This recipe came about because of leftover ricotta in my fridge. I’d made ricotta-topped spaghetti for dinner on Sunday, which left me with most of a fifteen ounce tub of cheese left…and no plans for it. Normally, what would happen is it would languish in the refrigerator until I remembered to pitch it. This time, I got some inspiration from Deb’s ricotta muffins. The original version are a walnut-fennel muffin, and at some point I might try them, but I didn’t have most of the ingredients. I did, however, have the ingredients for a gateau aux noix.
(Rule of Baking #1: Everything is always fancier in French. Gateau aux noix? Walnut cake.)
Cut half the sugar out, scooped them into muffin tins and stuffed them with ricotta cheese, and Saturday brunch is taken care of, basically. This recipe would be great with eggs and bacon for a weekend brunch, just impressive enough to…well. Impress. But not at all complicated.
Walnut-Ricotta Muffins
3 eggs
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/3 C walnut oil
1/3 C white wine
1 1/2 C flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t sea salt
3/4 C (or more) walnuts, chopped
Ricotta cheese
Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Set aside.
Whisk together eggs and sugar until creamy and yellow. Add oil and wine, whisk to combine. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in walnuts.
Fill the muffin cups a little less than half-way. Top with a teaspoon of ricotta cheese, and then the remainder of the batter. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until slightly golden. Let cool a few minutes in the pan, and then remove to a rack.
Eat while still warm.
I’ve had three so far.
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Wow, so it’s been a while. Work has been nuts since mid-February, and I took a vacation in the middle of March to visit my girlfriend in California – we actually did bake there, but nothing new. But now it’s April, and Easter Sunday, and since I had no intention of cooking a holiday dinner for myself and the cat, I baked coconut macaroons instead.
Coconut macaroons shouldn’t be confused with French ones – you know, those fussy as all fuck sandwich cookies that are the trend du jour in the baking blogosphere. The most complex part of this cookie is separating the eggs. The only problem I found with this recipe was that the two hours prescribed wasn’t long enough, and I had some pretty runny pools under my coconut clusters. I’ve amended it to overnight, which should get the batter nice and stiff.
Macaroons are pretty popular for Passover because most versions don’t use flour, but this particular one is not kosher, as it’s got half a cup of cake flour in the mix. It is a very easy cookie, though, and I might dip some of mine in chocolate later today.
Coconut Macaroons
4 egg whites
1 C sugar
1/4 t salt
1/2 C cake flour
1 t vanilla extract
3 C coconut flakes
Whisk egg whites, sugar, and salt in a metal bowl placed over a saucepan of gently simmering water until the mix is warm to the touch and creamy. Remove from the heat and stir in flour, vanilla, and coconut. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
When batter is chilled, preheat the oven to 325F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Drop batter by the heaping tablespoon full onto the cookie sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes. Let cool on the pan for 10 minutes, and then remove to a rack to cool completely.
My mom has promised to send me her recipe, which skips the double boiler and thus doesn’t require chilling, so there may be a redux of this recipe in the future.
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