Les Madeleines Patisserie

To stick with the sweet theme of my blog, my dive of choice this month was Les Madeleines Bakery. They offer a gorgeous selection of pastries, cakes, and candy, as well as breakfast and lunch sandwiches. Everything here is made from scratch, using the finest ingredients. The chef, Romina Rasmussen, trained at the French Culinary Institute in New York, and was even named best pastry chef in 2007 by Salt Lake Magazine.

My sister, Alexis, is expecting a baby, and I've been wanting to treat her to something yummy, so I brought her along with me. We went at 9 in the morning so we could enjoy some breakfast sandwiches with our sweets. The sandwiches were something you could definitely make at home, but they were really good! They were made on wheat bread full of melted butter, with a real egg (which they get locally), and a slice of actual cheese, not that processed crap.

Alexis went with the ham, egg, and cheese sandwich.

I chose plain old egg and cheese. My egg ended up being cooked slightly over-easy, which is what I like. I'm sure you'd be able to request that your egg be cooked harder if you like.

Kouing-Aman
This is their specialty. It translates to 'butter bread', and comes from Brittany. I've read that only 6 bakeries in the U.S. make this, and one just happens to be here in Salt Lake! This pastry is so popular, that Madeleines limits you to only 6 without a 72-hour pre-order. I can definitely see why! Kouing-Aman has a crunchy, caramelized crust that breaks open to reveal a soft, gooey, buttery, sweet, and flaky inside. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the inside, but I gobbled it up. It truly is heaven!

I've never had a french macaron before, so I got this Raspberry Button. It was ok, a little to much raspberry for me though.

We also tried this Butter Toffee Shortbread. Yum.

Black & White cookie. Very soft, I like the chocolate/vanilla icing.

Canellé. This has a dark, caramelized crust, and a very tender center. I thought this was pretty good, very interesting.

Alexis chose this cookie, which I can't remember the name of. It was really yummy.

I highly suggest stopping by Madeleines for breakfast or lunch. Do NOT leave there without first grabbing a Kouing-Aman, or two... or three....  :)
Check out their website to see all of the great pastries and sandwiches they offer.


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Les Madeleines
Patisserie & Cafe
http://www.les-madeleines.com/
216 E 500 S
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111
(801)355-2294
Hours: Tuesday-Friday 8 - 6, Saturday 8 - 4, Closed Sunday & Monday.

Bleu Cheese & Pear Muffins

 I am not what someone would call a 'picky eater'. I  love all kinds of food, especially flavors that are unique, and I feel there is no harm in trying everything at least once. I love this recipe because it uses two familiar ingredients that most wouldn't think to combine, creating a unique flavor of it's own.

The first time I made these Bleu Cheese Pear Muffins I thought for sure they'd be a hit, so I kindly brought them to my mom's house for the whole family to enjoy. I forgot, though, bleu cheese does not sound very enticing to many people, and to those people it can taste even worse than it sounds. Turns out my brother, sister, and mother all loathe bleu cheese. I had to force these down their throats get on my knees begging them to try just one! My hard work ended up getting disgusted looks, and spit into the trash.

Oh well. That just meant more for me and the Man, which we were perfectly fine with. At least We know how to enjoy the wonderful tang of bleu cheese. :)

This recipe calls for the muffins to be made in a mini muffin pan, but this time I wanted to try regular sized muffins. They were both good, however the mini muffins pack so much more flavor into them. A flavor that I should clarify I absolutely love. I really appreciate the flavor that bleu cheese delivers. Whenever I see anything that incorporates bleu cheese, I die to try it. The tanginess of the cheese is a great counterpart to the sweet pears. Definitely a wonderful team that any true Foodie will enjoy. :)

S'mores Cupcakes

I'm sure you've seen these before. They're everywhere! A classic campfire treat turned into a fluffy cupcake. I adore s'mores. I have to have one (two...three..) everytime I'm around a campfire. Even when I'm not camping, I still eat s'mores toasted over the stove.

I don't really like cake. BUT. I'm a huge fan of the lighter, fluffier, portable cupcake. As you can guess, once I saw this dessert- a combination of two things I love- I wanted to try them right away.

There's a few different ways to make a S'more cupcake. One recipe makes a chocolate cupcake with a graham cracker mixture stirred in. Another one makes a graham cracker 'crust' which is then topped with chocolate cupcake. And one makes just a plain old graham cracker cupcake. Of course, they're all topped off with marshmallow frosting, and a little drizzling of chocolate. I DO NOT like chocolate cake (or ice cream, frosting, i can barely even stand plain chocolate), so I chose to go with the plain graham cracker cake recipe.

This cake is awesome. It's the fluffiest cupcake I've ever had. These also have the perfect graham cracker flavor, because the recipe  doesn't use much flour, but instead uses crushed graham crackers. Even though these do not rise very much, I would strongly suggest that you don't fill the cups more than half full. I've made these twice now, and both times I've tried filling the cups ¾ of the way. But, this just causes a hanging lip to form on the cupcakes.

Did I mention how heavenly these smell while baking?

