TWD - Rugelach

This week's recipe comes from Piggy of Piggy's Cooking Journal. Rugelach is a typically Jewish dessert made with a tender dough that uses both butter and cream cheese. They bake up very tender and flaky.

I made rugelach several years ago for Christmas from a Martha recipe, and I remember it being a drawn-out mess of a recipe that yielded a fantastic result. I believe we made it with apricot filling... Dorie's uses jam, cinnamon sugar, currants, nuts, AND chocolate. I cut out the currants because I didn't have any, and decided to get creative and use leftover Halloween candy for the chocolate part.



Dainty little pastries

I used Hershey's bars, Baby Ruth, Snickers, and Butterfinger bars, but honestly, when they baked up I couldn't tell much of a difference.

The dough tastes wonderful and very rich, but I didn't care much for the filling. I think I'd rather utilize a pure-fruit filling next time. I know, call me crazy!

The dough gets rolled into a 12-inch circle then cut into sixteenths. This made for very small crescents to get rolled up and I found it to be very fiddly. Next time I'd just cut them in 8 I think.

Not a bad recipe, certainly, but not my favorite.

TWD - Chocolate-chocolate cupcakes

Today's recipe is a chocolate cupcake with a ganache
icing. All hail the new favorite Dorie recipe! She describes them as being more for adult than child palates and I would have to agree - the cake utilizes cocoa and just a smidge of melted chocolate and the ganache is a deep dark, bittersweet glaze. They come off as not very sweet, and there is certainly no cloying buttercream here.

Many bakers commented they had dry cake and pulled their cakes out earlier than recommended, but I had no problems with either. They were great, and the smooth ganache made them easy to decorate.


"pumpkin-themed jimmies and orange sanding sugar"

These were also really easy to make, and an even dozen made it easy to get rid of them. They are on page 215-217 of the book, and were chosen by Clara of I Heart Food 4 Thought.

TWD - Caramel Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

This week's recipe was a brownie cake, covered in a caramel with salted peanuts, chosen by Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy on pages 264 and 265.



I had really high hopes for this cake, but I started having a bad feeling about it when I went to several stores and couldn't find the 8" springform pan it called for. I baked it in a 9 1/2" pan so it was thinner than it should have been. Then, the caramel took forever to even approach an amber color, then shot to burned tasting in no time. I was very upset with myself.

I ended up taking the cake to a neighborhood party. The caramel had set for a while, but even then, when I cut the first slice, the caramel came oozing off the top into the empty space. I was just disgusted with the cake at that point. I had one bite and didn't even like the brownie part of it.

So - I won't be making this again. I thought it didn't have enough peanuts, and my hubby said he didn't like the peanuts with it at all, that it overpowered the cake. My feelings are just bad about this cake!

TWD - Chocolate Chunkers

This week's recipe is exactly the way it sounds - chunks with chocolate. Claudia of Fool for Food chose this recipe. (yes, it's in German)



Nuts, chips, chunks, and fruit all made their way into this cookie. I subbed Craisins for raisins (raisins and chocolate just don't go together in my world) and used toasted pecans, although Dorie suggested salted peanuts. I love my pecans, but I really think the peanuts would have been great in this. Next time I'll cut down on the fruit or leave it out entirely, and put in more nuts. I could barely discern the semi-sweet chips and milk chocolate chunks in the cookie because of the chocolate base.

I was really looking forward to these cookies, but they didn't live up to my expectations. They are far from bad I just thought they would be better.

Anyway, my family and friends are enjoying the fruits of my labor...

One Bowl Brownies

I wanted to make a treat both for my Pilates instructor, who had a birthday last week, and also for hubby to take to his board-game get together. When the instructor said she loved chocolate, I wanted some thing easy and a brownie seemed to be the thing.

I was all set to make my favorite mix (because I really hate the whole melting chocolate thing) when I spied this recipe for a one-bowl brownie made with cocoa over on Cookie Madness. Cookie Madness is one of my very favorite blogs and I check it every day. Bonus is that Anna lives in Austin.

I sometimes get really tired of the really rich, fudgelike brownies made with melted chocolate. This brownie is light, still not cake-like, and has a good chocolate flavor. It produces a nice crackly top like a good brownie should, and pairs well warmed with vanilla ice cream. (Blue Bell of course!)

