I Blog What I Bake

“Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and caldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the caldron boil and bake…”  Often times, this kinda how I feel (and probably look) when I am cooking something up in the kitchen. However for this post I did not set foot in the kitchen, but just wandered around Chelsea Market in downtown New York.

I love the name of this little bakery and before Sunday I had never heard of it. Apparently it’s got quite a following. I loved being in the dark about this place because I had no one’s opinion, judgement or review to go on but mine. I wasn’t excepting a transcendental food moment nor was I expecting the brownies to suck. For the record, they did neither.

I should mention that all Fat Witch Bakery makes are brownies. Appropriately they are called “Witches”. Cute, right? Not being one to limit myself, I bought a Java Witch, Fat Witch(original), Red Witch(cherries) and Smores’ Witch. The brownies were $2.50 a piece.  I didn’t consider this too pricey since I have seen smaller cupcakes sell for $3.00 and I have bought brownies before that actually cost upwards of $4.00 a piece (MISTAKE!). Anyway, I unwrapped all the brownies and my husband and I attacked them with enthusiasm. Overall, I really enjoyed them and they were far better than the brownies I reviewed previously from The Vermont Brownie Company.

The Java Witch was my favorite, it had the best texture an the chocolate flavor was PERFECT. Not overwhelming and not super sugary. The Smores’ Witch was good, but only for two bites. After that I couldn’t even look at it because of the sugar overload. The Fat Witch was the most fudgey and the Red Witch was the most “meh”.  That one didn’t do anything for me, I did not like the texture of the cherries in the brownies. I should also mention that my husband didn’t like any of them. At all. They were too rich for him. So, would I recommend this place? Yes. But limit yourself to one Witch at a time.  :)

Witch Graveyard…

This just was released and I thought I would share for those of you who love food blogs. The text below is copied directly from the 55 Knives page.

“The 55 Knives book is a collaborative project from some of the web’s top food bloggers in a simple, easy to download format.  The authors included in the project were picked not only because of their expertise in the kitchen but also because of their ability to write well about food.

Each of the 55 bloggers will have a chapter where they will present one or two of their favorite recipes.  Some recipes will be simple and some might be more complicated (Individual Beef Wellingtons!).  Don’t worry though, the complicated recipes will have crystal clear instructions.

In addition to the recipes, each chapter will have a story explaining why that recipe is important to that author.  Some of the recipes have been in families for generations and some are newly created.  I think you’ll find the stories to be touching, funny, sincere, and above all else, entertaining!”

55 Knives is available for sale !

Limelight. Once a dark gritty headonistic nightlife mecca , has reivented itself as Limelight Marketplace. The former, church- turned- nightclub, is now a bright, glittery luxury marketplace relpete with specality soap shops, botique lingere stands, clothing alcoves and, of course, lots of cute little dessert stations. My how times have changed.  Once upon a time, I recall stumbling out the door of Limelight after a very long night of…fun. Today I stumbled out the door practically vibrating from the sugar  extravaganza I just indulged in.

I’d heard about all of the dessert stands that had opened up in their “Sweet Room”, paticularly the Cupcake Stop, and figured reviewing them for the blog would be a brilliant excuse to go on a sugar binge. So, with Matt (I Blog What I Eat) as my accomplice, I attacked the “Sweet Room”.  Below, I have listed my conquests in the order assault.

Disclaimer: All but two pictures were taken with my iPhone. I had my camera, alas cameras are of no use without a battery.

THE CUPCAKE STOP

The Cupcake Stop, which usually is just a truck that drives around Manhattan and parks in different locations everyday, has secured a stationary spot in Limelight. And I am sooo glad they did.  I have had cupcakes from dozens of NYC bakeries, they are trendy little confections after all, and I must say these are among the best.  I ordered a Mexican Chocolate cupake and a  Nutella Crunch.  They both had great consistency and smooth frosting. The Mexican Chocolate was the winner of the two. The Nutella Crunch was good, but didn’t have as much flavor. Honestly, if you try these you will never eat a Magnolia Bakery cupake again. Okay, onto the next…

BUTTERFLY BAKESHOP

Isn’t that a pretty little Red Velvet Cake? I thought so too. That’s why I bought it.  It had really nice flavor and a good cream cheese frosting (maybe a bit too sweet), but the consistency was…well…odd. It was like the cake had been soaked in a simple syrup mixture. Yes, the cake was wet.  I’m not sure what the reasoning was here. Maybe to keep it moist past it’s prime? I was a little suspect. I wouldn’t advise to steer clear of the place, maybe just try a alternate selection. It was pretty. I ate the butterfly.

MARIEBELLE CHOCOLATES

Please forgive my wacky formatting with the images. It’s late and I have had some wine.

