masala-laced carrot macaroons

i've probably told this story before,

but i can't find it anywhere on this blog,

so i'll just write about it and apologize

if you've heard this 3-second tale before.

it was senior year of college and i was

sitting in the living room of my college apartment,

talking about how i'm always looking for something

that's different, something that you don't see

coming and going, just something. (to be honest,

i remember that part, but i have no idea what i

was talking about.) my friend turned to me and said,

brooke, sometimes there's nothing wrong

with a plain potato chip. (note: i know we weren't

talking about food.)

i know what he was saying.

sometimes life is not about being different.

sometimes it's about the familiar.

it's about the classics.

the thing is, i never want a plain potato chip.

it's plain. i've seen it before. it offers me very little.

i always want the chip that's coated with

craziness.

and so when i buy a cookbook,

i want one that offers me something new.

yes, i want to one day make

chocolate chip cookies

and

brownies that are classic,

but so good that my kids constantly wish

they're eating mine when snacking on someone

else's (am i nuts? yes.).

but, for now, i want the crazy. i want the recipes

that make me look at food and ingredients

differently, while resulting in desserts that are

surprising and unforgettable

(they should taste good, too).

this, it should be noted, is my philosophy

when finding a restaurant, too, which is why

it takes so long for us to find a place to

eat dinner and why it takes me hours

to research places to eat while on vacation.

surprisingly, when i decided to take home

alice medrich's newish book,

chewy

gooey

crispy

crunchy,

it was for both reasons:

this book is full of the classics

and it offers really interesting twists

on recognizable recipes.

still, the first one that i decided i had to make,

spicy carrot masala meringues, fell into the second

category. they looked pretty simple, but

provided several things that i love:

carrots (reminiscent of my favorite cake, carrot),

garam masala (a new love)

and shredded coconut.

i think - if you are glancing quickly and in a rush -

you might look past this recipe.

it involves grinding almonds,

shredding carrots,

giving the recipe 10 minutes to hydrate,

stirring while set in simmering water,

and ultimately, baking.

but, thanks to my food processor and

a decent mise en place,

i think it took me less than 30 minutes

to get these cookies in the oven.

and, then, i let them be,

worrying about the next thing that

i was making, when really, i should

have focused on making sure these

teeny bundles didn't burn their

bottoms in the oven.

so of course, they got a little too

dark underneath. and i got a little

angry. but then i calmed down and

tried one. and here's what i learned

from these cookies:

1) the carrots really taste like carrots.

while that might sound like a charlie

and the chocolate factory rip off,

i was really surprised to find that i could

taste the strands of carrots in a very different

way than you can when the veggies are

baked into a cake. i'm not a huge carrot lover,

so my first bite worried me, but i persevered.

2) you really can taste the garam masala.

i - someone who wants to jam pack everything

she eats with spice and flavor - worried that

1 teaspoon wouldn't be enough to make an

impression, but i was wrong. the spice comes

after and lingers, slightly spicy, cinnamon-laced

and faintly indian-influenced. (i would say the spice

was most pronounced on the second day and decreased

in intensity on each day forward.)

3) they were a little bit sticky, which is something

i'm not crazy about. i did find that the ones that were

closer to burnt on the bottoms were slightly less

sticky, which made me think that my oven might

need to be adjusted. but, i digress.

4) my family, when offered slightly weird cookies -

with carrots and indian spices woven throughout -

at the same time as brownies, will eat an equal

amount of both. and, i'm pretty sure that at least

some of them, if given a choice,

would reach for a plain potato chip.

masala-laced carrot macaroons

adapted from chewy gooey crispy crunchy by alice medrich

this is how i tackled the recipe: i ground the almonds in the food processor, then transferred them to a bowl. next, i used the shredder attachment on the food processor to shred the carrots into the bowl, which i did not bother wiping clean of almonds, since they were ultimately going into the same bowl anyway. the only thing i struggled with with these cookies was how long i really needed to stir the mixture over boiling water. the recipe said 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture had thickened slightly. i went for the full 7 and the mixture did seem thicker, but when it came time to scoop them into the cookie sheet, the ingredients did not hold together, instead, functioning like separates, coated in something wet. i placed the bowl back over the simmering water and stirred until the mixture was scoopable and was able to form something closer to a batter that kept its shape.

ok, i will tell you this. i read this recipe about 10 times before and while making it. and just now, when i went to type it out, i realized it says, "set the bowl directly in a wide skillet of barely simmering water." that's not what i did. instead, i read "set the bowl directly in" as "place the bowl over a double boiler." most likely, that was where i went wrong. below, i'll write as intended.

also, the recipe called for (a generous 1/4 teaspoon of) lemon zest, but i'm never crazy about lemon in baked goods - save for lemon bars - so i omitted it.

3/4 cup whole almonds

2-3 carrots, peeled

2 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon garam masala (alice also offers that you could use cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice)

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup shredded unsweetened dried coconut

position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. heat oven to 325˚f.

in food processor, pulse almonds 10 times, or until chopped (you're looking for almonds that are both large chopped and finely chopped). set aside.

on box grater or using shredder attachment on your food processor, grate carrots. measure 1 1/3 cups lightly packed carrot (reserve remaining for another use).

in medium stainless steel bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy. stir in sugar, garam masala and salt. stir in carrots, coconut and almonds. set aside 10 minutes, to hydrate the mixture.

bring a large wide skillet of water to a very low simmer; place bowl in skillet. cook 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture is very hot and the liquid turns from opaque to translucent, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, making sure to scrape the bottom.

use 1 heaping teaspoon measure to drop cookies on two parchment-lined baking sheets. bake 20-25 minutes, or until the cookies are deep golden on the bottom (check by turning up the corner of the parchment paper), rotating the pans top to bottom and left to right midway through baking.

