Happy Birthday Mum

Today I wish the happiest of birthdays to my beautiful mama. We celebrated with dinner at Bertuccis, followed by her favorite Carvel ice cream cake at home. She got some great gifts, like new Alex and Ani bracelets, slippers and a Sephora gift card. The best gift of all, though, was my sister announcing that she is officially licensed as a Registered Nurse in the state of Massachusetts!!! Happy Day all around!

Weekend Recap

Happy Monday, Sweets.  Hope the week is off to a good start.  My work week sure didn't start off great, but thankfully I was one of the 30-something lucky ones to get a ticket to Ride! tonight so I spun off my frustrations and am now sitting on the couch feeling pretty great.

Keeping the happy thoughts alive, I thought I'd share a weekend recap.  I shared a few of these on Instagram this weekend; you can follow me there @staceycl.

First up- sundaes from Cabot's in Newton!  One thing Boston is lacking is a place to get a really good, old-fashioned, classic Sundae.  And no, don't tell me Emack & Bolio's, that place stinks- bad ice cream, worse service and the grossest hot fudge I've ever had in my life.  And I love chocolate.  The real deal is at Cabot's.  I got a frozen yogurt sundae with hot fudge and butterscotch, and the hubs got a peanut butter thing.  I know we're on a health kick, but everyone needs a treat now and then, right?! All in moderation. 

Lulu the Sous Chef, love my kitty :)

Copley Square on a rainy saturday morning was quiet and peaceful.

Saturday afternoon visit with my sweet Grampy.  He's living with Alzheimer's and hasn't been doing too well lately, but we were lucky to have a really great visit with him.  Instead of being quiet and sleepy like usual, he was in a great mood, and though not fully aware of who we were or where he was, his true personality was there, for the first time since he went into the nursing home!  He was cracking jokes, making faces, and was just so sweet.  We felt blessed to have a nice afternoon with him. 

Rainy date night out, took this in front of Woodward at the Ames Hotel.  It was our first time eating there, and we had a great meal.  The charcuterie is excellent, and I got the lamb shank with veggies and herb gnocchi for dinner which was delicious.  I would definitely recommend it. 

Sunday night football food.  Despite spending a lot of my day doing work (boooooo), I took some time to make us a healthier version of a football classic for dinner- buffalo chicken lettuce wraps with homemade blue cheese dressing, both from Skinnytaste.  Check out the recipe here.

That's it for tonight, have a good week, sweets!

Brownie Mug Cake Hits the Spot!

Sooo you know how most mug cakes SOUND good in theory and then taste totally weird/microwaved/gelatinous/not-what-you-needed-at-all?  I spotted a mug BROWNIE on Pinterest, and in the heat of my chocolate-craving moment decided to go for it.

I.LOVE.THIS.MUG-BROWNIE. 

It's super chocolatey, to the point where I could not eat it plain- you definitely need the vanilla ice cream to balance the richness of the brownie.  The consistency is great- 60 seconds makes for a cup of gooey chocolate.  It's like the molten part of a lava cake on it's way to full-blown brownie.   YUM.

This recipe is a keeper.  Seriously.  Try it and enjoy :D

Mug Brownie - Adapted from a recipe on Chow.com

Need:

• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/8 tsp rum extract
• dash of kosher salt
• 3 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 tbsp dark chocolate chips
• 1-2 scoops vanilla bean ice cream

Do:

1.  In a microwave-safe mug, whisk the oil, water, rum and salt until combined.
2. Add cocoa powder and whisk until all of the cocoa is moistened and there aren't too many lumps.
3. Add granulated sugar, whisk to combine
4. Microwave for 60 seconds (if you want less goo and more chew (HAH!) then go for 1:25)
5. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of brownie
6. Top off with vanilla ice cream
7. Leave me a comment confirming that this is the best mug recipe you've ever tried

;)

I'm baaaack!

Hello!  I know it's been a while, but this summer there has been an awful lot of new-job-working, couch-cuddling with the hubs, and most importantly....

ice cream eating!!!  I think J and I are keeping the local ice cream place in business with our almost nightly trips.  As you can probably guess, I haven't had much time for baking.  Luckily I sense that little dry spell coming to an end, but in the meantime I have some Boston-area bakery reviews to share.  

For upcoming BostonSweetie baking fun, I've challenged myself to try the four cake recipes in the most recent issue of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food.  She has four recipes that use four different cake pans - a round cake, cupcakes, tea cake and sheet cake.  Over the next few weeks I'll try each one and let you know how they come out, and finally get some use of the magazines I receive each month.

