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Sweet

Pink Cake

one and a half slices pink cake stardew valley videogame recipes media
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Pink Strawberry Cake

one and a half slices pink cake stardew valley videogame recipes media

Disclaimer: this is not my recipe. (but those are my pictures … I made the cake). This recipe is from the forthcoming Stardew Valley Cookbook (May 2024). 

More information:

What is Stardew Valley? Stardew Valley is a farming simulator videogame made by Eric Barone (solo dev) in the spirit of the Harvest Moon series and released in 2016. Since, Barone has released numerous content updates to the community completely free of charge, the latest being the 1.6 update which launched last month. (that’s a big deal in the videogame industry where every substantive addition to a game comes with a $5-$35 price tag).  

Why does a videogame have a cookbook? Because Stardew Valley is about community and it is, first and foremost, a simulation (which I have written about before). That means it is a game that includes aspects of real life, like Roblox or The Sims franchise. One of those aspects is cooking. Now you know how we got here. 

What is the significance of the Pink Cake? Nothing in particular except that it is Haley’s favorite in-game and it is the authoritative birthday cake for the storyline. Also, the game is all about farming and animals so, naturally, the recipe calls for duck eggs 🦆

What about the other recipes? Well, obviously, the cookbook isn’t released yet, but I am interested in what other recipes will be included. This is mostly because the recipes in-game are distinctly Japanese and rather odd… Spicy Eel (which increases your luck at fishing), Lucky Lunch (which increases your luck at everything), Strange Bun, Parsnip Soup, Seafoam Pudding…. you get the picture. Man, I cannot wait to see these recipes. 

The cookbook is a product of collaboration between Eric Barone himself and Ryan Novak, Barone’s friend who authored the first Stardew Valley online guide. Will I post all the recipes? No. Was I dying to post this one because they gave it to me as a thank you for my pre-order? Absolutely. And I totally used the Easter holiday as an excuse to make it. 

Cooking notes: It came out well. Moist, a little heavy, and I definitely should have used all the jam (I only used half thinking it might spill out of the sides. It didn’t.). Highly recommend if you need a quintessential, do-not-argue-with-me birthday cake… especially for a festive holiday, a young girl child, or a fellow gamer like myself. Happy baking!

🐔💕🍰

excerpt from the official cookbook below

oneandahalfslices stardew valley gamer recipe
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Omni

Chicken Tenders with Hot Honey

one and a half slices hot honey nashville chicken tenders recipe local chicken
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Hot Honey Chicken Tenders

one and a half slices hot honey nashville chicken tenders recipe local chicken

Announcement: I love fried chicken. Full stop. I also love cheeseburgers. 

🍗🍯🐔

Fried chicken and cheeseburgers, despite my devotion to them as cultural staples, are not things I eat frequently. Why? The quality and provenance of the meat. It is difficult to find local fried chicken in a restaurant or a cheeseburger made from ground beef you can trust (yes, Copperwood Tavern, I know your burger patties are sourced from local wagyu beef Ovoka Farms and I thank you for that).

Now you guys already know my opinion on cheeseburgers. But the fried chicken I have yet to address. I will do so now. And before you ask, yes, I bake my fried chicken. It’s a bit healthier but, more importantly, makes less of a mess in my kitchen. The only time I ever actually fry chicken is for my epic Katsu Ramen. Believe me when I tell you, though, that this will scratch the fried chicken itch. The almighty secret: breakfast cereal. And, of course, local honey. 

Also, we are going to do a quick Protein Trio thing here with three distinct, unique proteins.

Consider this Protein #1: Baked Fried Chicken.

Proteins #2 and #3 coming soon!

what you need

1 pound fresh chicken breast, cut into strips like tenders (note: this is for 1-2 people. Double everything and use 2 pounds of chicken for a family of four). 

3 cups of corn flakes

2 eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons dried oregano

3 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 cup fresh honey

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

(optional) fresh parsley for garnish

**credit for sourcing local chicken tenders: Whiffletree Farm and their brilliant neighborhood delivery throughout Northern Virginia.

***leftovers make for a great friend chicken salad with honey mustard vinaigrette! 

how to make it

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat eggs and add 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of smoked paprika.

Crush cornflakes in a ziplock bag until very fine, like the consistency of Panko. Add the remaining salt, oregano, onion powder, garlic powder, and remaining smoked paprika, and mix thoroughly. 

