Ginger sponge and goat cheese ice cream sandwiches.

I don’t write about the stuff I bake for Spilled Milk all that often, because it’s usually the same things over and over again. I mean, how many times do you really want to hear I made 175 mini cupcakes?

But last week we had a media tasting for a bunch of DC food writers and bloggers (check out the scrumptious pics), and I decided to challenge myself and do something different. Everything on the menu was something I had never made before – which sounded like a great idea when I proposed the menu, but was a little stressful when it came to execution.

One of the items I was determined to make was mini ice cream sandwiches. Ever since my ice cream sandwich fail from last year (they tasted good, they just weren’t pretty) I was determined to do it again right. Not that messy ice cream sandwiches don’t have their own charm – but I want the desserts I make for our clients to be as pretty as they are tasty.

My mistake last year was the sandwich type. I did a chipwich style sandwich – I took a cookie, scooped on some ice cream, and pressed a second cookie on top. This resulted in very messy sandwiches – the ice cream started melted and squishing out the sides and getting all over the cookies. It also didn’t squish evenly – the bottom of the mound of ice cream was much larger than the top, so they were poorly balanced. And the cookie sizes varied slightly, so all the sandwiches were different sizes. Tasty, yes, but servable to the food media, no.

This time I decided to use a different approach. Instead of cookies, I made two half sheets of sponge cake (specifically a roulade sponge, which is normally rolled up with a filling) and sandwiched a layer of ice cream in between. Then I let the whole thing freeze for 24 hours and punched out the sandwiches with a fluted circular cutter. All of the sandwiches looked awesome – the ice cream was in a perfect layer between the cake and all the sandwiches were the exact same size. Instead of looking like a messy craft project, I actually looked like I knew what I was doing.

Eventually I’d like to perfect the chipwich style ice cream sandwich, but if you’re looking for an easier and prettier method then the stamping method is the way to go. Sponge cake is perfect because it’s flexible and the high egg white content makes it sturdier than butter cake. I used this ginger sponge cake recipe and made my own goat cheese ice cream to sandwich between, but it would be lovely (and beautiful!) with a variety of cakes and ice creams.

Star-spangled cherry pies.

About a month ago, I read about a new trend sweeping the nation – Pie CSAs. Yes, just like a CSA from a farm, people sign up for a “share” from a bakery where they’ll get a different pie every week. I thought this sounded pretty awesome.

So, this is one of the good parts about having your own business. The parts that makes the bad parts – the sleep deprivation, the lack of free time, the stress – worth it. Because rather than sitting back and thinking “oh, that’s a great idea – someone should do that” I thought “great – we can DO that.”

Yes, we’re DOING that. Specifically, we’re setting up a three-month pilot project to see if a pie CSA would work in DC. CSA members will pick up a pie every other week from our 14th and U stand, and we’ll alternate between sweet and savory pie (so you won’t get overwhelmed with dessert). All the flavors will be off-menu, and we’ll be pushing the edge with our flavors (think peach bourbon, buffalo chicken, and chocolate chipotle). The pilot starts on July 30th – and we still have a few spots open! Check out the Whisked! website here to sign up.

If you’ve never had one of our pies, trust me – they’re good. I know they’re good because we work very hard to make them good. We spent several months perfecting our pie crust technique. We source our produce from farmers who sell at the 14th and U market – especially Kuhn Orchards and Garner’s Produce - and their produce is so much better than what you get from the grocery store. We agonize over the appropriate “juiciness” level of our fillings. We test and test and re-test our savory tarts until we get them just right.

So if you want some easy (and delicious) dinner and dessert options, sign up for the pilot. Help us bring more pie to DC!

Italian zucchini quiche - roasted zucchini, tomatoes, basil, and mozzarela. Kind of like a pizza, but a quiche.

Key lime pie. Cool and refreshing and just the right amount of sweet and tart.

BBQ Chicken Tart. I find this filling irresistable - as in, I seriously can't stop eating it.

Our first day at the 14th and U Farmers' Market.

We did it. We had our first Whisked! market. I will never again look at a farmer’s market stand in the same way. Whenever I see a stand I will think “Hmmm, how did they get their stuff there? What kind of van do they have? What kind of tent weights do they use?”

