Sweet, tart dried cranberries. Earthy, bright apricots. Dark, crunchy walnuts. Smooth and creamy white chocolate – what is not to love?

I used Ina Garten’s White Chocolate Bark recipe for these beauties. The fruit-and-nut one, as you can see, is almost the same as hers. The only difference is that I toasted the walnuts before adding them to the chocolate.

That chocolate was good.

The rose-swirled chocolate is absolute joy for the senses. The colors are immediately striking. And the flavors. Oh the flavors. And the textures! The exotic perfume and rich sweetness of rose syrup contrasts absolutely perfectly with the crunchy, salty pistachios and coconut. The creamy white chocolate softly balances it all out.

Rose-swirled white chocolate bark

1/4 cup Rooh Afza syrup, or more to taste
1/4 cup roasted and salted pistachios
1/4 cup Sweetened flaked coconut, toasted till golden brown

Have all your materials next to you so you can work quickly. The chocolate has to be warm and unhardened so that the swirl will work and the nuts will adhere. You’ve got a 60 second window before it starts getting to solid to change.

Melt the white chocolate according to Ina Garten’s recipe and spread it on a large piece of parchment paper.

Drizzle the Rooh Afza over the chocolate. The syrup is very thick, so it helps to pour it out of the big bottle into a smaller vessel for more control while pouring. Also, don’t hold the vessel too close to the chocolate while pouring – raise your hand at least 6 inches above to get a thin stream. Use a skewer or butter knife to swirl the syrup around the white chocolate.

Sprinkle the pistachios and toasted coconut on top and press (very) lightly.

Keep the chocolate in a cool place until it hardens. Crack or cut into large pieces to serve.

If anyone knows me, Sara, or Ayesha, you know that we’re each obsessed with food. If you put any two of us together, the effect is compounded. If you put ALL THREE of us together – there is an exponential explosion of food.

That’s what happened when Ayesha came down to a Raleigh for a friend’s wedding. We had been planning what to make for weeks beforehand and finally settled on a high tea so we could make a lot of different little things. We spent all day cooking up a storm.

Also, our cameras got to visit each other. All pictures in this post are taken by me, Ayesha, or Sara, on one of our cameras. Whoever was the closest to a camera and had the least flour on their hands took the picture.

The menu was as follows:

Savories
Chipotle Grilled Shrimp and Mango Kabobs
Roasted Vegetable and Fontina Paninis with Chipotle Mayo
Mini quiches – bacon and cheese, spinach and cheese
Fruit and nut salad with homemade candied walnuts and raspberry-balsamic vinaigrette.

Sweets
Scones with lemon curd and cream
Mini tarts with vanilla custard and strawberries
Jam thumbprint cookies, assorted flavors
Chocolate truffles

Awwwww yeah baby. And the insanity behind making all this food….let’s get started.

Firstly, the salad. I saw the recipe for making homemade candied walnuts on the Tiny Kitchen and we wanted to try them. The process seemed simple enough – melt sugar until it turns brown, add butter, mix in walnuts. Easy, right? Simple raspberry vinaigrette – easy peasy!

Deception. Lies and slander.

Thus also began the trek of Sara running back and forth from her house (across the street) because we kept forgetting ingredients. We almost wrote an epic poem. Thankfully, it all turned out well after multiple tries!

Well. Let’s let the pictures tell the story. Click the first on the left for the lightbox gallery. Make sure to read the captions.

Then, there were the phenomenal chipotle grilled shrimp and mango kabobs. Sara wanted to try a tropical fruit with the shrimp, and mango seemed perfect. I’ve also now gotten Sara and Ayesha hooked on the wonders of chipotle-in-adobo. We mirrored the chipotle in the kabobs with chipotle mayo in the roasted veggie sandwiches. We roasted eggplant, zuchinni, red bell pepper, and red onions (the latter with balsamic vinegar) and then made them into paninis with fontina cheese.

We made two types of quiche – one with a really delicious halal bacon that Ayesha brought from Maryland, and the other with spinach and cheese. Ayesha put little tart dough circles into my mini muffin pan, filled with the different flavors and egg (dough still raw), and baked.

These were relatively low stress after the spinach-caramel and exploding vinaigrette fiascos.

I had made Ina Garten’s Jam Thumbprint cookie dough the night before. It’s a cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread – more like the latter….i.e. it’s phenomenal. Sara and I filled the cookies with strawberry jam, dulce de leche, and chocolate chips (because Musa wanted chocolate ones). The strawberry were the best. The dulce were good, but the dulce got a little too brown while they were in the oven.

