Cake or Death?

I've Moved! Come Visit SugarHero.com

2011-11-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hello old friends! It's been mighty quiet around here lately--that's because the party has moved! Please come visit my brand spankin' new dessert blog: SugarHero.com!

I'm so excited to get back to blogging about desserts, and I do hope you'll join me. If you currently subscribe to this blog via RSS, you can get the new SugarHero RSS feed here.

Thank you miss you love you kisses!
Liz

TWD: When Is A Scone Not A Scone?

2011-07-14T21:07:00.000-07:00

Joining "Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?" in the annals of head-scratching riddles, I present you with this week's installment:

"When Is A Scone Not A Scone?"

How about...when you give the scone some friends? Like whipped cream, and macerated berries, and, yes, let's throw in some pretty flowered plates. Because a good scone can never have too many friends.

If you split your scones in half, and serve them with the aforementioned whipped cream and berries, well, your scone is now officially a shortcake. Ta-daaaa!

My biggest "mistake" in the scone-to-shortcake transformation was cutting the scones too large--I knew I wanted big shortcakes, but once they were baked, they were close to 5" round, which I think we can all admit is pretty hefty. But other than that, these cream scones worked out perfectly as whipped cream and berry delivery devices.

Since I've solved the scone riddle, I'll leave it to the rest of you to figure out the raven-writing desk one. G'luck!

Last-Minute Berry Trifle

2011-07-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Fourth of July! I went for a run this morning in the mountains near my house and spent the time thinking about how blessed I feel to live in such a beautiful land. Even when the trail is full of annoying mountain bikers. Even when I kept slipping off the rocks and getting soaked in creek crossings. Even though it was 90 degrees at 8am. Even still...what a place.

We're getting together with friends tonight and doing the fireworks thing--I hope you are too! I'm not doing dessert today, but yesterday I did whip up a quick Fourth-themed dessert. We were spontaneously invited to a friend's house for dinner, and when I asked what I could bring, they requested something sweet. Um...I have no problem with that. I had about an hour and a half to make it before we had to be over there for dinner, and in that time I made and baked the cake, cooled it, and assembled the trifle. If you use a cake mix the process will be even faster, but if you have the time (just 90 minutes!) the white chocolate-buttermilk cake recipe I used is ever so much better than a mix.

(No glamour shots of this one--this was snapped as we ran out the door!)

Trifles are one of my favorite desserts, because I LOVE moist cake. Love it. So having a dessert that basically involves soaking cake in whipped cream or curd or pastry cream or juicy berries is my idea of heaven. Plus they're infinitely customizable, and pretty low-maintenance to make. If you can throw things in a bowl, you can make trifle.

This is probably too late for anyone to make this for the Fourth of July, but summer's just beginning, and berry trifles are the perfect vehicle to show off all that amazing summer produce. So Happy Birthday, America, and happy trifling, everyone else.

Best Berry Trifle

1 recipe white cake, baked in a half-sheet pan (see below for my favorite recipe)
2 cups whipped cream
1/4 cup sugar
vanilla extract or vanilla pods
4 cups mixed berries of your choice
White chocolate bar, to garnish (optional)

To assemble the trifle, make sure the cake is completely cool. Chill a mixing bowl and beaters in the fridge for 15 minutes. While you're waiting for the mixing bowl to chill, chop your berries and toss them with a tablespoon or two of sugar (or more if the berries are very tart.) Let them sit and get juicy.

Whip the cream with 2 tbsp of sugar until it forms medium peaks. As you're whipping it, add vanilla extract or the seeds of a vanilla bean to flavor it. Cut the cake into cubes or strips, and place a layer of cake cubes on the bottom of a clear glass bowl. Top with a third of the whipped cream and half of the berries. Add more cake, top with half of the remaining cream and the second half of the berries. Now add a third layer of cake and cover it with the rest of the whipped cream.

Top your trifle with whole berries arranged in a pattern. If you want to make chocolate curls, take a white chocolate bar and make sure it's slightly soft. Just sitting in a warm room should be enough, or if you need to, microwave it at 50% power in short 5-second bursts just until it softens a bit. Use a vegetable peeler along the sides of the bar to form curls out of the chocolate. Refrigerate the trifle until ready to serve. It can be made up to 24 hours in advance.

White Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake
From Sherry Yard’s Desserts by the Yard

2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon slat
3 ounces white chocolate
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Spray a 12 x 17" half sheet pan with pan spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Spray the parchment.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 50% power for about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. Be careful — white chocolate burns easily. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beaters and beat for 3 minutes more, until the mixture is light and creamy. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the whipped butter into the melted white chocolate until blended. Scrape this mixture back into the butter and beat on low speed until well blended. Add the egg yolks in 2 additions, scraping the bowl and beaters after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

On low speed, alternating wet and dry ingredients, add the buttermilk and flour mixture in 4 additions, beginning with the buttermilk and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl.

