It all started about eight years ago. Ryan and I were shopping and he wanted to buy me a Star Wars video game for Christmas. I was all, “it’s Star Wars, I won’t like it.” I was haughty and close minded. Little did we know that I’d fall in love. Now I’m obsessed and I have Star Wars paraphernalia everywhere. In fact, this is not my first, nor is it even my second Star Wars blog post. I’m a Star Wars nerd and I’m proud of it. And to celebrate I’ve made a special May the 4th (Star Wars day) recipe: a BB-8 Orange Bars. 

This recipe is basically like lemon bars, but using oranges instead. And also, instead of being bars it’s a circle – because you know BB-8 is spherical. The flavor is bright and delicious and the size is perfect for a showing off at a party. I got the idea for this themed recipe from my friend Dan who made small BB-8 lemon squares when I left the Science Museum. Those were very cool, but I’ll be honest that I don’t have the patience for tiny detail work. Instead, I wanted to make something as visually interesting but bigger. One giant – yet simple – droid dessert! So, I asked my friend for help and he made this lovely and free printable stencil. So now the only equipment we need to make a BB-8 of our very own is access to a printer and six inch and eight inch cake pans. WOOT!

Oh also, you will need one regular sized Oreo and one mini Oreo. So yes, I’m asking you to buy two packages of Oreo’s and you’ll only need one cookie from each. But, I mean… Oreos’ are delicious. And I’m sure in your cooking life you’ve bought ingredients for recipes, and then never used those ingredients again. I feel confident you’ll find a use for leftover Oreo’s. In fact, if you’re feeling especially moved by May the 4th, consider using your extra Oreo’s to decorate some Princess Leia cupcakes.

Before we get to the BB-8 orange bars recipe, I do have a terrible confession to make. A confession that might remove any fan girl street cred I might have. Here it is: I can’t for the life of me think what BB-8 sounds like. He does make noise doesn’t he? I can’t remember! For as adorable and lovable as he is, the droid I know, love, and can hear best is R2-D2. Is that because sometimes I make R2 noises in my daily life? No, that can’t be it. I would never do that…

I think BB-8 is fantastic but I don’t have his personality pinned down. I only remember him giving Finn the thumbs up flame. Adorable. Although, some people I know think BB-8 was giving Finn the finger. Weigh in fellow nerds, what do you think? Thumbs up or no? Is the solution that I re-watch The Force Awakens yet again so I can answer all the tough questions?! I think probably yes.

Anyway, I do have a few tips if you’re interested in attempting this for a May the 4th or other Star Wars related festivity. It’s easiest if you have a cake pans with removable bottoms. If not, cut 2-4 long strips of parchment paper and line them across the bottom of your pan so they can be used as hoists in the end. When it comes to the template it worked fine printing on regular paper, but if you want something sturdier feel free to use card stock. When you print, make sure to choose “actual size” instead of “fit to page.” If you choose fit to page, then the template might be slightly smaller than your BB-8 orange bars. And finally you can use scissors, but I found greater accuracy when I place the template on a cutting board and using a sharp knife.

This recipe is adapted from Hummingbird High. The original recipe is for a 9×13 pan. This is important for two reasons. First, it will make pretty thick crust in the two circular cake pans. Feel free not to use all the crust crumbs you make if you’d like something thinner. Second, you can make this recipe in that normal rectangular pan and you’ll have a light, citrusy recipe you can use all year. Although, why use a plain recipe when you could make one fit for a galaxy far far away. Any excuse for more Star Wars I always say.

Free Printable BB-8 Templates:

BB8 Stencil Letter (For American users)

BB8 Stencil A4 (For European users)

Messy level: Dusting powdered sugar is always messy, we expect that. And for me so is mixing flour. It gets on the flour, I know it. The surprising mess comes from zesting oranges. There’s just so much oil and juice that I find it sprays everywhere and can give things a slightly orangey hue (including my fingers).

