Dinner for Two

It was supposed to be a special dinner for two. That didn't work for me, but at least tithe food was good. The salad had seared tuna, blanched green beans, edamame, homemade croutons and a garlic red wine vinaigrette. For desert there were brownie cupcakes. They were made from scratch and had little bite-size pieces of chocolate mixed into the batter so that it would be melted when it was bitten into hot. This morning, I was adviced that they good at room temperature too.

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Rose Shortbread Cookies

Generally, I find the addition of a little bit of rosewater or orange-blossom water adds a nice complexity to baked goods. In fact, it is a neat little trick. However, this recipe is not about adding subtle complexity to a recipe, this recipe is about putting rosewater at the forefront. It took a long time to develop, but the result is a vanilla cookie with great texture that you want to smell as much as you want to eat. This particular batch is headed to Grandma Kate's cookie exchange tomorrow.

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Chamomile Creme Brulee, part 1

So, this is my first two part post. It stems from the fact that I have recently become obsessed with infusing creme brulee with a chamomile flavor. I made my first attempt last Sunday, with my friend, Leah. We tried to steep chamomile tea bags in the warmed cream. This was a failure. We ended up with vanilla creme brulee. It was delicious, but it was not chamomile. Thus, I set about my current obsession. I decided that attempting to steep the chamomile was a mistake. Instead, I decided to infuse vodka with chamomile and use that infusion to flavor the creme brulee. Step one has been completed. I have the chamomile infusion. It smells and tastes like chamomile, and it has a beautiful amber color. I used a tiny airplane bottle of Finlandia vodka for the infussion substrate. Here is a photo of the process and of the result. Stay tuned for part 2, when I attempt to use this concoction to flavor a creme brulee.

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