Bourbon & Buttermilk Biscuit Apple Cobbler {w/th The Macadames}

HEY! Hey, you. Yes, you. I have a quick thing to share with you before you continue reading. First of all, this post is in collaboration with Anisa of The Macadames. With her living Australia and me here in the states, my fall is just beginning while hers is ending. We decided to bridge the gap and make some delicious recipes using the seasons favorite; apples. After you’re done reading this post, head over to her site for a delicious baked apple recipe, which wink, wink looks to die to for! But firsts, this post. This post is a bit different from the traditional blog posts I write. To be frank, I hate writing blog posts and I need a change of pace. A few weeks ago, I had the idea to combine my love of fiction writing and food writing, and this is what came about. My thought for this is to write short little scenes involving the recipes I’m posting about. I hope to capture the art of culinary storytelling even further by creating my own stories. Disclaimer: these are far from Pulitzer Prize-winning pieces or anything, so take it for what it is, a young man’s fictitious anthology of food. 

Rose Water Cakes with Roasted Strawberry Buttercream (w/th Café, Cacau e Canela)

Hello, friend.

Note: I’m feeling incredibly lazy (and I have two exams to study for), so I’m going to make this blog post short and sweet (much like these cakes!) These mini rose water cakes are wonderfully aromatic with subtle floral notes. The slowly roasted strawberries are perfectly folded into the cloud-like buttercream making for the ideal (end of) summer dessert. A few months backs Laura from Café, Cacau e Canela and I were messaging back and forth about how we have never collaborated before and how we NEEDED TO. We started brainstorming ideas for how we were going to go about this. We decided to use the same core ingredients and see where our creativity took us. Once you’re done checking out my recipe, click on over to Laura’s site for her recipe (spoiler alert: it’s going to be a delicious one. Just sayin’)

Spiced Grapefruit Sponge Cake with Candied Orange Slices

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The citrus fruit season is almost behind us. Before it leaves and the flavors of autumn begin to drown us in their apple spiced goodness, you need to get your hands on some oranges and a bottle (or two!) of this Spiced Grapefruit Tonic mixer from Powell & Mahoney and make this sponge cake. The cake is warm with hints of autumn from the honey, cinnamon, and nutmeg. The spiced grapefruit tonic mixer adds a hint of allspice and a subtle tartness to this simply sweet cake. The cake is light and almost cloud-like. Couldn’t you image it? Instead of clouds we had little flying sponge cakes in the air. Actually, scratch that idea, that sounds terrifying. Clouds belong in the sky and cake belongs on my plate. You should put that saying on a t-shirt.

Orange Blossom & Honey Cinnamon Buns + a change

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Whenever I’m feeling homesick (or more specifically, when I’m missing Momma’s cooking), I bake. The smell of warm cinnamon rolls brings me back to those early Saturday mornings growing up. Mom pulling them out of the oven and generously drowning each roll in a sweet icing glaze. Sweet bliss, my friends. These orange blossom & honey cinnamon buns are the perfect end of summer goodbye and hello to autumn brunch or afternoon dessert. I first attempted this recipe back in July (hence some of the rolls in the iron skillet), but I wasn't happy with the recipe so I kept adapting. Now I have a recipe I'm proud of.  The sweet and fruity notes of the orange and honey play beautifully with the floral undertones of the orange blossom water. I am a huge love of rose water. I’ve even featured it in a few recipes (and, hint-hint, it’s a featured ingredient in an upcoming blog post).

Peach, Cardamom & Pistachio Financiers

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Peaches are in season, which means, of course, I just had to make some peach financers. These aren’t your Momma’s financers, though. These are made with pistachio meal, brown butter, and spiced with ground cardamom to make for the perfect late summer afternoon snack. I was inspired by both Chef John’s and Eva’s recipes, so I knew I needed to make some for myself. Financers are just a fancy name for an spongecake/muffin hybrid. A few years back, I tried this recipe for Peach & Pistachio Lassis and I fell in love with the combination of the cardamom, pistachios, and peaches working so well together. I decided to marry those three flavors into these financiers. For this recipe, I wanted to experiment and bit and work with different types of nut flours. I, for one, had no idea of the vast array and types of nut flours (and frankly, the different types of flours in general). There are so freaking many! Who knew!? Here I am in the landlocked Midwest, where all I’ve ever grown up knowing was all-purpose flour, learning and exposing myself to new types of flours, meals, and grains. It’s really cool! Oh no, you better watch out. My inner food nerd is coming out.

Gluten-Free Quinoa & Dried Blueberry Granola + senior year!

