, they closed my pick-up spot because of theft. When the Mr. and I picked a new delivery stop, we also decided to opt for the every-other week deliveries because of some recent backlog on my end. I arrived expectantly this week to get our first box in OVER TWO WEEKS and our names were not to be found on the list. BOLLOCKS!

So it is with this spirit of disappointment that I share with you a delicious and comforting recipe steeped in history. Also, it used up the remaining BOATLOAD of peppers we received recently.

How does a Florida girl get introduced to Ethiopian anything? Travel, of course! While in Switzerland, land of fondue invention and many country-cuisine based restaurants, my friend Paige took me to an Ethiopian meal. It was MIND MELTINGLY AWESOME. The food is spicy and rich, a mix of smoky veggies and tender meats. My favorite part isn’t eating with your hands, or sharing family style from one huge platter, it’s the porous, delicious pancake-like bread the all the meats and veggies are placed on. You dig through the piles of food and BLAM, gravy soaked tasty bread.

I was hooked. It was from that experience that I returned home to make some Ethiopia in my own kitchen. I found this recipe and went to town. I love these lentils so much that before I moved to San Francisco, I used my Mom’s spice cabinet to concoct two jars full of Berbere spice mix. I keep it in the fridge and will very soon need to make more. Somehow in this equation, I discovered it’s unexpectedly good sprinkled on popcorn. If you’d like more information on how to make the spice mix, visit Mimi’s Cyber-Kitchen and use her recipe. Coincidentally it is from this site that I share with you an adapted recipe.

Ethiopian Lentils

Adapted from Mimi’s Cyber Kitchen

1 lb lentils (mine was supplemented with chana dal)
6 cups chicken broth
1 bell pepper chopped + 14-oz of roasted gypsy and poblano peppers, peeled, seeded and chopped
2 red onions, chopped (I used one really huge onion)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Berbere Spice Mix
Pepper

Make sure your peppers are roasted and skinned. I blister mine over high heat on the stove and immediately place them in a small airtight bowl. Let them sit until cool enough to handle and then the skin should slough off easily. Cut away the top and seeds.

Pick over your lentils and toss out any that don’t look like the others. Give them a good rinse. Put the lentils and chicken broth in a large pot over high heat. Bring them to a boil and turn the heat down. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the onion, garlic, peppers and spice mix. Put the lid on the pot and allow to cook for another 30 minutes. Don’t forget to check in on them every once in awhile. The liquid may not quite be enough, so feel free to add a little bit more if the lentils aren’t broken down yet.

Add some fresh pepper and serve over rice! Also extremely tasty with tortilla chips.

Do you need any more excuses to take your kitchen Ethiopian??? I think not! This recipe is cheap,  quick, low stress and makes metric TON. Get cooking!