The day was kind of a whirlwind. It started at 6:30, when we started loading everything up in Stephanie’s fiance’s truck. We got to the market around 7:30 and quickly realized there were all kinds of things we needed that we had never thought of  - like plastic wrap, and trash bags, and a trash can.

Once we had the tent set up and got our tables out, we started putting out all the cookies, hand pies, pound cakes, bar cookies, cupcakes, and savory tarts we were selling that day. And that’s when it kind of hit me that this was actually happening – after months of planning, wrestling with DCRA, recipe testing, pricing – we were actually running our stand.

I couldn’t have been happier with the way the day went. We went through all of our samples, sold out of the hand pies, and almost sold all of the bar cookies and cookies. We almost sold all of our savory tarts, and had a number of people say that they’d be back next week for one. We constantly had people coming by our stand – I think I stopped talking for all of two minutes during the entire four hour market. There were a ton of food bloggers and foodies who came out to support us – U Street Girl, Urban Bohemian, Frijolita and the folks from Borderstan, Metrocurean, Capital Cooking, DC Brit, Sangi Sarma, Thrifty DC Cook, VAScofflaw and many people I am forgetting because the day is kind of a blur.

Most importantly, we learned so much. We learned little things, like that we need to buy a hand cart to help us unload the truck. We learned that we have to sample everything. We learned that people love brownies with walnuts. We learned how we want to pack our coolers. We learned that no one buys cupcakes at farmers’ markets. After one week and one market we learned so much that our next market is going to be that much better.

Many, many thanks to Brian from Urban Bohemian, who took photos for us and helped us document our first day.

Sign!

Notice the stylish food handling gloves.

Our case, full of cookies and bar cookies. That case was one of the best purchases we made for the stand.

Stephanie and I, talking up our goods. You can't even tell we had only gotten four hours of sleep the night before.

Hand pies! Those little cupcake sign holders didn't survive the day. They all toppled over in the wind, even when we taped them down.

Stephanie's 7Up Pound Cake - her grandmother's recipe that she tweaked.

Stephanie, lookin' good.

And we’re up! The Whisked! online store and website went live this morning. The people of DC can now order our treats – either for pick-up at the farmer’s market or for delivery (we have a $50 minimum for delivery, FYI). I’m proud I only had a mild freak-out when I knew the site was live. I was at Soupergirl chopping millions of tomatoes and that helped keep my mind off the terrifying and exciting fact that yes – we are open for business!

Every recipe has been tested by Stephanie and yours truly  - some many, many times. Some of the recipes are favorites from our own recipe boxes. Some of them are new items that we wanted to develop together.

I’m personally very excited about our savory tarts. We wanted to offer an item that you could actually eat for dinner. We decided that tarts would be a perfect way to highlight seasonal produce and local cheeses. Our roasted asparagus and goat cheese tart (probably my favorite one), with asparagus from Garner’s Produce and goat cheese from Cherry Glen, is great dinner-party far. And it can easily find a place on your brunch table too.

Please let us know what you think of the site. Stephanie did all the work putting it together and she deserves big kudos on her hard work.

See everyone at the market!

For the past six months I’ve been working on a big project that I’ve wanted to share with you, but I couldn’t. And it’s been killing me. But when you’re working on something huge, with so many moving parts and pieces, you don’t really want to talk about it until everything’s fallen into place.

So, deep breath, here we go: starting on May 7, Stephanie from Adventures in Shaw and I will be selling our baked goods at the 14th and U Farmers’ Market! We’ve started a business – Whisked! – that specializes in classic American desserts. We’ll be taking orders online through our website – WhiskedDC.com – which people can pick up at the market, or have delivered (if they meet our delivery minimums). Stephanie already wrote all about how it started (essentially, she was like “I want to start a baking business” and I was like “me too,” and suddenly everything clicked) it over at Adventures in Shaw.

So, now that I say it, it doesn’t sound so huge. A farmers’ market stand? It doesn’t sound that hard, right? Except that it has been hard – it’s been a tremendous amount of work. Stephanie and I have each spent hours brainstorming our product lines, testing recipes, looking for kitchen space, filing all the right paper work with DC’s Department of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs, setting up our ordering system and website (actually, Stephanie did all of that – I hate that stuff), and trying to anticipate everything we’ll need to know to run an awesome stand.

