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tadpolesonalgae · 3 months

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Pools of Sunlight

Cassian x reader

A/N: just a short piece, but I hope it gives some comfort :)

Word count: 753

Sunlight pushes through your lids, eyes scrunching as you pull yourself tighter beneath the blankets, curling closer to the bone-deep warmth of the duvet.

Shadow falls over you, and you manage to crack your eyes open drearily, sleep making your lids feel thick and heavy. Warm hazel is watching you quietly, the edges of his mouth softened, the morning light adding a honey-like quality to his eyes as he gazes at you. Your attention drifts up to where the shadow is mercifully coming from, his wing held slightly aloft in the air, shade from the sun.

Eyes return to bright but soft hazel, tan skin seemingly warmer with a morning flush, and you manage a sleepy smile, rolling closer. Thick, muscular arms wrap around your torso, dipping beneath your ribs as he shifts to his side, allowing you to press against the hot, bare skin of his chest.

Habitually, you’re pulling his scent deeper, memorising every new second with him, committing every moment to memory, precious time kept deep in the chambers of your mind for whenever cloudy days settle, or he’s taken away for longer than usual.

The pads of your fingers trace his skin, pulling over toughened scar tissue, a faint waxy sheen over the healed wound, and you press a kiss to its peak. His own broad palms begin to wander, one cupping the crown of your head, stroking your hair lethargically, thumb soothing over the notches of your spine further down.

“Morning,” he murmurs into the warm quiet, lips brushing over your skin with the hushed greeting. You hum pleasantly, nosing at his throat, settling deeper into the lines of his body like you might find a way to press entirely against him, so not a single part of you is detached. “Morning, Cass,” you mumble back, content to rest for a while more before making the journey out of bed. He must settle with your choice, as he makes no move to push back the covers, despite the sun already being up.

“What time is it?” You ask sleepily, a faint frown between your eyes.

“No idea,” he replies, inhaling softly, no doubt indulging in your own scent, one he tells you he would drink pure if he were able to liquefy it. Crisp and clean; soft and sweet.

“You have training this morning,” you manage to mumble, frown abating when his palm settles over your back, seemingly desiring contact as much as you do. “Az can manage for today,” he soothes, kissing the crown of your head. “Besides, I like to think I’m good company.”

A husky laugh tumbles from your lips, throat raspy from sleep, and you tilt your head up to meet his gaze. Deep, swirling hazel, flecks of dusty greens making a circuit around the centre of his iris, held in by a ring of rich brown, like the piping liquid of freshly made tea. The laughter fades, and you regard each other quietly, mouths soft and alluring.

You meet in the middle, warm lips slanting against one another, sweet and tender as sunlight pools on the covers.

You pull away, palm splaying openly across his chest, the reassuring pulse of his heart echoing up fingertips and into your arms. “Taking the morning off?” You murmur hopefully, legs twining with his own. “If that’s what you’d like,” he replies, a faint trace of a chuckle in his deep, sleep-roughened voice. A smile tugs at your mouth, curling closer into him. “What about a day?” You ask, a tone of scandal entering your question.

He watches you for a little, before his features shift into a set of resignation, smiling faintly. “If that’s what you want.”

At his reply your frown, pulling away a little. “I want you to want to spend a day with me,” you mumble, rubbing your eyes, covering your mouth as you yawn. He laughs lowly, the noise melting across your breast bone like butter and syrup.

“I want to spend the day with you,” he chuckles, wing curving over you, pulling you into the space that’s opened up. “I want to spend a lifetime with you.”

You relent, softening back into his arms, pushing into his heat, melding with his form. “Any lifetime?” You ask, and you can practically hear as he rolls his eyes, fingers skating up your sides ticklishly, making you laugh and squirm, before coming to a rest on your bare skin.

“My lifetime,” he murmurs, laughter brightening his smile, eyes twinkling. “Our lifetimes.”

general taglist: @myheartfollower @tcris2020 @mali22 @amygdtjhddzvb @sfhsgrad-blog @needylilgal022 @hannzoaks @hnyclover @skyesayshi @nyotamalfoy

#cassian x reader #cassian drabble

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bloodredwolfsbane · 1 year

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So Perfect ✨🍪

bf!Bucky x baker!female!reader

Reader wants to bake something sweet but life gets in the way, what does her sweetheart boyfriend?

