Baked NYC Brownies

I'm still missing New York City so I continue to live vicariously through recipes of New York bakeries and restaurants. This brownie recipe from Baked turned out to be one of my favorite brownies, dare I say...gasp...even better than Bouchon's.  They are everything I like in a brownie, a rich chocolaty flavor and a gooey fudgy texture. YUMMY! 

Baked Brownies
from brown eyed baker

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder (Valhrona)
11 oz dark Chocolate, chopped (Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Chunks & Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chips)
8 oz unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tsp instant espresso powder (Ghirardelli Mocha Hot Chocolate Mix)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs room temperature (if you are in a hurry place eggs in warm water for 10-15 minutes)
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter bottom and sides of a 13x9 baking pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.
Using a double boiler, melt the chocolate, butter and espresso powder, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Turn off the heat and add the sugars, whisking until completely combined. Remove the top bowl from double boiler.
Add 3 of the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the 2 remaining eggs and vanilla and stir just until incorporated. Be careful not over beat the batter.
Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture, and fold until just a bit of the flour is visible.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pan half way through the baking. The brownies are done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it.
Let brownies cool completely before cutting into squares.

Junior's New York Cheesecake

I have gone on several vacations this summer, and as much fun as all those vacations have been, I am still obsessed with New York. Every chance I get I have been researching and testing recipes to bring some of New York to me.
I started with a New York Cheesecake from Junior's. When we walked by Junior's after seeing How To Succeed In Business, we were too stuffed and tired to try their famous cheesecake, but luckily for me I found their recipe online.

Like I have said before I have never been a big cheesecake fan, but I am slowly growing as a person and warming up to cream cheese. Junior's cheesecake is a little different than the cheesecake most people think of, as it replaces the traditional graham cracker crust with a sponge cake. I loved the added layer of sponge cake, but still wanted the familiar graham cracker crust, so I added graham cracker crumbs around the side. It is an extremely impressive cheesecake, and so easy to make.

JUNIOR'S FAMOUS CHEESECAKE
Adapted very slightly from food.com

Sponge Cake
1/2 cup sifted cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
3 large eggs separated
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 drops lemon extract
3 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Cream Cheese Filling
4 (8oz) packages cream cheese
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbs vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Graham Cracker Crumbs
1 cup finely ground graham crackers
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 stick melted butter

Sponge Cake:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and generously butter a 9in spring form pan.
Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Beat the egg yolks in a large bowl with and electric mixer on high for 3 minutes. With the mixer still running, gradually add the 1/3 cup of sugar and continue beating until thick light yellow ribbons form in the bowl, about 5 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Sift the mixture over the batter and stir it in by hand until no more white flecks appear. Blend in the butter.
In a clean bowl, using clean dry beater, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar together on high until frothy. Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Stir in 1/3 cup of the egg whites into the batter, then gently fold in the remaining egg white. (don't worry if a few white specks remain.)
Spoon the batter into the spring form pan.
Bake the cake just until the center springs back when lightly touched, only about 10 minutes.
Let cool in the pan on a wire rack while you continue making the cheesecake filling. DO NOT REMOVE FROM THE PAN.

Cream Cheese Filling:
Place one 8oz package of cream cheese, 1/3 cup of sugar, and the cornstarch in a large bowl.
Beat with an electric mixer on low until creamy, about 3 minutes, then beat in the remaining 3 packages of cream cheese. Increase the mixer speed to high and add the remaining 1 1/3 cups of sugar and vanilla extract. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Blend in heavy cream. Mix the filling only until blended. Be careful not to over mix.

Wrap the outside of the spring form pan with two layers of tin foil.(This is to protect it from the water bath, while it's cooking.)

Spoon the filling on top of the baked sponge cake.
Place a kitchen towel in the bottom of a large shallow pan (disposable roasting pan). Place the spring form pan in the towel lined pan. Pour water into the large baking pan about 1 inch up the side of the spring form pan.
Bake the cheesecake until the center barely jiggles when you shake the pan, about 1 hour.
Turn oven off and open the oven door for 1 minute. Close the door and let set inside oven 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Remove from oven and place in refrigerator at least 6 hours.

Run a knife around the side of the spring form pan and remove the cheesecake.

Graham Cracker Crumbs:
In a small bowl mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter. Pour into a cake pan and bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes.
Pat the sides of the cheesecake with the graham cracker crumbs, and serve.

