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Leena Bakes: Banana Bourbon Chocolate Muffins!

Leena Bakes: Banana Bourbon Chocolate Muffins!

Best muffin of 2012 thus far! Sweet banana with a kick of bourbon and a hint of milk chocolate.

Not too long ago, a pal and fellow food blogger Emily Hanhan of Nomnivorous hosted the first of many supper clubs called Whisky and Salt in the NYC area. In her awesome and drool-inducing post about it, she revealed that she made whisky and chocolate chip muffins as take home gifts from the supper club. I have been looking for an excuse to pop these bad boys out, and a small party with some fellow parents and babies on NYE gave the perfect excuse. But let’s be honest, vacuuming the living room is the perfect excuse for these muffins, they are that damn good.

The recipe and heaps of food porn after the jump.

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January 25th, 2012
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Posted in Breads, Desserts, Fruit, Leena Bakes, Muffins, Recipes | 2 Comments »

Leena Bakes: Brioche Bread and a Damn Good Grilled Cheese

Leena Bakes: Brioche Bread and a Damn Good Grilled Cheese

My homemade brioche and kick-ass grilled cheese sandwich.

Hi. If you remember from Monday’s post, this week is dedicated to a solid soup and sandwich combo: tomato soup and grilled cheese. Monday’s recipe featured my version of Cook’s Illustrated’s Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup. Today’s recipe? Homemade brioche bread from one of my favorite food bloggers, La Tartine Gourmande, to be made into a most kick-ass grilled cheese sandwich.

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February 17th, 2010
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | 5 Comments »

Leena Cooks: the Perfect Poori w/ Khaki!

Leena Cooks: the Perfect Poori w/ Khaki!
Two perfect round, perfect puffed pooris, made by Khaki.

In case you haven’t noticed, I am brown. My specific color of brown can only be achieved through biracial parents, in my case, one Caucasian woman and one Indian (dot not feather) man. For the longest time, I ignored my brown side, especially the food, because it was stinky, full of spices and hot peppers. As a kid, Taco Bell was much more hip and exotic. Thankfully, I got over that stage. Recently, my father took me down to visit my Lila Khaki (Gujarati for aunt) and get a proper cooking lesson. My father’s side of the family happens to hail from the state of Gujarat in Western Indian, so all of food we eat tends to be inspired by the food of that region. Read the rest of this entry »

August 24th, 2009
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | 8 Comments »

Leena Bakes: My first monkey bread!

Leena Bakes: My first monkey bread!
MY monkey bread will CHANGE YOUR LIFE, fool…or at the very least cause a longish sugar-induced coma.

You never forget your first monkey bread experience. The scent of freshly baked bread, the sweet, sticky caramel-like sauce, the fun, pull-apart method of eating it…there really are few things more enjoyable for a breakfast snack. My first monkey bread was baked by my friend Natalie towards the end of high school, and you would think she busted out a croque en bouche or something, because I was floored. This was impressive breakfast eating. This was AWESOME. Read the rest of this entry »

May 26th, 2009
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | 1 Comment »

Leena Cooks: The Bread That Ate Chicago…and her cat

Leena Cooks: The Bread That Ate Chicago...and her cat
Meet my bread babies, Fred and Squid. Fred loves having butter spread on him, while Squid enjoys a nice episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

Whoa, Alton Brown. WHOA. All I wanted to do was bake some bread. I just wanted to have that delicious smell of bread baking in my oven on a lazy Sunday afternoon, just one loaf of happiness. And you gave me a damn bread baby. TWINS, even. Read the rest of this entry »

May 18th, 2009
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | 6 Comments »

Leena Cooks: Gourmet’s Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls

Leena Cooks: Gourmets Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls
My parmesan rolls with medium rare roast beef tenderloin, bacon, and a bit of butter.

Hot damn, it has been a while since I’ve successfully cooked or baked anything. Seriously. I tried my hand at beef short ribs…didn’t cook them enough and they were too tough. A batch of oatmeal cookies went south when my stupid ass used instant oatmeal instead of rolled oats, making a crisp cookie with an interior texture similar to chewed bubblegum. I craved French onion soup, and then burned the onion instead of caramelizing, giving the soup a bitter aftertaste that no one liked. And let me tell you, nothing is more sad than a crock full of soup and coated in gooey, melty cheese that looks so tempting to eat…but you know it tastes like crap. Read the rest of this entry »

March 31st, 2009
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | 2 Comments »

Cooking up a fat batch of Fall

Cooking up a fat batch of Fall
Hello, Fall. Please don’t go. Winter makes me lonely, a bit chunky, and chapped.

As much as I like to bitch and moan about the cold weather in Chicago, I must admit that I totally forgot how fricking BEAUTIFUL it is in autumn. The air gets just chilly enough that you start to crave warm, slow-cooked meals that make you feel like you are being hugged, and the leaves turn all these crazy gorgeous colors that you never knew nature was capable of making.

Cooking up a fat batch of Fall
Beautiful fall trees in Michigan. Too bad winter is gonna beat the shit out of them and make ‘em ugly in a week.

It is just a shame autumn lasts all of about TWO FREAKING WEEKS here in Chicago, followed by 6-7 months of winter. Can you tell I’m bitter and a bit hungry? Read the rest of this entry »

March 31st, 2009
Posted in Breads, Canning, Leena Bakes, Leena Cooks | 6 Comments »

Bread Porn: Alton Brown’s Focaccia Bread

Bread Porn: Alton Browns Focaccia Bread
Leena’s kick-ass rosemary, garlic and sun dried tomato focaccia bread.

I often forget that I know how to cook and bake. You ever do that? I’ll just be sitting there, craving a nice hunk of focaccia bread that is crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and with just a hint of seasoning, and I’ll spend hours trying to figure out where to buy such an item. Then it hits me–didn’t I pay some people a bunch of money a while ago to teach me how to cook and bake? And isn’t the hardest thing to do in bread baking just waiting for the damn dough to rise (I may be oversimplifying a bit here, but go with me)? Waiting that could be filled with television watching and Internet surfing? I was so there. Read the rest of this entry »

March 31st, 2009
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | 6 Comments »

more of my “I miss home” baking

more of my I miss home baking

Yup, I still miss home. This was back from my crazy baking days. I?m not gonna go into huge detail here, but this was toasted coconut bread I made from Tyler Florence?s Real Kitchen (apparently stolen from a Sydney restaurant I went to called bills), topped with local raspberry jam and chocolate coconut sorbet. Read the rest of this entry »

January 11th, 2008
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes, Leena Cooks, Mains | 4 Comments »

A nice addition to my thighs.

A nice addition to my thighs.

I was craving a bit of home the other day, so I decided to make some good old American biscuits from scratch. These are not the biscuits most Aussies are used to. Here, a biscuit is typically a sweet cookie type thing. The Aussie version of the scone is closer to the American version of the biscuit. Read the rest of this entry »

January 11th, 2008
Posted in Breads, Leena Bakes | Comments Off

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