Warning: Fluff, slight swearing, Bucky being the sweetest embodiment of sunshine, kissing (wholesome stuff tho)

Btw, pictures are from Pinterest and dividers and from @firefly-graphics ,if anyone's wondering

"Ah shit!"

Your voice echoed in your kitchen, catching the attention of one super soldier and one furry feline. You turn around as the sound of footsteps grows louder.

"Sweetheart you okay?"

"Yeah I'm okay Buck, just knocked over the baking tray", you sighed. He slowly let out a sigh of relief, seeing that you were unhurt. "Sorry if I startled you, you to Alpine" you chuckled as you felt the white ball of fluff rub against your leg. Bucky's lips split into a small but content small as he gaze was filled with nothing but pure adoration and love for you (and Alpine ofc).

"So what's with the baking tray, you making something?"

"Yup, I thought of making some double chocolate chip cookies today" you replied with a toothy grin.

"God, I haven't had them in ages, the cold weather has really made me crave these things recently"

Ding!! You both turn at the sound of your phone, you reach across the counter top, God dammit, why today of all days, you think. He notices the way your cheery smile melted away.

“Hey what’s wrong? Did something happen?”

You start running around the apartment, gathering everything you need to head to the bakery.

“Yes, we had a pretty big order to do for a party happening this afternoon, my manager just called me in cuz someone didn’t come into work today” You tell him right before giving him a peck on the cheek.

“Sorry I have to leave like this but I’ll try to be back as soon as possible, bye sweetie”

And before he knew it you were already slamming the door shut.

“Guess it’s just me and you for today, huh buddy” he whispers to the furball, but just before he left the kitchen, he was struck with a brilliant idea.

“It can’t be that hard”

Biggest understatement of 2023…

“Babe I’m home…”, your words slowly drift away as you take in your surroundings.

You get back to a scene that can be only described as a room rampaged by a tornado. Sludges that slightly resemble attempts at cookie dough on the floor and the counter top, some unknown liquid splashed near the microwave (probably melted butter by the smell of it).

"Heyyyy love…” you start, your eyes wander around the place and then back to your sulking boyfriend, sitting on the floor, back against the fridge, looking like a kicked puppy. God, your heart clenched in your chest as you stepped closer to your love. As you stepped closer you noticed tiny brown nibs gathered in his hand as he continued chewing. Then it all clicked.

“Whatcha got there?” you questioned with a soft smile. “Chocolate chips, apparently ready made ingredients are the only thing I can be trusted with, cuz I can’t change them and burn the kitchen down like 25 times in the process.” He paused, pondering on the question if he should admit his failure or just wallow in silence until the topic changes. He reluctantly chose the first option.

“I attempted making those cookies you love and as you can clearly tell my cooking skills are shit, I’m sorry for messing up the kitchen”

You stood there in silence, ignoring the fact that it only made Bucky's anxiety spike.

“You were trying to make those cookies… for me?”

Your heart melted, if anyone was to look into your eyes they'd swear they saw little hearts, floating around in them every time you laid eyes on him. Especially at this moment. You didn’t know what to do first, kiss him, hug him, let him know everything was fine, tell him we can clean up together. Where your heart once was, was now a, what you envisioned to be, a puddle of goo, resembling the cookie dough Bucky was getting out of the fridge.

“I bought this first in case things went south as they so clearly did” she nervously chuckled while signalling to the mess around them.

"I know it won't be the same but I wanted to make you something to show my appreciation, and I thought you’d be tired after all the work you did today"

You didn’t care. The mess around them could wait, you thought. This was perfect. The soft brown curls framing his face, the way his gaze lingered like hers, the melted chocolate lightly lining the rim of his soft cupid’s bow, the way his wrinkled forehead glistened with sweat, a thin dusting of flour sticking to his jawline. You could go on and on. Everything felt just right. Your hand came out to clasp the box, placing it on the counter top alongside the clutter. Bucky's eyes slowly followed your movement, confused by his sweetheart's action.

Your hands now reached out to his face, bringing his face closer… and closer… until the space between them vanished as their lips were flush against each other. Taken by surprise, it took him a solid second to respond by closing his eyes and melting into your warm, _ touch, his hands - one warm and one cold - slowly gliding up to cup your reddened cheeks.

