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How to make the best buttermilk pancakes

/ beccalev / 2 Comments

I have always loved everything about pancakes: from the smell of butter on a griddle, to the fluffy, maple-syrup-covered final product. But I don’t just like any old pancake: I aim for the best. The best pancakes don’t come from a mix, and taking that little extra step of putting all of the ingredients together can make the difference between an OK pancake and a fantastic one. And what can be more fantastic than a perfect buttermilk pancake? Not much, I can tell you that.

I’ve done extensive (and delicious) research on which buttermilk to use for the best buttermilk pancakes and have come to this resounding conclusion: Katie’s Farm Fresh from Maine Real Buttermilk. This buttermilk plus 5 other simple ingredients make an easy, heart-warming breakfast for a treat.

My special trick to making multiple flavors of pancakes is using a ½ cup measure: I fill it about halfway with batter, add the filling to the batter in the cup (such as berries, banana pieces, chocolate chips, etc.), and then pour it onto the griddle. This way, the extras are covered with batter and not just floating on top and I don’t have to make multiple batches of batter!

Making pancakes more often leads to the need for a special type of pan that is necessary to invest in (if you’re going to be invested in these pancakes, which I promise you will be): a griddle pan. This piece of equipment is a flat top griddle that goes across two stovetops and cooks up to 8 mini pancakes at a time! On the other side of the griddle is a grill pan, so it’s dual functioning, I love it!

The pancakes come out fresh and crisp with a soft, fluffy center, and with real maple syrup, they’re truly scrumptious (points if you get the reference).

The recipe is super easy and very low stress, so I can whip these up first thing when I get up and I’m wearing glasses, PJs, and still-sleeping mental state. It always wakes me up on the right side of the bed 🙂

Buttermilk Pancakes (adapted from The Breakfast Book)

3 tbsp butter, melted (cooled a little)

1 cup buttermilk and 1 egg, combined (with whisk)

3/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp salt, mixed together

Add the melted butter to the buttermilk-egg mixture while stirring so that the hot butter doesn’t cook the egg.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and don’t over mix it! You still want the mixture to be a little clumpy. For thinner pancakes, you can mix an extra second or a few extra swipes (and if you’re making them as small as I do, they’ll crisp up a little easier on the edges).

If you want to add some ingredients to it, but not everyone wants flavored pancakes, you can do what I do for my family: using a half cup measure, take about 1/4 cup of batter, pour in a handful of berries (for example), and then pour the new mixture onto the griddle. That way, the berries have a tiny barrier of batter between them and the pan, and they’re more likely to stay in the pancake when you flip them over!

Pour the batter onto the pan and wait to flip them until the edges look less liquidy or the underside (if you take a peak) is browned or crispy on the edges. Try to only flip the pancakes once to keep the pancakes as light and fluffy as possible!

Best Croissant in Boston

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Ever since I came back from France, I have been trying to find a halfway decent croissant to compare to the amazing ones I had in Paris. And since I’m currently in the Boston area, I figured I would go on a quest (with the help of some recommendations from this Chowhound discussion).

I tried places in Jamaica Plain, Brookline, Cambridge, and Boston itself (although I didn’t make it to the North End), and here are my top places so far.

Canto 6

Past the main drag of Jamaica Plain, right when you reach the point of “wait, where are we?” is this haven of pastry: Canto 6.  You walk inside and are welcomed by the smell of baked goods made with real butter and greeted with the sights of mouth-watering goodies.

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While all of the pastries in therelooked completely delicious, I decided to pick up a salted chocolate chip cookie, a whoopie pie, and, of course, a pain au chocolat. I saved the dessert foods for later (which were both delicious) but ate the chocolate croissant immediately, and I had an immediate flashback to walking down the streets of Paris. The texture was right, the shape was right, and the chocolate was real chocolate. Although it was a little breadier than the finest of croissants from France, it was definitely a very close competition to the best croissant I’ve had in the US.

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Not only were the croissants good and the rest of the pastries equally delicious, but also the people working there were SO NICE (not something you always find in a high end bakery)! The place was charming (despite the lack of many places to sit) and it had a fun, hipster-y atmosphere that comes with the location of Jamaica Plain. I highly recommended finding your way out there, it is worth the trip!