place pans on cooling racks and cool completely. remove from parchment paper and store cookies, loosely covered, 3-4 days.

green smoothie

while we all hold on

(for dear life, sometimes)

to who we are,

i think it's fair to say we become products

of our environment. for me, that means a lot

of things - like lately, my (slight)

obsession with green smoothies.

i had never heard of green smoothies -

much less imagined myself drinking, craving

and researching twists on them - before about

a year and a half ago. one of my coworkers brought

in a smoothie everyday, filled with lots of visible

kale. other people started drinking them. a lot

of people started talking about them. and i kept

thinking, one day, i'll get up the nerve to make one.

i kept it in my head for over a year.

people still drank them, but they didn't talk about

them quite as much. then, in april, i switched jobs

and boom: green smoothies. in my face. all the time.

again. ok, i will make them.

but, i didn't.

until one day, in the middle of may,

i realized that i had almost all of the ingredients

in the house for this one, the smoothie i'm

most commonly faced with. i prepped everything

the night before - i chopped kale, measured spinach,

diced strawberries and sliced dates, even sprinkling

some flax seed in for good measure. the next morning,

i blended the whole thing with a ripe banana and

coconut water, the only acceptable beverage in the house,

and blended. the results were faintly flecked, but overall,

smooth. the mixture, like everyone said,

tasted like bananas. it was pretty good.

for the next few weeks, we set up shop every night.

after dinner, larry would try to clean the kitchen,

and i, as i am apt to do -

stemming kale, hulling strawberries - would

recreate a mess next to him.

the next morning, when larry got up for work,

he would pour a couple cups of coconut milk

(which we found we liked better than the coconut

water when not using a crazy ripe banana) into

the container, add a banana and blend for 2 minutes

before dividing amongst our shiny new smoothie cups.

(mine's the orange!)

his would leave with him. mine would go in the fridge,

ready and waiting for me to fly downstairs, always one

minute later than my 7:20 deadline, and grab it out

of the fridge. it was great - i loved my breakfast,

i felt good about my breakfast and larry was into it, too.

but, then, as i am also apt to do, i got bored.

i wanted to try new things.

so i played around - trying almond milk,

blueberries, mixed berries, no kale, no spinach,

adding ice cubes and more.

i learned this: mixed berries have never been my thing.

but, also, this: i love green smoothies. love 'em.

there aren't many i haven't liked.

but, there's one that has stood out as my favorite.

the one that i wish i could drink every day.

but, i don't because, for many reasons,

it's more of a special

occasion green smoothie.

i can't believe i just wrote that.

this one

doesn't have kale or bananas.

it sometimes uses dates, sometimes agave.

when they're in the house, i add blueberries.

lately, i've been tossing in cubes of melon.

here's what it always features:

baby spinach

an apple or a pear

a couple splashes of almond milk

ice cubes

and a generous half of an avocado.

i haven't been able to decide if i like

apples better than pears. i'm sad that i

discovered the delicious addition of melon

so close to the end of melon season. i'm

very happy that i realized i only need a small

amount of almond milk - just enough to blend

the mess into a cohesive frosty drink - to make

me happy. but, i've made one decision, that i haven't

wavered from since beginning.

i don't measure.

i can't.

early in the morning,

when i need to leave for work and i've

sacrificed my hair time for smoothie time,

the last thing i want to deal with

are measuring cups. honestly,

it annoys me that i have to deal with

a knife and a cutting board. and, by now, i've

gotten pretty good at making a smoothie

that tastes pretty much the same every day.

so, here's what i do. approximately.

i start by placing a huge handful of

baby spinach in the container.

this fills up about half the blender.

then, i large chop an unpeeled apple* or pear,

using all of a small piece of fruit,

or three-quarters of a large piece.

that goes into the blender, too,

pressing down on the spinach.

then, i add about ten cubes of melon,

or a small handful of blueberries.

i spoon in a generous half of ripe avocado**

(and, by this i mean, that when i "halve" the fruit,

i make sure to cut a bigger section for the smoothie)

then, i drizzle in a squeeze or two of agave

(or three chopped pitted dates).

i add two or three splashes of almond milk,

just enough so that i can see about 1/3-inch

of milk on the bottom of the blender.

and, then, before setting the blender to puree,

i top everything with two small

handfuls of large ice cubes.

usually it takes a good 20-30 seconds for

the mixture to start blending. if things don't start

to take shape at that point, i turn the blender off and shake

the container a couple times. if that still doesn't

help everything mix together, i add a little bit

more almond milk. and once everything is combining,

i let the blender run for at least a minute or two, or until

everything is cohesive and smooth.

on the rare days that i've gotten it together

to make my smoothie before i start getting ready,

i've learned that, surprisingly, this mixture

keeps - covered and in the fridge - for at least

a couple hours.

and that's it.

it's green.

it's satisfying.

it makes people ask questions.

(what are you drinking? why are you drinking that?

spinach? avocado? did you lose a bet?)

but, mostly. it makes me immensely happy.***

*you may notice that the apple i used on the day i took pictures was a granny smith. they looked really shiny and beautiful in the store, but i don't recommend using them. they make the smoothies more tart that i like and it would take quite a bit of sweetener to balance it all out.

**don't get me wrong. a fair half of an avocado makes a really good smoothie. but, using a little more than half ensures that the entire thing tastes faintly of avocado. and in my opinion, what's the point of using a good, but expensive and fatty fruit if you're not going to be able to taste it?

***on friday, i made three smoothies - one for me and one for each of my sisters - as a road trip "treat" to drink on the way to our grandmother's house. they drank theirs, but i'm not sure they'd be able to say that these smoothies made them immensely happy. one of my sisters said it took her three sips to realize she liked it, but she came around. i do think they'd say they like them just fine.