Our excitement of the week was when one of our past students, the vivacious Lily Starbuck, came back to the Ballymaloe Cookery School to do a pop-up American Bagel Party on Saturday morning. Lily is a force of nature. She hails from New York and did the 12 Week Certificate Cookery Course in Spring 2019.
I encountered her again a couple of years ago on Fishers Island where she opened the chic and much loved West End Café, the life and soul of the Island. Unfortunately, it was very seasonable, so in April 2025, Lily decided to start a new adventure, much to the desolation of her many fans on Fishers. She came back to Ireland and headed to West Cork to the Gubbeen Farm, to learn cheesemaking and some rural skills. Lily travels backwards and forwards between New York and Ballydehob and has fallen in love with West Cork. Lovely Camilla Huston who also did an exciting pop-up supper for us recently at Ballymaloe Cookery School and also at Kitchen stories in Ballydehob during the summer. Camilla’s fame is spreading too.
Lily does a mix of consulting for start-ups and catering for all kinds of exciting events as does Camilla. Lily’s bagel Pop-Up was due to start at 11am on Saturday but folks started to queue just after 10.30am including several Americans who had the DT’s for an authentic New York bagel. Three days of preparation went into the event.
Lily’s menu included a choice of bagels with five toppings: Classic Schmear (plain or scallion cream cheese), The Green Goddess (herby garden cream cheese, farm cucumbers and lemon), East Cork Tom Durcan’s ‘Pastrami’ (spiced beef, Killorglin cheese, Maria’s red kraut, special sauce), Gubbeen Bacon, Egg, Cheese and Ballymaloe Relish and Sally Barnes Smoked Mackerel, Pickled Red Onion and Dill.
By 2pm, all the bagels were sold out completely as were the irresistible chocolate chip cookies. Thank you, Lily and Camilla, for so generously sharing the secrets for your delicious recipes. Watch this space for more Pop-Ups.
Lily @lilystarbuck (Instagram)
Camilla @camilla_cooks (Instagram)
Camilla’s Juicy Salad
Save this recipe for next summer when peaches are ripe and tomatoes are sweet and juicy.
Serves 6 approx.
Ingredients – you want an equal amount of each component
1 cucumber, peeled
4 ripe peaches
selection of tomatoes (salad and cherry)
2 wedges of cantaloupe melon
1 wedge of watermelon
a few sprigs of mint – tear the larger leaves, small ones can be left whole
salt and pepper
pomegranate molasses
balsamic vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
half a block of West Cork feta
White Mausu chilli oil
Method
Chop all the veg into pretty pieces. I love triangles so I cut them all at an angle so that everything is about the same size.
Put everything in a bowl and sprinkle with the mint leaves, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Drizzle generously with the pomegranate molasses, balsamic and extra virgin olive oil. Mix with hand and taste to check it’s balanced. Adjust as necessary.
Arrange on a plate and crumble the feta generously. Finish with a drizzle of the chilli oil which gives a lovely neonish colour pop and a nice chilli kick. Enjoy!
Lily’s Treacle Bagels
After many years of making “New York style” bagels in Ireland, this is the recipe I have come to rely on. They are decidedly a bit more Irish than New York at this point, but they elicit the chewy, pretzel-like exterior I grew up with. I prefer treacle to molasses or barley malt syrup as it’s less sweet and you can find it in any Irish shop.
As with any yeasted dough, the recipe’s success depends on your kitchen environment, flour quality and water. If your first go is not a total success, try again. (And if you do end up with ‘flagels’ – flat bagels, they are still delicious. Toast them for sandwiches).
The bagels freeze remarkably well.
Makes 12 bagels
Ingredients
530ml tepid water
30g treacle
7g dry yeast
785g strong white flour
130g granary flour (sometimes called malthouse)
17g dairy salt
For Boiling/Baking
2 tbsp treacle
2 tbsp baking soda
choice of seeds or seed mix
flaky sea salt
Method
Mix the tepid water and treacle in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. The water should be cooler than body temp but not cold – if it is cold, the dough will take longer to rise. Add the yeast mix gently, briefly, then let the mixture sit for at least 2 minutes while you weigh out your flour.
In a separate bowl, weigh the flours and salt.
Transfer the dry ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer. Start at a slow speed to incorporate the flour into the water, let it come together gradually, about 1-2 minutes. It may still look lumpy, that’s fine. Turn the mixer off and cover the bowl with a lightly damp towel (run the towel under cold water, then ring it out fully). Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes, this will help the flour to properly hydrate.
Now mix the dough on high until the gluten develops and the dough is smooth, about 5 minutes. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it into a tight ball on the counter. Cover the dough with the lightly damp towel for 45-60 minutes, until the dough has doubled in size. This temperature and draft in the room will affect the rising time from 45-60 depending on time of the year.
While the dough is rising, prepare your baking tray. Line a tray (large enough to fit 12 bagels; otherwise, use two trays) with parchment paper. Pour a tablespoon of vegetable oil on the parchment and brush it across the sheet. You need the oil, so the bagels won’t stick.