Clear Flour Bread

Centrally located, just off of Coolidge Corner in Brookline, this bakery is known for its prowess in breads. The sour dough bread is actually tangy (a taste that is sorely missed by Californianites), the country bread is nice and hearty, and the baguettes look authentic (which is a sight for sore eyes). But the best part is the row of pastries that stands right behind the register, gorgeous, tantalizing, and just so correct.

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The pain au chocolat here is lovely, and with three batons of chocolate in the chocolate croissant, it’s positively decadent. I also loved the cannelés as a fun treat. And while I haven’t tried the morning buns myself, I read that they are made with the croissant dough, so I’m positive they will be delicious 🙂

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I highly recommend this place. A delicious stop, although you have to come in early because a lot of things sell out before noon on busy Saturdays! Also, there’s no place to sit, but you probably won’t need to be sitting down to snarf one of their delicacies.

Tatte Fine Cookies and Cakes

Both of Tatte’s locations (one in Brookline and one in Cambridge) are sweet boutiques that are a pleasure to look at even before they are a pleasure to eat in. Just to step into one is like stepping into a jewelbox filled with delicate pastries and dainty decorations.

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The pastries they prepare are also delicious. We picked up a couple of “roses” and a croissant based tart with eggplant, red pepper, and goat cheese as well as a croissant. All were yummy and exquisite to look at.

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In addition to pastries, they also sell Jeni’s homemade ice cream (at a fair price), which as a foodie is hard to find! I would definitely recommend this place, even to just come in and gawk at the beauty of the food. For a nice big seating location, the Kendall Square location is bigger and close to some of my other favorite places (Voltage Café and Area Four)

All in all, it seems possible to find a decent croissant, as told by a croissant lover stuck in the North East!

Addresses:

Canto 6

3346 Washington St, Jamaica Plain

Clear Flour Bread

178 Thorndike St, Brookline

Tatte Fine Cookies and Cakes

1003 Beacon St, Brookline

318 3rd St, Cambridge

Best Hot Chocolate in Paris

/ beccalev / 1 Comment

I spent my junior year abroad in Aix-en-Provence and Paris, taking classes, exploring the cities, traveling to other amazing parts of the world, and of course eating ridiculously amazing food. I’ve been putting together lists of places I went to and loved for people who want to go back and recreate some of the experiences I had. I kept a blog of my time there which now hasn’t been updated in just over a year, but I still get requests for my favorite places to go in Paris and Aix!

Hot chocolate has definitely been a staple for me growing up, so of course while I was abroad I was looking to continue having the best of the best. Here are my four most memorable cups of cocoa in Paris.

Angelina, which is the obvious choice.

It’s really incredibly delicious. Despite the long line (which moves fast) and the room filled with lots of tourists, it retains its old-time Paris feel and serves up its always delicious albeit expensive small pitcher of chocolatey goodness and a small cup of freshly whipped cream. The sensation of pouring this rich, chocolatey goodness into the china tea cup is something I truly enjoy.

Each time anyone came to visit me, I would bring them to Angelina, just because I knew it was a place with both a wow-factor for the place and the food. As a college kid on a budget, it may seem strange that I would recommend splurging 7 euros on about 1.5 cups of cocoa, but trust me, it’s worth every cent. If you split 2 orders between 3 people and get one pastry to share, that would still be plenty and you would DEFinitely be getting your money’s worth at this amazing place!

Un Dimanche à Paris

This is another fancy salon de thé (or, as they call it, a salon de chocolat) which prides itself on its pastries, chocolates, and of course its hot chocolate. In a little hidden alleyway by the Odéon, it feels like you’ve found this hidden gem of a place. Half of the store is to buy objects to take away with you while the other half is the salon. And another fact that makes it even more appealing: it’s open on a Sunday, a rather rare occurrence in Paris.