In a large, clean bowl, and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites on medium speed until they form soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, continuing to beat at medium speed. Beat until the egg whites form stiff, glossy peaks. Fold half the egg whites into the cake batter, then gently fold in the rest.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pans from front to back half way through, until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

TWD: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies Go Whoopie

2011-06-28T14:41:00.000-07:00

Before we get into any fights and things get awkward around here, let me preface this by saying: there is nothing wrong with a cake cookie per se. Sometimes you might be craving a fluffy, soft dessert, and instead of hassling with cupcake pans and liners, you go with a cakey cookie instead. I get it.

But.

~~Maybe~~ Undoubtedly this is my own issue, but I can't really get excited about a plain, unadorned cake cookie. These sour cream chocolate cookies were good, and moist, and I loved the hint of cinnamon... but they needed something more. They seemed a little naked. (Embarrassing!) So I decided to add some frosting to the mix, and you know what that means...

It's whoopie pie time, y'all! These cookies made the PERFECT layers for whoopie pies. They held their shape but weren't too hard or dry, and they made such lovely rounded tops for the pies.

I made a vanilla bean Italian meringue buttercream, with the seeds from two vanilla pods plus vanilla extract. It was vanilla-riffic. I toyed with the thought of adding mint or cinnamon, but decided to be true to classic Whoopie Pie-dom and keep things simple. Piping the filling with a giant rosette tip gave the sides those lovely swirls and made assembly super fast and tidy.

Did you know whoopie pies are having a moment? It's true, even the New York Times says so (two years ago.) The article may be dated, but I still think they're happenin'--how else to explain the fact that every time I walk into a bakery or grocery store, I just about trip over a whoopie pie display? For awhile I thought they were going to be "the new cupcake," and although the cupcake craze seems to be hanging on like grim death, whoopie pies are still weaseling their way into our hearts and stomachs slowly but surely.

I don't mind, I like 'em--even if they are even more of a pain to package and eat neatly!

With the addition of frosting, I give these cookies two frosting-smeared thumbs up. For the recipe please visit Spike, who had the brilliant idea of sandwiching these with ice cream. Yes please.

TWD: Date Nut Loaf

2011-06-21T23:52:00.000-07:00

Why yes, don't mind if I do.

Dates are one of those foods that I was convinced I hated, probably because of their visual association with prunes--oh, I'm sorry, dried plums. Yeah, good luck with that rebranding, prune industry.

Anyhow, I was certain that they were sticky and gooey and gross and I didn't like them. And when I first had dates, I didn't. They were probably a little past their prime, and they were sort of dry and sickly-sweet without a lot of flavor. Life's too short for bad dates, ifyaknowwhatImean.

But then a marvelous thing happened. I moved to Los Angeles--yep, still hung up on this city--and started shopping at a supermarket with a large Armenian food section. And what that means, in addition to a mind-boggling selection of feta cheese and yogurt, is that I was exposed to first-class dates for the first time. These are soft, juicy, hunka hunka burnin' love dates, bursting with flavor and absolutely delicious.

I finally understood that "nature's candy" wasn't just a lie made up by my mom to get me to stop mainlining sugar. Nature's candy exists, and it goes by the name of dates.

For the most part, I don't do much with my dates. (Sooo many possible ways to go with that sentence. Let's stick to the culinary, shall we?) I tend to eat them plain, as a pre-running snack. If I'm feeling frisky I'll split them and fill them with nut butter for some added flavor and calories. But I haven't baked with them much, until now.

This Date-Nut Loaf was really more like a poundcake than any sort of bread, quick or otherwise. It had a really tight, cakey crumb and a lovely flavor from the vanilla and almond extracts. When they baked, the date pieces almost melted and became little pockets of sweetness scattered throughout the cake, broken up by the crunch of toasted walnuts.

My favorite way to eat this cake was to cut a thick slice and toast it, then spread it with sweet butter. I imagine this would also be amazing with some fresh ricotta on top, or a little bit of creme fraiche and honey. I can also see this making a killer trifle--the texture is just right for layering with whipped cream, mousse or curd. Full recipe plus pics can be found on Mary's blog.