The little vanilla custard tarts were just cute. Ayesha cut out the pie crust for the tarts and baked them in the mini muffin pan. We let them cool and filled them with the cream and topped with a slice of strawberry.

Ayesha made her phenomenal scones again (how does she do it? she just throws stuff in a bowl and scones emerge from the oven. BOOM. BOOM. FIYAPOWAAAA) (You have to be super cool to know where that comes from). I made lemon curd and Ayesha made clotted cream.

Ayesha also made really yummy chocolate truffles. We though they would be too soft, but after a trip to the fridge, they were fine.

Awesome, right? Yeah. That’s what I thought.

Of course, we only remembered to make the “tea” part of the high tea when we sat down to eat. We ate with Uncle Wahaj and Auntie Sarwat (Ayesha’s parents) and my parents. My dad summed it up nicely – “See, this is why we had daughters. If we had sons and we asked for some tea, they’d say….okay let’s go to Starbucks.”

yay!

Let it be known – pineapple upside down cake does not have a monopoly on overturned baked goods. You can do it with any fruit! I had some fresh pears and strawberries and blueberries, so I used the Pear-Cranberry upside down cake recipe from my Martha Stewart cookbook (don’t worry, I only have one). The berries got really soft and turned gooey at the edges, but it still tasted great and looked beautiful.

Pear berry upside down cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart Living 2002 Annual Recipes

12 tbs (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
3 firm but ripe pears
1 cup berries
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 2 lemons
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 large eggs
1 cup milk, room temp.

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare pan: I used a 10-inch springform pan, lined with wax paper. You want to do this for three reasons: (1) easy cleanup, (2) can flip without messing up the top of the cake, and (3) creates a seal so the melted brown sugar and butter doesn’t leak out the bottom of the springform pan.

It’s really easy to line the bottom of a springform. Step 1: Put down the removable bottom on the counter. Step 2: lay down a large sheet of wax paper on top of the bottom with some serious overlap. Step 3: put the sides/shell on top of the bottom and lock it – this will tear/shape the wax paper perfectly onto the bottom. Trim off any spare edges.

Spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray. Melt 6 tbs butter + 3/4 cup brown sugar over medium heat and cook for about 6 minutes until it all comes together. Pour it into the 10-inch springform pan.

2. Arrange the thinly sliced pears and 1/2 cup of berries on top of the brown sugar and butter mixture. Martha said to coat with lemon juice, but I think I just put the juice into the batter. I don’t remember – but I know I definitely did not coat.

3. Sift together all dry ingredients except sugar (flower, baking powder, salt, cinnamon) in a bowl.

4. Beat together the rest of the butter (6 tbs) and 1 cup brown sugar until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. It might look a little curdled. Don’t panic, just add some of the flour mixture.

5. Alternate adding milk and flour mixture. Stir in 1/2 cup berries and lemon zest into the batter. Gently pour the batter over the fruit.

6. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

7. To invert: let it sit for a few minutes, and then run a knife around the sides. Flip it over onto a plate, unclasp and remove the edges of the springform pan. Take off the metal bottom and gently peel away the wax paper. If anything stuck onto the pan, the sugar should still be hot enough that you can just spoon it back onto the surface of the cake.

I had a really hard week. Indescribably crazy. But, it’s amazing how much people are willing to help if you’re willing to ask. Prayer has a remarkable way of calming me down. And then, my friends and family really came through for me. Even though I was stressed, I never felt alone. My gratitude and love to all of you – you know who you are.

On Tuesday, I just needed chocolate. I bought two mini Reese’s cups and a Dove bar and made a lunch of them. (yeah, it was that kind of week by Tuesday). But, to my surprise, when I got home – these beauties were waiting in the mailbox for me. Sara! I had told her about my chocolate craving earlier and she surprised me with these delicious things. They’re like huge cookies, soft like cake, with gobs of smooth frosting in the middle. Seriously. If I ever become President, these must be served at the Inaugural Ball. I call them “Sara’s cake-cookies of chocolate happiness.” I’ll let her tell you how she made them!

Simple, fresh, and I can’t believe I haven’t been making it this way forever.

Fresh Berries
Maple Syrup (real kind, please)
Yogurt
Cinnamon

Wash the first ingredient. Mix the next three. Pour yogurt on top of berries. Devour three bowls of it.

Guest post by one of my cooking partners in crime, Sara Haddad. Every time we spoke over the past two weeks (no kidding, every time), we talked about making these lemon curd and berry cream mini cheesecakes for a party last week – they were an absolute hit. We used this recipe and they turned out excellent.