BB-8 Orange Bars

 

Print

Prep time

1 hour 20 mins

Cook time

50 mins

Total time

2 hours 10 mins

 

Serves: 14

Ingredients

Crust

• 2¼ cups/ 290 grams all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup/ 90 grams powdered sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 16 tablespoons/ 230 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

Filling

• 1 cup / 210 grams sugar
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest (from about 1 large, or 2 medium, oranges)
• 6 tablespoons / 90 ml orange juice (from about 1 large, or 2 medium, oranges)
• red and orange food coloring (optional)

Other

• Butter, for greasing pans
• Parchment Paper
• BB-8 head and body templates (see head note for links)
• powdered sugar
• 1 half full-sized Oreo
• 1 half mini Oreo

Instructions

1. Grease a 6" and 8" cake pan with butter. Line the bottom with parchment paper and grease the paper. If you do not have removable bottom pans cut 2-4 strips of parchment paper and use them to line the bottom to make hoists (see photo in head note).
2. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or using a large bowl and a hand held electric mixer, mix together the flour, powdered sugar, salt, and butter. Mix until it resembles crumbs.
4. If you don't like a thick crust you can discard about 10% of this mixture. If you have a scale you can do this next part exactly by weight, otherwise eyeball it the best you can. Take about 60% of the crumbs and put them in the 8" pan. Put the rest of the crumbs in the 6" pan. Using your hands or the bottom of sturdy measuring cup, press the crumbs firmly into the pan. You want to press it as tightly as possible and fill in all gaps.
5. Bake the crust for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. If you put both pans in the oven at the same time, keep an eye out for them and rotate halfway through to ensure even baking.
6. Once finished baking, remove from the oven and let the crusts cool slightly.
7. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, juice, and zest.
8. If you want a rich orange color for BB-8 add a few drops of food coloring. Add 1-2 drops red and 2-6 drops yellow. Stir, then adjust to reach your desired color. Be careful, the red can be strong so go slowly!
9. Pour about 60% of the filling mixture over the 8" pan and the remainder over the 6" pan. If one feels more full than the other you can use a spoon to transfer filling between the two until even. If you have a scale you can also do it more precisely by weight. Note: the filling is runny so some might seep underneath the crust. That's ok!
10. Bake the filling for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are set and the center is just ever so slightly wiggly. If you're baking both pans at the same time, rotate the pans halfway through. Keep your eye on the pans to make sure they bake evenly and that the 6" pan doesn't get over done.
11. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Then cover with plastic wrap and let cool in the refrigerator for one hour or up to overnight. This step is important because it will help set the filling and help the BB-8 design last longer.
12. While you're waiting for the bars to cool, put the templates on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to cut all the spaces that say "discard."
13. When ready to decorate, remove the orange bars from the pans.
14. Cut the 6" round in half. Wrap up one half and put away, you won't need it for BB-8.
15. Align the BB-8 Head template over one half of the 6" round. Sift a thick opaque layer of powdered sugar over the orange bar. Carefully remove template and discard it.
16. Take the full-sized Oreo half and place it centrally on BB-8's head. Align it with the semi-circle shape made with the powdered sugar.
17. Take the mini Oreo and place it slightly lower and to the right of the full sized Oreo. You now have BB-8's head!
18. Align the BB-8 Body template over the 8" round. Sift a thick opaque later of powdered sugar over the orange bar. Carefully remove template and discard it.
19. On a platter or cookie sheet, arrange BB-8 head above the BB-8 body. Step back and enjoy your work.
20. Serve immediately. Cut into wedge shaped slices. May the force be with you!

3.5.3208

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Everybody, it’s official. I’m 30. I know a birthday isn’t a usual Tourist Tuesday post, but it’s my blog and I do what I want. Also, I went to some nice places in London and ate some delicious food so it is relevant people.

I started my birthday festivities the Wednesday before with a picnic in Hyde Park. Luckily the weather was glorious! Lots of friends came out and we watched the Science Museum’s softball team play, we ate loads of food, we popped the bubbly, and even did a round of tequila shots. I know that I have young friends because when we suggested opening the tequila everyone was down for it. I feel like my 30-year-old friends would have hemmed and hawed and been unsure about it since it was a work night and all. If it hadn’t been my birthday I totally would have been less game. But then, maybe it’s just that I’m not as cool as maybe I once was. But there was loads of food: sausage rolls, cake, peanut butter cookies shaped like Darth Vader, and chips. It was wonderful. 