Every single thought in his head vanished into a cloud of smoke, it became hazy. A feeling of utter euphoria took over as his anxious thoughts disappeared one by one. But your head was swimming with thoughts, how his well kept-beard pricked your fingers, how he smells and tastes of a hint of chocolate, how his shallow - almost winded breaths was seraphic music to your ears. The thought of breathing slowly entered your mind as your lack of oxygen was beginning to become more clear, but you didn’t want it to stop. You wanted to take a picture of this precious moment and keep it in your mind, where it’ll shine like gold in your memories. You two finally pulled apart, already missing each others’ warmth after what felt like hours. Oxygen finally came back as the _ silence was interrupted by your laboured breaths…

You were the first to speak.

"God I think I just fell in love with you all over again"

The way Bucky looked at you was ineffable. This time it was his eyes that were filled to the brim with floating hearts. He slowly grinned and you swear his face was just lit up by invisible spot lights.

“You look so pretty when you smile” you whisper, not wanting to disturb the moment, as you tapped his scrunched nose.

He chuckles.

“Not prettier than you sweetheart”

"Thank you” you whispered, not wanting to disrupt the calm and quiet of their little kitchen. Not wanting to disrupt the Bucky's unfaltering gaze into the deep caverns of your magnificent eyes. You gazed back into his deep sea ones, your burning gaze then slowly drifting to his soft lips, then his rosy cheeks, then back to the cerulean eyes. If you were told he was just a figment of your imagination, you'd have believed it. Because there is no way that a being so perfect as him could exist on the same plane as you.

“No problem”

This is my first time posting the stuff I write so I hope y'all enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it 💖

@bit-dodgy-innit and @pleasurebuttonwrites finally posted this, thank you for your advice 💖

@jadedvibes this was a super fun challenge, thanks for setting this up 😁

#fallinginlovechallenge #bucky x reader #baker!reader #marvel #mcu #bucky fluff #jadedvibes

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castletown-cafe · 1 year

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Castletown Café Episode 20: Spider Donut

Ahuhuhu...I seem to have lost track of time. Has it really been three weeks!? Oops. But I didn’t want to wait a whole year to post these, even though I did learn quite a lot while making them. I’ll have to remake these next October so the glaze is more purple than black!

It was only a matter of time before Undertale recipes made their way into this Deltarune-inspired cooking blog, given they share the same creator and are alternate universes or timelines of each other. Here in the Castletown Café, we’re very familiar with Muffet’s Spider Donuts: made by spiders, for spiders...of spiders. Indeed, Muffet is a known cannibal, not only eating small regular spiders but also shown to try to eat other monsters (and one human) by turning them into baked goods. Whether or not she has successfully done that, we don’t know...

There are no spiders or monsters in these donuts; just flour, eggs, sugar, the usual ingredients for baked cake donuts. The description of Spider Donuts state that they’re made with fresh Spider Cider in the batter, so we’re using the next best thing: apple cider!

Many apple cider donut recipes call for reducing the apple cider by heating it over the stove and letting it simmer down to just a smaller amount, usually half a cup. This is done to reduce the amount of liquid that goes into the batter as well as to pack the donuts full of that apple cider flavor!

The recipe I followed from Sally’s Baking Addiction included apple pie spice - something I don’t have - so I made my own by combining cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice, and ginger. The exact measurements of each will be listed in the recipe.

I created my own recipe for blueberry glaze by cooking frozen blueberries, blending that into puree, and then adding powdered sugar and a little melted butter. If there is anything I’ve learned from creating my own glaze recipe, it is to SIFT YOUR POWDERED SUGAR FIRST! Otherwise you’ll have lumps in your glaze that heating it up won’t fix! I’d sift it at least twice to get most of the lumps out before adding it to the blueberry puree.

Unfortunately, this glaze was too dark - so although blueberry puree sounded like a good idea (and maybe if it was fresh instead of frozen or less puree was used, maybe the colors would have been brighter), maybe it should be something else, like blackberry - or just basic vanilla glaze with food coloring added. I need to experiment first.

The webs are super easy: just melt white chocolate chips, fill a piping bag, and pipe on your white chocolate spider webs! You can use the microwave or a double boiler, but be careful if you choose the microwave because you can burn it easily that way. You can make your own “makeshift double boiler” by filling a saucepan with water and placing the lid of the right size upside down over the water so you can pour the white chocolate into it and use that as a shallow dish.