TWD: Chocolate Biscotti

2011-06-13T20:51:00.000-07:00

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and first moved down to southern California to go to college. I was adamant that northern California (or "NorCal," for the obnoxious) was the superior side of the state, and I would never devolve into a southern California beach bum who wore cutoffs everywhere, read Us Weekly like it was Tolstoy and--worst of all--said "the 101" and "the 5" when talking about freeways.

Well, against my best predictions, I've lived in southern California for more than 11 years now, with seven of those years spent in Los Angeles itself. I still miss the Bay Area (and have dreams of living there, as soon as I obtain and then kill off a rich great-uncle so I can afford the real estate) but LA now feels like home as well.

I get annoyed when people make huge LA generalizations, like it's "so superficial" or "nobody in LA is actually from LA." The very fact that I defend it so stridently gives away my deep love for this crazy, complex, maddening, amazing city.

Right about now, you're probably wondering what this has to do with biscotti. Patience, pet.

I had a lot to learn when I first moved to LA, and these are things no movie or 90210 episode will teach you. I learned to always tell distances in minutes, not miles. I learned that no job is worth a soul-crushing commute to the Westside, and that the appropriate attitude during a celebrity sighting is casual disdain. And I learned about LA's seasons.

Oh ho ho, people from other parts of the country will sniff that "LA doesn't even have seasons," but they are absolutely wrong. We have Santa Ana season, the time in September and October where the hot winds blow west and whole mountain ranges combust in flames that last for weeks. We have that one freaky week that always happens in January or February where it's suddenly 90 degrees and folks take to sunbathing on the roofs.

And, best of all, we have May gray and June gloom, two delicious months when the marine layer hangs over the city like a shroud and doesn't burn off until the afternoon. I'm sure it's baffling and disappointing to tourists who come in the summertime expecting blazing sunshine and instead get overcast gray mornings, but I love it. It's the last pocket of civility before it gets blazing hot for four straight months, and I lap it up like a saucer of milk.

We are in the thick of June gloom right now, and every morning when I pad out to our living room and look out the balcony window, I see the San Gabriel mountains obscured by mist and palm trees barely peeking out of the fog. It makes me happy. It makes me want to sit by a fireplace and drink hot chocolate with pillowy whipped cream.

And that is why, in the middle of June, when much of the rest of the country is already sweltering, I, a resident of sunny southern California, enjoyed my chocolate biscotti with a big mug of hot cocoa.

These biscotti were richly chocolatey, with pockets of melted dark chocolate chunks and toasted almonds. They were perfect for dunking in hot chocolate and shoveling from mug to mouth just before they disintegrated from the heat and moisture.

But just as June gloom cannot be avoided, so too it cannot last forever. Soon--hopefully not this week, but quite possibly next--it will be sunny and warm when I first wake up, only to get sunnier and warmer with each passing day. Uch--that thought gives me the willies.

But even though I can't keep the sun away, I can figure out other ways to keep cool.

If hot chocolate's not in the cards, these biscotti are also great crumbled over a bowl of ice cream. You're looking at rich, creamy, calorie-riffic Haagen Daaz caramel ice cream with a little biscotti sidekick. Add some fresh berries, and the heat suddenly seems bearable.

Here's one final thing no one told me about LA: the jacarandas. These stunning trees bloom twice a year and paper our city with a thick layer of purple petals. My street is having a purple party and it makes me happy every time I see it. Oh, Los Angeles.

Jacque has the chocolate biscotti recipe and some great step-by-step directions on her blog. Check it out!

TWD: Caramel Pot de Creme

2011-06-02T21:27:00.000-07:00

TWD stands for Thursdays with Dorie, right?

I have been doing way too much blogging for money and not enough blogging for myself lately, which: a)first world problems, anyone? and b) shut up, me. But it is disappointing and frustrating to have to put my favorite hobby on hold. I can't even remember the last time I baked a recipe I chose myself, just for the pleasure of it. Hopefully that will change soon, but for now, I am shamefully behind in posting things I've made lately.

So without further ado, here are some belated shots of this week's TWD recipe, Caramel Pot de Cremes, presented for your viewing pleasure without all that distracting chit-chat I usually throw in there.

I know I've posted about these sugar corkscrews before, but in case you've missed it and are interested:
Sugar Corkscrews recipe
Sugar Corkscrews photo tutorial
Sugar Corkscrews video tutorial

Really, they're super-simple. I made a half-batch while I waited for the pots de creme to cool enough to shoot. It took 10 minutes and 1/2 cup of sugar, and made me feel all fancy-like. Let me know if you try them!

TWD: Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

2011-05-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to present a very special Poetry Edition of Tuesdays with Dorie.