I absolutely love these cupcakes plain, just the way they are. But if you really want a s'mores cupcake you can go ahead and top them with some yummy marshmallow frosting and chocolate. You could use a kitchen torch to toast the top of the marshmallow, but if you're a poor girl like me and you don't own a fancy torch, you can just stick them under your oven's broiler for a few seconds. These taste amazing! Definitely the best S'more I've ever had. :)

Lasagna Roll Ups

Lasagna is probably my favorite dish of all. I love the pasta, the cheeses, the meaty sauce.. it's all so good. I cook for only two people which makes it difficult to make a whole lasagna because half of it ends up going to waste. Because of this we don't get to enjoy my favorite dish very often. That is until I came across this very simple version.

Lasagna roll ups are an excellent way to enjoy lasagna. I love how simple they were to make, I love that the individual portions make serving very easy, and most of all I love that they can be individually frozen and reheated.

To make this recipe healthier I would use whole wheat lasagna (too bad I didn't have any) and ground turkey (both of which I normally substitute in recipes that call for pasta/meat). If you can find italian style ground turkey use it, it tastes great in this dish. I also used store-bought spaghetti sauce (one of the very few things I don't make myself). We went with Newman's Own Sockarooni sauce. It's definitely our favorite sauce to use, it has a fantastic flavor and nice chunks of peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms...everything!

I really liked making lasagna this way, and I plan on sticking to it! :)

Blueberry Zucchini Banana Bread

Zucchini bread is one of my favorites. I saw this very colorful Blueberry Zucchini Bread on Closet Cooking. I loved the idea of combining zucchini and blueberries. I decided to go with my favorite recipe for zucchini bread, I also had some very ripe bananas that I didn't want to just throw out, so I just tossed them into the mixture creating a blueberry zucchini banana bread.

If you like zucchini bread, you're sure to love this one. This bread has the same great moistness that you'd expect from both zucchini and banana bread. The zucchini flavor is awesome! And, the sweet blueberries really add something special. The only thing I didn't like was that the banana was non existent. It couldn't be tasted at all! Maybe next time I'll use a little more...? I'll definitely experiment with this bread until I can get the right amount of flavor from both the zucchini and banana. :)

Brown Butter Candied Bacon Ice Cream

Link to recipe at bottom of post.

I fell in love as soon as I saw this over on Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures.

Brown butter? Just plain awesome.

Candied bacon? Bacon cooked in brown sugar. Need I say more?

I love both of these ingredients. Brown butter is a simple way to add amazing flavor to pretty much anything, and candied bacon is something I use quite a bit in most recipes that call for plain bacon. It's sweet and salty goodness just can't be denied! I've never heard of using either of these to flavor ice cream, but I knew this one would be a sure winner.

Remember when I said my peach cobbler ice cream was my new favorite?

Well, I spoke way too soon!

I think this ice cream is so good that if I had to choose the proper word to describe how I feel about Brown Butter Candied Bacon Ice Cream, it would have to be.... Orgasmic.

Naughty, I know. But this ice cream really won me over!

First you're met with the nutty flavor of the creamy brown butter ice cream, which I LOVE. Nothing beats the flavor of brown butter! Then you find yourself stumbling upon crispy pieces of sweet and salty bacon, throwing your tastebuds through one hell of a ride.

This is absolutely a match made in heaven!

I'm going to send you all over to Susi's blog for the recipe.

Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures is one of my very favorite food blogs. I enjoy reading every post, getting the chance to learn more about her and her family bit by bit. Not to mention Susi cooks and bakes some wonderful food, posting delicious photos. Her husband and kids are very lucky. I wish I lived close enough to invite myself over for dinner, her food always makes me drool! My favorite part of her blog is a section she does every Friday called Ice Cream Fridays in which she shares really interesting and delicious ice cream recipes. Actually, she was the first to introduce me to David Lebovitz, which I'm really happy about :).

Susi,

   I was very close to giving up on my blog because I thought no one was looking my way, or even cared what I had to say. You came along and left so many nice comments, more than I've ever gotten from one person. Your kindness gave me the drive to continue writing my blog. Thank you!
You've done a fantastic job with your own blog, and I look forward to watching it grow more and seeing what else you have in store! :)
-Jessica


Here's the recipe for Brown Butter Candied Bacon Ice Cream.

Here are some more of my favorite recipes from Susi's Kochen Und Backen Adventures:

Tequila Refried Beans - Oh.. My...
Snickerdoodle Cupcakes - Why haven't I made these yet? One of my favorite cookies turned into a cupcake, what could be better?
Bacon-Spinach Mashed Potatoes - Love this. Great way to enjoy my favorite food.
Gingered Carrot Cookies - I'm a big carrot cake lover. These are fantastic!

Enjoy! :)

To ALL of my readers-
  Thank you all so much for taking the time to read my blog. I love reading all the comments from you guys, every one I get makes me love doing this that much more. Thanks for being there to support me!