Liiike this!

As you can see, it needs to be a metal saucepan with a matching metal lid, not glass, and no hole(s) in it for steam to escape. Idk if they still make lidded saucepans with metal, holeless lids, come to think of it...since I use several that are part of a set made in the 70′s!

SPIDER DONUTS:

2 cups (or 250g) all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 and 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/8 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Sprinkle of ground clove

1/4 tsp salt

1 and 1/2 cups (or 360ml) apple cider - reduced down to 1/2 cup (or 120 ml)

1 large room temperature egg

1/2 cup (or 120 ml) room temperature milk

2 tablespoons (or 30g, or 1/4 stick) melted unsalted butter

1/2 cup (or 100 g) packed brown sugar, light or dark works fine (I used dark)

1/2 (or 100g) cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze:

2 or 3 tablespoons blueberry puree

1 cup (or 200g?) powdered sugar

2 tablespoons (or 30 g, or 1/4 stick) melted unsalted butter

Topping:

About 1 cup (or 200 g?) white chocolate chips, melted

Heat your apple cider in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Have it simmer for up to 10 minutes or more, stirring occasionally. Keep checking every 5 minutes afterward to make sure it’s evaporating. You’re likely to still have a bit more than 1/2 cup after 20-30 minutes, that’s okay. Pour the reduced cider into a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and feel free to drink whatever’s left.

While the reduced cider cools, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (or 177 degrees C) and grease your donut pans (you’ll need at least two 6-cavity donut pans).

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together and set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter, egg, brown and granulated sugars, vanilla, and milk. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir together while slowly pouring in the cooled apple cider reduction. Stir until fully combined and no streaks of dry flour remain. Your batter will be slightly thick. Do not overmix, it affects the texture.

Spoon or pour the batter into the donut cavities. I just scooped it in, but you can try using a piping bag, which is recommended in most cake donut recipes!

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until fully risen and not shiny. The tops should be a nice golden brown, and a toothpick inserted in should come out clean. Also, if it springs back when you poke it, that’s another sign they’re done. Use whatever testing method works best for you.

While you wait for the donuts to cool, get the ingredients ready for the glaze! Combine 1 cup (200 g?) of frozen blueberries in a saucepan with 2 to 3 tablespoons of water. Cook over medium-high heat and let the berries bubble for a few minutes. Once fully cooked and a nice hot berry sauce has formed, remove from heat.

Have it cool a little before pouring it into a blender or food processor. With the puree setting, blend until smooth. Measure out 2 or 3 tablespoons of blueberry puree and add to a bowl.

Sift your powdered sugar a couple of times before adding it to your blueberry puree. Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter and add it to your glaze mixture, stirring until your glaze forms.

Dunk cooled donuts halfway into the glaze to frost the tops. Let dry while you melt your white chocolate.

Over medium heat, heat water in a saucepan and place a fitting holeless metal lid upside down over the water - or just use a double boiler if you have one.

Pour the white chocolate chips into your saucepan lid/double boiler and let melt, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on your chocolate so that it doesn’t burn.

Once your chocolate is fully melted, scoop into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip (you can fill your piping bag by placing it tip side down in a glass so it stands upright, keeping it open by curling the ends around the rim of your glass). Pipe white chocolate spider webs onto your donuts, working quickly before the white chocolate hardens back up again.

Ta-da! You now have delicious apple cider donuts with blueberry glaze and white chocolate spider webs! A multitude of flavors all wrapped up in one Spider Donut - hold the spiders.

Sources:

???, Sally, “Baked Apple Cider Donuts”, Sally’s Baking Addiction, sallysbakingaddiction.com, 9/14/2018. Link: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/baked-apple-cider-donuts/

Jeanne McDowell, Erin, “Baked Apple Cider Doughnuts”, The New York Times, cooking.nytimes.com. Link: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1019593-baked-apple-cider-doughnuts

Zhang, Catherine, “Baked Blueberry Glazed Donuts”, Catherine Zhang, zhangcatherine.com, 5/24/2021. Link: https://zhangcatherine.com/baked-blueberry-donuts/

#castletown cafe #undertale #undertale recipe #spider donut #undertale food #undertale inspired recipe #undertale muffet #muffet undertale #muffet #spidrdont #apple cider donut #white chocolate #donut #doughnuts #apple cider doughnut #blueberry glaze #my art #not 100% my recipe #sallys baking addiction

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mutantenfisch · 10 months

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Veggie lasagna with kohlrabi pesto and kohlrabi carrot salad

These are basically 2 and a half recipes in one, so I try to group the respective ingredients together to make it more comprehensible.

