Union Square Donuts x The Sinclair Kitchen: Dueling Donuts Brunch

We've discussed the fact that I'm not a morning person. In relation, I'm also not a brunch person. I just don't see the appeal. Breakfast and lunch are two entities that are perfectly fine seperately in my opinion, I don't understand why they had to be married together. I for one am comfortable enough with myself to drink beverages of the alcoholic variety with breakfast if I really want to. I digress (I could go on forever about my dislike for the institution of brunch otherwise); after all, I did make an exception over the weekend.

On Saturday, The Sinclair Kitchen hosted Dueling Donuts, a brunch focusing on gourmet doughnuts and cocktails to match. The competitors? Current regional cult favourite, Union Square Donuts versus the masterminds behind The Sinclair Kitchen. When I first heard of this, I just couldn't resist*! I called up a friend that I knew would be all over this with me and we made a reservation. What could be better than a brunch revolving around doughnuts and cocktails? Being sat outside on a rooftop deck on possibly the last beautiful day of summer.

In Round One, we were presented with a smoked miso caramel doughnut covered with crushed pretzels and cocoa nibs from The Sinclair and a brown butter hazelnut crunch dougnut from Union Square Donuts. My favourite of the two was definitely The Sinclair's savory and sweet entrant. I, for one, did not appreciate that Union Square Donuts just sent out one of their staple doughnuts, not something they came up with for the occasion. The cocktail pairing was named Buck Turbo and was comprised of Barismo cold brew coffee, Overholdt rye whiskey, and Montenegro whipped cream. While I am a coffee obsessive, whiskey is not my thing at all. I gave this drink a sip but just couldn't stomach it, so I opted to pair my doughnuts with Bailey's on the rocks. 

Round Two definitely had a tropical theme going on. The Sinclair sent out a five-spice cake doughnut covered in a milk glaze and sprinkled with Fruity Pebbles cereal. Union Square Donuts presented a custom item entitled the Hannalei Bay, enrobed in a strawberry glaze with coconut and lime. The accompanying drink was named The Fez, made up of Goslings rum, Cava, tiki bitters, and allspice. I think I preferred the Hanalei Bay dougnut; that strawberry glaze is ridiculous, I just want it on everything. 

If I'm being honest, I walked out of there noticeably jittery. It was basically two plates of sugar bombs in one sitting. I thoroughly enjoyed it regardless though and if the opportunity ever arises again, I will probably go for it. While there were ballots to vote for which doughnuts liked better, I never heard who won. In my opinion though, everyone's a winner if doughnuts are what's for breakfast. 

*As a side note, as you can imagine, none of these were gluten-free. I have a sensitivity, not a life threatening allergy so I do occasionally binge indulge in a little bit of gluten. 

La saga Couleur Café, par Carte Noire

Transitioning into a new job while simultaneously phasing out of the old job has been completely consuming these past few weeks, which is why I've sadly been so quiet. I've neither had the energy to bake anything at home nor to trek out to new bakeries. So to fill the void, I've been indulging in a little bit of literal foodporn that conveniently combines two of my favourite things, patisseries and coffee. 

French instant espresso company, Carte Noire, commissioned this stunning series of advertisements back in 2012. The last segment in the series, Rose (fourth one down), came out last summer and made the entire campaign go viral.

To my personal disappointment, Carte Noire only had ROULIER & LHOMME create four. They did such a superb job however that I never tire of watching them over and over again.

Some people try to argue that food isn't erotic. Show them any one of these, case rested.

Which one is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below or find me on Twitter. I hope to be finally settled in to both the new job as well as the new house later this week, so follow me on Bloglovin' as well for updates on posts.

Les gâteries faciles de Immaculate Baking Company

If you ask anyone that knows me, I'm a fiend for cookies. I'm talking Cookie Monster level. Back in the day when my diet was primarily gluten, I was going through several packs of cookies a week. I could walk into any café and probably walked out with a cookie either for immediate consumption or to hold on to for later. Nowadays, being a gluten-free Cookie Monster just isn't sustainable. Ready-made cookies in stores are smaller in volume than the glutenous kind and significantly more expensive (with the risk that they'll be disappointing). 