All recipients were happy with the results. They are also really good out of the fridge or freezer and keep well frozen for later.

I also added 1/2 cup peanut butter chips and pecans (naturally) for the top.

One Bowl Cocoa Powder Brownies

12 T. unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks)
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (natural)
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
12 walnut halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13×9 inch metal pan or line it with parchment or foil. If using foil, spray the foil with cooking spray. (I just used the Pam for baking - it works great)

Melt the butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl. Whisk in the sugar, then whisk in the cocoa powder, followed by the vanilla extract and eggs. When mixture is smooth, add salt and baking powder and whisk thoroughly, breaking up any lumps in baking powder and taking care that it is thoroughly distributed. Scrape sides of bowl and stir (do not beat) in the flour. Pour into pan and spread to edges. Arrange nuts over top.

Bake on center rack of oven for 22-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely and chill before slicing.

Makes 12 or 16 (depends on how big you cut them)

Popcorn Balls

I made this recipe up because I was bored. I wanted something sweet, it's close to Halloween, and who doesn't like marshmallows and chocolate?

Chocolate-Almond Popcorn Balls

1 bag of microwave popcorn
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 bag mini marshmallows
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/4 cup chocolate chips


Pop popcorn. Just use the plain butter flavor. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Turn down heat and add marshmallows, melt in butter over medium-low heat. When melted, add marshmallows, almonds, and chocolate chips. You may want to butter or use nonstick spray on your hands and on a spatula. Form blobs of the popcorn into balls with your hands and place on a sheet or parchment or waxed paper to cool. You can really play with this recipe - leave out the chocolate, use different nuts, add M&Ms, anything. Enjoy!

Utterly Delicious Chocolate Cake

I stole that description from Martha - she's always saying use superlatives to describe your food and your guests WILL BELIEVE that it is utterly delicious! In this case, the superlatives are not needed, as this great hunk of chocolate bliss stood on its own. Rich chocolate cake supported by its favorite player, velvety ganache. mmmmm. The above picture shows all that was left after my grandmother's 77th birthday celebration.

I truly couldn't believe how well this cake turned out. I'm not a great cake maker, as something always happens in the oven to make my cake come out lopsided or just baked WRONG and then no amount of frosting can cover it up. This time was no exception. I had thought I had 1 9" cake pan at home, so I purchased a 2nd, only to come home and find that I had 1 8" cake pan at home. sigh...so I was left to make them in my sorry silicone cake pan bakeware, which requires much babysitting and moving around of pans. Still, they didn't come out completely horrible, and after a few shave-downs to make them more even and an overnight visit in the fridge and a quick chill in the freezer, they weren't half bad to work with. From now on I'm taking the advice of professional cake makers and making my cakes ahead and chilling them.

The star of the cake I think truly was the ganache. I'd made ganache before to churn out bonbons, but never as a frosting. I had always assumed it was too liquidy to be a frosting, but chilling and letting it set up really gives it the consistency of frosting. I don't know if I will ever really go back to using buttercream, as it's such a pain to make and work with and this...well it was utterly delicious!

Awesome Chocolate Cake

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
3 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs, room temp
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups buttermilk, room temp
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups strong coffee

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour sides and bottoms of pans. Set pans aside.

In large bowl of mixer, stir together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and soda. Stir in the sugar.

In small bowl, combine the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix into the dry ingredients. Stir in the buttermilk, melted butter and coffee. Divide batter evenly among pans.

Bake at 350 for around 50 minutes. Transfer to wire cooling rack.

I can never find enough to make with buttermilk so I never have it on hand. In this case I subbed milk with some vinegar added. I couldn't tell you the measurements, but just make sure the mixture equals 1 1/2 cups. I also didn't use strong coffee, but instead chose to follow the directions on the back of my instant espresso powder for making 1 1/2 cups or 12 ounces of espresso.

Easy Foolproof Ganache

18 ozs semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon liquor or flavoring (optional)

Heat cream until nearly boiling. Pour over chocolate chips, cover and let sit 10 minutes. Whisk chocolate and cream (and flavor if using) until well combined; dark, smooth and glossy.

