TWD - Thanksgiving Twofer Pie

Coming from page 321 of Baking, is this pie that is a combo of pumpkin and pecan pie. Now, I'm a huge fan of pecan, but not of pumpkin. This turned out to really be a pumpkin pie with some pecan goo on top. Not my style. But I took it to the in-laws house and it all got eaten! That's one in the success column to me.

Please go to La Casserole Carree by Vibi to view the recipe for this pie. You can cut two pies down to one this Thanksgiving and make everyone happy!

The only change I made to the recipe was to leave out the rum. No pictures this time - it all got eaten before I could get one!

TWD - Arborio Rice Pudding

This week's recipe was chosen by Isabelle of Les Gourmands d'Isa. It can be found on pages 412-413 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.




It's a very simple recipe, but I wasn't content to do simply vanilla or chocolate rice pudding - I added 1/4 up pumpkin and the typical spices. It was great!

The texture of the rice was awfully soft, a little more than I'm used to, and it was a little more soupy, but it was fine. I'm actually not a big fan of rice pudding, so I probably won't make it again.

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 - Creme Brulee

Ahh, ye olde standby, creme brulee. Served in every "nice" steakhouse the country over. I used to be wowed by creme brulee. Then I made it - a 10-minute custard with some burnt sugar on top.


It is totally my fault that I'm not big on creme brulee anymore. It's lost all its mystique - like looking behind the curtain and finding the Wizard. But hey, YOU are more than welcome to make it and enjoy it in all its glory. Don't listen to the old bitter lady. ;)

This week's recipe was chosen by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake and can be found on page 393 of Baking, From My Home to Yours.

The recipe suggested using either sugar or light brown sugar for caramelizing, but the brown sugar clumped and burned and I didn't like it at all. The plain sugar is definitely my pick.

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...

TWD - not a fan of malt

This week's recipe was a cook with malt powder in the dough and Whoppers chopped up. I do NOT like malt. I don't like to drink malts and I do NOT like Whoppers. bleah. They always taste so chalky.

So instead, because I needed a birthday cake for my mom's party this week, I turned to the Dorie book and on page 250 I found the Perfect Party Cake. Perfect it is!



The recipe as written calls for raspberry preserves but my mom specifically asked for apricot so I used a jar of preserves (way more than the 2/3 cup called for).

I had never made a Swiss meringue buttercream successfully before, but this one came together beautifully.

Everybody loved it, including my mom. I was ok with it, it wasn't up there with my favorites. (I think I am just not a white cake fan). But it is very versatile and bakes up great so I'll use it in the future.



4 layers with buttercream and apricots sandwiched between - yum!

Martha's Blueberry Muffins

I bought a 2 lb clamshell of blueberries at Costco, so realized I suddenly had enough to EAT as much as I want AND bake! So I made blueberry muffins to send to my attorneys to thank them for their hard work on my new business enterprise.

I decided to go right to the source and use a recipe out of Martha's Baking Handbook.

The recipe is also available online HERE.

The recipe in the book omits the 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg mixture and advises you sprinkle with sugar. I used the really coarse and crunchy sanding sugar on top and I was told it was what MADE the muffins. I really LOVE the muffin tops and I like them to be crunchy as well.



Yum, crunchy craggly tops! 2 cups of blueberries really fills each muffin and when you break it open it's almost entirely blue with the berries. This one is a simple, easy, winner of a muffin that uses ingredients you will have on hand.

TWD - Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

Isn't that a mouthful? This week's recipe comes courtesy of Stefany of Proceed with Caution. They are almost kitchen sink cookies, with oatmeal, chocolate chips, peanut butter, peanuts, and whatever else you feel like adding. (I added salted peanuts and peanut butter chips)

I really felt like the salted peanuts made the cookies. The recipe didn't call for much salt in them, and I felt like it played off the sweetness of the chips (there were a lot of chocolate chips) really well.

Letting the dough chill well was important, as it was much easier to work with and they didn't spread very much.


Ready for the oven!

The peanut butter flavor isn't very pronounced, so don't think of these as a peanut butter cookie with oatmeal. They have cinnamon and nutmeg and I don't know if I added too much nutmeg or because it was freshly ground, but I could really taste it in the end product and it was a really good flavor.