New York In 5 Days - Day 4 & 5

Day 4. It was our last full day in New York, and we had a pretty relaxed day planned. (Relaxed for me.)
We started our day the way you should, with a nutritious breakfast at Norma's. Located inside Le Parker Meridian, it was not like going to breakfast at Denny's, we were dressed cute and fashionable, but still way under dressed compared to all the businessmen and women around us. (Note to self - Bring formal clothes for breakfast at Norma's) I had been looking forward to this restaurant our entire trip, so I knew exactly what I was going to order, the Chocolate Decadence French Toast, but then after looking over the menu I found several other things I would like to try as well; Lemony Griddlecakes, Very Berry Brioche French Toast, Norma's Supper Blueberry Pancakes, Crunchy French Toast, and the PB&CWaflle'wich. I fought the temptation and stuck with the Chocolate Decadence French Toast, and now will just have to wonder how fabulous the PB&CWaffle'wich really is. I did find out how fabulous the Chocolate Decadence is though; it could be the best thing I ever ate in my life.  (I am not just being dramatic either.) It was like eating a chocolate lava cake for breakfast, each bite of warm chocolatly gooey "bread" melted in your mouth. Even the chopped pistachios sprinkled on top and in between the layers were delicious adding just a little crunch. The only thing I didn't absolutely love were the sliced strawberries that were with the pistachios in-between each layer of "bread". They were cooked, so it was a little slimy for my liking, but it was still the most amazing french toast I have ever had. It also had an amazing price of $86.00 for two plates of french toasts and two glasses of orange juice, but it was worth every penny.

After breakfast we needed to burn off a few of those calories, so we walked back down to Rockefeller Plaza and went to the Top of the Rock. The Top of the Rock is the 67th, 69th and 70th floors of the GE Building with gorgeous views of the city. The view from the 70th floor has to be the best view in the city. Unobstructed by glass, you can see the entire city, including the Empire State Building, which you obviously cant see when you are actually in the Empire Sate Building. If it weren't for the bragging rights of saying "I have been to the top of the Empire State Building, I would skip it and see the city from the Top of the Rock.

From Rockefeller Plaza we walked a few blocks down 6th Avenue to the MoMA. The MoMA was large, but not overwhelming, what was overwhelming was the hundreds of rowdy school kids. (SHHHH! YOU ARE IN A MUSEUM!) We did our best to avoid the maniac school kids and wandered around looking at all the big names like Warhol, van Gogh, and Monet.

We left the madness of the MoMA and went to another important New York destination...Tiffany &Co. where we each bought a small piece of jewelry to remember our trip by.
"If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name." - Breakfast at Tiffany's

Next on our itinerary was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We could have taken a taxi or the subway, but then we would have missed all of the Central Park landmarks, so we choose to walk the 2 miles through the park to the Met. Another thing that enticed us to walk was the Waffles and Dinges cart at the entrance of Central Park. I had read about their Belgium Waffles topped with ice cream and chocolate sauce on yelp and I think they were even featured on Throw Down and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. It sounded like the breakfast my dad use to make me, except with Eggo waffles, so I was so excited to try it with "real" waffles. Unfortunately it wasn't what I expected. The waffle was hard; I mean break the plastic fork hard, and very bland, less flavor than a frozen Eggo. The chocolate and ice cream were OK but not good enough to save it from the trash can nearby.

After disposing of the waffle we wandered through Central Park. While the park looked picture perfect, we did noticed that the city must be polluting the park, because The Pond had giant mutant goldfish swimming around (: (They reminded me of the Dr Seuss book with the kid that feeds his gold fish too much and has to move it into the bathtub.) Once we finished marveling at the radioactive fish, we continued walking past the Chess & Checkers House, the Dairy, and the Carousel. When we reached the the Conservatory Water, we found a bench in the shade and rested our feet as we watched the little boats sail across the water.

We finally made it to the Metropolitan Museum, and it turned out to be the best art museum in New York. They had so many famous artists on display, Degas, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Renoir, Seurat, van Gogh, Pollock and Warhol. We oohed and ahhed our way through the paintings, accidentally wandering into the Wrightsman Galleries for French Decorative Arts.  What a pleasant surprise, the Wrightsman Galleries were perfect for someone like me with a slight Marie Antoinette obsession. I felt I walked out of a New York museum and into a 18th century french chateau, where Marie might have just stepped out, leaving the candles still lit.
We had one more exhibit I wanted to see, the Alexander McQueen Savage Beauty. We searched high and low for the exhibit, winding up in the European Sculptures several times, before finding it, well we didn't exactly find the exhibit, but the line for it. Not wanting to spend our last day in New York standing in line, we decided to continue on to our next destination.