Then Sunday was the big day! Ryan sang me happy birthday and we had cake for breakfast (which has always been my tradition). That cake was a classic vanilla cake from a box with store bought chocolate frosting. Ryan and I went and looked at a beautiful fancily designed chocolate cake, but I wanted the box. There’s something about the sweetness and simplicity of yellow cake with chocolate that just feels like a birthday cake to me.

After cake I opened presents. Ryan bought me all the flavors of Candy Kittens that Waitrose had in stock. I loooove Candy Kittens and can devour a whole bag so fast – so I’m trying to pace myself. We did break into the sour watermelon flavor, which I hadn’t eaten before and was of course fantastic. I also got a Lego Star Wars TIE Advanced Prototype that came with three little guys (picture below in a bit) and something for the blog which will be revealed eventually. From my friend Charlotte, the one I went to Duck & Waffle with, I got a book about Abraham Lincoln and food – my two great loves combined in one!

I also got a new DSLR camera from my parents!! It’s the one pictured above. It’s a Canon EOS 100D. The lens on the left came with the kit and the one on the right is a Canon EF 50 f/1.8 lens. Hopefully between all of this new gear I’ll get some great new shots. I’m really excited about the camera because I want to become familiar with manual settings. When I was in high school I had a manual camera for a photography class, but I don’t remember much from it. I also remember that developing the film (yes, film!) was my favorite part. So, I have a lot to learn but I’m so excited about it! I can’t wait to have more control, learn a new hobby, and I hope it will improve the quality of my food photos.

Thus far, I’m intimidated but eager. I like that I have a project ahead of me where there’s so much to learn and I know so little. I set up my little photo studio (a box and some white fabric) and set up my new birthday Legos for a photo shoot. I played around for awhile and took about 100 pictures trying out different settings for aperture (the f number), the shutter speed (the fraction number) and the ISO. I was systematic about it overall, but here on the blog I wanted to share three photos with wildly different settings.

See in the first one how practically everything is blurry except the one spot by the wing? But then in the middle photo it’s mostly clear? Then in the one on the right, it’s clear except the back is blurry. I love that with the same subject and lighting the camera can do so much! I also like that some of it is a matter of taste. Ryan like the middle photo best because it’s the most clear, but I like the photo on the right because I like the background a little blurry. Anyway, I find it all really thrilling and plan on doing more Lego photo shoots.

For birthday lunch, Ryan and I made pretzel dogs (above). If you’re not familiar, it’s a hot dog baked inside a soft pretzel. I’ve been missing going to baseball games, and in large part because of the food. So for a birthday treat we made fries, dogs, and a cheese dipping sauce. It was an epic undertaking and we dirtied all the dishes. I even spilled flour on my foot and when I took my foot away there was a clear footprint. I’ve made soft pretzels before, but this was a new recipe for me, and I found it so frustrating. I think I needed a whole cup of flour in addition to what the recipe called for. I also used tons of methods to finally get the dough to come together. There was also some pouting. Because of that, I don’t feel comfortable sharing the recipe here – but I’ll work on it on my own and share when I have something more straightforward.

Even though the making of it was intense, the end product was delicious. Ryan said, “the best thing we ever made” and we both had big happy smiles on our faces. The cheese sauce was crazy good. Rich and smooth – we smothered it on everything. You can find the recipe here. The whole meal did taste just like being in the ballpark, which is something I love doing with Ryan. It was like being transported back to DC just for a meal, and I really liked that.