Everyone loved them and I might make these again!

Peanut Butter Bliss

Hello, lovely...

You may not know me - you may not know of my looove of anything peanut butter and chocolate. But at Christmas time, when I have my big cookie exchange - the peanut butter ball stash goes right into the freezer and I am VERY hard-pressed to share with anyone.

You see, my friends and I have this big cookie exchange and one member is always counted on to make peanut butter balls, which are balls of sweetened peanut butter with Rice Krispies that are then dunked in chocolate. Oh my...are they ever good. And if I ever "gift" you with one - consider yourself very lucky. I don't buy Reese's peanut butter cups because well - I have no power to refuse them.

That's why it's very very dangerous to have these lovelies in the house.



Just look at that craggy goodness!

I came across this recipe on Cookie Madness, which is from Rachael Ray. Yeah, I very rarely make anything by Rachael but WOW I had to make an exception for these. I knew immediately that they were an easier and deadlier version of my beloved peanut butter balls.

I mean, just look at the ingredients. This ain't health food people. But oh my...

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Crunch (doesn't that just sound decadent?)

TWD - Chocolate-Banded Ice Cream Torte

This week's recipe was chosen by Amy of Food, Family, and Fun. It is on pages 288-289 of Dorie's book, Baking From My Home to Yours.

I just made an ice cream cake for my husband's birthday of chocolate cake and mint chocolate chip ice cream. That one fed 20 people, so I did NOT want more ice cream cake hanging around. Mini cakes, it had to be. (and they are so cute, too)

In my opinion, almost any vessel can be used for this dessert. The recipe specifies a springform pan. In the past, I have made ice cream cakes with a springform pan as well, but this past time I took a tip and poured ice cream into the same plastic-lined cake pan I would use to bake my cakes so that I'd have a perfectly frozen same-size round of cake to place on top of my baked cakes. It worked perfectly.

So this time around, I made layers of ice cream and ganache in tiny cake pans and in a mini loaf pan: 2 4-inch cake layers and one mini loaf. I think you will agree they came out too cute!



This was the first torte, right after unmolding. I like to think it was my practice one. I wised up after this, and returned the torte to the freezer after unmolding to re-harden. I also didn't run as much water over the bottom of the pan to unmold. The ganache doesn't hard-set thanks to eggs and it really didn't need much coaxing to get soft enough to unmold.



This is the second cake-shaped mini torte. I really loved how it came out, and the inside looks GREAT.

I used homemade vanilla with Godiva liqueur and lots of mix-ins here. You can see a cross-section of the chips and nuts.

For the mini-loaf, I used Blue Bell Moolennium Crunch ice cream, which is another vanilla base with lots of nuts and chips.



Do you remember those desserts in the nineties called Viennetta? I remember the commercials - slicing into a loaf-shaped dessert that seemed to have layers of something crunchy. Well, they apparently don't sell them in the US anymore. If we go back to the UK I'll have to get one. This very much reminded me of the Viennetta!



My husband just absolutely loved these tortes. He was so excited to know that after dinner every day for about 6 days he got torte for dessert. Besides, who doesn't like saying the word "torte"! I feel fancy just saying I made one. That thickest layer of ganache up there on the loaf suuuuure is good. ;)

TWD-Granola Grabbers

This week's Dorie recipe was for Granola Grabbers - cookies made from granola, fruit, nuts, and coconut. They were chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking.

These were kind of unusual cookies as they had no leavening, just the good stuff, butter, egg, and a little flour. They were actually really sticky and kind of gross when I was making them into the cookies, and came out greasy on the cookie sheet.

Now, 2 days later, they are much better and have set up into a nice, chewy cookie. I would probably make them with less sweet fruit next time, up the salt, and maybe add some chips. They are pretty sweet. All the better to go with a glass of milk!



I really liked the play of the salty peanuts against the sweetness, hence why I think it could do with even more salty goodness.

Next week is an ice cream torte. I think I'm going to have to at least half that recipe, given our ingestion of ice cream around here lately...

