Serve up the Pasta

New pasta shapes are always fun to learn.  I love imagining nonnas in their kitchens, sitting around the table.  I imagine that they sit there all day making pasta.  Which, of course, they never do.  Thus, we have pasta shapes that are very easy to make.  Even nonnas don't spend all day in the kitchen.

So, here comes trofie.  Trofie is just about the easiest shape you can make.  They are great if you like doughy pasta that tastes an awful lot like German Spaetzle.  You can watch this video to learn how to make trofie.   

I'd like to point out how easy pasta is.  You truly cannot mess it up.  It can be flour and water, egg and water with milk, oil or anything that you've got too much of.  You'll notice that I have a lot of egg yolks.  If you glance through my recent posts you'll see royal icing and coconut cake, both of which use just whites.  Pasta is the answer.

My Recipe:

8 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 tablespoons cream (or milk, or water for that matter)

1. Place flour in a large bowl.  Make a slight well in the center for the wet ingredients
2. Incorporate wet ingredients with a fork or your fingers
3. When everything is just mixed, knead the dough for at least 10 minutes with the heal of your hand
4.  Let dough sit for 45 minutes before forming shapes
5. Boil heavily salted water and cook to taste

Sugar Cookies & Royal Icing

The rainy weather drove me into the kitchen for a little cookie decorating.

I got a few tips from this site before beginning.

I'm still a long way from pastry shop perfection, bear with me.

I used Glorious Treat's recipe for sugar cookies- plus 1 teaspoon lemon zest- and Alton Brown's royal icing- plus a pinch of cream of tartar.

Whip up the icing

Set out your cookies

Decorate to your heart's content

Eat 'em up.

Quack!

Happy Wednesday :)

Coconut Cake for Everyone

This blog revamp has been a long time coming.

I will literally start with a clean slate, because my canvas is a white on white cake.  Perhaps the most delicious cake flavor known to man, coconut, originated in the south.  This recipe is adapted from America's Test Kitchen - aka the most reliable recipe source.

Without further ado, the coconut cake.

Enjoy.

Really.


Just some ingredients

Mix it up, put it in the oven

Cool those cakes down

Make the buttercream, get to frosting

Hide a little coconut in between and start the crumb coat

Decorate it

Fertig!

Sliced and ready for eating

And my work here is done.