Anyway, Mariebelle’s Chocolates. This shop was a little challenging to find, even though you can see it as soon as you walk into the Marketplace (they also have a cart on the first floor). It’s in a space that is sort of between floors. I should add that Limelight Markeplace is a bit of maze and you feel like Alice in Wonderland trying to navigate the place. There are little half staircases that lead to dead ends and various nooks and cranies that can have you very turned around. What made the nightclub version so interesting , can make a shopping trip feel like falling down a rabbit hole. After we found Mariebelle’s, I was excited to try their off-beat artisan chocolates. Of all all the flavors, I selected Saffron and Whiskey. At first I wasn’t so sure about the Saffron chocolate, but it grew on me and I am now determined to use Saffron in one of my recipes. The Whiskey flavor did not dissapoint. It was like taking a chocolate shot of Jack Daniels. I will certainly make a return trip to try flavors like Cardamon, Earl Grey and Passion Fruit. Oh, and a quick note, they serve real food. You can sit down at one of the little tables and order lunch. Cute.

WANNAHAVACOOKIE

Wannahavacookie? More like Wannahavadevildog.  I wouldn’t really classify this as a cookie. Round does not a cookie make.  This is a round Devil Dog. They call it a Whoopie Pie and offer different flavor variations. I choose the Chocolate Mint variety. It’s light, fluffy and had a good mint flavor but it’s just not a cookie. Their website www.wannahavacookie.com does have actual cookies, but Whoopie Pies are their main business.  If you are a fan of Devil Dogs, this is your product.

By this point a was on sugar overload and had to call it a day. There is a Gelato stand I will have to go back and visit and some other food stops, like the cheese shop and bread baker that are a must try. In the next few months the restaurants and wine bars will also be open and that will certainly warrant a return trip. Overall, it was a great trip and I really enjoyed trying all the different offerings. I am still skeptical about the non-food based shops and I am curious to see the sustainability of the marketplace as whole. If you are in the neighborhood (6th Ave & 20th in NYC), I would highly recommend stopping by.  That’s it for now, below are a few pictures I took of the interior.

Thanks for stopping by!!

In the mood for something different?

Since returning to the full-time corporate workforce I have had minimal time to actually bake. I get really excited if I am able to bake once a week. So, in lieu of recipes I am going to do occasional posts on baked goods I have tried, kitchen gadgets I find useful and the like.  In the spirit of trying something different, I bring you Dark Chocolate Chevre (goat cheese) Brownies from the Vermont Brownie Company.

At the Vermont Brownie Company all of their brownies are made from scratch using local, natural and preservative free ingredients. I came across these curious little brownies watching Throw-down with Bobby Flay on the Food Network. Personally, I love love love goat cheese and was completely fascinated by the idea of dark chocolate goat cheese brownie. The episode wasn’t even halfway complete and I was already online, credit card in hand, ready to order the brownies. That was until I saw that it cost $23.00 for six brownies ($30.00 total with shipping).

Despite the price, I went ahead and bought the brownies. By this time I wasn’t just curious about the goat cheese brownie, but about why a brownie would cost so much. I figured this would probably be the best brownie I had ever eaten. (You all already know where this is headed, don’t you?)

The brownies arrived on Friday and I was as excited as a 5 year-old on Christmas morning.  Seriously, I was so giddy I was practically skipping. They arrived in very cute packaging and I am a sucker for packaging.

Each brownie is individually wrapped to assure freshness. And the whole thing is wrapped in neat crisp tissue paper and stickers. At this point I was assured, at the very least, that I got $23.00 worth of packaging. After taking a few pictures I tore into one of the brownies.

Let me start by saying this is one HEAVY brownie. I should have weighed one.  Now, there are two schools of thought when it comes to brownies. There are those who love thick fudgy brownies and those who love cakey brownies. I am of the the latter opinion. Maybe that was part of the problem.

Anyway, I bit the brownie expecting some kind of outter body experience.

Well… It wasn’t that these brownies didn’t taste good, they did. They were super rich and super chocolatey. So much so that I didn’t even taste the goat cheese, which was disappointing. I also couldn’t get past the density. I stuck it in the microwave for a few minutes to see what they would taste like warm. It was a slight improvement, but they got too moist. Almost like they were under-baked. I loved the big chunks of dark chocolate and visually these are beautiful brownies, but they just didn’t blow my mind in the taste and consistency department.  I also had no idea why they were so expensive. Yes, I know local farm ingredients can cost more because they are not produced in mass quantities, but $23.00 for six brownies?? I just didn’t get it. But since taste is subjective, I have given the brownies to a few friends who I hope will, in turn, post their feedback in the comments section.

The Vermont Brownie Company has a host of different brownie flavors and I encourage you to check them out for yourself. As for me, I am becoming increasingly wary of the Food Network.