Place parchment paper on a baking sheet. Taking the chicken tenders one at a time, dip them well in the egg mixture, then transfer them to the cornflake mixture and coat them completely. If you like a thicker crust, you can run them through a second time, but I just do mine once. 

Place on parchment and bake until crispy and golden brown, ~15 minutes, taking care not to overcook your chicken. (the internal temp of chicken should reach 165 in your thickest chicken tender). 

While the chicken bakes, place the honey and cayenne pepper over low heat on the stove. You don’t want to boil the honey – just warm it enough so it becomes more pourable. When the chicken comes out of the oven, stack it on a serving plate, drizzle with hot honey, and sprinkle with chopped parsley. Serve with large amounts of dill pickles. 

Never Enough Chicken
Categories
Sweet

Coricos Cookies

one and a half slices Mexican coricos masa harina corn cookies recipe piloncillo
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Coricos

also known as Mexican Corn Cookies

Recently I took an incredible trip to Mexico. Not because Mexico is incredible. But because the dance and stretch of Mikkala at Living Yolates, and the flavor and nutrition of Sarah at My New Roots… are incredible. Among the many personal discoveries of the trip were a few culinary tidbits that I’ve brought home (along with an early morning yoga mat/kitchen dance routine that will live in my heart and my home forever):

  • Masa Harina and the riotous deliciousness of Mexican gluten-free pastries (I kid you not… ya’ll know I am not gluten-free). 
  • Falling back in love with cacao nibs
  • Creamy cashew-based inspo
  • The difference between virgin and non-virgin (aka slutty) coconut oil
  • AMARANTH!

Much of this will find its way here over the next several months, I’m sure, but for now, I give you the most delectable gluten-free delight. My new favorite cookie. The masa harina corn cookie. And before you freak out, masa harina is easy to find. Bob’s Red Mill makes it and I got mine at Whole Foods. 

🌽🌽🌽

One other note on [sugar]… technically these are supposed to be made with piloncillo which is a crystallized sugar used extensively throughout Mexico made directly from the juice of the sugar cane. Here in the States you might know it as turbinado sugar. You can get piloncillo at most grocery stores with a Latin section like Giant, but in this recipe I chose to make the syrup using my new favorite coconut sugar (another discovery in Mexico). And yes, if push comes to shove, you can just use regular cane sugar or brown sugar (cane sugar + molasses) to make the syrup, but both coconut sugar and turbinado sugar add some subtle nuance to the flavor that I prefer. 

what you need

[SYRUP]

1 cup water

1/2 cup coconut sugar or 1 chunk of piloncillo

1 cinnamon stick

1 star anise

1 whole clove

 

[DOUGH]

1 cup butter (at room temp)

2 eggs (at room temp)

4 cups masa harina

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

salt

 

[OPTIONAL VARIATIONS]

1/2 cup dried cranberries

3-4 tablespoons shredded, unsweetened coconut 

1-2 tablespoons fresh honey

how to make it

Preheat oven to 350. 

[make syrup] Place all ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until just boiling. Reduce to a low simmer and let simmer away for 15 minutes until a very light syrup forms (no need for 100% syrup consistency). The mixture will reduce by approximately half and make your kitchen smell amazing in the process. Remove the cloves, cinnamon stick, and anise, and let the mixture cool in a glass while you make the dough. 

[make dough] whip the butter together with salt using a hand mixer until extremely fluffy (like soft kittens or puffy clouds). Add eggs and continue mixing until combined. Add masa harina and baking powder and, using a rubber spatula, mix the dough until it begins to incorporate. Then slowly, in batches, pour in the syrup and mix the dough with the spatula until combined. If your dough looks slightly dry (mine did), don’t hesitate to add a tablespoon or two of fresh honey. See pictures below for reference.  

[shape & bake] traditional coricos are made to look like thin little donuts (like simit, if you are familiar with Mediterranean cuisine). Roll little bits of dough out using your hand and form the little circles, placing them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. You can also just make the cookies in the shape of little round pats. These cookies will not spread, so choose your shape wisely. 

[get fancy] these cookies are mildly sweet and pleasant on their own, however if you want to spice them up a little like I did, add the cranberries and coconut to half the dough. The little round pat cookies are the cranberry ones and then little circles are the plain ones. See pictures below for reference.  