You need: for the salad: - 1 big or 2 smaller kohlrabi - 2-3 carrots - 1 cup of yoghurt or crème fraiche - 2-3 table spoons of honey or molasses - 1-2 table spoons of white balsam vinegar - salt and pepper

for the lasagna and the pesto: - 10 lasagna sheets - cheese for covering - ca 50 g of hard cheese (pecorino, parmigiano or mountain cheese), grated - 1 can of chopped tomatoes - 1 package of tomato puree - 2 onions - garlic (the amount is YES, so at least 3 cloves) - cooking oil for the bolognese - 2 big carrots or 3 smaller ones - 2 table spoons of tomato paste - the leaves of the kohlrabi plus some more leaves if you can get them - ca 50 g of butter or cooking oil - 200 ml milk or plant-based cooking cream - 50-100g white flour - 150 g cashews - salt, pepper, Italian dried herb mix For the salad 1. remove the leaves from the kohlrabi, rinse both under cool water, put aside leaves. 2. peel the kohlrabi and grate it roughly. Repeat procedure with the carrots. Put both in a salad bowl. 3. mix remaining ingredients in a cup until evenly combined, add to bowl, mix vigorously and cover with a lid to let it sit in the fridge until you're done with the lasagna and the flavour has intensified. Continue with the lasagna and pesto 1. remove stems from the leaves an put aside (you can sautee and fry them but the taste is not to everyone's liking), chop leaves into strips. 2. fill water in a kettle and bring it to a boil, pour into pot and add leaves, let them sautee for 2-3 minutes until they change colour and you can smell them. Pour water away or pour it in a bucket for watering your plants when cooled down (our keep it to make stock), but empty the pot because you'll need it but we'll get to that. 3. peel 2 garlic cloves and crush them. Put sauteed leaves, garlic cloves, 1-2 table spoons of cooking oil, hard cheese and cashews into a blender. Blend until homogenous, add water if too thick. Add twice as much salt as you think is good and as much pepper. Pesto is done! 4. peel and chop the onions and 2 more cloves of garlic, cut the remaining carrots into very fine cubes or just into bite sized pieces (5mm-1cm cubes) if you're not willing to spend 15 minutes cutting carrots. I was, so they are very fine. 5. heat some oil in pan on low to medium heat, add the veggies you just chopped and let them brown very slightly, also add 2 table spoons of tomato paste. Grease a casserole in the meantime. 6. melt some butter in the pot from the pesto procedure. When it has liquefied, add flour little by little while stirring continuously until it has become pasty. Continue stirring until flour begins to change colour, stir in the milk and keep stirring until it has become slightly viscous and begins bubbling a little bit. I know this is not the real Bechamel sauce, but it's good enough and doesn't take long to make. If you want, you can add a little nutmeg. Take away from heat and add pesto from the blender, mixing it evenly. 7. the pan with the veggies should be beginning to brown now, pour in a can of chopped tomatoes and tomato puree and stir to get any stuff sticking to the pan off. Add salt, pepper and a generous sprinkle of dried herbs. Let simmer until liquid has reduced a little bit. 8. time to assemble the lasagna! Take your casserole and a ladle, and ladle one portion of the red sauce into the casserole. Cover with lasagna sheets and don't be afraid to break them into pieces to make them fit! Continue with green sauce, which you cover with more red sauce. Then another layer of lasagna sheets and so on until your sheets are used up or you run out of sauce. The final layer should be of sauce, regardless, which you cover with the non-hard cheese. 9. put lasagna into oven at 180°C/356°F and let it bake for ca 30-35 minutes on the middle rack. If your casserole is very full, I advise you to put a baking tray under it to prevent sauce or cheese from dripping down while the lasagna sheets expand during baking. While it is baking, you can use the time to clean your kitchen or at least put all the stuff you've used into the dishwasher and wipe the surfaces. :D Then, you're good to go to enjoy a hearty and filling meal that serves 3-4 people. Tip: you can add sunflower seeds to the tomato sauce for some extra crunch. You can also fill any remainders of sauce (depending on how much it turns out to be) into airtight containers and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days for some ready-made sauce that only needs heating.