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)

TWD - Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream

This week's Dorie Greenspan recipe was chosen by Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity. I was pretty excited about this recipe because I haven't used my Cuisinart ice cream maker in a while.

I'm usually not a big blueberry fan, but they went really well with the sour cream. I tasted the base before it went into the fridge and I knew I was going to like the ice cream - I also knew I wanted to try other fruits!

It's a very rich ice cream, and has that characteristic twang from the sour cream. I don't think everyone would like it, but my husband and I enjoyed both flavors we made.



(The deep rich color of the blueberry - which turned out to be more of a raspberry color - in the background, and the delicate strawberry flavor in the foreground.)

For the strawberry version, I used a cup of cut up strawberries and followed the recipe for the ice cream, but used only 1/4 cup sugar. I also had to partially sub half and half for the heavy cream. It turned out great, if a bit tart. The sour cream flavor worked completely differently for the strawberries.

You don't need much of this ice cream, it's rich and flavorful and satisfies easily.

Tuesdays with Dorie

This is the first of my recipes for Tuesdays with Dorie, a baking group wherein we bake a recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan each week, then blog about it. (I can't tell you how much I am in love with this book, I keep calling it my food porn - I mean LOOK at the cover!!)

Dorie won a James Beard award for this book last year as well - it has to be good.

This week the recipe that was chosen was Black and White Banana Loaf. It's an unusual marbled cake baked in a loaf pan. The base is a banana/rum cake that is half-flavored with melted bittersweet chocolate for the marbled effect.



I had fun making this cake. I was very careful and patient with my technique, and felt like at each stage it looked the way that Dorie described. (so often I am NOT patient - I don't cream for as long as I should, don't add my eggs to the batter one by one...) I didn't hurry my oven and put the cake in before it should (my oven runs hot and it takes way longer to preheat to the correct temperature than the little beeper would have you believe).

Look at that beauuuuutiful marbling! ;)



That being said, I made two changes to the recipe-

1. I left out the lemon juice and zest from the banana/rum mixture. The idea of the lemon mixing with the chocolate just ooged me out entirely. (plus I didn't have a lemon)
   
2. In reading some of the early reviews of the recipe on the website, it seemed several people had problems with the cake setting up and excess banana seemed to be the issue. The recipe calls for 1 1/2 bananas (I wish a volume measurement had been given like my banana bread recipe, which calls 1 1/4 cups) so my frozen banana being LARGE, I opted for just the one mashed banana and decided I would check out the consistency when I was done. It was good, not too thin!

I had part trepidation and part fascination with this cake because of the unusual flavor profile. I didn't really ever taste the banana or rum, and the chocolate is very mild. It does make for a very pretty cake when cut, and I wouldn't hesitate to give it to friends as a gift or take to a potluck. The flavor however, just doesn't wow me enough for me to make this again just for us to eat.

Fruit crisp

This is my take on using fruit that may or may not be on its way out. It is imminently better with vanilla ice cream, cream, or whipped cream or all 3!

Fruit Crisp
yields 4 servings or ramekins

Fruit filling
2 plums, 1/4 cup frozen blueberries, 2 strawberries
(or just start cutting up fruit until you have enough to almost fill 4 small 6 oz ramekins)
2 T sugar
1 T flour

Topping
3 T butter
1/4 c flour
1/4 c oats
1/4 c sliced almonds
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 t cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
pinch salt

Mix together fruit, sugar, and flour, and let sit at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix together topping ingredients with a pastry cutter, 2 forks, or your fingers, working the butter into the other ingredients just until it resembles small peas.

Parcel the fruit out to the 4 ramekins and add the topping. Place on a baking sheet covered in parchment to prevent spillover. Cook for 30-35 minutes until hot and bubbly. Let sit for 5 minutes and serve with your choice of topping.

You can make the butter topping ahead, just cover and refrigerate until use.

Strawberry Shortcake

I am of the camp that does NOT like a biscuit-y shortcake. I know, I know, how very unSouthern of me. When I think of it, my mouth just gets dry, like most shortcakes I've had.

Growing up, we always had those little sponge cakes that had indentations in the top with our strawberries. I guess we always want what we are comfortable with.