What could be better than that? Something that I truly appreciate as a student: they offer small cups, about a dixie-cup-size full of their delicious hot chocolate to go for only 2,50 euros! That way you can drink this thick, sweet chocolate while strolling around the 6th arrondissement and not have to confine yourself indoors.

I believe that this option is only available in the afternoon, but it’s a perfect time to pick up a “gouter” (the French version of snacktime, usually spent chilling out at a café, drinking something and eating a pastry, helping keep the French satiated before their late dinners). Plus, having that amount of delicious hot chocolate for the price of 2,50 euros is definitely a sweet deal.

Merce and the Muse

This tucked away café is so eclectically decorate, it feels more like you’ve stepped into someone’s living room to hang out. Then you start to notice the pastries on display and the professional espresso machine on the counter and you realize this quirky space is a groovy spot to chill and sip coffee, or in my case, this lavender hot chocolate.

Normally, I tend to think of lavender scented foods as tasting more like soap than a tasty treat, but this hot chocolate was the perfect balanced of silky dark chocolate with just a hint of floral undertone. It was perfect for the chilly day outside, and the almond cake we had with it (a special of the day) complemented beautifully.

They  were recommended to me for their coffee and pastries, but their hot chocolate was definitely worth the trip. And if you have the time, stop by for their brunch on Sunday: bountiful, fresh food that doesn’t leave you feeling gross, just content.

Sugarplum Cake Shop

This American-style bakery in Paris is sometimes just what you’re searching for, especially if you’ve been away from home and America as long as I had at the point I had found this place. It is just a little slice of home, where many students studying abroad walk in and say,  “I just want to live here!” (Seriously, I’ve heard it said dozens of times there). And their food, coffee, and, of course, hot chocolate are delicious to boot.

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The down-home feel adds to the charm, and the big chocolate chip cookies and fifties-style icebox layer cakes feel like home. Plus you can get peanut butter baked goods, pecan toffe bars, cheesecake, and carrot cake (their signature dessert), all of which are nearly impossible to find in France. Plus, being greeted upon entering with a “Hello” is always music to an English speaker’s ears in a foreign country. To those looking for a place to hang, there’s wifi on the weekdays and couches to sit on, so it’s a good pit stop all around.
Places in which I would love to have tried the “chocolat chaud” but did not get a chance to:

Jacques Génin

His chocolates and caramels and delicious, his pastries and delectable, and he has a beautiful sitting area. I’m sure if I had sat down one day to drink a cup of hot chocolate, it would have made the list, though it always seemed a bit on the expensive side to me.

Jean-Paul Hévin

The chocolates and macarons they sell are yummy, so I’m sure the hot chocolate would have been something to talk about as well, though again this seemed like another pricey place.

Ladurée

Despite the fact that it’s a chain now, and is also available in, you guessed it, New York City, this place still serves up some delicious pastries, so I’m sure that their hot chocolate would live up to the high standards set by their world famous macarons. I would also beware the price in this place, because if the pricing of the macaron is any sort of indicator, the price of the hot chocolate could be steep.

Addresses:

 Angelina

226 rue de Rivoli, Paris 1er

Un Dimanche à Paris

4-6-8 Cour du Commerce Saint André, Paris 6eme

Merce and the Muse

1 bis Rue Dupuis, Paris 1er

Sugarplum Cake Shop

68 rue du Cardinal LeMoine, Paris 5eme

Best Ice Cream in Falmouth

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My family has had a house in Falmouth for as long as I can remember, so needless to say I’ve spent a lot of time on the Cape every summer. Every year that we go back, we try to explore some of the new options that have arisen over the years, but there are still a few places we keep returning to.

One of our favorite things to eat on a late summer night or a hot summer afternoon is some of the delicious ice cream available to us in Falmouth. Here are my top three places to go:

Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium

This chocolate store right in the center of Falmouth, while it does have chocolate in the title and sells freshly made chocolates, the line around the corner every weekend all day is for their homemade ice cream.

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While it IS true that the price for a small or a kiddie seems steep, it’s because of how much ice cream you get in each size. However, we’ve figured out that the large sundae is only 75 cents more than getting a small sundae, so we get one of those to split between 3 of us.

