Tiramisu

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Your choice of classic (coffee chocolate flavour), matcha green tea or oolong tea. I imagine you could easily adapt the recipe for other kinds of tea flavors as well (e.g., hojicha, black tea)

Ingredients

Cream Layer

  • 8 oz mascarpone cream, room temperature

  • 3 large egg yolks

  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar, separated

  • 1 cup heavy cream, fridge cold

  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean pod, split

  • 1-2 tbsp madeira or marsala or rum

Assembly

  • 24 ladyfingers - 1 package of Forno Bonomi Savoiardi or otherwise very dry crispy ladyfingers

  • Soak - 1-2 tbsp madeira or marsala or rum added to the following:

    • Classic - 1 cup espresso (or otherwise very strongly brewed coffee)

    • Matcha - 3 tbsp matcha powder dissolved in 1 cup hot water

    • Oolong - 1 cup strongly brewed oolong tea + 1 tbsp oolong powder

  • Topping

    • Classic -

      • Cocoa powder

      • Bittersweet chocolate, shaved (optional)

    • Matcha - matcha powder

    • Oolong - oolong powder

Instructions

Start at least one, better if two, days before serving.

  1. Bring water to a boil in a pot then remove from heat. Using a double boiler method, whisk your egg yolks with about half of the granulated sugar until pale yellow and very fluffy. Make sure the heat does not scramble your eggs. Remove from heat and fold in mascarpone cheese into the eggs in 2-3 go’s. Mascarpone cheese at room temperature should be very soft and workable

  2. In a separate bowl, whisk your whipping cream with the remaining sugar, vanilla extract until it reaches soft peaks. Mix in the madeira / marsala / rum.

  3. Take 1/3 of the whipped cream and mix it into your mascarpone mixture. Mix fully to fluff up the texture of the mascarpone mixture. This step is to try and make the texture of the two mixtures more similar so they combine easier without deflating the whipped cream. Combine both by gently folding.

  4. Combine 1-2 tbsp of madeira / marsala / rum with the appropriate soak.

  5. In a 8x8 square pan (or something of similar size, assemble your tiramisu. Take one ladyfinger and dip it into the soak, spending 2-3 seconds on each side. Place the dipped ladyfinger in your serving container and repeat until you have covered the entire container. Pour half of the mascarpone mixture into the container and smooth into an even layer with a spatula. Repeat with another layer of the dipped ladyfingers and then the remaining mascarpone mixture.

  6. Wrap in plastic wrap and press the wrap to touch the surface of the top mascarpone mixture. Let it chill in the fridge for at least a day, if not two.

  7. Just before serving, remove plastic wrap and dust the top with the appropriate topping for your flavor.

References

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Update (Aug 2021) for an added secret ingredient.

The Roommate (capital R) is a cookie monster. Numerous batches of chocolate chip cookies later…here we are. Note: these need to rest overnight, so start the night before you want to eat them or you will have a very hangry cookie monster on your hand…

Ingredients

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter

  • 6 tbsp whole milk

  • 260g all-purpose flour

  • 6g (2 tsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt

  • 6g (1 tsp) baking soda

  • 1.5-2 tbsp whole milk

  • 160g dark brown sugar

  • 80g granulated sugar

  • 2 large eggs, cold from the fridge

  • 1 tbsp vanilla extract OR 1-2 tbsp espresso powder

  • 280g coarsely chopped chocolate or chocolate disks

Instructions

  1. Combine 2 sticks unsalted butter and 6 tbsp of whole milk in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-low to medium heat, stirring frequently with a spatula. When the butter starts to foam, use spatula to peek under the foam and keep cooking until the white milk solids turn brown. Turn off heat. If using espresso powder, add that here and mix.

  2. With your large heat-resistant mixing bowl (or stand mixer bowl) set over a scale, pour the browned butter (be sure to scrape in all its browned bits) into the bowl. It will weigh ~200g. Add whole milk to this until you reach 227g (aka the amount of butter you started with), about 1.5 to 2 tbsp.