We’ll be selling cookies, cakes and cupcakes, which I’m sure is no surprise. But we’ll also be selling hand pies and pies, because we think that life needs more pie. And because we don’t just want to offer sweets, we’re also selling savory tarts like roasted asparagus with goat cheese, and a three cheese Mediterranean tart, which you can take home and have for lunch, dinner or brunch.

So there it is. The big news. I hope you stop by and see us at 14th and U! We’ll be there every Saturday starting on the 7th, from 9:00 – 1:00. We’ll be the ones with the cupcakes.

Strawberry kiwi shortcakes.

I have strawberry shortcakes on the brain. I’ve been thinking about different things I can do with the dessert, like making strawberry shortcake ice cream, bar cookies, or hand pies. But I didn’t think about making actual strawberry shortcakes until last weekend, when I had a bunch of fruit left over from the fruit tartlets and wanted to bring something delicious for brunch with Mango Tomato and Snacking in the Kitchen.

I sliced up some leftover strawberries and kiwis and let them macerate in sugar, white wine, and basil. Then I made a delicate, rich biscuit recipe from Baking Illustrated and whipped up some heavy cream. Layer it all together, and you have strawberry kiwi shortcake recipe that’s a little sophisticated and very delicious.

Really, this recipe would work with just about any soft fruit or berries that are in season – peaches, blackberries, mangoes, raspberries – they’d all be delicious. It’s yet another reason to be happy that spring is here – we have so many delicious fruits to look forward to.

This is a photo from the actual brunch - courtsey of Mango Tomato.

Strawberry Kiwi Shortcakes
Adapted From Baking Illustrated, by the Editors of Cooks Illustrated Magazine
Makes 9 servings

For the strawberry-kiwi topping
3 kiwis, peeled, halved, and sliced into ⅛ inch slices
1 lb strawberries, cleaned, halved, and sliced into ⅛ inch slices
1 tbs sugar
2 tbs white wine
1 tbs basil leaves, chopped

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Let macerate for at least half an hour and up to two hours before serving.

For the biscuits
2 cups (10 oz) All Purpose Flour
5 tbs (2.25 oz) sugar
1 tbs baking powder
½ tsp salt
8 tbs (4 oz) unsalted butter, cold, cut into ½ cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
½ cup + 1 tbs (4.5 fl oz) half and half or whole milk
1 egg + 1 tbs water (for egg wash)

Preheat oven to 425° F.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the cold butter and beat on low, stopping occasionally to break up any large chunks of butter with your fingers, until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Beat together the eggs and half and half or whole milk (you can do this in the measuring cup) until lightly combined. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and beat until a rough dough forms.

Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and pat into a rectangle, about ¾ inch thick. Cut into 2 inch rounds with a floured biscuit cutter. Place rounds on a parchment-lined baking sheet, 1 inch apart, and lightly brush with egg wash. Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly browned, rotating the baking sheet 180° halfway through the bake time.

For the cream
1 cup whipping cream, very cold
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the cream, sugar and vanilla in a bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk until medium peaks form.

Assemble desserts:
Slice the warm biscuits in half with a serrated knife. Spoon a layer of fruit and a layer of whipped cream on one biscuit half. Top with the other half. Spoon a little more whipped cream on the biscuit and top with half a strawberry. Repeat with remaining biscuits and serve.

I don’t post about my desserts for Spilled Milk much these days – mostly because you’d get bored of endless photos of mini cupcakes. But these fruit tartlets I made Friday are new, and I was so pleased with them I thought I’d share them with you.

You’ve seen these tarts in a dozen bakeries – it’s a French classic. The crust is pâte sucrée – a sweet pastry crust that’s kind of like a sugar cookie. I filled them with lemon curd, although the traditional filling is pastry cream, and topped them with fresh fruit.

Usually looking at my finished desserts sets off an internal dialogue on how I could improve them. I think about how I could make them prettier, or more original, or more professional. But when I was done with these, I was pleased with my work. Yes, the shells could be thinner, the curd could have been more evenly distributed, but they still looked so . . . pretty. Really pretty.