As if we hadn’t eaten enough the final birthday celebration was out to dinner at Ping Pong. Ryan and I went out with my friends Sarah, Abbie, and Charlotte and their boyfriends. I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends to share my birthday with. They also gave me some great presents. Charlotte got me a 30 badge (shown at the top of the post) and it’s something I totally wanted. I love celebrating and showing off my birthday and it was perfect. Sarah gave me a pig card and a candle that smells like the sea (which she and I always sniff when we go to Waitrose). And the three girls are going to take me out for afternoon tea, which I can’t wait for! It’s the kind of thing I hoped would happen when I moved here – and now I’ll get to do it with my girls.

Overall it was a lovely evening and we ate a TON! Ping pong is a dim sum restaurant and you order a bunch of small plates to share. We ordered set menus and ended up with a ton of food. You can see the stacks of dishes above. I loved the circular table because it meant our big group could actually see each other and chat. The food was great and we tried something like nine dishes. The dumplings had fillings like beef, chicken, and vegetables. The wrappings were clear, thick, chewy, green. I had no idea there was so much variety! At the end of the meal it was hard for each of us to pick our favorite dish. Mine might have been the tofu and vegetable – which I wouldn’t have thought much of but turned out to be delicious.

Thirty has started off wonderfully. It was a milestone birthday, and I felt a little nervous about it, but I’m feeling good. It began with lovely generous friends and family, terrific food, and a few new things – all indicators that it will be a good year.

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Guys, it’s been a big week for me. At work I’ve been training to do a show called Flash! Bang! Wallop! It’s a show where I do experiments, light things on fire, and teach about explosions. Training has been really fun, but learning it all and then gearing up to perform for children has been pretty tiring. And then this weekend, Ryan and I are off to Paris which is awesome, and exciting and keeping me busy. But possibly the biggest thing going on is Star Wars day on Monday. Yeah, May the Fourth be with you. 

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love Star Wars. I became to Star Wars dork in my mid-twenties and all because of Ryan. He had gotten a Christmas bonus from work and he decided to buy me the video game Lego Star Wars for my Wii. I was skeptical I would like it, but then I played and I was hooked. I rented all the movies and now my flat is filled with Star Wars trinkets. I have two aprons, an R2D2 spatula, Legos, and my friends even threw me a Star Wars themed bridal shower. Should I go on? I could, because obviously I’m super cool. But I won’t do that to you.

However, the truth is that as much as I love Star Wars, I’ve never made anything for May the Forth and I thought it was about time I changed that. So, I searched for ideas about what I could make and Pinterest had loads of ideas. Wookie cookies and Obi Wan canapés sounded cool but I didn’t want just a name. The idea I liked best was for green tea shortbread cookies with matcha. I liked it because I’d get that amazing green Yoda color but without food dye. I have decided it’s the grown up way to celebrate May the fourth. Generally you can make these cookies in any shape but if you’re interested in the cookie cutters they came from Williams-Sonoma. Unfortunately they no longer sell them but Amazon does and also so does Lakeland. Also you can find tutorials on Pinterest for how to make Yoda using a spider cookie cutter. 

But back to the recipe. If you’re not familiar with matcha it’s a really finely ground green tea from special tea leaves. And the leaves are de-stemmed and de-veined and so when they are ground it becomes an extra fine powder.

Matcha can be a little bit hard to find, and also sort of expensive. I saw some prices between £16-30! I went to three different stores before I gave up and bought it on Amazon for £10. The search and the cost was worth it because matcha has a really nice flavor.  I decided to add just a bit of lemon zest to brighten it up a bit. And tea and lemon is totally a thing, so why not turn that into a shortbread cookie? Once baked, these Green Tea and Lemon shortbread cookies have a delicate yet somehow creamy, bright and distinct flavor. I brought them to work to share with my coworkers and celebrate my last day of Flash! Bang! Wallop! training and they seemed to be quite a hit. Although, everyone’s favorite bit might have been the cute Yoda shapes.

Messy level: The method is very straightforward and sort of the same thing you’d do for sugar cookies. Mix the flour, mix the butter and sugar, roll them out on the counter, bake them. However the green color makes it a wild card. Once you get green on your hand, everything else you touch will have green fingerprints. Be careful and may the force be with you. 

Adapted from Serious Eats.