#mutantenfisch cooks #recipe #vegetarian cooking #kohlrabi #a word of advice: try to get fresh kohlrabi #it tends to get wooden when stored too long

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littlehen · 2 months

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Recipe: Butternut Squash Macaroni Cheese

This is based on a recipe for Brown Butter Sage Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese, by Palestinian home cook Mariam (aka Mxriyum):

I saw it on soothifying-sounds-asmr tumblr: link

Mariam's website with the written recipe: link

Having tried it, it was delicious! These are just my notes on how I would make it next time. The quantities were for 8 servings, in imperial measurements. I cross-checked with a very similar Nigella sweet potato mac & cheese (link) that I love, to create metric quantities for 4 servings.

Shopping List:

300g dry pasta - rigatoni, but I'd like to try it with a little shape like spiralli next time 60g butter Fresh sage, handful - didn't have fresh, so I used 1/2 tsp dried 400ml warm water - could add a little stock/bouillon/dashi

500g butternut squash (1 small squash) 1 garlic bulb 1 onion Olive oil, S&P, 1 tsp oregano I also added some brown sugar

60g grated mild cheddar 60g grated gouda/emmental 75g parmesan or feta (Plus another 25g of your favourite cheese to sprinkle on top)

Greens to serve (e.g. tenderstem broccoli)

Method:

1. Make the vegetable puree. You could do it in advance, either in the morning or the day before.

Pre-heat oven to Gas 6. On a baking sheet, lay out the vegetables. Squash: I sliced it in halves like in the video, but I think it'd cook more evenly (be softer, easier to mash) if chopped into big chunks. Onion: quartered. Both vegetables should be drizzled with olive oil, S&P, oregano - I also sprinkled some fine brown sugar because the recipe mentioned caramelisation, and I thought sugar might help with that.

Garlic bulb: slice off the top, so the tops of the cloves are exposed. Rub with oil and S&P, then enclose in a square of tinfoil.

Roast the veg for 35-40 mins. When ready, let it cool for 5-10 mins.

Blend all the veg, add splashes of warm water as needed, may need to do in batches.

You can now store the vegetable puree in the fridge until later.

The recipe emphasises saving the pasta water, but this means you can't make the puree until you've cooked the pasta, i.e. you have to do this complex and lengthy recipe all in one session. The only reason to use pasta water is because it contains starch that would thicken the sauce - I reckon the squash already has plenty of starch, and the liquid's purpose is to loosen, not thicken the puree. Therefore I think a jug of warm water would be fine here. You could flavour it with bouillon/dashi, but the veg is already so flavoursome after roasting, it doesn't need it. (If concerned about thickening, just use a little slurry of cornstarch or flour.)

Along with the salted pasta water, the recipe suggests onion powder and garlic powder. Again, if you've roasted an entire bulb of garlic, I'm not sure what garlic powder is adding? Plus, those powders usually contain salt - to reduce salt and keep it simple, I omitted those.

2. Grate all your cheese.

(I bought it ready-grated because I have weak wrists and I hate grating, lol.) Buying more than one kind of cheese is expensive, this would still be delicious with 120g of cheddar, but the Continental cheese adds a fun stretchy texture. The recipe also calls for a lot of parmesan (originally 4 oz / 113g for serving 8). I had some parmesan to use up, so I did use it, but parmesan is salty and expensive! The Nigella recipe uses feta, I think this would be an acceptable substitute, as it adds flavour but is cheaper.

3. Cook the pasta until al dente (1 or 2 minutes less than the cooking time on the packet).

Meanwhile, melt the butter over a medium heat in a light-coloured pan, so you can see when it's browning. When it starts foaming, add the sage. When the butter starts to get brown particles in it, remove to a heatproof container.

Strain the pasta, then add it back into the empty pasta cooking pot. Toss in the brown butter.

(Less washing up this way! Also: the brown butter certainly adds a lot of flavour, however you could do the whole recipe and skip the brown butter and it would still be a very tasty meal. Dairy products in the UK currently cost a small fortune, plus there are the calories - but then if you're worried about those, you probably should make a different dinner.)

4. In a large cooking pot, warm up the vegetable puree and simmer on low. Slowly add the cheese, and splashes of warm water as needed (pasta water here?) Taste and salt as needed.