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A bowl of Greek yogurt, fresh fruit, a drizzle of honey, and a handful of granola is what a perfect morning looks like to me. Add in a cup of coffee and any song by Branches playing in the background and I can’t think of a better way to start the day. Recently, I’ve been getting into the vegan & gluten free food movements. I’m neither vegan nor gluten intolerant, but I am still intrigued by the art and science that goes into constructing and reconstructing recipes that are vegan and/or gluten-free. There is something powerful about the art of repurposing and substituting one ingredient for another that I just love about developing any recipe. It’s the thrill of discovery. It’s trying new recipes and daring to relearn old ones. It’s the constant search of that ‘eureka’ moment. It’s the process of starting from nothing to ending with something beautiful and memorable.

Deep Dish Lemon Meringue Cream Pie + Thoughts from Nashville

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This recipe for deep dish lemon meringue cream pie is everything. The crust is warm, buttery, and flaky while the filling is chilled with the perfect balance of creaminess and lemony flavor. With a lightly toasted Italian meringue on top, it makes for a delectable summertime dessert. Truth be told, I made this pie a while back (ie. around the end of June) and have finally gotten around to posting it. Lemon meringue pie is one of my Grandma Cooley’s favorite desserts ever. Her lemon meringue pies are to die for. When she made hers, the crust is warm and flaky while the curd filling is silky smooth and finished off with a dollop of meringue that seems to float on top of the pie like little edible clouds. I knew I wanted to develop a version of my own. I had aspirations of making mine deep dish because…why not? 

Salted Caramel & Whiskey Apple Pie

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Is it too early in the season to share a recipe for apple pie? I don’t think so! When you taste this spiced-buttery goodness that is this pie you’ll understand why I’m sharing it now. My version puts a boozy twist on the classic recipe by using whiskey in the filling. A flaky, buttery crust creates the perfect contaminant for the sweet and tart cinnamon apple filling. The filling is made the night before allowing time for the apples to release their juices. These juices are then reduced in a pan over medium heat before being added back to the filling. Then it is lattice topped before being brushed over with an egg wash and sprinkling with sugar and baked until golden brown perfection. A warm salted caramel sauce is drizzled over the top for one of the BEST pies ever.

A John Daly with a twist

 Hello, friend,

Can you believe that summer is almost over?? That’s a piece of news that's hard to swallow. Soon I will be back to school and starting my senior year of college. Truthfully, I’m genuinely excited about this year. I have a feeling it’s going to be a great year. I hope to make the most of it! But that’s in the future, as of lately, it’s been too freaking hot here in the Midwest. Ugh!! The high humidity has been a lot to handle. It makes me feel sorry for the construction workers having to work out on the roads all day. It makes me wish for autumn where I can at least put on layers and not be sweat stricken sticking to the interior of my car. One can only hope (and wait!).

Slow Cooker Root Beer Pulled Pork Sandwiches { collab with FiveStarSoda }

Hello, friend. 

Guys, I’m real sad. Summer is almost over! *insert sad face emoji* Where did the summer go? It feels like yesterday I had just turned in my last final exam. But it’s almost football and hoodie-wearing season and that makes me pretty excited. Tailgating and bonfires, sweaters and warm apple cider, and pumpkin flavored everything. Speaking of tailgates, I have the perfect recipe for one! This slow cooker pulled pork has a secret ingredient: root beer. A few weeks back I photographed the Homer Soda festival. One of the soda judges at the festival was FiveStarSoda. We didn’t have the chance to meet up which bummed me out. So I sent him a DM via Instagram seeing if he wanted to collaborate and the rest is history. On FiveStarSoda’s site, you are going to find a soda review for Capt’n Eli Root Beer. When you’re done reading this post, head on over there and tell him TK sent you.

Grandma Cooley's Zucchini Bread

Hello, friend. 

There is something so peaceful about a mid-summers day. The cooling breeze passing wafts of BBQ smoke through the air. The remains of used smoke bombs and sparklers scattered across the ground. Containers of half eaten potato salad and charred hamburgers and hotdogs fill the fridge up to the brim. We replace our red, white, and blues for the coming autumnal season full of yellows, oranges, and browns. This time is year is where we get to chance to breath before venturing into the second half of the year. And just to think the holiday season starts in less than 3 months.

I hope you all had a wonderful 4^th of July! And if you’re not from America, I hope you had a jolly day nonetheless. The family and I did as little as possible for our 4^th of July. The only exciting part of our day was going to a friend’s cookout to watch some fireworks. Our family friends live out in the country, so you can stretch out in a lawn chair and watch multiple township’s fireworks shows at once! Kind of cool I think (makes me miss living in the country). In great food blogging fashion, I brought Mississippi mud pie for the occasion. The glorious culinary invention that is mud pie is essentially a chocolate lover’s paradise. It’s a chocolate Oreo crust, a chocolate cake layer, a chocolate pudding layer, and then whipped cream on top! I am obsessed!! I hope to make it again and write up post about it. #soon