*polite applause*

There once was a food called a scone
With oatmeal and nutmeg alone
In looks it was simple
Bumps, crags, and a-dimpled
But the taste could make a man moan!

These scones were a treat eaten plain
We enjoyed them again and again
But we liked them the best
When with jam they were dressed
Not to gorge ourselves was a real strain.

So we come to the end of the post
And I truly don't mean to boast
The scones were quite good
For a non-dessert food
Thanks to Patricia, our host!

TWD: Brown Sugar Bundt Cake

2011-05-10T13:11:00.000-07:00

Back in my pre-blogging days, when I was a young idealistic lass, I thought that when I had a food blog, I would bake yummy foods and take pictures of them and write about how yummy they were. My eyes sparkled with naivete and hope.

Ah, foolish youth.

Instead, what I mainly write about is bundt cakes, and my lack of success with unmolding them. Seriously.

For reals.

I'm not kidding.

This happens all the time.

It's kind of a problem.

I got a new bundt pan and the past few attempts have gone swimmingly. I was confident--cocky, even!--that my days of bad bundts were behind me. Smoooooth sailing ahead. You see where this is going?

Weeping. Wailing. Gnashing of teeth.

Honestly, I'm not so young anymore. I don't know that I can take the heartbreak and the emotional rollercoaster of baking bundt cakes. It's exhausting. I'm happy--the batter tastes good! The bundt cake looks beautiful! What could possibly go wrong?! And then--DISASTER. Someone cover this cracked mess with powdered sugar, stat.

I am willing to accept some blame. Maybe the cake was a little underbaked, maybe I should have waited a little longer to unmold it. Perhaps. But maybe it's just a sign from the universe that I should never, no never, no NEVER make bundt cakes again.

Word.

Well, this was a pretty good cake to go out on. I nixed the fruit options and instead used ground pecans in the batter, and added mini chocolate chips and toasted pecan chunks as mix-ins. It was nice and moist, although perhaps I should have kept in some fruit for a bit more texture. But it makes a nice, low-key tea cake, assuming you don't have a conniption fit upon trying to unmold it like I did.

Want to try your luck at bundt roulette and make this cake? Peggy has the recipe and some lovely pictures over at her blog, Pantry Revistited.

TWD: Chocolate-Orange Marbled Loaf Cake

2011-05-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

Ahhh it feels good to be back in the warm embrace of Tuesdays with Dorie. I've taken more than a few weeks off lately, and although it was necessary, it's so nice to be back in a routine, blogging with some of my favorite people!

Fun fact: this week's recipe, a Marbled Loaf Cake, looks an awful lot like my first TWD post ever, for Black & White Banana Loaf! I remember that bread being a-mazing, although I do think the pictures have improved around here since then...

I flavored half of the batter chocolate, and added orange oil and orange zest to the other half, to make a subtly scented orange-chocolate loaf. Haters gonna hate, but I'll always love the orange-chocolate combo.

I had too much batter for my loaf pan, so with the extra I made the sweetest little 3" mini loaf. It was actually better than the full-sized one (didn't get as brown and crusty on top) and I wish I'd baked all mini loaves. The tiny tin is from Sur la Table.

This is a soft, fine-crumbed cake that seems perfect for afternoon tea, or a light dessert with maybe a touch of lightly whipped cream and some berries on top. You can find the recipe at Carol's blog, The Bake More.

Thanks also for the well-wishes about my big race last weekend! It was kind of epic. There were high highs and low lows, but overall it was wonderful and I finished feeling great, even though I couldn't stomach all of the chia I'd packed. By the end, I just wanted brownies and Coke. (Which, PS, is a very bad combination. Learn from my mistakes.)

Double Coconut Macaroons and Chia Gel

2011-04-29T16:42:00.001-07:00

If I were to ask you what coconut macaroons and chia gel had in common, you might think it was a trick question. (You might actually think I was making up the concept of "chia gel" entirely, but I assure you--it's a thing. And only tangentially related to the chia pet.)

Yes, they're both two-word phrases, and yes, they both contain vowels. But beyond that, they're both goodies that I made yesterday to carry me through my first 50-mile run of the season, happening bright and early tomorrow morning. (!!!)

I'll ease you in gently with the macaroons.

I'm definitely a solid food girl when it comes to long-distance running. My stomach can't really handle energy drinks or gels in large quantities, but I can usually eat food without a problem. I enjoy my fair share of gummy bears and peanut M&Ms, but I try to stick to reasonably healthy foods for the most part--PB&Js, potatoes, bananas, etc. I prefer to make my own sweet treats as opposed to eating the ready-made stuff, because I know exactly what goes in them and I can try to make them healthy-ish (while making sure they still contain plenty of chocolate!)

