Nougat is a delicious confection that you may have had in many candy bars growing up. It traditionally is an egg white and honey candy with almonds and pistachios (or other nuts). The most common nougat you will find on its own is White Nougat. This type stemmed out of Italy during the 15th century and later was spotted in France in the 18th century. Though, the original nougat is first noted in a 10th century cookbook found in the Middle East. Today you can find it in a lot

Oh fudge. So delicious. So addictive. Growing up, fudge was always something my family would enjoy getting when traveling. There was this one shop in Gualala, CA that had some of the best. My family would stay up in Sea Ranch growing up and going into town meant getting fudge and enjoying it for the week. This version comes from an old 1930's cookbook given to me by Chef Dolan. Since it's an older confection I wanted to build my fudge off of a classic recipe. This recipe does

Some flavor combinations are not so normal and people can be a little scared of them but there are a lot of amazing flavors out there. One that I like to show off at this time of year is pumpkin and chocolate. If you think about it, we already have spiced chocolate beverages, truffles, and fillings. So I took a chocolate chop cookie and crossed it with some pumpkin-y goodness. Check out the recipe below! Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies 375g All Purpose Flour 1

I don't know why I've been into making coffee cake lately. It's so simple but perfect as a breakfast treat or a midnight snack. Growing up every so often my parents would get the Sara Lee Butter Streusel Coffee Cake and it was always a hit. Although I will admit I do love all of those frozen cakes at the grocery store, I'm a chef and personally I don't to like to eat a lot of things with a long list of ingredients. I mean I know some of the grosser things used in high product

My mom loves angel food cake. It's light and airy and the flavor is just sweet vanilla. It is a good cake. I do enjoy it with berries in the summer, but not my favorite. Personally to me it's the egg whites. I love eggs and what they do but egg whites alone, although helpful in pastry, smell weird to me and the process of making the cake turns me off of it. Luckily this cake is also good at lasting on the counter and I typically will dig in a few days after the bake. Angel Fo

It's only been a few weeks and things are already starting to peak out of the ground and reach for the sun. The grains are part of the grass family so they do look similar to random grasses that could be from the yard but I know it's the grains since there's so much. They have very little to them. Mostly just the starter leaves of the plant. We will see how long until a stem begins to form in the center to start the rest of the plant. As for the peas, they have barely opened

This is a great recipe for a easy snack or perfect as a gift for a friend. Four ingredients is all you need (five if you want salt) to make this chocolate bark. Cranberries are coming into season and they go great with pistachios in both savory and sweet aspects. Here I made a swirled milk and white chocolate bark topped with the nuts and dried fruit. This cane easily be done with other toppings but this blend is great! Tempered chocolate will give you better resulted but the

I wanted to make something a little more fall themed on my day off. I spent a good chunk of the day starting some sourdough for this week so I wanted a quick make and bake. I figured a quick experiment would be perfect. I took my standard coffee cake recipe (https://www.theunperfectchef.com/post/coffee-cake-where-s-the-coffee) and added a little pumpkin to the liquids. I also made a little more of the crumble since it's my favorite part and added some spiced to bring the pump

Living in California has been a blessing. The fact that I can grow throughout the year allows me to experiment with multiple crops and play with nature a lot. This past summer when I visited one of my chefs and now good friend in Rhode Island, he had some rye that was almost ready for harvest. I had never thought about that. I knew how to make my own flour (hopefully will get a small mill soon), but it never crossed my mind to grow the grains rather than purchase form a store

Soft chewy caramels are a delightful candy that I learned years ago but come back to many times every year. This is one recipe I plan to use for the rest of my life and pass on as much as I can. They are delicious and the texture is perfect to me and most people that eat them. I have a container of fleur de sel that I specifically use in this recipe only. I made them once early on with a fancy salt and just loved the bursts of saltiness that are found when eating the bittersw

Sourdough is the oldest form of bread. Although no one knows 100% where it came from, we know that it came from ancient times most likely in the Middle East. Since we don't know where it came from we don't know what happened but there is of course speculation and personal thoughts. I'm a firm believer in the idea that someone accidentally left some type of porridge or other grain meal in a bowl for a couple days where wild yeast was able to build a colony. When this person fo

Naan is such a simple bread but it can be taken to so many levels with flavor. It also is the best to dip and slop up the sauce on a plate. My favorite part is that it cooks in a pan and not in the oven so it's easy to make during the summer when I want bread but it's too hot to have the oven on. I like to brush garlic butter on the naan once it is cooked but the butter can be infused with any flavors you want. At the end of the day I still enjoy it the most in a simple no bu

Freshman year of college was a great one in terms of the classes I took. I was able to dive into pastry on all sides and learn a lot of new things and new pastries. One that I love to make and share is the pithivier. It's a pie made with two disks of puff pastry. Traditionally done with an almond frangipane like filling and sometimes paired with fruit inside as well. When I first made it with Chef Dolan, she had me use raspberry jam and I have not changed it since. It's diffe

It's now fall and the weather is cooling. As we change from the bounty of fresh summer produce, we move into the time of soups and stews. One main ingredient in many fall and winter cooking is a nice stock. Depending on the recipe or the final flavor profile you may want a specific kind such as chicken, beef, or fish. Or if you're like me your go to is a simple veggie that you can add more to later. Although stock is easily accessible in most stores, I love to make my own wit

Baklava is one of my most favorite desserts. The sweet honey flavor with the nice bitter toasted phyllo and the mixture of various nuts makes this a classic, and historically a classic as well. I can talk a lot about this so let's jump into the recipe and I'll talk more and tell stories after. One thing I do want to point out is to cut before baking. This is how you get pretty pieces that don't shatter like when you cut after baking. It's a simple step but an important one. F

Back to doing some experimenting and playing with dough. Years ago in a bread course my chef and now good friend Richard Miscovich wanted to play with waste and use whey (what remains from cheese making) to replace water in bread to increase nutrients. I knew it worked but I also had two factors I wanted to play with. A) I wanted a stronger sourdough flavor while playing with sourdough for Sourdough September, and B) I had whey that was both from raw milk (who knows what fun

I love coffee cake. It's one of those things that I will always get when available and I totally judge places based on how well they can make it. (serve it warm and you automatically get points) Through the years I have made boxed versions and from scratch versions. This recipes is what I have stuck by after all of that. It can be done in a square pan or a loaf pan based on how you want to cut it and eat it. I honestly love the square pan, bakes faster and I love the bumpy te