Why must flour be so heavy?

Sometimes, I envy cooks. Not because they can do all sorts of things I can’t do – like cook a perfect steak, or braise shortribs until they fall off the bone, or cook a piece of fish correctly. No, it’s because cooking doesn’t require so much . . . stuff.

I’m house and pet-sitting for a friend for ten days, and I have some baking to do during my stint. “Oh, I’ll just bring over my kitchen equipment,” I though, like it was no big deal. But then I started packing. Man do I use a lot of stuff to bake. Thank God my friend is kind enough to let me borrow her car.

“Bringing over my equipment” meant throwing bins of flour, sugar, cocoa, and powdered sugar into the trunk; filling the entire back seat back with ingredients and equipment; and strapping my precious mixer into the passenger seat. Granted, it’s been a joy to cook in my friend’s huge kitchen and I love watching her animals. I’m just jealous that cooking doesn’t requires so many tools. If I were a cook, all I’d have to bring are my knives. And maybe a saute pan.

Baking on the move is not for the faint of heart.

Loaf pan, Crisco, cake stand, piping tips, espresso powder, bags of chocolate, spices, giant thing of red food coloring. Baking requires so much . . . stuff.

On the other hand, my new kitchen helper is pretty cool. And with a helper like this, I don't even have to sweep the floor!

Chocolate Guinness "Oreos." Yes, they are as awesome as they sound.

I’ll be honest, I myself won’t be celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day. My plans involve driving a friend to the airport and then transferring a bunch of my baking stuff to the house where I’ll be housesitting (it’s a complicated operation). But for those of you going out, may you stay away from the green beer and stick to the good stuff. I suggest checking out the new subterranean bar at The Black Squirrel.

If you’re looking for something appropriate to serve for dessert this evening, these gems from the archives might just be for you:

Guinness cupcakes with Guinness icing;
Chocolate mint ice box cake (has the advantage of being both green and no-bake);
Chocolate stout ice cream (you can totally make this with Guinness); and
Chocolate Guinness “Oreos”.

What’s everyone baking or cooking or doing for Saint Patrick’s Day this year?

Most quickbreads are really more like muffins than breads. And, let’s face it, most muffins these days are just cupcakes without the frosting. So the problem that most quickbreads face is that they’re just cake – sweet, fine-crumbed, buttery – and should be left to the dessert table.

That’s why I was so intrigued with the zucchini bread recipe from Good To the Grain, Kim Boyce’s fascinating and beautiful book about baking with whole grain flours. Her zucchini bread uses rye flour and wheat germ (I substituted wheat flour instead) and very little sugar (only half a cup in the whole loaf), relying instead on herbs, the zucchini, and the flours themselves to flavor the loaf.

The result is a bready, moist loaf that’s just barely sweet. While I didn’t use the herbs in my loaf (because I didn’t have them and didn’t feel like making a late-night run to the grocery store), I’m sure the mint and basil would have added a lovely, fresh flavor. But even without the herbs, I loved this bread – it’s earthy, wheaty, and very moist. It would make excellent toast. In fact, it’s a quickbread that deserves a place on the breakfast table.

Zucchini Rye Bread
Adapted from Good to the Grain, by Kim Boyce

Ingredients
½ cup (4 oz) butter, melted
1 tbs fresh mint, finely chopped (optional)
2 tbs fresh basil, finely chopped (optional)
1 cup (4.6 oz) rye flour
1 cup (5 oz) All Purpose flour
2 ½ tbs (.8 oz) whole wheat flour
½ cup (3.5 oz) sugar
1 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ lb (8 oz) zucchini, grated
½ cup (4.4 oz) whole-milk yogurt
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a standard loaf pan.

Mix together the melted butter and herbs (if using) and set aside to let steep.

In a medium bowl, mix together the rye flour, All Purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In another medium bowl, mix together the zucchini, yogurt, and eggs. Mix in the melted butter.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. With a spatula or whisk, mix together the wet and dry ingredients until combined.

Pour batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top of the loaf with a small offset spatula. Bake for 50-60 minutes, rotating 180 degrees halfway through, until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.