I was very pleased to find this recipe for an almost sponge cake baked in a tube pan like an angel food cake. I appreciate that it does NOT need 12 egg whites like angel food cake. I never find anything to do with all those leftover egg yolks.

Sponge cake for strawberry shortcake

4 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup milk

Note - it says cake flour, not all purpose flour. I usually use Swans Down brand. Cake flour has a low protein content, unlike bread flour, and therefore should not be used to make bread. You want a cake that is light and fluffy, and does not develop gluten like bread. Softasilk is another popular brand. If you do not have cake flour, you CAN use 7/8 cup all purpose flour and 2 tablespoons cornstarch per cup of cake flour, but I would try and use cake flour if you can.

Preheat oven to 325 deg F.

Separate eggs, placing yolks in large mixing bowl and setting whites aside. Beat yolks with sugar until very light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.

Sift cake flour with baking powder onto waxed or parchment paper.

Fold dry ingredients alternately with milk into egg mixture, beginning and ending with dry. In a separate bowl beat reserved egg whites until stiff and then fold into batter.

Pour into an ungreased 9 inch tube pan and bake in preheated oven 45-50 minutes. Invert pan to cool. Remove from pan when cake is completely cool.

It's best cut with a serrated knife.

This would be very easy to modify with different extracts and things such as lemon/lime/orange zest.

I served with macerated strawberries and whipped cream. yum!

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.

Cherry Cobbler

I always get designated the "dessert girl". And I notice this blog has a lot of desserts on it...I never intended to be a baker, but I guess it's just more fun. I have a lot less inspiration when it comes to entrees. Anyway, for our 4th of July out at the lake, I contributed dessert. I made some plain old Toll House cookies (that got mysteriously overdone in my oven at only 8 minutes) and took a request from my adoring fans for some cherry cobbler. I looked around online at recipes that seemed more complicated than I wanted to make it, and just decided to take the family's peach cobbler recipe and siply use cherries instead.

Here's where I don't know much - cherries are not really a staple of Southern food. I certainly wasn't going to buy fresh and pit them, staining my clothing in the process, as much fun as Martha makes it seem. And canned - eh, that's not my style really. So I figured they had frozen cherries, right? Yeah, at $4 a bag! I felt for that much I could go to Whole Foods and get hoity toity organic. I suppose there is not much call for frozen cherries at Albertson's. So I bought 2 bags but came home and figured I could make do with 1. I heated them up on the stove and found them to be not too sweet so I added a 1/4 cup of sugar and soon juice started pouring out of them. I reduced it to get it syrupy, then just followed the recipe...

I know, part of this recipe is really odd, but - that's just the way it is.

Fruit Cobbler

1/2 stick butter
1 cup ap flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
fruit - either 1 can sliced peaches, or a couple cups of fruit in juice

Preheat your over to 350 degrees F.

Put the butter in a 9x13 pan or equivalent baking dish and put in the oven. While it melts, assemble the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Whisk a few times to combine.

When the butter is all melted, pull the pan out and add the milk to the flour mixture and whisk to combine. Pour batter over the butter. Add your can of peaches or fruit over the batter. The batter will rise up over the fruit during cooking.

Cook for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned on top and not soupy in the middle.

Great warm with vanilla ice cream!

Recipe Tester

A while ago I signed up to test some recipes for Cook's Illustrated. This was a WHILE ago. Since then I don't even have a subscription to CI anymore. Regardless, last week I received an email with a very detailed recipe and a link to a survey for after I accomplished my recipe. My assigned experiment was simple Pound Cake. Below is the first paragraph of the email:

"The objective of this recipe is to make a great pound cake in the traditional style, that is to say one with a plush, fine-pored texture and a tight, velvety crumb, It should be dense but tender, and though it shouldn't be as moist as a layer cake, it certainly shouldn't be dry. The cake should be richly flavored and taste like what goes into it; butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. "

I knew those people at CI were a tad anal, but good grief. Now, get this paragraph. It was a little daunting, thinking about "optimal emulsification" :

"Note on Temperatures: Emulsification of butter and eggs is crucial to producing a pound cake with proper texture. For optimal emulsification, both the butter and eggs should be at around seventy degrees. At this temperature, the butter will be just firm enough to come cleanly away from the wrapper; the beaten eggs will feel lightly cool when you dip a finger in. Butter that has become too warm should be returned briefly to the refrigerator. Since eggs separate best when cold, leave them in the refrigerator until just before you use them, then, as you beat them, immerse the bottom of the cup in tepid water. If you kitchen is very hot, use butter the consistency of firm clay (around sixty degrees) and distinctly cool eggs."

