No. 16: Peppermint Hot Chocolate

Holiday cupcakes have arrived at Crumbs Bake Shop.   While many of them look fun from the decoration and colors, flavors seem basic with vanilla or chocolate.  I picked out the Peppermint Hot Chocolate to at least get that peppermint candy cane taste.

From the website: "Chocolate cake filled with peppermint buttercream topped with peppermint cream cheese frosting mixed with crushed peppermint candies and edged with crushed peppermint candies."

The cream cheese frosting had very few specks of peppermint candy in the frosting and tasted more like plain vanilla.  The buttercream filling also did not have a minty flavor.  Any peppermint flavor came directly from the crushed candy on the edge of the frosting.  This gave the cupcake enough peppermint flavor.  But how they make the cupcakes doesn't quite live up to the description on the website. *sigh*

The Peppermint Swirl from the 2012 holiday season was better.

Size: Signature

Picked Up At: Columbus Avenue

My Rating (out of 5): 3

Parmesan Fennel Gratin

I'm slowly accepting that fall is here so I'm getting into all the root vegetables and squashes available right now.  I wanted to do something with fennel, and with a quick search, I picked out Ina Garten's Parmesan fennel gratin on Food Network's site.

Ina Garten's Parmesan Fennel Gratin

I like that the fennel is oven-braised in chicken stock and white wine to soften the vegetable.  The anise or licorice flavor of raw fennel becomes very mild as the fennel cooks.  So if you're not a fan of raw fennel, I suggest trying this preparation at least once before swearing off fennel entirely.

Using panko crumbs for this is key to get a nice, crunchy topping.  Each time I make this, I may bake the dish for more or less time than the recipe suggests to make sure the topping gets golden brown and toasty and the fennel is tender they way I like.  To get maximum topping coverage and crunch, I prefer to lay the fennel down on one of the cut sides rather than with the pointy end facing up.  This way there's more surface to hold the topping.  All the wedges don't end up fitting in one baking dish but I don't mind baking in two dishes at the same time.

I noticed a difference between the Food Network video and the written recipe on how much salt to use.  In the video, Ina uses 1 tsp of salt and makes a larger batch than the written recipe.  So I used 1 tsp of salt for 3 fennel bulbs instead of 2 tsp stated in the written recipe.  I thought 1 tsp was fine since the chicken stock and Parmesan cheese also add salt to the dish.

Even though there's Italian parsley in the topping, I also chop some of the green fennel fronds and sprinkle over the top before serving to add some fresh color.  Great dish for an everyday meal or even Thanksgiving.

This is from the first time I made this recipe.  My kitchen lighting is terrible so color tone isn't captured they way I'd like.

My Rating (out of 5): 4

Roasted Edamame

If you put a bowl of boiled or steamed edamame pods sprinkled with salt in front of me, I'd be a happy girl.  I love these beans just with salt.  But when I saw this PureWow recipe for roasted edamame, I wish I had thought of it sooner.

Roasting the edamame helps dry out water, making the pods not as soggy or mushy as they become when boiled.  What I really liked about this PureWow recipe is the lemon zest.  Roasting with the lemon zest really added a nice zing to the flavor.  I didn't have pimenton (smoked paprika) so I just sprinkled regular paprika which still gave this dish a slightly smoky flavor.  I can only imagine how good it would be with smoked paprika.

I will definitely make this again.  Next time, I'll lay the thawed edamame on a towel to drain more water before roasting, or roast for longer than the recipe suggests to get more char and color on the edamame.

My Rating (out of 5): 4

No. 15: Sweet Pete’s Salted Caramel

Finally!  More Crumbs locations have re-opened.  This is my first cupcake under new ownership of Marcus Lemonis and Fischer Enterprises.  The variety of cupcakes offered seemed smaller than I remember at the Union Square location.  Some of my favorites were not available so I decided to try one of the new flavors named after the owners's other businesses such as Dippin' Dots and Sweet Pete's candy.

