#no more watering down. instead we are doing the opposite. like pouring 15 water flavor packets into the pitcher instead

[torchickentacos]

in 2025 I should start making a Harley's Ass Friday meme each week again. It was very stupid but it was ALSO deeply funny to me and I miss it

[blockzone06-blog]

Gluten-Free Matcha Crepe Cake with Whipped White Chocolate Ganache

This matcha crepe cake recipe layers thin gluten-free matcha almond flour crepes with fluffy matcha whipped white chocolate ganache. With sponge-like crepes and pillows of whipped ganache sealing the layers together, this playful cake has it all: texture, earthy sweet flavor, and a rustically ruffled edge.

This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill, a year-long partner of Snixy Kitchen

With this layered matcha crepe cake in my back pocket, I’m fully prepared to make my own birthday cake this weekend. When Zoella told me she was going to make me a chocolate and vanilla rainbow cake, Lucas’s eyes nearly doubled in size and he asked in panic, “Do I have to make you a cake this year?”

I’ve decided that he’s off the hook. I’ll make my own cake – there’s too much at stake. If Zoella doesn’t get to sing to me while I blow out candles, she might not recover this time.

Last time was a near disaster. We tried to celebrate my birthday a week early while out to dinner on our trip to Monterey last Saturday. Instead, I ended up blowing out a candle nestled into a scoop of complimentary vanilla ice cream while sitting by myself. Neither kid had gotten a long enough nap and they were slowly falling apart as dinner arrived. Fortunately, we were at the hotel restaurant, so as soon as we’d finished eating, Lucas swooped both kids upstairs to start bedtime while I waited for the check.

Except instead of the check, the waitress showed up with a candle-topped ice cream, ready to wish me a happy birthday. I sent Lucas a picture and he FaceTimed me to show Zoella. He expected her to want to sing, but instead she melted down because she’d missed the birthday wishes. She didn’t even care that she’d missed ice cream – this girl just loves birthday celebrations.

The waitress felt bad I had to eat birthday dessert alone, but you know what? She gave me an extra 5 minutes to eat ice cream in peace, and for that, I am grateful.

For my actual birthday, I’ll make the cake. Perhaps this gluten-free matcha crepe cake with matcha whipped white chocolate ganache.

Matcha Crepe Cake

This thinly layered matcha crepe cake is the second recipe in a year-long partnership with Bob’s Red Mill. Last month I made homemade gluten-free pop tarts with strawberry jam. As a gluten-free baker, I have an entire pantry shelf dedicated to Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flours. For these gluten-free matcha crepes, I’ve used a simple combination of almond flour and sweet rice flour.

Until you start baking gluten-free regularly, it can feel overwhelming to buy multiple bags of gluten-free flours. Rest assured, you can use my recipe filter to sort recipes by gluten-free flour type to use up whatever bag of Bob’s Red Mill flour you’ve got in your pantry for a sweet treat!

What is a Crepe Cake?

This “Gâteau Mille Crêpes” or “thousand crepe cake” is a classic French cake made by layering a (figurative) thousand crepes with pastry cream between them into a cake. If left natural, the result is a playful cake with a whimsical ruffled edge made entirely on the stove top. Slicing into the cake reveals the effort of the “baker” – sheets of cake with a near 50/50 ratio to cream.

Now, I made my 5½ inch tall crepe cake with just 18 crepes. I’ve done the math. If I really made this crepe cake with a thousand crepes, it’d be nearly 25½ feet tall or 7¾ meters. And it would take approximately 50 hours to flip all the crepes with a single pan.

I’ve riffed on that traditional cake making a gluten-fee version with almond flour matcha crepes and swapped out the pastry cream for something a little simpler, matcha whipped white chocolate ganache.

What to use as crepe cake filling?

Classic French crepe cakes get layered up with pastry cream, or “creme patissiere” – a creamy custard thickened with egg yolks. I knew if I was spending my time flipping crepes, I wanted a more approachable simpler filling.

I’ve seen many quick versions filled with whipped cream or chocolate ganache. My friend Amanda filled her chocolate crepe cake with a cocoa hazelnut cream.

For my version, I wanted something sweet to balance the earthy matcha, but stable that wouldn’t weep in the fridge. Enter whipped white chocolate ganache with a bit of matcha folded in. Much of the time I find white chocolate cloyingly sweet. Almost the exact opposite of my choice dark chocolate. Against the vegetal grassy notes of matcha, though, the sweetness of white chocolate is just right.

Almond Flour Crepes: How to make gluten-free crepes?

Last year I partnered with Bob’s Red Mill to make gluten-free buckwheat crepes. That recipe took the classic French savory crepe and paired it with a sweet cherry and chocolate filling that accentuated the warm and toasty nuttiness of buckwheat flour.