I didn't get that anal about the temperature of my butter and eggs. I let them both sit out on my counter for maybe an hour or two. That seemed to me to be the right amount of effort for a pound cake. I even separated the eggs at room temp - I know, scary!

Pan prepared (very prepared) for batter

Classic Pound Cake
Serves 8 to 10

Though best when freshly baked, the cake will keep reasonably well for
up to 5 days.

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 1/3 cups (9 1/3 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) plain cake flour

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Grease 9 by 5-inch loaf pan (7 1/2-cup capacity). Fold 12-inch length of foil or parchment to measure 8 1/2-inches wide. With folded sides down, fit foil (or parchment) widthwise into bottom of greased pan, pushing it into corners and up sides, allowing excess to overhang pan sides. Fold 18-inch length of foil or parchment to measure 4 1/2-inches wide. With folded sides down, fit this second sheet of foil (or parchment)
lengthwise in pan (perpendicular to the first) in same manner.

2. Beat butter in bowl of standing mixer at medium-high speed until smooth and shiny, about 15 seconds. With machine still on, sprinkle sugar in slowly, taking about 30 seconds. Beat mixture until light, fluffy, and almost white, 4 to 5 minutes, stopping mixer once or twice to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula.

3. Stir together eggs, yolks, vanilla, and water in 2-cup liquid measuring cup. With mixer running at medium-high speed, add egg mixture to butter and sugar in very slow, thin stream. Finally, beat in salt.

4. Place 1/2 cup of flour in sieve and sift it over batter. Fold gently with rubber spatula, scraping up from bottom of bowl, until flour is incorporated. Repeat twice more, adding flour in 1/2-cup increments.

5. Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top with spatula or wooden spoon. Bake until toothpick or thin skewer inserted into crack running along top comes out clean, 70 to 80 minutes. Let cake rest in pan for 5 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Place second wire rack on cake bottom, then turn cake top-side up. Cool to room temperature, remove and discard foil, and serve. If not serving immediately, wrap cake in plastic, then in foil. Store cake at room temperature.



Verdict? It was pretty good pound cake. Would I go through all that again for a pound cake? Probably not. Compared to the effort to results ratio from say, a plain old bundt cake, I say the pound cake loses. Plus, my illustrious husband pronounced - "Not as good as Sara Lee." I happen to think Sara Lee pound cake is gummy and under-cooked but he likes that "moist" feel. whatever.

Cream Puffs

Cream puffs, eclairs, even funnel cakes, are all made from a pastry dough called "Pate a Choux". It's a French phrase that means "paste of cabbages", or cabbage paste. It is so named as the little cooked pieces of pastry are said to resemble little cabbages. You might also hear it called simply "choux paste" (pronounced like "shoe").

Pate a choux gets it's rising entirely from the evaporation of water - there is no leavening. The ingredient list is remarkably short - water, butter, sugar, salt, flour, and eggs. The process is rather different than probably any other pastry you've ever made. Pate a choux can be made for either sweet or savory fillings - that is the purpose of these little gems, they are simply a shell for some really tasty inside bits.

For eclairs or cream puffs, you'll fill your choux paste with a pastry cream. Savory puffs are often filled with herbed cream cheese or blue cheese mixture. Or even meats.

Pate a Choux for Sweet Filling
yield - 4 dozen bite-sized cream puffs

1 cup water
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/8 cup flour
1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Boil water, butter, sugar, and salt. Add flour and remove from heat. Work mixture together and return to heat. Continue working the mixture until all flour is incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture into bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 or 4 minutes. If you add your eggs to too hot mixture, you'll get scrambled eggs, so be sure it's cooled. With mixture on stir or lowest speed, add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completley incorporated before continuing.