When the dough has risen, weigh out 12 balls, about 125g each. Ball the dough tightly, rolling it in the palm of your hand, as if you were making burger buns. Once all balls are formed, let them rest on the counter for about 10 minutes, under the lightly damp towel. The dough needs to relax a bit before you finish the shaping. Once they have proved a bit, go back and poke a hole in the centre of the ball. Use your finger to form a ring, stretching the hole about 4cm in diameter. The hole will spring back/ not remain stretched, but do not worry. Place each bagel on the oiled tray, spacing them about 7.5cm apart. Once all bagels have been transferred, cover the tray with the lightly damp towel and transfer to the fridge. Let them rest overnight, 8-12 hours.
Remove the tray from the fridge and check to see how much the bagels have risen. They likely need 1-2 hours at room temperature, but it’s better that they are underproved than over. When you press your finger into the dough and the indent remains, they are ready to boil.
Remove the bagels from the fridge to finish proving, while you prepare for the bake.
Preheat the oven to 235°C/Gas Mark 8.
Depending on how many trays you are baking, position the oven racks accordingly. In the bottom of the oven, place a heat-proof dish halfway full of boiling water. I like to use an enamel casserole dish. This will create steam, which is key to the bagel bake.
Next, fill a wide, low-sided pot halfway with water (7.5cm). Add 2 large tablespoons of treacle. Stir into the hot water. It should darken nicely. Wait to add the baking soda just before you boil the bagels.
Fill a wide-mouthed bowl with your seeds of choice.
For plain bagels, I have flaky sea salt on the side for sprinkling!
The bagels are ready to be boiled when they are a bit proved and float in water but can still be man-handled without being misshapen. Move quickly. Add the bicarbonate of soda. Lift a bagel from the oiled tray and place it in the boiling water. Boil each bagel for 30 seconds on each side, flipping them carefully with a spider or extra-large slotted spoon. I like to boil about 4 to 6 at a time; however, many can fit comfortably in the pot without overcrowding. I boil the bottom first, then flip to finish the top. Remove the bagel from the water and place on a cooling rack. Within 30 seconds, either sprinkle the bagel with salt if you are keeping it plain or roll it in seeds on both sides. They only remain “sticky” for a short time. Move them to the baking tray (you will use the same oiled tray) bottom side down and let them rest until you finish the last bagel. They may deflate slightly, but they will rise in the oven.
Transfer the tray directly to the hot steamy oven. Bake for 12-16 minutes, until the bagels take on colour on both the top and bottom. They should have a firm top but remain light and soft when you pick them up. Let them rest on the sheet tray for at least 20 minutes before cutting into one!
Top with fillings of your choice or refer to my column for Lily’s suggested toppings.
Lily’s Salted Dark Chocolate Cookies
Once you make these cookies, you will never go back to classic chocolate chip. This recipe makes a large batch because I believe in freezing at least half the cookie dough for a later date.
Makes 30 cookies approx.
EQUIPMENT: #40 size cookie scoop (1 ½ tbsp in size)
Ingredients
227g salted butter
215g dark brown sugar
75g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
326g dark chocolate (70%) (in bar or oval form) – you want proper dark chocolate here, not in chip form, that you can chop
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Method
Put the brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large, heat-proof mixing bowl.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until it begins to foam, about 5-7 minutes. When the solids turn golden brown, remove the pan from the heat, and pour the hot butter over the sugar. Whisk to incorporate.
Next, whisk the eggs and vanilla into the sugar mixture until it becomes viscous and glossy.
Add the flour to the bowl, sift the baking soda on top of the flour. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet, using a rubber spatula, removing any lumps. No streaks of flour should remain.
Chop the chocolate into chunks and shards. You are looking for diverse chunks, some larger than bite-size, others smaller. This is key to the textural integrity of the cookie.
Fold the chocolate chunks into the dough, including the small shards and chocolate dust that accumulated on your cutting board.
Allow the dough to rest for 30-60 minutes at room temperature until firmed up. You want the dough to hold its shape for scooping. It will be too warm to scoop right away. If your kitchen is very hot, consider moving the dough to a cooler location.
Once the dough has firmed up, use a cookie scoop to portion the dough onto a silicone or parchment-lined sheet tray. (The cookies may seem hard to scoop with so many chocolate chunks, but have no fear, they will bake beautifully). Line the balls close together, as you are not baking them right away. Sprinkle each ball with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.
Transfer the tray to the freezer for 30 minutes to let the dough firm up. (At this point, if you are not cooking immediately, you can transfer the balls into a plastic bag and store them in the freezer for future use.)
Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4.
Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicone mat and place your desired number of cookies on the sheet, spreading them at least 6cm apart. Bake for 9-10 minutes, removing the cookies from the oven when the outside is crisping but the inside is still slightly gooey. Tap/gently bang the tray against a heat-proof counter right when they come out of the oven, to remove some of the air in the cookies. This will help flatten/crinkle them.
Allow the cookies cool on the tray for at least 10 minutes before removing them with a metal spatula. This time is key to their setting. They get firmer the longer they sit and actually taste great at room temperature, when the pools of chocolate have hardened, but the cookie remains chewy.
