Another year is finally coming to a close, and I say that with a huge amount of relief. It’s been a year of extreme highs and lows. Yes, I have discovered that I’m not as strong as I would like to be. And I hate that.

But it’s not so much a complaint as merely an observation about things I’m slowly learning to accept. Like many good things, life is so much about having a certain measure of both : the salty, to balance the sweet, and vice versa.

For Christmas this year, I made a few less-than-traditional gifts for friends, such as cowboy cookies and these caramels which are based on Dan Lepard’s treacle pecan caramel recipe, using pretzel pieces and crispy bacon bits instead of pecans. The treacle and molasses in Dan’s recipe add great depth of flavour to the caramel and elevate it from being merely sugary sweet to something rather special. I plan to make these again next year, maybe with a selection of different flavours.

In the meantime, there’s always these brownies, which are my idea of the perfectly balanced treat any day of the year.

Sweet and Salty Brownie :
(from Baked Explorations by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito)

For the filling :
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
1/4 cup sour cream

For the brownie :
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder (like Valrhona)
11 ounces (311g) quality dark chocolate (60 to 72%), coarsely chopped
1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the filling : In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup water, stirring them together carefully so you don’t splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermomter reads 350F (175’C), or until the mixture is dark amber in colour, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat, and slowly add the cream (careful, it will bubble up) and then the fleur de sel. Whisk in the sour cream. Set aside to cool.

For the brownie : Preheat the oven to 350F (175’C).

Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light coloured metal 9 x 13 inch pan. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper, and butter the parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.

Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl of the double boiler set over a pan of simmering water, and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler, and add both sugars. Whisk until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be at room temperature.

Add three eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage, or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until there is a just a trace amount of the flour mixture visible.

To assemble the brownie : Pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle about 3/4 cup of the caramel sauce over the brownie layer in a zigzag pattern, taking care to make sure the caramel does not come in contact with the edges of the pan or it will burn. Use your offset spatula to spread the caramel evenly across the brownie layer. In heaping spoonfuls, scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the caramel layer. Smooth the brownie batter gently to cover the caramel layer.

Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove the brownies from the oven and sprinkle with an extra 1 1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel and 1 teaspoon coarse sugar.

Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.

Ah, New York.

We came, we saw, we ate.

Then we ate some more.

Originally I had not intended to blog about our trip, hence the lack of relevant photos. This post is more of a personal reminder for me to revisit certain places I enjoyed so much during my two weeks there. Comments, suggestions (for future vacations) or opinions, most welcome.

Favourite Stores :

– Kalustyan’s – Home to every imaginable spice in existence, and more : Argan oil, pumpkin powder, candied fennel seeds, rhubarb bitters, molasses sugar, white honey.
– New York Cake – The ultimate baking supply store. I want to buy the entire store and call it my kitchen.
– Economy Candy – Sure, you can inhale a similar amount of sugar at Dylan’s Candy Bar but there’s something about Economy Candy’s sheer quantity of sweets and chocolates crammed into an impossibly small space that makes it feel extra special.
– Zabar’s – 20,000 square feet of yum.
– Strand Bookstore – If there’s any spare change left after the New York Cake purchase, I’d buy the Strand and call it my library.
(Special mention to Wholefoods)

Favourite Restaurants :

– Blue Hill at Stone Barns – Everyone seems to be jumping on the organic, sustainable and seasonal produce band wagon these days, but Dan Barber stands out amongst the crowd as someone who is truly putting these things into practice whilst delivering dishes with flavour and elegance.
– Le Benardin – Perfectly executed seafood dishes followed by balanced and thoughtful desserts by pastry chef Michael Laiskonis. Surprisingly not a restaurant that features on most of my friends’ eating radars.
– Momofuku Ssäm Bar – Pork buns, roasted rice cakes with spicy sausage, and afterwards, a quick visit to the Milk Bar next door for a sugar fix. Note to self : next time, must find 6 friends to have the bo ssäm with.
– Torrisi Italian Specialities – $50 for 4 courses showcasing amazing new Italian-American food. Don’t skip the devil’s chicken if it’s on the menu.
(Special mention to Chikalicious Dessert Bar, Caracas and Katz’s Deli)

Favourite Coffee :
(Note to self : going from 0 coffees a week to 7-8 cups is a very very bad idea).

