Ridiculously Good (and Easy) Mac and Cheese

My kids eat a lot of mac and cheese. I don't think you understand what I mean by a lot. It's embarrassing, really. They've eaten boxed mac and cheese in a dozen shapes and colors, frozen mac and cheese in any brand you can name. They've ordered mac and cheese off of countless menus - if it's on there, they've eaten it. If it's not on there, they've probably asked for it anyway in hopes that someone would take pity on them and whip up a batch. They've eaten it made with powdered cheese, squeezed cheese, shredded cheese, and even with some pureed butternut squash masquerading as cheese (not fans). We are a house of mac and cheese aficionados. So it is not lightly that I say that this recipe below is some good mac and cheese. It's creamy - not grainy, takes just one pot, and is made with actual real cheese - bonus! Plus, it's easy to dress up if you're in that sort of mood too (lobster? truffles? ham and peas?). I can't wait to hear what you think - you're going to love it!

Ridiculously Good and Ridiculously Easy Mac and Cheese

Creamy, gooey and delicious - comfort food
at it's best.

Ingredients:
1 lb. elbow macaroni pasta
1 1/2 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheese (1 cup sharp cheddar, 1/2 cup gruyere, 1/2 cup parmigiano regianno)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
dash of cayenne pepper (at serving time for the grown-ups)

Directions:
1. Boil pasta in salted water for 6 minutes. Drain and hold in strainer while you prepare the sauce.
2. In same pot, melt butter and add flour over medium heat. Whisk until roux starts to brown very slightly. Add milk in steady stream while whisking furiously. Continue to whisk steadily for a few minutes until cream sauce thickens.
3. Temper egg with a few spoonfuls of cream sauce and then add egg to cream sauce. Continue to whisk.
4. Add shredded cheese to cream sauce and switch over to wooden spoon. Turn heat down to low and stir until all cheese has melted. Add garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
5. Once cheese has melted, add drained pasta to pot. Stir to cover pasta in all the gooey goodness. Serve and enjoy!

Celebrating Easter with Coconut Cupcakes

A Tower of Toasted Coconut Cupcakes with
Candy-Covered Chocolate Eggs

Ever since I discovered this recipe for Toasted Coconut Cake from Cooks Illustrated, I've been trying to find excuses to make it. It's not the kind of thing you can make and keep around your house for a few days to nibble on - at least not my  house. Coconut cake for breakfast? Sure, it goes great with coffee. An afternoon snack - why not? And everyone needs something sweet after dinner, right?  So if you lack willpower like I do, break out the recipe when you're invited somewhere special. It's guaranteed to produce plenty of ooh's and ahh's. Plus, with a recipe this good, it's way more fun to share it with friends.

The first time I made the cake was for a New Year's Eve celebration and it was a huge hit. And for the past several Easters, I turn it into cupcakes and top them with the toasted coconut and those little candy-covered chocolate Cadbury eggs so they resemble birds nests. They look gorgeous, and they taste even better. The secret to this super creamy, coconut-ty frosting is the creme of coconut (you know, the same stuff they put in pina coladas...) - and the, um, 4 sticks of butter don't hurt either.  I follow the recipe as is, but for cupcakes, take the time down to 22-25 minutes. Enjoy!

The Perfect Mood-Lifting Cake for a Winter that Will Never End

One perfect slice of Olive-Oil Cake with
Candied Kumquats

Wednesday was supposedly the first day of Spring, but you wouldn't know that around here. It's supposed to snow 3-5 inches tonight and my littlest boy has been sick with the flu for the last several days. Every year at this time, I feel like I'm on the verge of a mental breakdown and I seriously cannot take another cold day stuck inside. If it weren't for the first few daffodils poking their bright yellow heads out of the ground with the promise of impending warm weather, I would pack up the car and drive south, west, anywhere warm.

So it is with this precarious state of mind that I happened upon a pint of perfect bright orange kumquats at Whole Foods the other day. When I was a kid, I remember my dad bringing home some of these odd little fruits and teaching my brother and I to pop them into our mouths whole, skin, seeds and all. The first burst of  mouth puckering sour, followed by the surprisingly sweet skins was such a treat. But kumquats alone weren't going to break through my funk. I needed baked goods.

That's when I remembered a recipe I'd seen once for an olive oil cake with candied oranges. I got giddy just thinking about how good it was going to be. And giddy is a much better state of mind. The recipe I used is below, adapted from a Bon Appetit recipe you can find on Epicurious. I made a few substitutions in addition to the kumquats for oranges - using cinnamon instead of cardamom and almonds instead of pistachios, since that's what I had on hand. This cake is moist, delicious, and the sunny orange color of the candied kumquats will brighten up the coldest, gloomiest day. And if that doesn't do it, try adding some of the extra kumquat syrup you'll have left over to a chilled vodka martini. Now that will definitely lift your spirits.

Olive Oil Cake with Candied Kumquats
Ingredients:
For candied kumquat syrup-
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup orange blossom honey (or regular clover honey is fine)
1 cinnamon stick
1 pint kumquats, sliced and seeded

For cake-
1/2 cup olive oil plus more for brushing
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup semolina flour (pasta flour)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup sugar, divided
3 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Directions:
For candied kumquat syrup-

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bring sugar, honey, cinnamon stick, and 3 cups water to a boil in a medium heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Add kumquat slices. Reduce heat to simmer and stir occasionally until liquid is reduced to about 3 1/4 cups, or about 40 minutes. Remove kumquats with slotted spoon to lined baking sheet and let syrup and kumquats cool separately. Try to resist eating all the candied kumquats until you've decorated the cake.

For cake-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush springform pan with oil. Whisk both flours and next 4 ingredients in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup oil in a large bowl for 1 minute. Beat in yolks, then flour mixture. Beat in yogurt, zest, and vanilla. Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites in another medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in remaining 1/4 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter just to blend. Transfer to prepared pan and smooth top.

Bake cake until lightly browned on top and toothpick comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Pierce hot cake all over with skewer. Slowly drizzle 3/4 cup warm syrup over cake and let it absorb for a minute or two. Add another 3/4 cup syrup again slowly. Let cake cook completely in pan over wire rack. When cool, run knife along the edge and remove to serving plate. Decorate top of cake with candied kumquat slices (in spiral pattern). Sprinkle toasted almonds on top as well as powdered sugar. Serve with additional syrup, if desired.