For this matcha crepe cake, I wanted a more subtle flour that would let the matcha flavor and color shine. Matcha’s sweet nutty notes become even more distinct with almond flour as the base – a time-tested pairing I’ve use for matcha macarons and almond matcha olive oil cake.

Used alone, almond flour is a bit more delicate and brittle. The crepes are more likely to tear. To help with that, I’ve added a bit of sticky sweet rice flour to make the crepes pliable and sturdy. This flexibility helps with flipping the crepes and gives them the little bit of chew and spring you get from traditional wheat flour crepes. With these two flours, the crepes have the texture and flavor of standard crepes. If you’d like, you can even replace the matcha with more sweet rice flour to make a plain crepe and it’ll work just the same!

When you make a matcha crepe cake, you want the green color to pop. It’s important to start with a high-quality matcha that is bright green (and hasn’t oxidized to a muddy brown green color). Use my Ultimate Guide to Matcha to help navigate the various types and brands of matcha with dozens more matcha recipes.

Once you master pouring and flipping crepes, crepes are really pretty simple to make. Throw all the ingredients in a blender and give it a whirl for 30 seconds.

How to pour and flip crepes?

In testing this crepe cake, I’ve now made close to a thousand crepes (ok that’s an exaggeration, but it feels that way). Here’s what I’ve learned.

Cook low and slow

Most crepe recipes ask for medium heat, For these almond flour crepes, you want low heat (or medium low heat if you’re using a small burner). The crepes need to cook almost all the way through before you flip them to ensure they’re sturdy enough and won’t tear. Cooking them for longer on low heat lets them cook through without the bottom getting too dark. A bonus if you’re making green matcha crepes!

The exact temperature of your stove depends on your pan and burner strength. Use these signs to adjust accordingly:

If your pan gets too hot while cooking, your crepe batter will cook as soon as it hits the pan and you’ll struggle to get a thin even crepe. Lift the pan off the stove and wave it back and forth a few times to cool it off.

If you pan isn’t hot enough, your crepe batter will slide around in the pan, settling a little more in the center with a very thin layer around the outside that will brown and crisp up too much before the rest of the crepe is ready.

Not too thin

These almond flour crepes will be just a little thicker than traditional crepes to make them sturdy and thick enough to flip without tears. This also keeps the edges from getting too crisp while the crepe cooks.

Pour and Swirl

The pour and swirl is the art of crepe making. With the crepe pan tilted in one hand and a measuring cup of batter in the other, start pouring from the upward tilted edge of the pan and rotate where you pour in the pan while also rotating and shuffling the pan.

This sounds more complicated than it is, and once you’ve made one or two crepes, you’ll figure out your groove.

Lift the edges before flipping

Use a thin rubber spatula to gently run around the very edge of the crepe before flipping. This will make sure that a crisp edge won’t stick to the pan when you go to flip.

I prefer to use my hands to flip the crepe because I feel like I’ve got more control. But, crepes are hot. Take the spatula to lift one edge of the crepe about an inch high so you have enough to grab. This edge will begin to cool while it’s not touching the pan so you’ll be able to flip with your fingers.

Yield: 1 8-inch crepe cake, 8-12 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 4 hours 15 minutes

This matcha crepe cake recipe layers thin gluten-free matcha almond flour crepes with fluffy matcha whipped white chocolate ganache. With a sponge like crepes and pillows of whipped ganache sealing the layers together, this playful cake has it all: texture, earthy sweet flavor, and a rustically impressive appearance. 

Ingredients

Matcha Whipped White Chocolate Ganache*

Gluten-Free Matcha Almond Flour Crepes

Instructions

Prep the ganache before making your crepes. Place the white chocolate in a medium metal bowl (any heatproof bowl will work but a metal bowl will cool the chocolate faster). Optional, but it will speed up your chilling by an hour or so: Prepare an ice bath in a large metal bowl (that fits in your fridge) with just enough water to go up the sides of the medium bowl about an inch or two.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to simmer over low heat. Pour the cream over the chopped white chocolate and let sit for a few minutes then stir until completely melted with no chunks remaining. Press a layer of plastic wrap up against the top of the ganache. Chill until cold (I use a thermometer and chill until it's at least 42°F. To speed this up, set the bottom of the covered ganache bowl in the prepared ice bath and chill the whole thing in the fridge for 2-3 hours, lifting the plastic and giving it a quick stir every 30 minutes or so.

Meanwhile prepare your crepes. Prepare a baking sheet or large cooling rack next to the stove. Combine all the crepe ingredients in a blender and blend for 30 seconds until completely smooth. Let sit for 5 minutes while you preheat your crepe pan or an 10-inch non-stick pan over medium-low heat (I use low heat on my two largest burners). You're going to be making about 21 crepes, so if you have two pans that will work, I recommend doing them both at the same time to save time. You want your pans to be hot, but not smoking. If the pan is too hot, your batter will cook too quickly, making it hard to swirl it into a thin crepe, but if it's not hot enough, your batter won't stick to the pan in a thick enough layer, leaving the outside edge very thin and brittle. Expect to mess up a crepe or two while you get the heat just right for your stove - in the end, I used 18 crepes for my cake and ate a few along the way.