We left the Met, grabbed a hot dog and pretzel from a street cart, and made our way down East 82nd Street towards the Two Little Red Hens Bakery. It seemed like a much longer walk than the .7 miles it was, maybe it was the heat, or perhaps it was the blisters on our feet, but next time I am taking a cab. Inside the bakery the cookies, pies, cupcakes and beautiful floral cakes were all calling my name. (I was actually thinking of a way to bring one of the cakes back in my luggage) We ended up ordering 3 cupcakes, Carrot Cake (delicious), Lemon (refreshingly tart), and Peanut Butter Fudge (Reese's lover's dream). Like everything else we ate in New York (beside Magnolia), they were definitely THE BEST cupcakes I have ever had. (I wonder if I could pay someone to go in and buy me one of everything, then ship it to me?)

We left Two Little Red Hens and head back downtown to Time Square, this time by subway. We ended up having a little time to waste before seeing our last Broadway show, so we walked up a down Broadway and 7th Ave, then climbed up the bleachers at Duffy Square and did the best thing you can do in Time Square...people watch.

45 minutes before show time we headed over to the Minskoff Theatre to see the Broadway show I had been waiting to see for so long, The Lion King. I had heard amazing reviews about the Lion King and always wanted to take my kids to New York to see it, and now here we were, in New York and finally seeing The Lion King...Wah-Wah. What a disappointment. Maybe I expected too much, but I didn't like it at all, it was boring, weird, and annoying. (Zazu and Rafiki were the worst.) If I didn't pay so much for the tickets I would have probably left at intermission. Boo!
`

We left the theater around 11:30pm and walked back to our hotel just as it started to rain. By the next morning we were leaving New York in a full blow storm. As we sat at the airport waiting for the weather to clear, we were already talking about our next trip back.

I went to New York expecting not to like it, not only did I like it I loved it. When I do go back (New York is expensive, I will have to save some money for quite awhile.) here are a few things I would like to do; SoHo, see more of Brooklyn, NBC Tour, Hayden Planetarium, Coney Island, Gray Line Bus Tour, Night Tour of Statue of Liberty, more time at the Metropolitan Museum, eat at Sant Ambrosa, Doughnut Plant, Lulu Bakery, Chickalicious, Balthazar, Juniors, Daisy May, Stand, Max Brenner, E.A.T, Baked,  Katz Deli, Hill Country Fried Chicken, Lady M Confections,  Macaron Cafe, Bubby's Pie Company, Momofuku Milk Bar, Francois Payard Bakery, The Chocolate Room, Takahachi Baker, and the list continues to grow. I ♥ New York!


*  Tip - Bring a warm jacket to the theater, they keep it freezing inside.
             If you only have time for 1 museum go to the Metropolitan Museum

* Cost - Norma's: 2 Chocolate Decadence French Toast & 2 Orange Juices = $83.68 (20% tip)
             Waffles & Dinges: A Waffle with Ice Cream & Chocolate =$7.00
             Two Little Red Hens: Lemon cupcake, Peanut Butter Fudge Cupcake & Carrot Cake
            Cupcake =$10.75

New York In 5 Days - Day 3

Day 3 - Our original itinerary changed slightly for day three. I had planned to spend the day in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, but after seeing a billboard for How to Succeed in Business, a favorite of my daughters, we decided to add that to the itinerary, limiting our time in Lower Manhattan.

We started our day again very early, grabbing a bagel at Time Square Bagels and then hopping a train to South Ferry. (The bagel was pretty good, but I have never had a bagel before so I don't know what a bad bagel may taste like.) Our timing couldn't have been better, as we came out of the subway and into the ferry terminal the ferry just arrived and was ready to board. We started out on the left, port side, of the ferry, taking in the views of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.

After taking as many pictures as we could of Brooklyn, we walked over to the right side, starboard, to see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The Statue of Liberty looked so much smaller in real life, and didn't seem as amazing as I thought it would be. I was glad that we decided on the free ferry instead of the Statue of Liberty tour. We came, we saw, we walked to Brooklyn for lunch.

We walked from the ferry terminal along the East River to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was quite a walk, about 3 miles, and it was hot and humid that day, but the views from the bridge were beautiful.

Our first stop in Brooklyn was just under the bridge at Grimaldi's. I read many reviews on yelp on where to find the best pizza and Grimaldi's sounded like the place. Obviously we weren't the only ones that heard about it, because outside the restaurant people were lined up waiting to be seated. This restaurant was not like others where you put your name on a list and waited to be called, this place treated you like cattle, corralled by a rope on the sidewalk. Once we made our way to the front of the chute line we were pointed to two open seats at a large crowded table and handed a menu with no words spoken.
I had been told that New York makes a pizza called a white pizza that I should try. It is suppose to be delicious and yet plain enough for a picky eater like myself, made with only crust and cheese. My daughter wasn't interested in the white pizza at all and since they were too big for just one person, we compromised and ordered a peperoni pizza from the uninterested waiter. The pizza was absolutely amazing, I have recently turned into a super picky pizza critic and this had to be the best pizza I have had. The crust was thinner than I typically like, but it made up for it's thinness with flavor, and the sauce was delicious as well, but I think what really made the pizza delicious was the soft gooey mozzarella cheese,  a far cry from the rubbery cheese you typically get on pizza. I would gladly be treated like Flossie the Cow to have just a slice of Grimaldi's pizza again.