My major qualm with baking chocolate chip cookies from scratch is the insane number of ingredients required. Almost all of the recipes I've looked over call for three kinds of flours, two kinds of gums, extracts all over the place, et cetera. I do want to tackle them eventually, but that's honestly a project for a Test Kitchen day, not a quick fix on a Sunday in between work and errands. So I went to the store, my mind already set on getting a pre-made mix, but then I went even further, by just grabbing a pack of gluten-free chocolate chunk cookie dough by Immaculate Baking Company. It's the lazy solution for freshly baked, chewy cookies without compromising quality. 

Found in the dairy section, you pick up a pack, bring it home, pre-heat your oven, open the pack, place the already measured balls of dough on a cookie sheet, bake, and voila! Basically perfect chocolate chip cookies. Immaculate Baking Company definitely nailed it on the head with these. Personally, I'm probably going to start having these on hand just in case something comes up (i.e. when I want delicious chocolate chip cookies in the blink of an eye). 

What's your favourite comfort cookie? Leave a comment along with your go-to recipe (or preferred store mix) or let me know on Twitter. You can also see what I'm up to on Instagram and stay updated via Bloglovin'. 

La crème glacée la plus "cool", chez Churn2

On Labor Day, I was fortunate enough to not only have the day off from work but also to not have to do any moving whatsoever. To toast the ending of summer, we naturally went out for ice cream. After all, is there anything better on a hot day?

Located on Harvard's Science Center Plaza in Cambridge, Churn2 is a sort of semi-permanent food truck, you could say. Operating out of a repurposed shipping container, it's only around for the hot season.

The available flavours change daily and will be announced on their Twitter along with the day's hours of operation. I chose Wild Berry while my comrades selected Salted Caramel. Using liquid nitrogen, each order is made on demand directly in front of the customer, thus being the coolest ice cream around in my opinion (see what I did there?). Said to be a healthier way to make ice cream, it did indeed feel airier and lighter, but just as delicious (if not more so) than traditional ice cream in classic shops. We cleaned our bowls, satisfied. My chihuahua, Ziggy, agreed.

What are you going to miss the most once summer is over? Let me know on Twitter or in the comments below.

Septembre en bonne forme

In French, the phrase "en bonne forme" basically means to be in good shape. Not necessarily jacked-up, beefcake sort of fit, but more along the lines of being well. September marks the close of summer (albeit this week's forecasted heatwave here in New England) and I am looking forward to starting off a new season. Especially without boxes lining the walls.

This move required so much energy, I cut a lot of corners along the way. I ate a lot of junk food at all the wrong times of the day and night. I fell out of my exercise and yoga routines; a bad move when combined with the reduced movement from slower shifts at work (I work in a restaurant). In a nutshell, I'm closing out the summer not in the best shape possible. 

Now that I'm settling into my new space in a new area alongside this new blog, I want to rectify all of my recent shortcomings.If anything, I'm probably going to spend the new month incorporating some of the advice Michael Pollan listed in his book, Food Rules: An Eater's Manual*. I want to focus on incorporating more fruits in my diet again and eating almost entirely at home. What does this shape up mean for the blog? Don't be nervous, my adoration for desserts and pastries couldn't possibly be curbed; not that I would ever consider such a thing anyway! I'll still be taking you out and around Boston's bakeries and cafés as well as a couple of cool events this month. And of course, you can expect to go through recipes I've tried and enjoyed in my kitchen, as well as their development through history.

If you'd like to stay updated with virtually everything blog-related or not, you can follow me on Twitter as well as Instagram. If you'd rather keep to new posts, subscribe at Bloglovin'. What are your plans for September? Any Autumn recipes you look forward to trying? Leave me a comment or tweet me, I'd love to know!

Les biscuits florentins de Lakota Bakery

Between work and preparing to move house, researching and testing recipes has had to take the backseat this week. However, my sweet tooth won't allow to be put on hold, so I thought it would be nice to pay Arlington's most reputable bakery a visit during one of my packing breaks.