Once all eggs have been added and the mixture is smooth, put dough into piping bag fitted with a rather large round tip. Pipe immediatley into golfball-sized shapes, 2 inches apart onto parchment paper or Silpat lined sheet pans.

Cook for 10 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees F and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Once they are removed from the oven pierce the bottoms with a paring knife immediately to release steam. Let cool completely before filling.

Pastry Cream Filling
batch size - 10 ounces

3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine milk with approximately half the sugar. Heat, stirring frequently until boiling.

Blend together the remaining sugar and constarch before adding the egg. Use a wire whip to beat smooth.

While stirring the egg and starch mixture, slowly add about 1/4 of the hot milk mixture. Return the warmed egg and starch mixture back into the boiling milk. Stir constantly until it thickens.

Place in a suitable container and cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap. Press the plastic wrap tightly onto the surface of the cooked pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming.

When cold, remove wrap, add vanilla, and beat until very smooth and creamy. Fill a piping bag fitted with a smallish round tip, and poke the tip into the bottom of the cooled cream puffs. Fill until the puff feels heavy. You can also use a ziptop bag fitted with a tip instead of a piping bag.

Pudding Cake Redux

I tried the Orange Pudding Cake recipe again - mainly because I didn't like the way they turned out. Ok, I didn't like the way *I* turned them out.

I'm happy to report that this time, on the right oven setting, they puffed up brilliantly and were beautiful AND tasty. I still took them out before the recipe recommended, so I wonder if my oven is running hot. Behold them in all their puffy glory!



I can safely and definitely recommend this recipe now. Sigh...that's a definite load off my culinary conscience.

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.

Snap and Crackle

Mmmmm, Rice Krispie Treats. Simple...wholesome (there's grain in there)...reminds you of your childhood. My mom used to make them at least once a month it seems.

One of my coworkers got jealous that my cubemate got to request baked goodies twice in one week, so he wanted something for himself. I told him I didn't have time til the end of this week, but that I'd be at the grocery taking a cooking class, so I'd pick up the ingredients for Krispie Treats. He wanted to pay me! I told him my husband wouldn't take that too kindly!

They are so simple and yet so good. As soon as I bit into one last night still barely warm a flood of memories came back to me. My secret was handed down to me from my mom - add peanut butter in the melted marshmallow mix for that extra tasty quotient. At only 2 tablespoons of butter to the whole 9x13 pan, they are even a low-cal treat.

Rice Krispie Treats

2 tablespoons butter
1 10-ounce bag of large marshmallows
6 cups crisped rice cereal
1/4 cup peanut butter - crunchy or smooth

Melt butter in a nonstick saucepan over medium-high heat. You want this to be a pretty large pan to hold all that cereal.

Add marshmallows and when almost melted completely, add peanut butter. Stir until combined and marshmallows are completely melted. Reduce heat to very low or take off heat completely (depending on how fast you can add your cereal). Sometimes I am slow to get all that cereal in and combined so I leave it on low heat to keep it soft.

Butter or spray a 9" x 13" pan with cooking spray and gently press the mixture into the pan. Do it pretty fast before it hardens up too much. Using a silicone spatula or a spatula sprayed with cooking spray really keeps it from sticking.

Let cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!

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!

Pudding Cake

I made pudding cake last night, as the light ending to our typical mid-week dinner. By Wednesday or Thursday my imagination has been exhausted, we're strapped for time, and no sign of weekend leftovers. I usually turn to one of our favorite low-fat turkey or chicken sausages that we get in mega-packs from Costco. So last night was no different, with sausage, salad, and roasted brussel sprouts. What WAS odd was that my cat decided he suddenly LOVED brussel sprouts, and perched himself next to me on the couch and stole one from my plate, fast as lightning. Didn't want any of my sausage but gimme that brussel sprout!

So anyway, I found a recipe for these orange pudding cakes, and they take so little effort and the only fat in them is from the one egg per two servings. They were alright - I'm pretty sure I had the oven up too high as I didn't let it rest from the roasted sprouts and so they came out overcooked on top. A lower heat would have allowed them to cook slower and the middle be more pudding-y. Regardless, they were unbelievably easy and fast to whip-up while the rest of dinner was cooking. And I had a bunch of clementines I'm still working through, so they provided the zest and fresh juice.

