Instafood: Good morning!

Posted by Erin L. in Instafood and tagged with chocolate, coffee, croissant, Elixr, morning, pain au chocolat, Philadelphia September 7, 2011

Pain au chocolat + the best coffee in Philly @ Elixr. May steal this place from Dre as my go-to coffee shop/work space.

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Saturdays w/ Sarah: Chocolate Stout Cupcakes w/ Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Posted by Erin L. in Saturday w/ Sarah and tagged with baking, beer, brown butter, butter, chocolate, cocoa, cream cheese, cupcakes, dessert, flour, frosting, Guinness, icing, stout, sugar, vanilla January 2, 2010

I hope to make a habit of spending more time in the kitchen with my friend, Sarah. For our first session, we decided to bake something to start getting in the holiday spirit. We poured some vodka cocktails, played some Rummikub, and cracked open a Guinness for a batch of Chocolate Stout Cupcakes. We followed a simple Dave Lieberman recipe on my FrankenBerry.

The Ingredients + The Frankenberry

I measured out each ingredient as Sarah combined them. Nothing better than a batter from scratch!

Mixing Bowl

I like extra large muffin tops on my cupcakes so we filled the cups to the top. None of that 2/3 full business.

Batter cups

Cream Cheese Frosting seemed like a perfect topper to these cupcakes but I knew adding Brown Butter would make them even better. After a few samples, I packed up a plate of the oozy, sweet Chocolate Stout Cupcakes for Sarah to enjoy at home. Til the next Saturday…

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes To-Go

Quickie: Snacktime w/ Chef Brauny

Posted by Erin L. in Quickie, via Blackberry and tagged with birthday, cake, chocolate, dessert, shortcake, strawberries, strawberry, whipped cream December 1, 2009

I’m embarrassed to say, but we didn’t get Olivia a Birthday Cake today! She’s always the one on top of taking care of the rest of us coworkers on our birthdays, so thanks to Chef Brauny for whipping up a yummy Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake for her! YUM!

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake

Quickie: Snacktime w/ Chef Derek III

Posted by Erin L. in Quickie and tagged with baking, bread, chive, chocolate, corn, ganache, lemon, macaroons, snack, spoonbread September 2, 2009

I really think he’s trying to make us fat! Today, Chef Derek delivered some amazing homemade Macarons w/ Lemon-Chocolate Ganache. YUM!

Fresh Baked Macaroons w/ Lemon-Chocolate Ganache

UPDATE: Derek just brought a sample of Corn & Chive Spoonbread for us to try too! Got a quick pic before we devoured it.

Corn & Chive Spoonbread

Restaurant Rewind: Bistrot la Minette

Posted by Erin L. in Family-Style, Restaurant Rewind and tagged with bistro, bistrot, bistrot la minette, celebration, chocolate, confit, duck, duck confit, escargots, French, menu, mussels, Philadelphia, quiche, restaurant, sorbet, steak au poivre, summer, terrine July 11, 2009

Rewind to May 16th, the proud day I got to see my big sis, Kerry, graduate with her Masters in Education from St. Joe’s University….

Mealtime in my family is a priority. We plan our days, vacations, celebrations, weekends, & social activities around what & where we’ll be eating. So when the conversation started on a lunch spot for after Ker’s graduation, it was time to try something new in the the gastro-city of Philadelphia. I accepted that challenge and went on a quest to find the right spot. Of course, with the onset of Spring weather, outdoor seating was definitely a must. Long story short, my process of elimination led me to what is now my new favorite restaurant in Philly!

BISTROT LA MINETTE