  3. Stick this bowl in the fridge or over an ice bath until it’s cooled and solid. You will want this to be solid, but still soft and cream-able, about 60 to 65F.

  4. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.

  5. In your butter bowl, add the sugars. Using the paddle on a stand mixer or an electric hand held mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Scrape the bowl down.

  6. Add both eggs and the vanilla extract and mix together (on low first, then higher). Scrape the bowl down.

  7. Add all of the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined.

  8. Remove bowl from stand mixer, add all of the chocolate chips and fold with a spatula to combine.

  9. The dough is probably a little loose and sticky right now. Let chill and set in the fridge for ~20 minutes.

  10. Using a cookie scoop (mine is 3 tbsp), scoop the dough into mounds onto lined quarter sheets (you will need 2). No need to set them far apart since we’re just chilling them for now.

  11. Top each cookie with a generous sprinkling of flakey sea salt (I use Maldon’s)

  12. Let the cookies rest in the fridge for at least 12 hours.

  13. (Optional) After 12 hours of resting, transfer the trays to the freezer and freeze completely. Then, put the dough balls into a ziplock.

  14. To bake, pre-heat an oven or toaster oven to 350F. Space the dough balls at least 2 -3 inches apart on a lined baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes, up to 20 minutes, to your preferred done-ness. Allow cookies to cool a bit on the baking sheets (they will be very very soft) before transferring to a wire rack (or your mouth)

Et voila, the best chocolate chip cookies ever (Cookie Monster R’s words, not mine. I don’t even like cookies) … on demand!

References

Spanish-style Pork Ribs

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Ingredients

Rack of pork ribs - 2lb

Dry Rub

  • Cumin seeds (or powder) - 1/2 tbsp

  • Coriander seeds (or powder) - 1/2 tbsp

  • Sweet paprika - 1 tbsp

  • Smoked paprika - 1 tbsp

  • Garlic powder - 1 tsp

  • Chili flakes - 1 tsp

  • Cracked black pepper - 1 tsp

  • Dried oregano - 1 tsp

  • Salt (Diamond’s) - 1 - 1.5 tbsp

Glaze

  • Sherry wine - 3 tbsp

  • Honey - 3 tbsp

  • Tomato paste - 1 tbsp

  • Soy sauce - 1 tbsp

Notes

  • Freshly toasting and grinding whole cumin and coriander seeds will yield a better rub. If you don’t have, use ground cumin and coriander powder.

  • Diamond’s salt is significantly less salty than Morton’s so if using Morton’s, reduce to no more than 1 tbsp.

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350F.

  2. Toast whole cumin and coriander seeds in a dry skillet over medium-low heat until fragrant. Or until you see the first wisps of smoke. Remove into a bowl and let cool.

  3. Grind cumin and coriander seeds into a fine powder.

  4. Combine all the dry rub ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

  5. Wash and pat dry the rack of ribs.

  6. Take a piece of aluminum foil that is at least 4+ inches longer than the length of your ribs. Spray the foil down with oil.

  7. Place the cleaned and dried ribs on foil and rub all over with dry rub. Use all of it.

  8. Wrap the ribs up in foil tightly and fold in from all 4 sides. Where you don’t have enough foil, wrap with additional pieces of foil.

  9. Place the rib package on a baking tray and bake in 350F oven for 2 hours.

  10. Towards the end of the 2 hours, combine all the “glaze” ingredients in a shallow pan and mix well. Reduce over medium heat until halved. The mixture should look thicker and it will continue to thicken when cooled.

  11. Remove ribs from oven and unwrap the package. Crank the oven to 400F.

  12. Glaze all sides of the ribs with the prepared glaze. When turning the ribs over, be careful as they are now very tender. Use two pairs of tongs to assist.

  13. Let the glaze absorb before glazing again all over. You’ll have some glaze left over.

  14. Place the uncovered ribs back in the oven for 10 or so minutes.

  15. Remove and serve hot. The ribs should be fall-apart tender and come off the bone quite cleanly. Nom.

Reference

MLiving