Lakota Bakery started as a wholesale operation in 1991. As demand for owner, Barbara Weniger's pleasing little treats continued to grow, she opened a small retail space next to the workshop. Located at 1375 Massachusetts Avenue in the Arlington Heights, the entire space is geared towards showcasing the wide variety of cookies they're selling and showing the processes behind them through the exterior windows overlooking the work space. It's not a very photogenic shop if we're being really honest, but in reality, it's all about the contents of the box you'll carry out the door with you.

I made the hasty assumption that there would be no gluten-free offerings, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that they have eight flourless creations, including their famous Florentines as of this past March! Keep in mind, these are perfectly safe for people with a gluten intolerance, but not those with Celiac's Disease. 

I chose to pick up a few of their renowned Florentines to try myself and to share with my friends. Personally, I would describe these as divinity in sugary disc form. Yes. I dare relate these to a religious experience. The friends I shared theses with (normally quite apprehensive of anything gluten-free), all reacted very positively and for good reason. Following Italian tradition, Florentines are biscuits comprised of candied cherries, almonds, and hazelnuts encased by caramel and then enrobed in decadent chocolate on one side. You just can't go wrong. 

I'm salivating just reminiscing about them. I don't have to jaunt all the way back to my old neighborhood to obtain more though, Lakota Bakery cookies are readily available at independently owned grocers around Cambridge. You can view the rest of Lakota's selection of flourless cookies here, and the rest of their traditional cookies here. Keep me posted if you go out and pick up some of your own treats from Lakota Bakery on Twitter; I'd love to know which is your favourite. And if you'd like to stay up to date with future posts, you can now follow me on Bloglovin' as well. 

L'origine du gâteau marbré plus recette sans gluten

I'm moving house next week. Between sorting through my storage unit and packing up my current room, I wanted to look into a simple recipe that would yield something to snack on in transit and also be good for breakfast. Marble loaf cakes used to make regular appearances in my breakfast line up, either at Starbucks in the United States or in the form of individually wrapped Savanne minis by French enterprise, Brossard. With these in mind lately, a gluten-free marble loaf cake seemed like the perfect contender.

 

While flipping through recipes across the internet, I started to wonder where the marble loaf cake originated. The search to find out turned up very little. Seemingly a Victorian American creation, the oldest references date back to the 19th century. The earliest recipes called for molasses and spices, not chocolate, to be used for the dark batter. The most indepth source I found, The Food Timeline, does not indicate when it transitioned from novel dessert to breakfast staple. How it hopped the pond and turned into a mass-produced treat in France is also beyond me. Clearly not that fascinating, I reverted my attention back to making one myself.

 

 

The recipe I selected to try is from Nicole over at Gluten Free on a Shoestring. I followed the ingredient list almost to a T, however my method of putting everything together is slightly different. If you'd like to see Nicole's (probably proper) way of doing it, you can view it here. Either way, the result was not disappointing.

 

What to get:

• 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3 eggs at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups of basic gluten-free flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of xantham gum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2/3 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup of natural cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons of warm water
• A 9x5-inch loaf pan, lightly greased with vegetable oil

 

What to do:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
  
• In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together, setting the cocoa powder and warm water aside. Yes, I literally take all of the ingredients and then mix them together by hand. Why? Because after whisking all of the ingredients into one smooth batter manually, I don't feel like washing half a dozen bowls.
  
• In a second bowl, stir the warm water and cocoa powder until combined into a grainy ganache. Pour half of the batter and blend completely with the chocolate.
• Lightly grease a loaf pan. I prefer using vegetable oil, but melted butter works perfectly fine too. Pour part of the vanilla batter in, followed by the chocolate batter and gently swirl the two together with a knife or fork. Repeat until both batters are completely scraped out of their respective mixing bowls and distributed to your heart's desire.
• Set a timer for the traditionally accepted 45 minute baking time. A cake tester showed that 45 minutes wasn't enough for my loaf, but every oven is different and it's better to under time it rather than overcook it. 55 minutes did the trick and I set it out to cool for about 15 before consumption.

 

 

I'm quite pleased with the way this came out and look forward to making it again in the future. For now, I have to get back to packing. In the meantime, what are some other breakfast loaves I should look into? Leave me a comment or let me know on Twitter. And for the sake of convenience, I'm now also on Bloglovin'. Thank you for reading and thanks even more for following!