Lemon & Mint

Juice is really big in Dubai. Alcohol's not too common around here (it's mostly only permitted in hotels), and "mocktails" made from every imaginable combination of fresh fruit juice are the norm. This suits me just fine; other than the occasional glass or two of wine, I'm not a big drinker. Give me a Shirley Temple and I'm a happy clam.

There's one juice drink that seems to be on every menu, and I quickly fell head over heels for it. It's simply called Lemon & Mint. It can vary in its appearance - sometimes it looks like a green smoothie, other times more like lemonade with pieces of mint - but it always tastes sublimely refreshing with a tart kick.



Feel free to adjust the quantities of ingredients to your taste, the numbers below are rough estimates of what I used. This is the kind of recipe that you'll probably need to keep tasting and modifying until you get the right proportion of sweet, tart, and minty. It should be significantly more tart than traditional American lemonade. Cheers to mocktails!

Lemon & Mint
A Playing House Original Recipe
Printable Recipe
Serves 4

3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 1/2 cups cold water
Juice of 6 lemons
1/2 bunch fresh mint leaves, stems discarded

1. In a small bowl, pour boiling water over sugar and stir to dissolve.

2. In a blender (or a pitcher, if using an immersion blender), combine sugar water with remaining ingredients. Blend to desired consistency.

3. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or until chilled. Enjoy!

Dubai Farmers Market

When we lived in Oregon, one of my favorite things to do was take my camera and spend the morning wandering through the Farmers Market, capturing the seasonal produce, taking home whatever looked the best, and blogging all about it. This has fallen to the back burner in the past year or so, but my love for Farmers Markets still burns as strongly as ever.



When I heard there was a Farmers Market in Dubai and that it was literally footsteps from our home here, I would have fallen out of my chair if I hadn't been standing up, I was so excited. I was finally awake and dry enough to check it out today (last week I was exhausted and it was pouring), and I'm in love. It's not an impressive market by any means; there were only 3-4 farms there (and a bakery!). If it wasn't so close, I wouldn't make a special trip to go there (there's an organic grocery store in the mall next door too). But it's close, it's affordable, it has a great selection despite its small size, and it's fun!

Cabbage easily as big as my head


I didn't get to chat with any of the farmers today, but I've heard that most of the produce is grown organically in Abu Dhabi, the Emirate next door. I also didn't see anything too unusual or unexpected - the only thing that surprised me was sugar cane. Just a lot of quality-looking organic produce and stunningly gorgeous baked goods.



I'll be curious to see whether and how the selection changes as we move from winter to spring.

I got one of these grape cakes, it was a revelation




Kachkaval & grana padano are types of cheese

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes

Let me tell you about how good these cupcakes are. See those two cupcakes down there? See how there are just two, not twelve? That's all that was left by the time I actually had a minute to snap a photo.



I get a kick out of making slightly non-traditional baked goods. Things that most people have never heard of before. That's probably why I just made chocolate chip cookies for the very first time last month. These Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes definitely fall into that "intriguing" category.

They're really easy to make, and a great alternative for people (like my former self) who find piping/decorating cupcakes to be too high maintenance. Although they're lacking that piled-high frosting and look eerily similar to muffins, I can assure you that these are genuine, bona fide cupcakes. The nutella sort of hardens in the oven, giving it a texture that's similar to canned frosting - in a good way. The cake itself is divine too. It has a classic yellow cake flavor and the recipe is so simple that I'm sure I'll be using it as a base for other cupcakes in the future.

Self-Frosting Nutella Cupcakes
Adapted from Baking Bites
Makes 12 cupcakes
Printable Recipe

10 tbsp (140 grams) butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cups (200 grams) sifted all purpose flour (sift, then measure!)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approximately 1/3 cup

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

3. Using an ice cream scoop for uniformity, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 1/2 tsp nutella. Swirl nutella in with a toothpick, skewer, or sharp knife, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella. Don't worry about making it look pretty.

4. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Blueberries & Cream Cookies

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Amy. Amy loved blueberries, cookies, and making sweet things. One day a long, long time ago, Amy found a recipe for Blueberries & Cream Cookies, and she thought that it looked like the best recipe she had ever seen.

As she was preparing to make the cookies, tragedy struck. A key ingredient in these cookies, liquid glucose, was nowhere to be found. Amy looked high and low throughout all the land, but was unable to find the glucose. She read about substitutes, but she wanted the cookies to be absolutely perfect. Time passed and slowly the cookies faded from her mind. But she never forgot.



Many years later, Amy found herself living in a faraway land called Dubai. Dubai was full of new and interesting things to eat. As she wandered the aisles of her new grocery store, Amy saw something glimmering out of the corner of her eye. Could it be true? Yes! She had found the glucose, plain as day on a shelf in the baking aisle.

This story has a very happy ending. Amy used the glucose to make Blueberries & Cream cookies, and she shared the cookies with her new friends in Dubai, who all gave rave reviews for these ridiculously delicious and unusual cookies.

And we all ate happily ever after.

Note: If you're in the US and looking for glucose, you can buy it on Amazon. I only found this out after I was already packed up to leave the country.

Blueberries & Cream Cookies
Adapted from Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar, via Martha Stewart
Makes 14 cookies
Printable Recipe

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons salt
cup (8 ounces) Plugra European-style unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
1/4 cup glucose
1 large egg
3/4 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup Milk Crumbs (recipe below - make these first)

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil; set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together butter, sugars, and glucose until well combined. Add egg and mix until well combined.

3. Add flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add blueberries and milk crumbs and mix until well combined. Using an ice cream scoop about 2 1/8 inches in diameter, scoop dough into balls and place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer baking sheets to refrigerator until dough is chilled, about 15 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until cookies are golden brown and tops begin to crackle, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Milk Crumbs
Makes enough for 14 cookies
Adapted from Christina Tosi of Momofuku Milk Bar, via Martha Stewart

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon nonfat milk powder
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup white chocolate, melted

1. Preheat oven to 225 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons milk powder, flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt. Stir in melted butter until well combined. Spread mixture on prepared baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake until dried and crumbly, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove milk crumble from oven and let cool completely.

3. Transfer milk crumble to a large bowl and fold in remaining 2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons milk powder and white chocolate. Use immediately or transfer to an airtight container and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Salaam!

Greetings from Dubai! I'm so happy to be back here at Playing House after a whirlwind month. We're still getting settled in, and I'm in the process of setting up our new kitchen, but I'm really excited and relieved to be able to start baking and cooking again soon.

I have many ridiculously fun things up my sleeve, including starting a Middle Eastern cooking class here in Dubai next week, planning a special celebration/giveaway for my 500th post (this is #491, so stay tuned!), and a giant foodie to-do list to tackle.



In the meantime, while I make a million trips back and forth to the grocery store (it's within walking distance so I only buy what I can carry), if you're interested in my Middle East adventures, I've been blogging about our travels for my friends and family. If you're here, I consider you a friend too, so hop on over to A Whole New World if you'd like to stay updated on our day-to-day happenings in the UAE.

See you soon!

Hugs,
Amy I.

p.s. In case you missed the original post, here's the background on why I'm in Dubai.