Green Tea and Lemon Shortbread Cookies

 

Print

Prep time

1 hour 15 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

1 hour 30 mins

 

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon matcha powder
• 140g/1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 egg yolks
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• zest from ½ lemon
• Pinch salt

Instructions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and matcha.
2. Add the butter to the sugar mixture. Using a hand mixer, stand mixer, or your arm and a spoon beat in the butter until all smooth and very green.
3. Add the egg yolks to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix until smooth.
4. In a different medium bowl, mix together the flour, salt and lemon zest.
5. Slowly add the flour to the butter-sugar mixture. Mix the flour in bit by bit until you have a smooth dough. You may need to get in their with your hands or a spoon so you can get any dry bits incorporated into the sticky dough.
6. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 1 hour or up to overnight.
7. When you're ready to bake preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
8. Lightly flour your work surface. Then roll out the dough until it is about ¼" thick. Use your favorite cookie cutters to make the shape.
9. Put the shapes about ½-1" apart. Bake in the oven until just lightly brown on the edges, about 10-15 minutes.

3.3.3070

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We started out the week by cooking for our family. Ryan and I made pasta with shrimp and scallops in a white wine sauce. Sounds delicious right? And luckily our family is super nice, and told us that it was delicious. But, in our opinion it was mediocre. Cooking in a rental kitchen is hard folks! It took half an hour to boil water for pasta, we had to chop with a steak knife, and we set off the fire alarm. Everything tasted fine, it just didn’t come out exactly right and so we were disappointed. But after that comic disaster our meals greatly improved. If you’re ever in Stone Harbor here are my recommendations for some places to eat.

Moqueca
Photo credit: Ryan Cazalet

Quahogs From the outside this place looks tiny and can easily be overlooked, but inside is a surprisingly spacious and cozy restaurant. They have indoor and outdoor seating so you can choose your pleasure. I’ve always sat outside, and I feel like it’s not breezy enough and so can be stuffy – but I deal with it because I really like eating outside. Eating here is all about the seafood. Everything is fresh and the textures and flavors are so vibrant and bright that everything is a joy to eat. Start with oyster shooters. It’s so good, I want to make a cold soup out of it. Be careful though, because at $4.50 you can get your bill high pretty quickly. The lobster taquitos are also amazing. When I think of taquitos, I always think of those disgusting logs of mysteriousness that my college friends used to get from 7-11 on the way home from the bar. But these are three small little tacos overflowing with lobster meat. But the best thing you can eat at Quahogs is the moqueca. It’s a Brazilian seafood stew and it’s amazing. The last time I went, six out of eight of us ordered it – and many of us wiped the plate clean. There’s five kinds of seafood, the sauce is out of this world, and it’s slurp it up good. Also this place was on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.

Shore Feast for Two

Mike’s Seafood Yes, there’s more seafood to be eaten. Mike’s Seafood is great because you can get epic meals with multiple kinds of seafood, and some of the options are under $30. This past week I got the Steamed Combo which has shrimp, flounder, scallops, and lobster. How awesome is that? But the best thing I ever got is only on their take out menu. It’s the Shore Feast for Two. Ryan and I shared and for $53 we got what is basically a trough of seafood. It has two lobsters, corn on the cob, potatoes, shrimp, clams, and mussels.  Awesome.

The Painted Pie This adorable purple bakery sells a small variety of pastries made with seasonal fruits and fresh ingredients. They probably have about six or more options each day, and it’s really quite enough. There are scones fat with fruit chunks, gorgeous pies with star shaped crusts, and light and fluffy quiches. It’s a great way to start the day.