For the lemon curd, we used this recipe. For the berry cream, we drained a bag of frozen berries and reserved the juice. Then, we simmered it until it reduced by at least half, then added light cream to it (off the heat). We let it reduced a little bit again, then let it cool. It was poured onto the cheesecakes at the last moment before serving, then those were topped with grated white chocolate.

And now, here’s Sara!

Once upon a time, two young women were studying hard for their exams in a small quaint cafe. One young woman was a brilliant up and coming lawyer, the other was a frazzled Chemical Engineering student. They decided to have a party. But not just any party, this party was to be the best in all the land…well the best in food at least. So they began to plan…

One day the Law School Student took notice of a scrumptious aroma outside the coffeeshop and followed her to where her senses led her, and alas! It was a bakery and two women marveled at the delicious deserts within the case, but without fail they did not purchase anything. During a study “break” the Chemical Engineering student burst out with excitement: WE SHALL MAKE MINI CHEESECAKES! And the Law School student continued on to say: AND WE SHALL TOP WITH THEM WITH BERRIES AND LEMON CURD! And the scheming ensued….

As the weeks went to pass, they celebrated Eid. Every conversation without fail had something to do with the mini cheesecakes. With the date of the party nearing, what else was there to discuss? They found a recipe and the day before the party attempted to bake cheesecake.

‘Twas a dreary day, with the threat of tornados at hand, the worked tirelessly in the kitchen preparing. The crust was made out of vanilla wafers ground up to dust, mixed in with cinnamon and butter to make to the consistency of a soft dough. Once complete the mix of the cream cheese and sour cream was poured into the now compacted (with a meat tenderizer) crust.

Each tray looked like a piece of Good God, wrapped with some Have Mercy and topped off with some UMPH! and was placed in a water bath and baked in the oven at a temperature of 350 degrees Fahrenheit (or ~176.67 °C or 449.82 K to satisfy the nerd in me). After about an hour the young women realized that the cakes had not yet completed their run in the heated dragon’s belly and so they debated on what to do since they had to complete their own personal tasks. The decision was made to leave them in for 10 more minutes with the oven on and then to leave them in there to bake with the heat remaining for about three hours. This proved to be a successful idea and the cheesecakes were perfected. [TQ's note - this "leave it in the turned-off oven" baking method produced such soft and creamy cheesecake that I think I'll have to keep experimenting with it to get it perfect and make it my permanent method.]

Now, onto the part of making them ‘mini’. The next day, these young women proved to be inventive in their ideas and through the help of biscuit cutters and boiling water the cheesecakes were cut. [TQ - The cutters cut best when they're hot] The Law School Student put the definition of these cheesecakes next to KABLAAM in the dictionary through the addition of lemon curd and berries with berry cream sauce to top it all off. The creaminess of the cheesecakes combined with slight hint of the cinnamon in the crust was supreme.

The two young women were able to pull off a task not yet attempted by any of their friends and the mini cheesecakes eclipsed the focus of the party and at some point were more fun to look at than eat…Just. kidding.

It’s not unusual to have fun at any time….

Your Local Arab Mehdni cab driver

aka Sara Haddad

Welcome to another installment of “Taiyyaba takes the credit, Betty Crocker does the work.”

Remember the mini pineapple upside down bundt cakes? They’re amazing at parties, because you bring out these little jewels and people think you’ve been slaving in the kitchen all day long. (Don’t tell them it took you all of 15 minutes active time to make).

Using the same concept of a butter-sugar caramel coating some kind of treat at the top of the cake, I made this pecan cake for my father in law (a nut-o-phile). The pecans came out crispy-chewy, coated with a sticky caramel, and the batter was just a plain old spice cake mix. The final cake looks spectacular, but no one has to know it only took you 10 minutes to put together!

Recipe here (more…)

I have two confessions to make.

(1) I’m sneaky. I like to bake, but I don’t have time to make amazing cakes from scratch (even though I have this jaw dropping book that i love to read for fun).

(2) I *love* caramel, especially with fruit. Pineapple upside down cake is one of my favorites – the drizzly brown sugar that coats the sour-sweet pineapple and bakes until the edges get all chewy. *sigh*

So, to solve these problems, I’ve learned that you can do spectacular things with a box cake mix if you just shake things up a little bit. My mom got me this mini bundt cake pan – it has six tiny bundt cake molds and one box cake mix can make at least twelve little cakes total. These cakes look super fancy, but they really are just fancy cupcakes. Pineapple upside down cake is perfect for this pan, because one pineapple ring fits perfectly in the bottom.

I love this with pineapple, but I ran out of pineapple rings and still had more batter – I subbed apple rings and found out that this works great with apples too. I’m basically using the side of the box, low fat version of a boxed pineapple cake mix – all that makes this fancy is the shape!