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The old fashioned vibe of the place makes the ice cream you’re eating taste even more delicious, although it would be hard to find fault in it even without the cool decorations. The ice cream itself has the right creamy texture you look for in ice cream, and the chocolate chip (our personal favorite flavor) has a very vanilla-y base and huge chunks of delicious dark chocolate. Top that with hot fudge and whipped cream, and we’re a very happy group 🙂

In addition to the traditional flavors, Ben & Bill’s also has a few funs flavors, such as real lobster ice cream! The people who work there say that most people will just try a taste of it and then buy a full size of something else, but it is a renowned addition to their available flavors. Definitely worth a stop in downtown Falmouth for a taste of this delicious ice cream!

Smitty’s Homemade Ice Cream

We’ve been going to Smitty’s since I was very young, and the little house on the rolling lawn holds a special place in my childhood memories. Now that I’m older, I’ve gotten better at appreciating not only the atmosphere of the cute building but also the quality of the ice cream they serve. Smitty himself even hangs out here late at night, and his policy is “We’re open until the last person comes.” He even posed for a picture for me, on the 4th of July, no less!

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The ice cream he serves here is always delicious and fresh, and what’s even better is the freshness of the toppings you can get on a sundae: he makes whipped cream and marshmallow topping and hot fudge from scratch! That really makes all the difference to me. And on top of that, their flavors of ice cream are creative and fresh.

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He now has a few different locations, but my favorite is still the classic one with a rolling green, climbing-worthy trees, picnic benches, and the little cottage that happens to be serving ice cream 🙂

Honorable mention: Eulinda’s

This cute building off of the West Falmouth Highway houses a dainty ice cream shop that sells Richardson’s ice cream. Richardson’s is always delicious, creamy, and has lots of flavors, and being able to get their ice cream down the cape is really fun because you know you’re getting good quality ice cream (and it’s delicious too)!

Ben & Bill’s

209 Main St, Falmouth, MA

Smitty’s

326 E Falmouth Hwy, East Falmouth, MA

Eulinda’s

634 West Falmouth Hwy, Falmouth MA

Best Coffee in and around Boston

/ beccalev / 1 Comment

When I find places where I can get a cappuccino or latte that tastes as good as any café crème I had in Paris, I want to tell the world! And if it looks as good as the ones I used to have at Caféotheque that’s an even better reason to share it.

While this list is only just beginning, I figured I would share where you can find a great cup of coffee in and around Boston. This list is still a work-in-progress!

Voltage Café

A couple of blocks away from MIT, this cafe has been written up time and time again for its excellence in coffee. And from the many times I’ve been there, it does not disappoint. And although the people working there could have been snooty about their coffee and looked down on someone like me who was asking questions, they were the exact opposite: incredibly helpful and welcoming, answering every question I had and making sure I made the best decision about what type of coffee to get.

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The cappuccinos I’ve gotten have been beautifully poured and crafted and the beans they use are wonderful. Their latte creations are incredibly delicious, creatively envisioned, and expertly prepared. Super yummy. Those are definitely worth the extra bit of money because it takes like no other latte I’ve had anywhere else. Although to be fair, how many other places serve sea salt caramel latte?

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Plus you can head just down the street to Tatte Bakery and pick up a few goodies to munch alongside your awesome coffee drink, or you can take the latte to go! Yum, yum, yum. Definitely make your way out here for amazing coffee!

Area Four

Another cool spot in Kendall Square is the cool Area Four with its industrial, edgy style complete with a hipster-nerd-professional crowd, a delicious cafe serving coffee with probably the best microfoam I have had in a while, and a fantastic casual restaurant to boot.

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The pastries looked and tasted delicious (I tried a smores bar and it was incredible). Despite the relatively steep price, the quality of the food and the upscale atmosphere with down-home appeal was well worth the money it took to get the coffee and food there.

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Overall, it’s definitely worth the trip out to the 3rd street area just to come here. Delicious coffee, yummy pastries, and an awesome space.

Diesel Café (Somerville)

A frequent hang out for Tufts students, this cafe in the heart of Davis Square is known for its great pastries, yummy food, and awesome coffee.