Melt a tiny dab of butter in the skillet and rub it with a scrunched up paper towel. You want just enough to keep it from sticking, but not enough that it disrupts your batter. With the skillet in one hand, pour ¼ to ⅓ cup of batter into the hot skillet, while simultaneously tilting your wrist to rotate the pan so the batter spreads around the pan. Gently shake the pan to spread the batter into a thin even layer on the bottom of the pan. Set the pan back on the stove and let it cook until the edges slightly curl up and turn golden, while the top is no longer glossy, about 2-3 minutes.

Use a rubber spatula to lift all of the edges of the crepe to make sure it hasn't stuck to your pan. Gently grasp and edge of a crepe with your finger tips and quickly flip the crepe (you can also use a large rubber spatula to help you flip the crepe if it's too hot for you!). Let cook for 1-2 more minutes until it turns golden brown. Transfer to a single layer on a baking sheet or wire rack to cool for a few minutes while you cook the next crepe(s), then stack on a plate once cool. Repeat until you've made at least 18 crepes.

By now your white chocolate ganache should be cool enough to whip. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or the same bowl with a hand mixer, beat your chilled ganache for several minutes until soft peaks form. Sift in the remaining matcha and mix a few seconds just to combine.

Assemble your cake at least 30 minutes before you want to serve it. Place one crepe on a cake stand/plate and spread a thin layer of whipped ganache on top. I use a 1/4 cup ice cream school to portion out the creme evenly among the layers. Top with another crepe and repeat. Spread all of the remaining whipped ganache on top and sprinkle with toasted almonds. Chill for at least 30 minutes or up to a day before slicing.

Disclosure: Special thanks to Bob’s Red Mill for providing the flours shown above and sponsoring this post! And thanks to you for supporting the companies that keep Snixy Kitchen cooking!

Source: https://www.snixykitchen.com/gluten-free-matcha-crepe-cake-with-whipped-white-chocolate-ganache/

[edgewaterfarmcsa]

FALL CSA WEEK 5

Pick List:

sweet potatoes - parsnips - celeriac - shallot - carrots - kale - parsley -

radishes - garlic - fennel - eggs

KITCHEN LIST:

OATMEAL BREAD & SOUP

Still sitting in a dry office on a very wet afternoon.  I have officially become a very broken record with Milli Vanilli’s “blame it on the rain” stepping in as my personal theme song.  Rain or no rain, there is still a lot to do between here and Cornish. Last week amidst an absolute downpour, field crew geared up for the foulest weather, planted garlic, and dug the celeriac and parsnip crop.  On dry days, they’ve been weeding the strawberry crop- an important practice for any perennial crop before they get a blanket of mulch in a couple of weeks. We are coming along on our “things to do before it gets too cold to do them” list… but next Wednesday we lose almost all of our crew.  Jasper, Strong, Garnet, and Roy head home to Jamaica next week. To say we are sad about it is a complete understatement. They are absolute assets to this farm and our families. But let’s not focus too much on that at the moment. Instead, let’s put all of our emotions into strawberry weeding, packing out vegetables, egg cleaning and carrot harvesting-  After 11 years of living up North, I think it’s safe to say, that’s the New England way.

TIPS - TRICKS - RECIPES

BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING RECIPES PROVIDED BY MY KITCHEN GURU/BESTIE WHO ASSURES ME THE FOLLOWING RECIPES ARE TDF (to die for):

Celery Root and Wild Rice Chowder

From Local Flavors Deborah Madison

1/2 cup wild rice 1 celery root (about 1 pound)

2 large leeks, white parts only 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 celery rib, diced 1 cup thinly sliced russet potato

1/4 cup chopped parsley 1 bay leaf

1 large thyme sprig sea salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cups veggie stock or chicken stock

2 cups half-and-half or milk truffle oil, optional

1. Cover the wild rice with 5 cups water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until tender.

2. Thickly cut away the celery root skins, then quarter and chop the root into bite-sized pieces. You should have about 3 cups. Chop and wash the leeks.

3. Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the vegetables, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, then add the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the half-and-half and simmer until the vegetables are tender. Taste for salt and season with pepper. To give the soup a creamy background, puree a cup of the vegetables and return them to the pot. If the soup is too thick, thin it with some of the rice water or additional stock.

4. Divide the soup among 4 to 6 bowls and then add a mound of the wild rice to each. Garnish each bowl with parsley and add a drop of truffle oil, if using, and serve.