The Sweet Pete's Salted Caramel cupcake looks different than the Salted Caramel cupcake I've had in the past.  (See previous Salted Caramel post here.)  I only heard of Sweet Pete's through news updates on Crumbs, so I am not familiar with their products.  I presume that Sweet Pete's makes some kind of salted caramel candy and those candies are used in the Crumbs cupcake?

Over the last few years, the change to mass manufactured cupcakes at Crumbs was noticeable, but I still liked the cupcakes.  However, today I really noticed the mass production in the look and taste.  The Sweet Pete's Salted Caramel cupcake tasted a bit stale.  The frosting had started to dry to where the mini chocolate chips fell off easily.

Unfortunately, the salt and caramel flavors were missing in this version.  There was a slight caramel flavor in the frosting, but not enough to taste like I was eating salted caramel.  No salt came through at all.  There was a skimpy drizzle of caramel on the top.  Because of the chocolate chips and chocolate cake, the overall flavor was just chocolate.  Instead of chocolate chips, more caramel sauce or even crushed or chopped Sweet Pete's caramel candy would have been better (assuming that's a product).  The texture of the cake was okay, but nothing noteworthy.  It wasn't dry or noticeably moist either.  Just ok.

Size: Signature

Picked Up At: Union Square

My Rating (out of 5): 2

Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

I was drawn to this PureWow recipe because of the beautiful color and flavors the spices would bring to cauliflower.  I've had this recipe on my "to try" list for several months and finally tried it last week.

PureWow's Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower

I followed the recipe exactly and man, was I disappointed.  I roasted for 40 minutes at 400°, and the crust did not achieve the same dark orange color as pictured on the PureWow site.  I don't think I would have gotten the same color even if I roasted it for longer...a lot longer.  Instead, mine came out an unappealing dark tan color.  Maybe I used too much of the marinade (about a third), but the recipe says to "dunk" and "smear" it on which does not imply a light coating.

Besides the unappealing color, I did not enjoy the flavors and texture of the crust.  I use chili powder, cumin, and curry powder regularly.  But I think the amount of these spices was too much.  The moisture of the Greek yogurt cooks out leaving a crumbly, dry texture that I didn't find pleasant.

The recipe wastes 1-1/2 cups of good Greek yogurt (and spices).  I don't understand why the recipe wasn't written with smaller proportions.  I used about a third of the marinade, which was probably too much, and a cup was still leftover.  The recipe suggests using the leftover marinade on meat, fish or other veggies, but it is so over-spiced that I wouldn't want to eat it on anything else.

Here's how my dish came out.  See the PureWow link above for comparison.

My Rating (out of 5): 1

Shepherd's Pie

As the weather gets colder, I start to crave comforting foods like shepherd's pie.  A few years ago, I found this Anne Burrell recipe on Food Network's site when I was in the mood for shepherd's pie.  I had never made shepherd's pie before and haven't had it often in restaurants, so I thought I'd try to make it at home.

Shepherd's Pie from Anne Burrell

The leeks in this dish really add flavor and I wouldn't want to substitute for onions here.  The red wine and slow cooking develop rich flavors and a nice thick stew/filling for the pie.  And using Yukon gold potatoes helps make the mashed potatoes creamy.  This is a really great recipe and I've stuck with it to make shepherd's pie.

The recipe calls for lamb shoulder or leg, and I've made it with each on different occasions.  Both were great for the dish, but if I had to choose, I prefer shoulder a little more because I found it more tender.  I also made this with beef shoulder for friends who didn't like lamb and it turned out just as good.  So beef is a great way to keep this dish lower cost.

It does take a few hours to make so it's not for a quick dinner.

My Rating (out of 5): 5

No. 14: Strawberry Lemonade

I was in the vicinity of a Crumbs shop and had to keep on my Crumbs cupcake eating quest.  I picked this one purely because I thought the decoration looked cute with the straw.

The strawberry frosting was not very strong in strawberry flavor.  The lemon flavored cake was not too strong and I'd guess lemon extract was used and possibly yellow food coloring to give the bright color.  This cupcake didn't stand out for me and I probably wouldn't get again.

Size: Signature

Picked Up At: Union Square

My Rating (out of 5): 2