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It manages to maintain the small cafe feel while having a huge seating area and large scale production. The pastries are amazing, and the breakfast is utterly delicious.

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It may not look appetizing in that picture, bu I swear that might be the best oatmeal I’ve ever eaten. The tiny, chewy oat pieces were topped with walnuts, dried cranberries, steamed milk, and a fresh hunk of brown sugar that slowly dissolved into the steaming bowl of goodness. It was positively delightful. While the people who work here are not as openly friendly as at 3 Little Figs (see below), they are all very knowledgeable and produce really great quality products, including their coffee. Be on the lookout for seasonal lattes, like my personal favorite the pumpkin pie latte. DEEEElicious.

Three Little Figs (Somerville)

This adorable shop a bit outside of Davis Square in Somerville is exactly what I always look for in a cafe: a cute place to sit (inside or out), yummy food (they had both sandwiches and delicious pastries), fantastic coffee (they have a very impressive espresso machine displayed prominently), and a warm staff (we made friends with both the cashier and the barista in no time).

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I definitely crave their cappuccino and their “lemon doughnut muffin”, which was a pastry that was too good to be put into one category (is it a doughnut? is it a muffin? is it a tart? is it a cupcake?). It’s just the type of place I wish I lived closer to so I could go there all the time.

Unfortunately, the location is just that far off Davis square (about a mile) that it seems inconvenient to walk there from Tufts campus, especially with another great coffee place that’s so much closer (Diesel Cafe), but this cafe is truly an incredibly beautiful place with a more intimate feel, a cooler espresso machine, and slightly cheaper prices. Tufts kids should try to make the trek!

Crema Café (Cambridge)

Right in the heart of Harvard Square it’s hard to know if there will be anything except chain restaurants or low-quality food options to find, but this cafe has all the vibe of a place half its size while maintaining a large scale customer base. I passed by this place every morning on the way to my job, and I was always secretly hoping I would miss the bus so I could snag a seat and sip a cup of their coffee or tea and munch on a treat.

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All of the drinks I had from there were delicious, including a Moroccan mint iced tea, a “maté latte” (tea with milk, honey, and cinnamon), and of course a cappuccino. In addition to their fun and yummy drinks, they have pastries, salads, and sandwiches that never failed to disappoint: everything from chocolate chip cookies to s’mores cupcakes to quiche to croissants to mini carrot cakes to panini-ed sandwiches and fresh salads and wraps for the lunchtime rush. Like Diesel, they knew how to maintain the balance between hidden-secret and big crowd pleaser, with the homey feel of a small cafe but all the bells and whistles of a place that keeps up with the crowds. It’s also owned by the same people who have Flat Patties (a cheaper sandwich place next door) and Felipes (for tacos and burritos), both in Harvard Square as well, and all of them are great bargains!

George Howell Coffee (Newtonville)

The man who runs this coffee shop is a coffee legend. George Howell has been a proponent of single-origin coffee since before Starbucks. Right now, he travels around giving talks and tasting coffee, but every once in a while you can catch him at his store. And I was fortunate enough to be able to have a long conversation with him while we has in the store! He prefers light roast to dark roast and iced coffee to cold brew, and he gave us many tips on how to best store the coffee (freezer once it’s opened).

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He even brewed us up a new pot of iced coffee so we could compare it to the old one that had been out all day and so that we could compare it to our knowledge of cold brew. It was a very interesting experiment, and while I didn’t agree with all of George’s preferences of coffee, I loved hearing his reasons for his choices and where he thinks the coffee industry is heading. And the shop makes a good cappuccino to boot.

Again, this cafe may seem a little harder to get to in that it requires a car, but you do get a chance to go right to the source, and who knows: you might also get to meet the expert himself!

Ula Café (With reservations)

While the coffee, in both presentation and in quality, may not be as good as some of the others that I’ve had in Boston, the place itself is a really nice spot to sit in. They have a lot of great food options: freshly made sandwiches, pastries, and, my favorite, popovers. They have a nice place to sit, with a groovy atmosphere and very low key. And they definitely had the best t-shirts/logo of the bunch.