Although we were stuffed after finishing the entire pizza, we had to have dessert at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. The Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory is only several yards from Grimaldi's and on a small water taxi pier in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge. The shop was small and crowded, but the employees were friendly and beyond efficient. I ordered a Chocolate Chocolate Chunk and my daughter ordered a plain Chocolate, it was delicious. When they claim they use the finest ingredients, they are right, it was rich and creamy and you could taste the high quality chocolate. It was so good, I finished the entire ice cream cone, even though I was completely full from the pizza.

Even though we were absolutely stuffed, and already had our dessert, we were in the neighborhood of Jacques Torres Chocolate, so we had to go in. Jacques Torres is the person responsible for my passion of making sweets. My first dessert cookbook was his Dessert Circus, and my first recipe I tried was Cotton Candy. (I have never been one to start slowly.) The shop was like walking into a box of chocolate. I was ridiculously full and completely overwhelmed when I walked in, and the only thing I could remember was that their chocolate chip cookie had a good review. I have to say, it wasn't very good, if it had been something out of the ordinary I would have found a way to eat it, but instead I took a bite and threw it away. It was such a let down.

After all of the food we ate we could have used a walk back across the Brooklyn Bridge, but instead we found the nearest subway and went back to Manhattan to the site of the World Trade Center. The large opening between the buildings and the construction work was a little eerie.  When we went into the temporary 9/11 Memorial Museum,  it really hit me. I have avoided Pearl Harbor every time I have been to Hawaii for a reason, so why did I think I could handle something like this. My eyes teared up instantly and then my stomach started to turn. I quickly went to the store area to keep myself busy as my daughter continued to looked around.

It was a strange transition from something so somber to shopping, but it was the next thing on our itinerary. We stopped by Canal Street but were too creeped out by the pushy knockoff vender's, literally grabbing my arms, that we continued on to the more relaxed West Village. After buying some adorable Lulu Guinness accessories, the sales girl told us that we should go to Magnolia Bakery, just across the street.
I had been wanting to try Magnolia since we got to New York, and now we could finally taste the famous cupcakes. It sure wasn't what I expected. Inside the tiny shop was a small sad looking self-serve table with a few cupcakes surrounded by unappetising crumbs. I make it a point to stay away from self-serve food, people touching everything with their dirty hands, coughing or sneezing on the food, hair falling onto it, no thanks, but we were in New York and this was Magnolia, so I ignored my inner health inspector and picked up the best looking vanilla and chocolate cupcake. (Luckily I don't own a black light.) We walked to the nearby park and bit into the worst vanilla cupcake I had ever tasted, my daughter's exact words were, "I don't like it. It's dry and gross". The chocolate was even worse, I had to spit it back out into the box. What were people thinking raving about these cupcakes and buying giant bags full of them, have they never used a box of Duncan Hines, because a box mix was better than what they were selling. The lesson I learned from this, don't trust what you see on Sex in the City :)

Unfortunately I didn't have time to shop at the boutiques in Soho, we had to get back to the Theater District to see another Broadway show, we had added to our itinerary.
Just this past year, my daughter saw her high school's performance of How to Succeed in Business, and loved it, so when we saw a billboard advertising the show I had to get tickets. It was a fun show, staring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette, who played off each other and the audience brilliantly. Although Chicago remained my favorite, my daughter thought this was the best show we saw our entire trip.

It was another late night dinner after the show, this time at Carmine's. I was still amazed that at 11:30 at night restaurants still had 30 minutes waits. The food at Carmine's is served family style, so like the pizza for lunch, we had to both agree on something. We chose the basic spaghetti marinara, and like most of the other food we have had in New York this was close to the best pasta I have had. (They have some competition in the Cook Islands.) I was so impressed by their food I bought their cookbook, and even the spaghetti and meatballs I made from the book were quite impressive.

* Tip - CVS has Dr Scholls foldable flats that fit into your purse and come in handy 1/2 across the Brooklyn Bridge.
            Stay away from Canal Street knock-offs, they are not cheap and kind of scary.


* Cost - Grimaldi's: peperoni pizza & 2 sodas = $18.00
              Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory: Chocolate Chunk & Chocolate = $8.00
              Jacques Torres: Chocolate Chip Cookie = $3.00
              Magnolia Bakery: 2 cupcakes = $5.50
              Carmine's: Marinara = $25.00