I made a batch of mini Double Coconut Macaroons for my race. Instead of the usual sugar + butter + egg whites holding the coconut together, they get their goo factor from homemade coconut butter (basically just ground coconut) and maple syrup. They have the crisp outer shell and moist interior of the best sorts of macaroons, but with some healthier ingredients. I also added vanilla extract, almond extract, cinnamon, and of course, mini dark chocolate chunks. Put these puppies in a little baggie, and I'm ready to rock the trails!

Now let's talk ch-ch-ch-chia.

Chia seeds are native to Mexico and Central America and have been eaten as part of the native diets there for centuries, but it's only in the last few years that they've become the newest trendy "superfood." You can read more about their health benefits from this CNN article, but the short story is that they have lots of fiber, antioxidants, protein, and good fats. I first tried them a few years ago, but at the time I tried adding them to oatmeal and yogurt and wasn't very impressed. It's only in the last year that I've started making a chia gel to eat on my runs, and I've really grown to love it.

But I'm not going to lie, chia gel is weird. It starts out like this: a bowl of water, some supplements and flavoring, and the dry seeds.

Give it a little whisky-whisk, let it sit out for a few minutes, and you end up with this:

The soluble fiber in the seeds causes them to absorb the liquid and soften, and instead of crunchy little seeds you end up with something more gelatinous. I don't even know how to describe it, but they each have sort of a liquid force-field (gummy sack? goopy pouch?) around them:

I portion my gel out into little baggies, and suck one down about once an hour or so. Because it contains so much water it helps with nutrition and hydration, and provides lots of energy that seems to release over time, as opposed to the spike and crash of traditional energy gels and drinks.

Food is made, gear is packed, pre-race carbo loading is in full effect...I think I'm ready! Hope you all have fabulous weekends, and if you get a hankerin' for macaroons or chia gel, recipes are below.

Double Coconut Macaroons
Adapted from Oh She Glows

2 2/3 cups shredded unsweetened coconut (to make coconut butter)
2 (additional) cups shredded unsweetened coconut
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 vanilla bean
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chunks or chips (I like the Whole Foods store brand--very dark and flavorful!)

1. Preheat the oven to 300F and line a baking sheet with a non-stick mat or parchment. In a food processor, process 2 and 2/3 cups of shredded coconut for about 5-8 minutes until coconut butter forms. You will have to keep scraping down the sides of the bowl. For a coconut butter how-to, see this post. Alternatively, you can use 1 cup of store bought coconut butter.

2. Once you have made the coconut butter, mix all ingredients together in a bowl.

3. Scoop about 1-2 tbsp of dough onto a baking sheet. You don’t have to leave much room in between as they do not spread out. Bake for 20-28 minutes at 300F. I made minis so mine were done closer to 20 minutes, if you make standard-sized cookies they might take longer. Watch them closely after 22-23 minutes. They're done when they're golden around the edges.

4. Allow the macaroons to sit for 25 minutes so they can firm up. If you do not do this, the macaroons will crumble, so this step is crucial! Store in the fridge for up to 5 days in a sealed container. Makes about 22 large or 40-50 small macaroons.

Chia Gel
yield: 2 cups

Note: Chia seeds can be easily ordered online from many different websites. Amazon carries them, and I've gotten them for cheap on ebay before. They're also in many health food stores and my local Whole Foods has them in the bulk bin section.

2 cups water
2 tbsp powdered maca (optional, this is another "superfood" made from a root native to the Andes)
Electrolytes (optional, I use Nuun tablets or you could just add your favorite sports drink powder to the water)
Any other flavorings (sometimes I add lemon/lime zest, or even Crystal Light)
1/3 cup chia seeds

Whisk all ingredients together, and let them sit at room temperature until the chia seeds absorb some water and you have a gel. You can add up to 1/2 cup of seeds if you prefer a stiffer gel--mine is slurpable consistency. Portion it out into bags, or gel flasks, or whatever is easiest for you to carry around. I've had it last at least a week, but I can't say with any authority how long it's meant to last. Enjoy!

Easter Parade: Easter Egg Candies & More

2011-04-19T16:15:00.000-07:00

Stick a fork in me, I am done.

Or, for a more Easter-appropriate figure of speech, hard-boil me and dye me. Okay, that one is weird.

Belabored metaphors aside, it's been a long couple of ~~weeks~~ months in the kitchen. I do love the holidays but I am so excited for a break from intensive candy-making/recipe development. Never have I been so glad there is no such thing as "Mother's Day candy recipes." With the end of the big candy holidays I am looking forward to a little more free time to cook for myself, get this blog up and running again, and--best of all!--launch a huge blog redesign. And not a second too soon. This place is a little dusty.