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It’s very rare that you get a popover in a cafe, let alone a good popover. And Ula Café has a puffy, eggy, crunchy, soft popover that they keep bringing out over the course of the day. It was very yummy, and probably the highlight of the place for me.

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All in all, it’s definitely worth the visit, even if not just for the coffee!

Places that were also on the list but I haven’t gotten a chance to go there yet:

Thinking Cup, Downtown Crossing
Andala Café, Central Square
Equal Exchange Cafee, North End
Simon’s Coffee House, Cambridge
1369 Coffeehouse, Cambridge
Render Coffee, South End

Addresses:

Voltage Café

295 3rd St, Kendall Square

Area Four

500 Technology Square, Kendall Square

Diesel Cafe

257 Elm Street Somerville, MA

3 Little Figs

278 Highland Avenue Somerville, MA

Crema Cafe

27 Brattle Street Cambridge, MA

George Howell Coffee

311 Walnut Street Newton, MA

Ula Café

284 Amory St, Jamaica Plain

Best Cupcakes in Manhattan

/ beccalev / Leave a comment

There’s this cupcake fad that’s been going on for a few years now: freshly made cupcakes with the best ingredients, interesting flavors, and beautiful decorations at a high price. Because they’re such an easy treat to throw together and adjust slightly to make it your own, little stores claiming to have made the best cupcakes have been springing up all over the country and even abroad. And of course the place to find a huge concentration of these cupcakeries is in New York City (center of the universe).

Over my many visits to NYC I’ve researched the best places, walked for miles to get there, and eaten many cupcakes to come up with this list of where I think you can get the best cupcakes in Manhattan.

Billy’s Bakery

This cute bakery in Chelsea still holds my heart for the best cupcakes in New York. It’s this little hole-in-the-wall cutesy place that smells delicious as you get closer, and it’s only a few steps from the busiest parts of Chelsea, so you don’t have to dig too far to get to taste their tasty treats.

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Unlike Magnolia (the popular choice for the best cupcakes), there’s no 30 minute line and exorbitant prices and no place to sit, just friendly people, a cute space, and delicious pastries that you can eat on the spot or save for later.

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My favorite cupcakes from there are the chocolate with vanilla buttercream and the red velvet, but they also have a particularly good vanilla cupcake and carrot cake and fun seasonal flavors such as banana-nutella, pumpkin, and pecan. They even have single candles and cupcake decorations on sale for those on the fly birthday treats 🙂 Definitely worth a visit.

Magnolia Bakery

This famed bakery is considered by many to be the best cupcakes in New York, but like Ladurée in Paris, Magnolia may have gotten too big and too famous to be my favorite anymore. Plus the lines are not my favorite. The cupcakes, however, are still delicious, and being able to get them in more than one location is a big plus (since the original location has by far the longest line, especially after dinner). They’re still pretty expensive, but to me it’s still worth the price for these yummy treats.

Plus, their cookbook is also a great investment, specifically their buttercream recipes it to die for and super easy.

Amy’s Bread

This bakery is more focused on the production of delicious bread than on the fabrication of its sweets, but that does not mean that it can’t produce delicious goodies as well. They have three main locations, but my favorite is the factory itself in Chelsea Market. You can see where the bakers are working tirelessly to get the best breads out of the giant ovens, making the whole market smell delicious. The two other locations are quaint shops overflowing with breads and pastries.

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The cupcakes are delicious, with a moist cake and a sweet buttercream in bright colors and traditional flavors.They really feel homemade, and in the Chelsea market, you get to watch the bakers create all of their delicious treats.

Other highlights of cupcakes in New York are Sugar Sweet Sunshine, the Cupcake Café, and Empire Cake, but they haven’t made my top three list. I look forward to heading back to New York again soon to catch up on some new Cupcakeries that have popped up since my last cupcake crawl and adding them to my list!

Billy’s Bakery

184 9th Avenue b/w 21st and 22nd

Magnolia Bakery

401 Bleecker St

Amy’s Bread
75 Ninth Avenue (Between 15th & 16th Streets)
New York, NY 10011