Dough + Syrup
Finished Dough
Dough + Cranberry Coconut
Categories
Sweet

Peach Cobbler

one and a half slices peach cobbler
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Easy Peach Cobbler

This time of year (summertime… falltime…) brings a lot of fruit! Now a good homemade pie is, yes, to die for, but let’s be honest… we don’t always have that much time (or inclination to dust the entire kitchen in flour in a curse-ridden attempt to make homemade pie crust). Enter cobbler. Cobbler is one of those things you can make on any weeknight with any fruit in about 20 minutes (plus 1 hour of cooking time). Top it with some vanilla bean gelato (Talenti, of course) and serve it right up. This cobbler recipe is: 1) super quick and dirty, 2) not very sweet, 3) biscuit-y rather than shortbread-y. All fruits welcome beyond peaches… nectarine, plums, pears, berries, apples…

🍎🍑🍏

what you need

~4-5 fresh peaches

1/8 cup lemon juice + zest

Ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup flour

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup hot water

Salt

(optional) honey, maple, or bourbon drizzle

how to make it

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly butter a cast iron skillet. Slice peaches to medium thickness and arrange in the skillet as desired. Drizzle with lemon juice and then zest the lemon on top. Sprinkle fruit with cinnamon.

At this point, if you want your cobbler a) sweeter or b) more interesting, you have several options… you can sprinkle it with some additional sugar or you can drizzle the peaches with bourbon, maple syrup, or honey. 

Cream the butter and sugar together in a mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract, flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix until combined. Add the milk and hand beat until creamy. Spoon the mixture over the peaches spreading out to desired thickness. It is not necessary to cover all the fruit. 

Pour the hot water over top and bake ~55 minutes or until golden. Let sit for 20 minutes and then serve warm with vanilla gelato sprinkled with cinnamon. 

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Sweet

Simple Chocolate Cake

french chocolate cake recipe one and a half slices
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Simple Chocolate Cake

french chocolate cake recipe one and a half slices

Now is the moment where we ask ourselves if we really needed another chocolate cake recipe. The answer (much like chocolate chip cookies) is always yes. Specifically, we can put this one in the category of #minimalistbaking and #frenchsimplicity right up there with the French ‘Chocolat’ Cake and the Little Lemon Cake. I’ll say this: there is a reason French cooking is king in the world of the culinary, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the decadence of the pastries or the massive amounts of butter, and everything to do with its simplicity. The Five Mother Sauces, the peasant food-turned-elegant. Anyway, this cake is slightly denser than the French ‘Chocolat’ Cake as it is truly flourless. My neighbor and I are in a debate over which one is better. Soon we will settle that debate by making a third (creating a tie breaker, am I right?). All to say that, yes, there will be yet another chocolate cake recipe coming. Stay tuned and, in the interim, throw on Chocolat and whip this one up for the ‘Would you like some chocolate cake?’ scene! 

what you need

5 eggs, yolks separated from whites

3/4 cup sugar

1 cup unsalted butter

1 1/4 cup (6oz) dark chocolate

1 1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

(optional) dash of cayenne pepper

To serve: fresh whipped cinnamon cream

how to make it

Preheat oven to 350.

Fit parchment to the bottom of a springform pan. 

Melt butter, chocolate, and cayenne pepper (if using) in small saucepan stovetop over low heat. Once melted, remove and allow to cool slightly. 

Beat egg yolks, vanilla, and sugar together until the yolks turn pale yellow. Slowly, gently (so as not to scramble the egg), pour the yolks into the chocolate, stirring consistently. Add the almond flour and mix until combined. 

In a clean bowl (with clean beaters), beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Mix in half the egg whites to the batter, folding in gently but completely. Then do the same with the remaining half. (Yes, doing it in two stages helps keep the cake lighter). 