So dusty, in fact, I have a bunch of old photos that never made it into blog posts. These were last week's absolutely delicious strawberry-rhubarb double crisps. Sweet, tangy, with a brown sugar crumble studded with candied ginger, they were seriously good. Too bad they're old news!

You know what's not old news? Passover and Easter goodies! Here are a few things I've made lately that are floating around the internet. Maybe you'll find something to enjoy for your April holiday of choice!

Matzo Toffee for Passover: Photo Recipe

Coconut-Almond Macaroons for Passover: Photo Recipe

Easter Basket Cookies: Photo Recipe

Easter Egg Cake Pops: Recipe, Photo Tutorial

Marshmallow Chicks: Recipe, Photo Tutorial

Easter Bunny Truffles: Recipe, Photo Tutorial

Easter Basket Candies: Recipe, Photo Tutorial

Panoramic Sugar Easter Egg: Recipe, Photo Tutorial

List of a dozen Easter egg candy recipes.

Happy Passover! Happy Easter! Happy Eight-Hours-Of-Sleep-A-Night!

TWD: Cinnamon Ice Cream Tart

2011-04-05T20:21:00.000-07:00

This week's TWD recipe, for a Coffee Ice Cream Tart, can be divided into two categories: things I did differently, and things I wish I'd done differently.

In the "Things I Did Differently" camp, we have the ice cream itself. Instead of doctoring up store-bought coffee ice cream with ground almonds (??) I made my very favorite recipe for cinnamon ice cream (found below). The ice cream is delicious. I have no regrets. You can keep your ground almonds!

In the "Things I Wish I'd Done Differently" category, we have...the rest of the tart. Sorry to say, the ice cream was totally the best part of this for me. The crust was way too hard, the almond flavor was too strong, and the layer of melted chocolate between the crust and the ice cream nearly shattered a molar. I was left gnawing on my crust like a crazed rodent. Not a good look.

On the bright side, I got to play around with piping some ganache on top, and I also had some candied flowers lying around (yes, I know my life is ridiculous) so I primped the tart for a little photo shoot. "You look maaaahvelous, dahling!" (Candied Flowers photo tutorial here.)

So, I'm not in love, but I can't be mad because any recipe that gives me an excuse to make cinnamon ice cream--and then lick said ice cream from inedible tart crust--is okay in my book.

For the original recipe, visit Jessica's blog, Domestic Deep Thoughts. If I were to make this again, I'd take a cue from Katrina of Baking and Boys! and make a chocolate cookie crust instead. She's a genius, that one.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups half-and-half
1 vanilla bean pod, split in two
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Place the half-and-half, vanilla bean pod, and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Once the half-and-half comes to a simmer, take the pan off the heat, cover it with a lid, and let it infuse for at least 30 minutes and up to two hours.

When you're ready to proceed, return the pan to medium heat, remove the lid, and whisk in the sugar. When the mixture begins to simmer, remove from heat, and whisk half of the mixture into the eggs. Whisk quickly so that the eggs do not scramble.

Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan, and cook until it reaches 175 degrees F on a candy thermometer, or until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon.

Remove from the heat and pour it through a strainer into a large bowl. This will strain out the vanilla pod, cinnamon stick, and any bits of egg that might have cooked. Whisk in the heavy cream, then add the vanilla extract and cinnamon. Press a layer of cling wrap directly on top and cool in the refrigerator until completely cold.

Pour cooled mixture into an ice cream maker, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Want to make chocolate bowls like in the photo? Chocolate bowls photo tutorial here.

Oh Yes I Did: Cinnamon Roll Sugar Cookies

2011-03-29T20:11:00.000-07:00

Two words: sugar cookies.

Two more words: cinnamon rolls.

One question: can they be combined?

Oh, yeahhhhh.

This recipe-slash-BEST-IDEA-EVER comes courtesy of Jenny at Picky Palate. The second I saw it I bookmarked the page and returned regularly to drool, plan, and plot my way into making these cookies.

The idea couldn't be simpler. Take some sugar cookie dough and roll it out into a thin-ish sheet. (Mine worked best when it was about 1/4-inch thick.) Spread on some softened butter--I'm sorry, but it must be done--and then sprinkle liberally with brown sugar and cinnamon. Treat these babies like the cinnamon rolls they aspire to be!

Roll the dough, slice it into thick rounds, then bake it up. The cookies blossom into soft, sweet rounds with crisp edges and moist middles, with a buttery cinnamon swirl threaded throughout.