Blue Cheese and Garlic Hasselback Potatoes

Hasselback. My new favorite way to enjoy a potato. These fancy looking potatoes seem like they'd be hard to make, but they are actually really easy and they taste fantastic! Once cooked, hasselback potatoes have some great textures. On the outside they are lightly crisp, while the inside is very soft and creamy. Definitely unlike any other potato!

While these potatoes can certainly be eaten plain, I wanted to add some flavor so I chose to put some garlic in. You want to be sure to slice the garlic as thin as you possibly can. This allows it to cook up nicely, giving the potato the right amount of flavor. I had sliced some too thick and we ended up having to pick out the garlic slices before eating because the flavor was just too strong. So slice it THIN!

It doesn't stop there!

I thought some blue cheese would be the perfect thing to top these off. Blue cheese is fantastic! It adds a wonderful tang to the potatoes that I just can't get enough of. :)

Lucky Charms Treats

I love Rice Krispie Treats, but I tend to get bored of the same old thing. Instead, I made marshmallow treats using one of my favorite cereals - Lucky Charms!!

I think this worked out really well. The marshmallow slightly softens the cereal, giving it a nice chewy texture. And, because the cereal is already sugary, these are sweeter than a traditional rice krispie treat.

I'd recommend rolling these into balls instead of cutting into squares, just because it would be easier. Enjoy! :)

Second Attempt Raspberry Lemon Cinnamon Rolls {No Rise!}

I hadn't planned on trying these again so soon, but the Man's mama had heard about them and kindly asked that I make her some. The first batch had tasted so good that I was more than happy to give this idea another shot.

I liked the first dough recipe I used, however it was very sticky and a little difficult to work with. I also didn't want to deal with the rising time of yeast dough, so I chose a very simple no-rise recipe. This dough is very easy to work with and is perfect if you're in a hurry to make the rolls, or if you're just enemies with yeast, because it uses baking powder to rise. You'll have perfect cinnamon rolls that are big and soft in less than 30 minutes!

Rolling the dough was a breeze thanks to this awesome pastry mat I got from CSN, which I only possess because I won the giftcard that bought it (THANKS SUSI!!!). The mat doesn't need to be floured or have anything else to help it work. It's completely non-stick! Hopefully now I won't have anymore dough-rolling tragedies. Thank you all so much for your suggestions on rolling the dough, I greatly appreciate it!

These cinnamon rolls turned out fantastic! I think even better than before. The dough is very soft, and rises nicely during baking. It produces more of a biscuit style roll, than a chewy roll, which I love. Of course, the filling is delicious. Raspberries and lemons make a great couple, both adding a wonderful tartness to the sweet rolls. Like before, I used a lemon glaze. I think these rolls are great without the glaze, however, that extra kick of lemon really does push these over the edge.

This is a great treat that will disappear soon after being made. Just ask my sister... She had 4 as soon as they were done! :)


-Jess

Tiramisu

Tiramisu - I've never had it before. I actually never even heard of it until I got into food blogs! I've been captivated by this fancy dessert for a very long time, so it was the obvious choice of what to make with my homemade mascarpone.

Having never made or eaten Tiramisu before, I wanted my first one to come out as close to perfect as possible. I chose to go with a recipe from Pioneer Woman. Ree is awesome and posts the best step-by-step recipes. I knew I'd be able to pull this off with her help.

Of course, I pulled it off!

I thought this Tiramisu turned out great! I love the flavors of the coffee and liquor paired with the tanginess of the mascarpone. YUM! I think I may have soaked a couple lady fingers just a bit too much, but it still turned out great, and I'm glad I no longer have to miss out on such a wonderful dessert! :)

-Jess

Homemade Mascarpone Cheese

I think we can all agree that mascarpone cheese is hard to find and once you do find it it is ridiculously expensive.

But, it's also ridiculously EASY to make! It is so easy (and cheap!) that you'll be slapping yourself silly wondering why the hell you've been spending a fortune on tiny tubs of the creamy cheese. This is even better for those of you who don't have any access to mascarpone.

Now all you have to worry about is... what to make with it? :)

-Jess

Fried Milk With Cream Cheese

I saw this interesting recipe for deep fried milk and cream cheese over on Table for 2. Immediately I was intrigued by it and wanted to make some right away.

The recipe calls for cream cheese and milk to be cooked together until the mixture forms into a thick pudding, after being refrigerated it is then sliced and fried. My mixture became a thick pudding, but was definitely not firm enough to slice. I think this was because I didn't cook it long enough to thicken properly.

No worries!

I decided, instead of making sticks, I'd make balls. Doing this worked just as well, if not better, as the sticks.

I was a little suspicious of this recipe to begin with, but I have to say, I'm really happy I tried it. I think the fried milk turned out really good! The crust is sweet and crispy, reminds me of rosettes. And the inside is really soft, very creamy. It had a great flavor, although I do wish the cream cheese was more prominent. I did add a good splash of vanilla to the milk to enhance the flavor.

I think these fried milk balls would be great served as an appetizer or even a dessert. :)

Please, visit Wendy's blog Table for 2... Or More for the recipe. I absolutely love her blog, and I know you will too. It doesn't take long at all to find delicious, and interesting, new recipes to try!

-Jess