Recipe here: (more…)

Dates are a staple of every Ramadan iftar. It just doesn’t feel like Ramadan unless you eat one of these soft, chewy, super sweet fruits. (I don’t consider those icky dry, pitted things you get in a plastic container from the grocery store to be real dates. Real dates are the big thick Medjool ones.)

Now, if you have dates like the ones we got as a gift this Ramadan, fresh on the vine, you want to just sit back and eat five or six of them with a cup of tea. These have a fragrance and texture unlike anything I’ve ever eaten – soft and perfumy, candy-sweet without being overpowering. Delicious, Subhanallah! (Thanks 3mmo and Fatimah!)

But the normal date eating can get a little boring, or at least too sweet after a while. Enter my friend Amna Baloch, who suggested filling the dates with Cool Whip. Oh. My. God. Long live Amna and may she be happy and healthy all her days InshAllah. The Cool Whip cuts tempers the sweetness of the dates a little bit with a pleasing creamy texture and it’s a surprising change from the regular iftar staple. My father in law especially loved these.

Before I introduce the recipe, I have to tell you about the Cool Whip trick.

The Cool Whip Trick: I’m sorry to say that I learned this trick from Sandra Lee, the terrifyingly annoying Stepford Wife Food Network TV Show host – but it’s an amazing trick. Giving credit where credit is due. Into 8 oz (one small container of Cool Whip) pour in two to three capfuls of vanilla extract and fold it in gently, taking care not to break the Cool Whip. Taste it – doesn’t it taste like you stood there and whipped some heavy whipping cream into soft peaks and softly folded in some sugar and vanilla? Use this wherever you’d use whipping cream – there’s no plasticy-artificial flavor that Cool Whip can sometimes get.

8 oz Cool Whip, defrosted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 to 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
Medjool dates (the big fat ones)

Pitting the dates – Using a sharp knife, make a lengthwise incision in a date. Don’t cut all the way through – you might actually be able to feel the pit as you cut. The date will quite obligingly split open. Remove the pit with your fingers and kind of open the date, making sure you don’t split it from the back.

Mix the Cool Whip with the vanilla and fold in some toasted chopped walnuts. (I used about 1/4 cup for half a Cool Whip container).

Fill it into a plastic ziptop bag and snip off the top. (fold the top down about 1 or 2 inches, then scoop in the cream. Fold the top back up and zip closed – see? no mess! Push all the cream to one corner of the bag. Snip off a very little bit from the tip and hold the cone gently in your cupped palm).

Take the pitted, split date in one hand and very gently squeeze some Cool Whip mixture into each (it only needs about a teaspoon).

Refrigerate until iftar time! You can make these an hour or so ahead of serving.

I. Love. This. Dessert. I love it. I asked my mom to show me how to make it this weekend – and here it is! This is a Pakistani version of bread pudding made with sandwich bread instead of chunks of a more airy loaf. There are two keys to this dish: golden brown, crispy toast that soak up the sweet saffron-cardamom cream. The toasts are then served in a little pool of saffron cream, sprinkled with bright green pistachios.

Shahi Tukray literally translated, means “Royal pieces.” Shahi comes from the Persian word Shah, king. When it’s used to describe something – food, a monument, some land – it designates that this is something of the Mughal era (or at least something hoping to be associated as such!) As it relates to food, Shahi foods are rich, made with a lot of sugar, cream, meat, and butter to evoke the wealth of the kings. Examples: Shahi Haleem, a rich meat and lentil stew; Shahi Nehari, another rich and luscious meat stew, Shahi Pilau, a sweet-savory rice dish where rice is cooked in broth, then mixed with shredded carrots and plump raisins – sometimes a quarter to a half of it is removed and sweetened with sugar before being mixed back into the savory rice.

Shahi Tukray are no exception to the norm of richness. I crispen the toasts under the broiler, but the old way was to fry each one in butter on both sides. There’s a lot of cream, butter, and zaafran (saffron – which isn’t as rare in Pakistan as it is here, because it’s farmed in Kashmir, but it’s not cheap, either). You can use more or less milk, depending on how much saffron cream you want with each serving. I like quite a bit, so I usually use more milk or cream than other people. Toast, in urdu, is called “Double Roti” – Double Bread. Thus, this dish is also known, colloquially, as “Double ka Meetha” – Toast dessert.

Side note – Do you know why saffron is so expensive? Because saffron threads are actually the dried stigma of a very specific kind of crocus flower which is native to Southeast Asia. The stigmas have to be handpicked out, and each flower produces only three. If I was doing that, I’d make it the most expensive spice in the world too.

Click for the recipe and lots more pretty pictures!
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