4 fennel bulbs, trimmed (about 1 1/2 pounds) 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil 2 pinches of sea salt

2 to 4 tablespoons heavy cream 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

If your fennel isn’t trimmed, cut off the stalks and fronds right where they grow out of the bulb. (Tip: save some of the lacy fronds for garnish or toss in a salad.) Remove any bruised or extremely tough outer leaves and trim the bottom. Cut the fennel into vertical quarters, making sure there is a bit of the core in each piece to keep them intact.

Melt the butter and olive oil in a large (12-inch) skillet that has a well-fitting lid. Add the fennel, arranging them so that they are all in a single layer and one of their cut sides is down. Cook gently over medium heat until browned, 5 to 8 minutes. Do not stir the fennel: you want to get a nice brown color going on the cut side. Gently turn the fennel using a pair of tongs. and brown the other side.

Sprinkle on some salt, and have a lid handy. Add about 1/4 cup of water and quickly cover the pan. Turn down the heat and braise the fennel until it is very soft and most of the water has evaporated (about 20 minutes.) Check on occasion and add a little more water if the fennel isn’t completely soft.

Remove the lid and pour in the cream. Simmer gently until the cream starts to thicken and glazes the fennel, about 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, shaking the pan. Taste for salt or more lemon. Serve hot as a side dish or a first course.

serves: makes 25-30 ravioli (like 4 servings-ish) special equipment: a food processor

notes: This recipe uses a whole cup of pine nuts. I know they can be expensive, so feel free to swap in the nuts/seeds of your choosing (walnuts would be delicious). Most grocery stores carry decent quality fresh lasagna sheets in the refrigerated section if you don’t have a pasta roller at home (or don’t feel like making an extra hour of work for yourself).

dough:

2 tbsp ground chia seeds 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp water, divided

1 cup white spelt flour 3/4 cup whole spelt flour

1/2 tsp fine sea salt 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

 filling:

1 medium sweet potato, roasted or steamed until very soft

1/2 cup pine nuts 1 clove garlic, smashed

juice of 1 lemon salt and pepper

 kale pesto:

1/2 bunch of kale (about 4 stalks), leaves removed 2 cloves garlic, smashed

1/2 cup pine nuts 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil salt and pepper

Make the dough: combine the ground chia seeds with 1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp water. Give it a stir and set aside until it forms a thick gel. Place the flours, sea salt, remaining tbsp of water, olive oil and chia gel into the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until lightly combined (about 30 seconds). Switch to the dough hook on your mixer and knead on medium speed for 2 minutes (or knead by hand for about 5-7 minutes). Dough should be smooth and feel a bit sticky, but doesn’t leave residue on your fingers when you pinch it. Cover and set aside.

Make the filling: scoop sweet potato flesh into the bowl of a food processor. Add the pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse 10 times to break up the nuts. Scrape down the sides and turn it onto low for about 30 seconds until smooth and homogenous. Cover and set aside.

Make the pesto: place the kale leaves, pine nuts, garlic and 2 tbsp of the olive oil into the food processor. Pulse 10-15 times to break up the nuts and chop the greens a bit. Scrape down the sides. Put the food processor on high and drizzle the remaining oil into the feed tube until a smooth paste is achieved. Season to taste and set aside.

Sheet the pasta: cut the dough into 4 pieces. Take one of them and flatten it out, brushing some flour on both sides as you press into it. Feed it through the pasta roller at the “1” setting. Fold the sheet of dough in half and feed through again. Repeat this step 2 more times or until the sheet of dough is uniform width. Adjust the roller to setting 2. Feed lightly floured dough into the roller. Feed through at this setting 2-3 times. Flour the dough lightly again. Adjust the rollers to the “3” setting and feed the sheet of dough through twice. It should be fairly translucent, but not so thin that it would break if stretched too much. The sheets should be about 2 feet long. Repeat with remaining dough. Allow dough to dry for 15 minutes or so before filling and cooking.

Make ravioli: cut pasta sheets into 2 inch squares. Place a little bowl of water near your working area. Place a scant tablespoon of sweet potato in the middle of the square. Dampen two sides of the pasta square with your finger and fold the opposite side of the square over, pushing down on the seams to form a seal. Push down on edges with a fork to strengthen the seal. Repeat until dough/filling is used up. Lightly dust the shaped ravioli with flour, place in a dish and cover loosely with a tea towel until ready to cook.

Cook/plate ravioli: boil a large pot of water with a solid glug of olive oil in it. Place about 10 raviolis in the water at a time. When they all start bobbing at the surface (about 2-3 minutes), remove from the water with a slotted spoon. To serve: place a good schmear of kale pesto on your serving plate, place raviolis on top, put a few dabs more of pesto on top and a sprinkle of toasted pine nuts.