I stole the recipe from here, but I'll reproduce it as well. This cake, being fruit-based, is more fragile and like a souffle than the typical chocolate pudding cakes. The sorry bit of whipped cream I stuck on top wasn't enough - next time might call for a creme anglaise!

I halved it for the 2 of us. I cooked it in 2 souffle cups, but you could do it in a pan like the recipe says as well. I stuck a pan of water in there with the cups to keep it moist.

Orange Pudding Cake
(adapted from All American Desserts)

2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tsp orange zest
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place a 9-inch cake pan, filled with about 3/4 inch of water, into the oven. Grease a 1 quart (4 cup) souffle dish and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour and salt. Add in egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest, milk and vanilla, and whisk thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Stir or fold egg whites gently into orange mixture, until well combined. Pour mixture into prepared souffle dish and gently place in water bath.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the cake has risen and begun to pull away from the sides of the dish. Serve warm. Serves 4.

Cold Weather Goodies

Today suddenly turned very cold. Very strange considering that in the last month we've had several days of above 80-degree temperatures. But not today - today, the first full day of spring, it turned cold and blustery. It very much reminds me of Paris when we were there 2 weeks ago. Well, except for the fact that the sun is shining, which is not like Paris was at all.

One of the things that I love to do when the weather is cold is fix myself a cup of tea or coffee and have a biscotti or two. I've been doing that lately, both in the morning, and as my dessert at night. I brought some really strong English tea back from Paris with me that I just love. A biscotti dunked in that after dinner - nothing better. What I don't like is paying a bunch of money for my biscotti, so every time I shelled it out at Starbucks or Central Market I thought about whether I could make my own.

I decided to try the recipe from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook that I got for Christmas from the in-laws after I saw her make the recipe on tv. Her recipe calls for dried cranberries and pistachios - the combination with the light color of the biscotti is supposed to remind you of the Italian flag. Popular Christmas cookie... Anyway, the first time I made them I went all over creation trying to find roasted, unsalted, unshelled pistachios. I think I finally got them in the bulk aisle at Central Market. I made them I think twice with the pistachios but because I always have an abundance of pecans in the house I've switched and probably won't go back unless it's a Christmas gift cookie this year. Each time I've made them I've played with the width and height of the cookie, to see if I like a short fat or long skinny biscotti better. I think I'm going to stick with the one that equals less calories per cookie ;)

Here's the recipe, adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook:

Cranberry Pecan Biscotti
Yields 4 dozen
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs and 1 egg, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup pecans, chopped coarsely

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
Place cranberries in a small bowl; add boiling water. Let stand until plump, about 15 minutes.
Drain, and set aside. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar
on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add 3 eggs, one at a time, beating to
incorporate after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla.
Add flour mixture, and mix on low speed until combined. Mix in cranberries and pecans.
Don't mix too much as you'll break the pecans into smaller pieces.

3. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Shape each piece into a
log and transfer to prepared baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. With the palm
of your hand, flatten logs slightly. Brush beaten egg over surface of the dough logs, and
sprinkle generously with sugar. If you flatten more, you'll get a longer, thinner biscotti, with more crunchy surface area. Keep it domed and you'll get a thicker biscotti, with perhaps a little softer center. Give yourself plenty of sugar on top, for that nice cruncy exterior.

4. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until logs are slightly firm to touch, about 25
minutes. Transfer logs on parchment paper to a wire rack to cool slightly, about 20 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 300°. At this point, you could forego the second baking and they would be "unscotti" - "once baked" - they are tasty as well, just different, and not as fit for dunking.

5. Place logs on a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut logs crosswise on the diagonal
into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place a wire rack on a large rimmed baking sheet. Arrange slices,
cut sides down, on rack. Bake until firm to touch, about 30 minutes, turning once in the baking if you like, to give both sides an even crunch.. Remove pan from oven; let biscotti cool completely on rack. Biscotti can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Personally, I would keep them much longer - what are they gonna do, get more crunchy? Heaven forbid!

I am the captain of my suburban food domain.