Pour the batter into the baking pan and cook for 40-45 minutes until set and a toothpick comes out clean. Serve topped with fresh cream and a dash of cinnamon. 
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Sweet

Sweet Potato Biscuits

one and a half slices sweet potato biscuit recipe
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

Sweet Potato Biscuits

one and a half slices sweet potato biscuit recipe

As if the OneandahalfSlices flaky biscuits weren’t delicious enough, this variation on the theme is the perfect spring, summer, or fall use for that extra large, earthy sweet potato you ‘ll get all season long. Just like the one I got in my first CSA pick-up of the season from Potomac Vegetable Farm last week! The sweetness in these beauties comes from the sweet potato itself which means that there is no sugar in this recipe. Surprisingly the pulp doesn’t make the biscuit dense at all. You may have to play with sweet potato-to-dough ratio a bit (I believe I ended up adding more flour as I folded the biscuits over on themselves), but in the end this recipe comes together pretty nicely. The flavor profile is unique but subtle – perfect for brunch or as a side dish to a roasted chicken or turkey dinner. 

what you need

2 cups of flour

puree from 1 extra large sweet potato (about one heaping cup)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

8 tablespoons cold butter cut into tiny pieces

a little more than 1/3 cup whole milk

how to make it

Preheat oven to 400 and bake the sweet potato for 60-90 minutes or until soft. Use a fork to poke holes in the top of the sweet potato and place on foil as it will leak. 

Sift dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse a couple times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until only small, pea-sized pieces of butter remain. 

Squeeze the sweet potato puree out of the sweet potato skin into a bowl. Add the milk to the sweet potato and combine until very, VERY smooth. Mix the sweet potato mixture into the dry mixture using a spatula to massage until the dough becomes less crumbly and begins to come together.

This might take a moment but DO NOT OVERMIX. 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, pat it out until it is about an inch thick, and fold it over on itself several times to create layers, careful not to mash the dough too much. 

Use a glass to cut the biscuits into rounds. Do not twist the glass. Transfer the cut biscuits into a cast iron skillet. brush with melted butter, and bake ~25 minutes in the oven (still at 400). 

You can easily freeze these biscuits and bake them as needed. Enjoy with butter, honey, or a deep berry jam. 
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French ‘Chocolat’ Cake

One and a half Slices chocolate cake recipe Chocolat movie
OneandahalfSlices food blog recipes One and a half Slices Virginia eat local

French 'Chocolat' Cake

One and a half Slices chocolate cake recipe Chocolat movie

You guys know I’ll take pie over cake any day, but if I’m going to indulge in cake, it can’t be the big, billowy, blustery American cake layered with frosting and unnecessary sweetness. Over and over again I gravitate towards French cakes because they are just more delicate, using minimal flour, relying instead of almond meal, and frequently topped with cream instead of icing. This one is on par with my little lemon cake but it’s chocolate… with just a few tablespoons of almond meal, it has a dense but delicate consistency. You could whip it up in under an hour for a last minute dessert and it’s beautiful with a coffee or a bourbon. #minimalistcooking

This is also the cake recipe used in the movie Chocolat (for those who are following my cinema-inspired recipe line…). Vianne serves this cake dusted with cocoa powder and slivered, toasted almonds. I can easily envision a variation that incorporates finely shredded, unsweetened coconut as well. But we’ll leave that for another time. For now, enjoy brilliant, original, French simplicity. 

what you need

12 oz dark bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

10 tablespoons of butter

2/3 cup sugar

5 tablespoons finely ground almond flour

5 large eggs, separated 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

salt

One and a half Slices chocolate cake recipe Chocolat movie

how to make it

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a springform pan by dusting it with cocoa powder and placing a round of parchment paper in the bottom.

Use a double boiler or set a bowl in a saucepan half full of simmering water on the stovetop. Melt the chocolate and the butter in this way, stirring to incorporate. Sprinkle the cayenne pepper in with the chocolate.

*Note: you never want to melt chocolate directly in a pot on the stove as it will burn. Take care not to get ANY water in your chocolate while melting it as this will cause the chocolate to separate and  harden. 

Remove from the heat and whisk in half of the sugar, the egg yolks (slowly, so as not to scramble them), the almond flour, and the vanilla until smooth. 

In separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they start to hold their shape. At this point, add the salt and gradually add the sugar until stiff peaks form and the egg whites become silky and shiny. 

Fold the egg whites gradually into the chocolate mixture just until no streaks remain. Overmixing will cause the cake to be denser than you want it.

Pour into the springform pan and bake until just set, somewhere between 20 and 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with several crumbs on it. 

Let cake cool completely, run a knife around the edge, release the springform pan, and serve with hot coffee. 

🎂

Thin, delicate cake
Sleepy Kitten
Needs a strawberry...
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