Now when I was a kid, my family used to vacation in Cape May, which is only a short drive from Stone Harbor. My favorite bakery then was La Patisserie. From what I can tell, this place no longer exists in the same format but it seems from my internet research, that bakery is still in Cape May but makes wedding cakes. When I was a kid I thought this place was so cool because they made bread in the shapes of animals. One time my parents let us get a loaf, but unfortunately I don’t remember the shape. But my favorite thing to get was the pig cookie. It wasn’t anything crazy, just a sugar cookie with royal icing and a chocolate chip eye.  But I loved it. So when I started vacationing with Ryan, we’d take a drive to Cape May and pick up a bunch of pig cookies. And then three years ago we went and they weren’t there. The lady at the shop told me they no longer made them. A few weeks later when my mom was in Cape May, she too went in search of pig cookies and found out that the chef left and took the recipe. Anyway, when I found out there were no more cookies I stormed out of the bakery, with Ryan bewildered and hungry behind me. He had wanted to order and I was too upset to stay there a moment longer. A little dramatic yes, but I was sad. And so although there are no more official pig cookies, I still think of them every year.  So now I’m home, and as my tan faded and I was back at work and in the thick of my regular routine, I decided to make my own pig cookies. I wanted to bring back a piece of the vacation to Arlington. They’re not the same cookie, but they make me feel nice anyway. And who couldn’t use a good sugar cookie now and then?

Before we get to the recipes and pictures, let me warn you, I’m having a mild feud with my oven. It’s been running a bit hot so I got an oven thermometer to better understand what’s happening in there. When I went to make the cookies I set the oven, waited for the oven light to go off, and then I checked the thermometer, it said 350° so I was good to go. And then 13 minutes later I took out my cookies and they were brown. BROWN! And the thermometer said 400°. Sigh.  Luckily these cookies still taste good even though some were overcooked. Let’s call the brown ones “pigs in the mud.” I did better on the second batch. Moral of the story – check on your cookies before the timer goes off!

This recipe is adapted from The Art of the Cookie, which is a really gorgeous book that has many yummy recipes and impressive decorating ideas.

Ingredients: 

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk (the book says heavy cream, but I’m not buying a whole thing of heavy cream for 1 tbsp. I’ve just used milk and it works fine)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. If you use an electric mixer, this takes about 2 minutes.

3. Add the egg and the vanilla to the butter-sugar mixture.  Beat on low speed until the egg is completely mixed in.

4. Still on low, slowly mix in the flour a little bit at a time. Mix until it’s almost incorporated. This means that it’s ok if you can still see bits of flour.

5. Add the milk. Mix until everything is incorporated.

6. Scoop up the dough, press it into a rectangle/square/blob shape and wrap it tightly in plastic wrap. Stick in the fridge for anywhere between 1 hour to overnight. You can also wrap it super tightly and freeze it for up to a month (that’s what the book says). What I did was I made two blobs of dough, put one in the fridge to make and one in the freezer for later. With the blob I baked, it made 15 cookies.

7. Preheat oven to 350°

8. If you don’t want to make cut out shapes, just tear a little pieces of dough and make small circle cookies. If you want to make shapes, generously flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll out the dough until it’s about 1/4″ thick. You can roll out the dough in stages, you don’t have to do the whole thing at once.

9. Use cookie cutters to make the shapes you want. I made pig and Star Wars shapes. Why not, right?

10. Use a spatula or your hands to place the cookies on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Leave some breathing room between the cookies.

11. Bake until the edges of the cookie are slightly golden. The book says this could take 16-19. In the past it’s taken me 12-13 minutes, and this time with the crazy oven fiasco the perfect time was 10 minutes. So check you oven occasionally to see how long it will take.

12. Let cool for a few minutes… if you can!

13. Decorate!!! I did three types of decorating: sprinkles, royal icing, and gel icing from a tube. The sprinkles I put on after step 10 and before I put them in the oven. The royal icing and gel icing I put on after. I used this royal icing recipe, and then added 2 drops of red food coloring to make pink. Royal icing dries hard, but not crunchy. It’s sweet and reminds me of my old Cape May cookies. I put chocolate chip eyes on the pigs when the cookies were still warm and fresh from the oven.

Messy Level: I’m giving this two spoons. It’s not that messy or difficult to make this recipe. The biggest mess came from all the flour and rolling out the dough. Also sprinkles get every where so that’s a bit annoying, but at least it’s a colorful mess.

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