Let sit at room temp until cooled. To thicken, beat with hand mixer for a few minutes. Also thickens over time as it sits.

Refrigerate in airtight container for up to a week. To restore to spreading or glazing consistency, heat and stir over double boiler for a few minutes until softened.

I let my ganache sit out and in the fridge for probably 30 minutes, then spread it between the layers and on top. I then put the whole frosted cake in the fridge until it was time to transport. This helped a lot to firm it up for its short, albeit warm, transport to the party.

I omitted the liquor and flavoring as I didn't want to screw it up. In the future I would probably experiment with Kahlua or Grand Marnier, or even citrus extract. I would probably match it in the cake as well.

Chocolate Cake

You know all those individual little chocolate cakes that are on every menu you see? You know...the ones that are cakey on the outside and oozy in the middle? I'll let you in on a secret - they are incredibly easy to make! And so tasty!

Continuing my work through David Lebovitz's chocolate book, I decided to make some for my 1-year wedding anniversary this weekend. The recipe normally makes 6 cakes so I halved it for 2 of us - no problems with the recipe. I'm in for a real treat if all his recipes are as good as the ones I've tried so far.

Hot Chocolate Cakes

Makes 6 cakes

10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons sugar
4 large eggs, separated

Butter 6 6-oz custard cups or ramekins. Sprinkle the insides with sugar and tap out excess. Adjust the oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

In a large heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water - or a double boiler - melt the chocolate and butter together until smooth. Remove from the heat and whisk in 2 tablespoons of the sugar and the egg yolks.

In a clean, dry bowl, whip the egg whites with an electric mix on medium speed until they are frothy. Increase the speed and whip until the egg whites start to form soft, wet peaks. Whip in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and beat just until the whites form shiny, droopy peaks.

Fold one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold the remaining egg whites into the chocolate mixture.

Divide the batter into the prepared cake molds, set them on a baking sheet, and bake for 12 minutes until they feel slightly baked in the center. Remove from the oven and let stand for a moment before unmolding onto serving plates.

As a bonus I had made some strawberry-raspberry coulis the previous night from some frozen berries and sugar zipped up in the food processor, then passed through a fine sieve. It was a really good accompaniment to the bittersweet chocolate.

These are really easy to make in ramekins - but unmolding onto a plate can be a bit tricky as they are jiggly and soft in the middle.



Since there were only 2 of us I played around with making some in muffin tins as well. They came out perfectly (taken out just a tad earlier than the ramekins) and were the cutest little 3-bite chocolate cakes. They were great even 2 days later as we celebrated the last of our anniversary goodies.



I want to experiment with this recipe in the future. Some liqueur added to the batter... throw in some mini chips or cocoa nibs... espresso powder...

Candyman

This past week I took a wonderful class by David Lebovitz (of international acclaim!) at Central Market. He is such a good teacher. He's entertaining, and full of information, and made us all instantly at home. Plus, I have never seen so many recipes made in such a short time. Thank you David, I learned so much about chocolate, candy, and Paris.

A Sunday afternoon found me itching to do something. Too early to start dinner, too hot to finish planting my annuals, so I decided to make one of David's recipes we learned in class. His toffee with chocolate and nuts was so good (the small piece I had) and I had bought some really good Callebaut semisweet chips at Central Market so I decided it HAD to be the one. My husband would thank me, I was sure. And it turned out so fast! The slowest part of the whole recipe I think was toasting the almonds.

I'd never made candy before, mainly because molten sugar at 300 degrees scares me. That and I had never bought a candy thermometer. But the way David whipped it up with no fear emboldened me to try it.

Step 1 is to toast your nuts (here almonds) for 5-10 minutes until fragrant. They go from fragrant to burned really fast so watch out.

While doing that you can get your sugar, water, butter, and salt heating in a sturdy saucepan. Your goal is 300 degrees - or "hard crack" stage. The temperature of sugar is referred to as things such as "soft ball", "hard ball", and "hard crack". These represent what the sugar would do if you dropped some of it into cool water. Hard crack means it would seize up and when taken out, make a hard crack when you tried to break it in two.

Here's the butter and sugar mixture bubbling away at about 200 degrees. Those silicone spatulas are great.



Cool your nuts and chop between coarse and fine. Spread half the nuts into an 8x10 rectangle on a buttered pan or on a Silpat, as I did. (that great silicone again).