– Zibetto
– La Colombe Torrefaction
– Stumptown at the Ace Hotel

Favourite Bakery :

– Shandaken Bake – If you happen to visit the New Amsterdam Market, look out for Craig Thompson’s gorgeous little stall selling the best ever apple pies and fruit tarts. According to season or whim, you may also be lucky enough to find other delicious treasures for sale, such as moist and nutty parsnip bread, made in the style of banana bread.
– Bouchon Bakery – For linzer cookies sprinkled with raspberry powder to temper their sweetness, chewy oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, and TKO, their version of the Oreo consisting of chocolate sable pastry sandwiched with white chocolate ganache.
– Baked – Home to Brookies (a delicious brownie cookie hybrid), salt and pepper cookies, and the best brownies.
– Babycakes NYC – Vegan, gluten-free and mostly organic baked goods that are a far cry from most vegan sweets I’ve tasted in the past. A visit with Aran to this bakery inspired me to finally buy their cookbook. Their caramel crunch donuts are only marginally surpassed by San Francisco’s Pepples Donuts (also vegan).
(Special mention to Liddabit Sweets’ apple cider caramels and pecan pie chocolate bar.)

Favourite Markets :

– New Amsterdam Market – For hot cider, Luke’s Lobster rolls, Porchetta sandwiches, Liddabit Sweets, and the best apple pie you’ll ever eat.
– Union Square Greenmarket – For more hot cider (because some people can’t seem to get enough of the stuff) and an amazing array of fresh fruit and vegetables.

When going on holiday, I usually suffer from separation anxiety from the creature comforts I love in life. Occasionally I wonder why I even go on holiday at all, when the things I enjoy most, do not require travelling across continents for. My favourite cushion, a large mug of tea, peanut butter smeared on warm toast and watching movies with B on the sofa.

Mind you, I used to have to cross continents to spend time with B, and it was through these interludes every year that we got to know even more about each other. We both love horror movies. He likes eating the same thing for breakfast every day. I don’t completely understand his obsession with potatoes. He dislikes peanut butter.

It is despite these flaws that we are still together, eyeing each other’s breakfast with amusement each Sunday morning. Peanut butter to me, is what foie gras is to most other people, albeit packaged in a plastic jar and easily obtained at considerably less expense.

One Sunday morning several weeks ago I started day dreaming about a peanut butter and jelly sandwich-inspired dessert, involving a frozen peanut component and some chocolate brioche. I never got round to completing it, but at least I now have a parfait recipe to use as my starting point.

A chance encounter with some leftover brownies also had me wondering about what would happen if you took a brownie, compressed, froze, grated and dried it, then combined it with some flaky salt. Turns out, you get what I like to call, brownie salt.

Sometimes dessert components, like random words, fit together unexpectedly well to form a sentence. Some of these sentences develop further to become ground breaking novels or classics. Peanut butter parfait with brownie salt is not one of those sentences, but I hope it serves as a nice interlude while I set off for a few weeks on holiday 🙂

Peanut butter parfait :
(from The French Cafe Cookbook by Simon Wright)

200g caster sugar
40ml water
10 yolks
800ml cream
300g peanut butter

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan, place over a high heat and boil until the sugar reaches 118’C. Meanwhile place egg yolks in an electric mixer and beat together at a high speed. Slowly add the sugar syrup in a steady stream and continue beating until the yolks have increased in volume and are thick in consistency. Place this mixture into a clean bowl. Wash out the mixing bowl and dry well, then add the cream and beat until the cream just starts to thicken. Add peanut butter and continue to beat until the cream is semi-whipped. Gently fold in the egg yolk mixture and pour into your mould. Allow to freeze overnight.

[Note: I like using an organic, natural peanut butter which doesn’t contain any additives like sugar or salt.]