5. (Step 4 is also a good time to start cooking your side dish of broccoli.)

6. Add the buttery pasta to the puree/sauce. Mix all together. Simmer 1 min.

7. Serve with leftover cheese on top, sage to garnish, broccoli on the side.

#dinner ideas #food #this one takes an entire afternoon to prepare

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kissagii · 1 year

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why you can't use vanilla extract in place of sugar, an essay

for @https-true-egoist

For the most part, ingredient substitutions in baking are perfectly fine - you find something similar to the ingredient you won't be using and occasionally make alterations to quantities to make sure you get all the right chemicals in yor recipe. But in the case of vanilla extract and sugar, the compounds are so fundamentally different that a substitution physically wouldn't work.

The first, most glaring issue, is that sugar is a solid while vanilla extract is a liquid. And while sometimes you can use a sugar syrup (eg honey or maple syrup) in place of some of your sugar, vanilla extract is essentially water. Thus, the substitution would essentially wreck the texture of whatever you were trying to make, and the texture of a batter is strangely important. Take the time I used water in my cupcakes instead of milk, resulting in a thinner batter. The watery cupcakes rose differently, expanding outwards and over the liner versus making a nice dome. Or in cookies, where a thinner dough will spread more versus a thick batter that will stay in a ball.

Secondly, vanilla extract is in no world sweet. I don't know what you were thinking saying "they're both sweet." It's actually mostly alcohol and water, which is what they used to extract and suspend the flavor compounds. A nutrition label for vanilla extract says that there's 1.6g of carbohydrate per 13g of extract - that's about 10% sugar. Pure cane sugar is, well, 100% carbohydrate. So even if you wanted to do a substitution, you'd have to use 10 times as much vanilla extract (by weight) as sugar, which would result in the most atrociously vanilla flavored (and expensive) baked good ever. There's a reason why you use only about a teaspoon of vanilla in your baked goods - it's potent, and designed to be so.

And if you didn't use enough vanilla extract you'd be missing out on the sugar, which adds more than sweetness. It contributes to structure, creaming it with butter or whipping it in with egg whites adds structure (eg. cakes, meringues). It also contributes to the caramelization and maillard reactions that aid in browning and make that delightful golden brown crust that tastes so good.

And of course, my favorite reason - sugar substitutions are delightfully sketchy. This comes down to the chemistry of the sugar itself and how the slight differences in structure lead to different behaviors. Take for example a little food science experiment I did a few years ago, where I used maltose instead of sucrose. I'll add the chemical structures below so you can compare them.

See how similar they look? They even have the same chemical formula. On a molecular level they're so very similar, so it should be fine to use one in place of the other, right? Wrong. Cookies made with sucrose (cane sugar) worked just fine. Cookies made with maltose ended up melting over the tray and down into the oven. The subtle differences in chemical structure (the 5-ring versus 6-ring) make the behaviors so different in how the molecules interact with each other and with other molecules. Maltose is more powdery, whereas sucrose is crystalline, and the differences go on. Sugar substitutes that actually work definitely exist, but it's not as intuitive as it might seem.

So, if two very similar structures behave so differently, you'd understand why vanillin, alcohol, water, and a tiny bit of sucrose wouldn't work at all. Here are the structures to prove my point.

The majority of vanilla extract is nothing like sugar, so it won't work like sugar, and more likely than not it will just wreak havoc upon your recipe in the quantities necessary to replace the sugar.

And that's why you can't use vanilla extract to replace sugar. I completely condone Aspen's attempt to kill you for doing so. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

sorry for derailing into chem nerd territory at the end i couldn't resist

#idek what to tag this #nerd things ⋆｡°✩

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laneskysalesthampyfoodfitness · 5 months

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✓ Chocolate baking

Eating chocolate is pure joy, cooking with it a delight, even smelling it bewitching, but buying it shakes my faith in human nature.

The best chocolate is wonderful, but most is not worth buying and most People buy terrible stuff.

Good quality plain or dark chocolate will taste smooth not greasy, bitter not raw, intense not oversweet, with a long finish, not a cloying aftertaste.

But how do you know good quality?

Price is not a reliable guide - in fact supermarkets’ Own brands are usually excellent and are a good bargain when buying in bulk for cooking.

