Browned. Butter. Pizzzzookie (Need I Say More?)

Are you acquainted with The Pizzookie? Or are you giving me/your monitor a funny look right now? You're in good company if you are. When I offered P a pizzookie, his initial response was a raised eyebrow and "what is that? sounds dirty..." Well one bite was all it took to make him a believer (plus it's hard to maintain a smirk when your mouth is full of cookie dough ^_^).

I think of pizzookies as cookies on steroids. You simply start with almost any cookie dough, press it into some oven-safe dishes, bake just long enough to set the edges, then hit 'em with the best vanilla ice cream ya got. It sounds simple enough, but when you experience your first mouthful of warm n' gooey meets cool n' creamy, it's like arriving in a brave new (cookie) world. The take-home message is: If you like cookies, ice cream and all that's good on this green earth, you need some pizookie in your life. XD

And while we're aiming for the ultimate cookie experience, let's talk butter. No ordinary "room temperature" butter will do for the true cookie connoisseur. What we want, need is warm, aromatic browned butter. Despite being a self-proclaimed "foodie" for years, I'd somehow missed this amazing ingredient! Never imagining that a few minutes of stove time could give my cookies such complex, nutty flavor. Trust you me, I'll be playing with this butter in all sorts of sweet and salty dishes going forward. With gratitude for inspiring me to discover a new ingredient, I'm sending these pizzookies over to Elissa of 17 and Baking, our lovely host, for the browned butter edition of Sugar High Fridays.

Farewell to Summer (Tomato Panzanella Salad)

With Labor Day just around the corner and my first classes in 3 years (!!!) starting in a week, I could no longer keep the wool over my eyes. Summer was slipping away, and fall would come a knockin' at any moment. Ever the foodie, my first thought was to gorge on as much abundant summer produce as I could get my hands on before it's all swept off with the fallen leaves.

Not that I don't love pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Citrus fruit and apple pies. Hearty soups and creamy casseroles. And believe it or not, I even enjoy the taste of the stalwart cabbage once in a while. But none of that compares to biting into a ripe and flavorful summer tomato. So I made it a point to enjoy a lot of tomato salads. Simply sliced, sometimes with a sprinkling of fresh mint and salty feta. Other times with only a spoonful of sugar the way my mom used to serve it. Delicious either way.

Then for the times I craved something with more substance, I found this delightful panzanella salad. Toasted chunks of bread absorb every bit of delicious juice released by the tomatoes. A dollop of creamy ricotta adds just the right amount of richness. Fast, fresh, and flavorful -- this is precisely the type of summer meal I'll miss when the weather turns. But I won't get too down. After all, there'll be plenty of fall bounty to keep me occupied for months yet!

White Chocolate Sour Cherry Scones

When my lovely blogger friend, Anh of A Food Lover's Journey announced that she and Cherrie from Sweet Cherrie Pie were co-hosting the International Incident Scones Party blogger event this month, it really got me to thinkin'. Despite prior successes, scones are just not something I usually crave. They're neither rich like brownies, for example, nor pretty like cupcakes and tarts. Scones also have an (undeserved) bad rep from the under-flavored/over-baked versions often found at coffee chains. I'm halfway convinced those are sold only to dry out our mouths so we'll crave more coffee (smart, actually).

But prompted by this event, I'm recollecting that the humble scone is bursting with possibility. Truly an unfussy canvas for playing with different grains and add-ins, be they sweet or savory, dry or juicy. True, Ms. Scone is nothing much to look at. But she knows this and doesn't try to hide behind any fancy frostings. She's happy simply in the company of a good cuppa coffee or tea and maybe some jam and cream if they're around. Prepared with the proper light touch, she'll reward you with a slightly crunchy exterior that yields to softer innards.

These white chocolate and dried cherry scones I made for the party are particularly tender due to the lower gluten content from the buckwheat flour (I used teff) and cornmeal. Methinks even a zealous stirrer would find them hard to mess up =). And you white chocolate naysayers, I encourage you to take a chance on these. Baking seems to caramelize the white chocolate so that the flavor becomes more complex. Plus, its infamous sweetness is reigned in by tart cherries and flavorful grains in a recipe that otherwise contains little sugar.

Lastly, I'd be remiss not to wish our hosts, Anh and Cherrie a big Happy Birthday this month! Please don't forget to check out their scones and those of all the other International Incident partyers by clicking on the thumbnails at the bottom of this post below the recipe.

Inspired by Ispahan (Raspberry Rose Lychee Cupcakes)

My friend Mar's birthday and the deadline for Cupcake Hero's raspberry challenge were just days apart this month. And she even gave me free reign over what treat to make her. Call me silly, but I took this a sign from the baking powers that be. It was finally my time to try the trio of flavors (raspberry, rose, and lychee) made famous by Pierre Herme's Ispahan macaron cookie. Not too innovative on my part. But one could do worse than to trust the signature of one of the greatest pastry chefs alive =p. After perusing my favorite blogs for their renditions, I combined a few elements from each and added some touches of my own.

The birthday girl, some friends and I were actually heading up to NYC to celebrate. Baking was left until departure day for the sake of freshness, but what a tight schedule it turned out to be! I ended up packing the cupcakes with one hand while slinging my bags over the other shoulder then running to my friend's car. As soon as we arrived in New York, we went on an insane but fun food/bar-hop until 5 am.

Needless to say, we didn't get to the cupcakes that night. But they're sturdier than their delicate appearance suggests. Even over a day later, they remained quite delicious. At first bite, my brain was pretty confused to be tasting something it's more used to smelling. But once we got over that small hurdle, I understood the popularity of this combination. Juicy lychees and tart raspberries act as a delectable foil to the fragrant rose flavor. While the cool custard tames the sweetness. If you have extra filling, please try spooning it over the cakes as you eat them. Take my word for it, you won't regret it.