When the sugar gets up to temperature, remove from heat and add the baking soda and vanilla. Pour the sugar over the nuts, trying to keep the depth even. This stuff will stay warm for a good while, but even so, quickly sprinkle your 1 cup of semisweet chips over the sugar. Good chocolate really makes a difference here.

Let the chips sit for a minute or too. Because the sugar is still so warm, you can take an offset spatula and spread the chips evenly over the sugar. At this stage David encouraged us to sprinkle some fleur de sel on the chocolate - I love salty and sweet so I did and I really loved the outcome.



Add the second half of the nuts on top of the chocolate and gently press them into the chocolate.



Let cool in the refrigerator until hardened. The sugar will harden much sooner than the chocolate. In my fridge it took about half an hour to cool completely. Break into chunks. Yummy!



Chocolate Toffee, adapted from David Lebovitz

2 cups toasted almonds, hazelnuts, pecans chopped between 'fine' and 'coarse'
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces
big pinch of salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Lightly oil a baking sheet wiht an unflavored vegetable oil - or place a Silpat or other silicone liner on a baking sheet.

Sprinkle half the nuts into a roughly 8" x 10" rectangle on the baking sheet.

In a sturdy medium saucepan heat the water, butter, salt, and both sugar. Use a candy thermometer and cook, stirring as little as possible until the thermometer reads 300 degrees.

Immediately remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla.

Pour the mixture over the nuts on the sheet. Try to pour in an even layer. You may spread with a spatula, but don't overwork it.

Sprinkle the chips over the top and let stand for 1-2 minutes then spread in an even layer over the sugar. Sprinkle with fleur de sel if so desired. Sprinkle the remaining nuts over the chocolate and gently press them in with your hands.

Cool completely and break into pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 10 days.

Going Away

I did the final installment of the goodbye to my cubemate with my VTB - Very Tasty Brownies. Prior to this recipe I always made brownies solely with cocoa powder, not with melted chocolate. These have both the chocolate and instant espresso powder, which I think makes all chocolate things taste better. I was a little unhappy as I sent my husband out to buy the chocolate and couldn't get the high-quality stuff I used last time. They were good, but not as indulgent rich as the last batch.

Chocolate Brownies - adapted from Martha Stewart

1 cup pecans
1 cup unsalted butter
8 oz good quality unsweetened chocolate
5 eggs
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 2/3 cups sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Spread pecans on baking pan. Toast until fragrant, 5-10 minutes. WATCH THEM - they can go from fragrant to burnt in seconds. Transfer nuts to bowl to cool.
3. Raise oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Generously butter a 9"x13" pan.
4. Combine chocolate and butter in a double boiler. Remove from heat when chocolate mixture has melted.
5. In the bowl of a mixer beat eggs, sugar, and espresso powder at high speed for 10 minutes. This is an odd step to me, but it makes a very light-colored, well incorporated mixture. Do not skip! Do not do less than 10 minutes!
6. Reduce speed to low and add melted chocolate mixture and the vanilla. Beat until combined.
7. Slowly add flour and salt. Beat JUST until incorporated - do not overbeat.
8. Chop pecans coarsely. Take bowl off mixer and fold in chocolate chips and pecans by hand.
9. Bake until the edges are dry but center is still soft, about 35 minutes. Remove pan from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Cut into 3-inch squares and store in an air-tight container up to 2 days.

My brownies almost always never take the full 35 minutes. The edges get quite crips and I take them out early. I don't know if it's the way I cook them or what. I always cook in an aluminum pan lined with parchment paper or foil for easy clean-up: spray the pan with cooking spray, then line pan with parchment or foil and spray again. Most times 2 pieces of parchment or foil going opposite ways is easiest. Just lift them out of the pan by the paper or foil and slice. Whatever the reason for early doneness, the brownies never suffer.

It's also true about the 2-days: they just don't taste good after that. I think it's because these are so moist. I don't even like them the next day unless I warm it up a little in the microwave. But boy is that good - gets a little melty and with a dollop of whip cream or even better, ice cream, the contrast is soooo good. You won't have a problem with them lasting more than 2 days though. These goodies were gone in 4 short hours!