✓ The quality and taste of chocolate is détermined by the quantity and quality of the Cocoa solids- the dry solids plus the added Cocoa butter- used in its production.

The quantity of solids, at least, IS indicated on the packet.

Couverture chocolate, used for fillings and icings, usually has around 55 per cent Cocoa solids, bitter chocolate around 65 per cent, and Super amer or extra bitter, best for puddings, fine cakes and eating, is just over 70 per cent.

Some chocolates labelled’ for cooking ‘ Can contain as little as 30 per cent Cocoa solids: the rest is sugar, fats and flavourings.

✓ The raw material for Chocolate is the Cocoa bean, found in the large yellow-green fruits of the Theobroma cacao tree which grows only within 20 degrees north or south of the equator.

Each tree yields enough beans to make around 2,5 kg of chocolate each year.

The best chocolate is made From a blend of beans- each type has its Own individual character and colour ranging From pale coffee through to dark mahogany Brown.

Store chocolate well away From other foods in an airtight container in a cool,dry place, because it Can easily be tainted by other Flavours.

✓ Avoid storing chocolate below 13°C, or in the fridge, as beads of moisture will form when you bring it to room temperature.

Don’t store in a hot kitchen(30°C or above) or it will développant a White bloom as the Cocoa butter Comes to the surface.

The bloom does not affect its taste however- it Can still used for cooking.

Chocolate begins melting at 30°C(that’s why it melts in the mouth) and Burns AT 110°C.

Melt it slowly and gradually as it easily becomes overheated and scorched, and turns into an unusable solid mass.

Chop it into evenly sized pieces so it melts at thé same rate.

✓ Place in a shallow, heatproof bowl set over a pan of streaming hot, not boiling, water.

The water must not touch the base of the bowl, and no drop of water or Steam should touch the chocolate or it will seize up.

Stir frequently, and remove from the heat as soon as it melts.

Chapitre 2

Chocolate Cakes:

Almond Chocolate Kugelhopf :

400 g strong white bread flour

½ teaspoon sea salt

15 g fresh yeast

60 g golden caster sugar

200 ml skimmed milk, lukewarm

3 medium eggs, beaten

100 g unsalted butter, softened

50 g slivered or flaked almonds

60 g plain chocolate, roughly chopped

Nut Coating :

25 g unsalted butter, very soft

50 g slivered or flaked almonds

icing sugar, for dusting

one 23 cm Kugelhopf mould

Makes 1 large Cake

To use easy-blend dried yeast, mix one 7g sachet with 140 g of the flour. Mix in the sugar and milk and let rise for 30 minutes.

Make a well in the remaining flour, add the salt, add the yeast liquid and eggs and proceed with the recipe.

✓ To make the nut coating, thickly butter the inside of the Kugelhopf mould with the very soft butter, then press the almonds all around. Chill while preparing thé dough.

To make thé dough, mix the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, then make a well in the centre.

Crumble thé yeast into a small bowl, then cream to a smooth liquid with the sugar and milk. Pour into the well, and work in enough flour to make a thick batter.

Cover with a damp tea towel, and leave at normal room temperature for 30 minutes.

The batter should look bubbly.

Add the eggs to the yeast liquid, stir until combined, then gradually beat in the flour to make a soft and very sticky dough.

Beat the dough in the bowl with your hand or with the dough hook in an electric mixer for about 5 minutes or until it becomes firmer, smooth, very elastic and shiny.

Work in the soft butter until thoroughly incorporated, then the almonds and chocolate.

When evenly mixed, carefully spoon the soft dough into the prepared mould(it should be half full).

Cover the mould with a damp tea towel and let rise at normal room temperature until the dough has almost doubled in size and has risen to about 2.5 cm below the rim of the mould-about 1 hour.

Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C(400°F) Gas 6 for about 45 minutes, or until the Cake is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the dough midway between the outer edge and inner tube comes out clean.

Leave to cool for 1 minute, then carefully unmould on to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Serve dusted with icing sugar.

Store in an airtight container and eat with 3 days or freeze for up to 1 month.

It can also be lightly toasted under a grill.

Variations:

Marbled Kugelhopf

Replace 50g of the strong white bread flour with 50 g sieved cocoa powder and 25 g sugar.

Replace the 60 g plain chocolate with a similar quantity of white chocolate, roughly chopped. Proceed as in the main recipe.

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