Check back soon for a review of Vickie Lee's bakery in Belmont.  Ta ta til next time, sweets!

(PS- how cute are these pictures!?  We did a little love-shoot on our vacation to Bar Harbor, Maine, in July with Danielle Brady.  She. Is. Awesome.  If you're in Maine, she's your girl!!!)

Strawberry Banana Galette

My family and friends know me as a chocolate-cake-brownie dessert type gal.  90% of the time I am...nothing makes me happier than chocolate-cake-brownies-one-or-all-three-doesn't-matter-I-LOVE-IT!  Last night was one of the rare days where I was craving dessert of a different type.  I wanted something doughy, sweet, and tart.  Sitting on the couch thinking about what would be the perfect fix, my new Pies & Tarts book by Martha Stewart caught my eye.


Every time I see this book, I smile.  I had mentioned a while back to a coworker that I was looking for it, but had been unsuccessful at finding it in a store.  She happened to see it at Costco a couple weekends ago and picked it up for me!  My new favorite Martha book greeted me at my desk on a Monday morning- best way to start the week ever!

So I'm flipping through Pies & Tarts and thinking man, I don't have the ingredients for any of these things. As I was reading through the freeform section I decided to try a galette, and try putting my own spin on it with fruit I had in the house.  With some strawberries that weren't going to last much longer and bananas that were in the same boat (har har) came my creation- Strawberry Banana Galettes.

Mine looks nothing like Martha's, but it tasted great and definitely hit the spot.  A galette is a simple pate brisee with fruit filling.  It's meant to look a little rough around the edges, and served hot with a nice scoop or two of vanilla ice cream on top, it tastes like a personal open-faced pie. Perfect rainy night treat.

What type of dessert person are you? Chocolatey? Fruity? Or none at all? I noticed I have a fair amount of readers- would love to hear from you!

Strawberry Banana Galettes

Adapted from Martha Stewart's Mini Rhubarb & Raspberry Galette recipe

Need:

-Pate Brisee (make enough for one 9" pie crust, or check out my recipe below)

-All purpose flour for dusting

-1 1/2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

-1 medium chopped banana

-1/8 cup cornstarch

-1 cup granulated sugar

-coarse sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Do: 

- Divide dough evenly into 2 pieces.  Roll out each piece to approximately 7" round, 1/8" thick.  Transfer rounds to a parchment-lined cookie sheet, several inches apart.  If these feel soft at all, REFRIGERATE!  I didn't, and it led to the galette fail that I will show you below.

- In a large bowl, combine strawberries, bananas, cornstarch and sugar.  Toss to coat evenly.

- Split the berry mixture evenly between both rounds.  Leave at least 1" border, I left about 2-3".  Gently fold the edges up around the fruit mixture.  Make sure to leave a hole in the middle.  Gently brush the folds with water and press to connect them.  Refrigerate again about 30 minutes until firm.  Again- I neglected to do this and got a galette fail.  

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and brush cold galettes with water, then sprinkle with sanding sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes- crust should be golden brown.  Reduce heat to 375 for about 15 minutes more, until juices are bubbling.  Martha says to let cool completely.  I say, serve hot (and eat carefully!) with a hefty scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.  Get ready for a warm, ooey gooey delicious single-serve bowl fulla pie.  

If you're dying for dessert and decide to skip the refrigeration parts of this recipe, fear not, you will still have a delicious treat!  It will just expand and maybe not be so pretty...

Don't say I didn't warn ya!

Now, if you need a pate brisee recipe, here's Martha's, reworked by moi to make just enough for 2 mini galettes:

Need: 

1 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

1 stick cold, unsalted butter cut into small pieces

1/4 cup ice water

Do:

-Whisk together flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl

-Add butter and mix around so all of the butter pieces are coated in flour.

-Quickly cut in butter with a pastry cutter until mixture resembled coarse meal, with larger pieces remaining.

-Drizzle with 1/4 c. ice water and mix together with a fork until mixture starts to come together.  If dough is too dry, add another 1/4 c. ice water.

-Divide dough in half onto two pieces of plastic wrap. Gather each into a ball, wrap loosely in plastic, and then flatten into a disc.

-Refrigerate at least 1 hour for best results.  (I put mine in the freezer for 15 min. and you can see the results above.  Coldness is key!)