Buttermilk Onion Rings

For the start of college football season last Saturday, I felt like we needed some fried snack food. And of course, who pops up on my tv that morning but Bobby Flay making some delicious onion rings. Sold.

These were a great snack. They probably should have counted as a meal because we ate so darn many! I loved the way soaking the onions in the buttermilk mixture made them a little bit softer but still had that crunch! I will definitely make these again. Just what I need, another favorite fried food!

Buttermilk Onion Rings
Adapted from Bobby Flay on Food Network

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Pinch cayenne

Salt

1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut crosswise into 3/4-inch slices

2 cups peanut oil

2-3 cups all purpose flour seasoned with salt and pepper

Combine buttermilk, flour, cayenne and salt in a large bowl until smooth. Soak the onion rings in the batter for 2 hours in the refrigerator.

Heat oil in a large saucepan to 375 degrees F. In batches, remove onion rings from batter and dredge in the seasoned flour mixture. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and season immediately with salt.

Salted Caramel Milkshakes

Once upon a time there was a restaurant in New York that made Salted Caramel Milkshakes. (Yup, you read that right. Salted. Caramel. Milkshakes.) One day a girl (I'm the girl, the jig is up) tried one of said milkshakes and burst with joy. From then on she was obsessed with trying to make one of her own. She succeeded and lived happily ever after. The end.

Salted Caramel Milkshakes

Vanilla Ice Cream:
Alton Brown

2 cups half-and-half

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup minus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Combine all ingredients (including the bean and its pulp) in a large saucepan and place over medium heat. Attach a frying or candy thermometer to inside of pan. Stirring occasionally, bring the mixture to 170 degrees F. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Remove the hull of the vanilla bean, pour mixture into lidded container and refrigerate mixture overnight to mellow flavors and texture.

Freeze mixture in ice cream freezer according to unit's instructions. The mixture will not freeze hard in the machine. Once the volume has increased by 1/2 to 3/4 times, and reached a soft serve consistency, spoon the mixture back into a lidded container and harden in the freezer at least 1 hour before serving.

Salted Caramel Sauce:
Food and Wine

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

3/4 cup heavy cream

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, water and corn syrup and bring to a boil. Using a wet pastry brush, wash down any crystals on the side of the pan. Boil over high heat until a deep amber caramel forms, about 6 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully whisk in the cream, butter and salt. Let the caramel cool to room temperature.

For the Milkshakes:

Place 2 cups vanilla ice cream, 3/4-1 cup milk (depending on your ice cream consistency), 1/2 cup salted caramel sauce, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a blender. Run until combined.

Salmon Turnovers

I am obsessed with fish at the moment. By "at the moment" I mean for the past few months. Needless to say, when I saw this recipe from Alton Brown for Salmon Turnovers, I knew they were going down in my kitchen toute de suite.

They turned out delicious, but lets be serious here, anything you wrap in puff pastry dough is bound to be yummy. Now, if you want to get really funky with your bad self, try making your own puff pastry, which I have yet to do (but don't worry, its on the list!). I loved how this was pretty much an entire meal  in itself and how easy it was!  This will definitely be on my make again list!



Salmon Turnovers
Alton Brown

1 sheet puff pastry

Flour, for dusting

1 can boneless, skinless, salmon

1/2 cup Sauteed mushrooms

1 to 2 tablespoons sour pickle relish

1 cup cooked white, brown or fried rice

2 to 3 chopped scallions

1 tablespoon parsley leaves, chopped

Salt and pepper

1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Lightly flour the countertop. Roll puff pastry so there are no seams. Cut into 4 squares.

In a bowl, combine salmon, mushrooms, pickle relish, rice, scallions, parsley, salt, and pepper. Place 1 tablespoon of filling in the center of each square. Brush inside edges of puff pastry with egg wash and fold over to make a triangle. Using a fork, seal the edges. Poke a slit or two in the top of each turnover. Brush tops with egg wash. Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Yellow Cake Cupcakes with Sunflowers

These were an impulse-bake. I wanted to take advantage of a few cool days here in New York and decided to give some cupcakes and decorating a go! What a loverly way to usher in fall.

The cupcakes were great, definitely on the dense side, so very similar to Magnolia's cupcakes if you have had those. The decorating was fun, too! Of course, it's from Hello, Cupcake!, of which I have several copies if you are ever in need. I am ashamed to say that I used canned frosting. BUT only because I knew it would hold its shape better than what I would have made. The sunflowers were fairly easy to make, as well, especially if you have a leaf-tip for decorating. My favorite part has to be the ladybugs...what a cute idea!



Yellow Cupcakes
The New Best Recipe

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg, plus 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Adjust an oven rack to the middle position; heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a standard muffin tin with paper or foil liners.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Ad the butter, sour cream, egg, yolks and vanilla and beat the wet ingredients into the dry at medium speed until smooth and satiny, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and stir by hand until smooth and no flour pockets remain.

Divide the batter evenly among the cups of the prepared tin using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop or a spoon. Bake until the cupcake tops are pale gold and a toothpick or skewer isterted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 24 minutes. Use a skewer or paring knife to life the cupcakes from the tin and transfer to a wire rack; cool the cupcakes to room timperature, about 45 minutes. Makes 12 cupcakes.



For the Sunflowers
From Hello, Cupcake!

12 vanilla cupcakes
2 cans vanilla frosting
Green, yellow, orange and black food coloring
12 regular chocolate cream-filled sandwich cookies (Oreos)
12 red M&M's

Tint 1 1/2 cups of the vanilla frosting green with the food coloring. Spread an even layer of the green frosting on top of the cupcakes and smooth. I added some green sanding sugar here to the frosting, but that is entirely optional. Arrange the chocolate sandwich cookies over the cupcakes, pressing them into the frosting to secure.

Tint the remaining vanilla frosting bright yellow and with food coloring. Remove 1/2 the yellow frosting and tint it orange with the food coloring. Secure a pastry bag with a leaf tip. Spoon the orange frosting into one side of the bag and spoon the yellow frosting into the other side of the bag. Press out the excess air and seal the bag. Pipe the yllow-orange frosting around the edge of each cookie to make petals. Pipe another circle of petals just inside the first and slightly overlapping.

Tint about 1/4 cup of the vanilla frosting black with the food coloring and spoon it into a small ziplock bag. Press of the excess air and seal the bag. Snip a 1/16-inch corner from the back. Pipe a dot of black frosting on each cookies and attach the red chocolate candies to make the ladybugs. Pipe a line of black frosting down the center of each ladybug and add a dot for the head and a few dots on the back.

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt

This was a great addition to my ice cream arsenal! With a few blackberries to use up, frozen yogurt was the perfect choice! It brought back summer memories from childhood for me, standing in line at the waterpark.

This frozen yogurt was very tart with both the blackberries and yogurt. But tart is good with frozen yogurt! I think the chocolate chips were a great addition too, but I just love a little crunch in my ice cream! This one was very creamy, almost like an actual ice cream, but used just yogurt.

Blackberry Frozen Yogurt
Adapted from Erin Cooks

2 cups fat free Fage yogurt
1 cup full fat Fage yogurt
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups blackberries
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix together the yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Refrigerate 1 hour.

Puree the blackberries in a food processor and than strain through a fine mesh sieve to separate the liquid from the seeds. Stir 1 tablespoon of sugar into the berry puree and also refrigerate for 1 hour.

Thoroughly combine the frozen yogurt base with the berry puree and freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Pour in the chocolate chips during the last 5 minutes of churning.