And did I mention the finishing touch? A drizzle of cream cheese icing, with a touch of vanilla or lemon, to complete the resemblance to cinnamon rolls, no yeast dough required.

I made these with leftover sugar cookie dough, and it's just about the best use for leftover dough I can imagine. The dough was fairly stiff and meant to be used to make precise cutout cookies. I suspect a soft dough that makes those pillowy round sugar cookies would work even better. If you'd like a recipe for the sugar cookies themselves, I'll refer you to the source at Picky Palate for further enlightenment.

TWD: Honey-Nut Brownies

2011-03-21T22:33:00.000-07:00

Things You Should Know About Honey-Nut Brownies

1. They sound like a delicious breakfast cereal
2. They look and taste more like a honey cake than a chocolate brownie
3. They are much improved by a thick layer of fudgy chocolate-sour cream frosting
4. There is nothing in the world that is not much improved by a thick layer of fudgy chocolate-sour cream frosting

I think the big problem with these "brownies" was a branding issue. Calling something brownies leads to the expectation of chocolatey delight, whereas these were more of a honey explosion with faint chocolate undertones. Which is not bad, if you enjoy honey cake. Which I...sort of do.

In an effort to boost the chocolate flavor, I used only unsweetened chocolate and increased it by 2 oz (50%!). It was only semi-successful, though, and the cake still had a very strong honey flavor. So I brought out the big guns: a thick, fudgy chocolate sour cream frosting, which helped increase the chocolate taste and counteract the overwhelming sweetness. Top it with a pinch of flaky sea salt, and you have a lovely, complex cake that's none too sweet and perfectly moist and rich!

In the end I'd say it was a fairly successful chocolateish cake, but probably not one I'd repeat on a regular basis, unless it was for a honey lover of the exceptional variety. If you are such a person, the original recipe can be found on the Suzy Homemaker blog.

If you are only here for the chocolate sour cream frosting (and who could blame you?) here goes:

10 oz semi- or bitter-sweet chocolate (chocolate chips will do in a pinch, use better chocolate if you have it)
1 cup full-fat sour cream, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in the microwave or over a double boiler, and stir until smooth.

Whisk in the sour cream and the vanilla until you have a thick frosting.

Pour immediately over cake in pan and smooth into an even layer. Let set at room temperature or refrigerate to speed up the process-frosting gets very thick in the refrigerator.

Makes enough to frost the top of a 9x13 sheet cake.

Marzipan Brownie Tart

2011-03-17T11:18:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate, we had this festive dessert:

Okay, so it doesn't look very festive from the outside. Actually, it looks downright plain. Homely. FRUMPY. There, I said it. But it has a surprise inside...

A bright green layer of homemade pistachio marzipan!

...Wait, come back.

What scared you? Was it the green color, or the word "marzipan"? Because I promise, this has no relation to the poisonously powerful almond flavor and uber-sweetness of some aggressive marzipans. No, this is just a simple nut paste made from ground pistachios, powdered sugar, and a little egg. Really. It's amazingly tasty, like eating fresh pistachios with a spoon. Deep breaths. Okay.

So paired with this ~~marzi~~ pistachio stuff is a chocolate dough that's half brownie, half chocolate tart dough. It's weird, and I was sure I was doing it wrong the whole time I was making it. But it turned out to be perfect--soft enough to meld with the pistachio stuff, but firm enough to hold its shape when removed from the tart pan.

To finish off our green treat, I made my favorite pistachio ice cream and a simple chocolate sauce. Although the tart is moist, it needs something--ice cream, or whipped cream, or maybe creme anglaise--to perk it up. Many, many thanks to Mary Mary Culinary for the tart recipe & inspiration! Find the recipe for the tart, the "pistachio stuff," and the ice cream after the jump.

Marzipan Brownie Tart
Adapted from Mary Mary Culinary

9 oz/1⅓ cups all-purpose flour*
⅓ cup Dutch-process cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
7 oz/1 cup brown sugar
6 oz/¾ cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 egg, well beaten

Filling
10½ oz pistachio marzipan (see below)
about ½-¾ of a beaten egg (reserve the rest for glazing)

1. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the beaten egg and run the food processor until the dough comes together. Try not to eat all the dough. Divide the dough into ⅓ and ⅔ portions, shape in discs, wrap separately in plastic and refrigerate. Chill for one hour. It can be made the day before, but will need to warm up before rolling to prevent it from breaking up.
2. Preheat oven to 340℉/170℃ and grease a 9" cake pan, or a 13"x4" tart pan.
3. Mix the pistachio paste with enough beaten egg to make a fairly soft, spreadable filling. Set aside. Roll out the larger portion of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap until it is about 1" larger than your pan on all sides. Make sure there are no creases in the plastic wrap. Use this piece of dough to line the pan, pressing it to the sides of the pan so it doesn't fall inward. Spread the pistachio paste evenly over the dough and fold in the dough edges so they rest on it. Reuse the plastic wrap to roll the smaller piece of dough into an 8½" circle. It should be slightly smaller than the cake pan. Trim it so the edges are neat. Moisten the edges of the dough in the pan and lay the smaller circle on top. Press the edges gently together to seal. Brush with the leftover beaten egg and prick with a fork in several places.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan, then transfer carefully to a serving plate. If you can stand it, wrap this and let it sit for a day or two before serving for best flavor.

*a note about the flour: something is off in these measurements. It calls for 1-1/3 cup/ 9 oz, but 9 oz is much closer to 2 cups. I went with the volume measurement and had a dough that was pretty stick and a bit of a beast to roll out. It worked out fine in the end, and tasted great, but I might add more flour next time to make it easier to work with. If you have a scale, I'd just use 9 oz, and if you don't, I'd try 1-3/4 cup flour instead.

Pistachio marzipan
10 ounces/283 grams shelled pistachios
7 ounces/200 grams granulated sugar
2 egg whites

1. If you want naturally bright green marzipan, first blanch the pistachios: bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pistachios and blanch for 30 seconds to one minute. Test one by running it under cold water and seeing if the reddish skin comes off easily. If so, drain and rinse with cold water. Now, one by one, squeeze the pistachios to remove the skin. This is what keeps the marzipan bright green. Once they are all skinned, place on a towel-lined baking tray and allow to dry for at least 3 hours. Do not dry in the oven, as the color may fade.
2. Combine pistachios and sugar in a food processor and grind as finely as desired.
3. Add egg whites and process until well blended. If you didn't blanch the pistachios and the marzipan is a little brown, you can add a drop or two of green food coloring. Scrape into a container and refrigerate or freeze. This keeps well, and is best made in advance.

Pistachio Ice Cream
yield: About 3 cups

1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups milk (do not use low-fat or nonfat)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
4 large egg yolks
1 cup whipping cream
3/4 cup unsalted shelled pistachios, toasted, coarsely chopped

Finely grind 1 cup pistachios and 1/4 cup sugar in processor. Bring milk and ground pistachio mixture to boil in heavy large saucepan. Remove from heat. Mix in almond extract.
Whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in hot milk mixture. Return custard to saucepan. Cook over low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes (do not boil). Strain into large bowl. Chill until cold, about 2 hours.
Stir 1 cup whipping cream and chopped pistachios into custard. Process mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.

TWD: Citrus Cranberry Sunshine Muffins

2011-03-14T23:23:00.000-07:00

Citrus sunshine muffins, you say? I've got your sunshine right here:

Well, okay, that's not so impressive. But you have to believe me that it's been very sunny and downright hot here the past few days! The perfect weather to pair with these bright and cheery muffins:

I am permanently done with currants since my stint living in England, land o' the currants and custard, so I substituted cranberries in their stead. I used the zest of two oranges and a lemon and although I thought for sure it would result in overwhelming zestiness and general awesomeness, the citrus flavor was still not bold enough for me! Next time I'm chucking in a whole grapefruit and that'll be the end of it.

I also thought these muffins could use some sexy accessorizing--maybe a little drizzle here, or a streusel topping there? Nothing crazy, but a little something to perk them up. As they were, their flat top and coarse crumb will never get them asked to the homecoming dance. But add a little lippy, lose the glasses, and bam--I've just improved these muffins and told you the plot to She's All That in one short paragraph.

One last thing--I just have to point out that cute bowl holding the muffins. You can't see it very well in most of the pics, but it's actually a bunny bowl! They were a graduation gift from my aunt, and I think they're just the cutest thing since post-makeover Rachel Leigh Cook in She's All That. Unfortunately they fall into the category of "so lovely I'm afraid to use them every day so I'll put them somewhere safe" so they don't get used as much as I'd like. Until now. Ta-daaa.

Want the recipe? Head over to Lauryn's blog, Bella Baker, to get it--she also has a $40 CSN giveaway going on right now, if free stuff is your thing. No word on whether CSN stocks bunny bowls.

Pink Grapefruit Cake

2011-03-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

Hey, remember that time I had all those oranges and grapefruits, and begged for citrus recipes? You guys had some awesome ideas, and I dutifully bookmarked them and printed them and planned on a whopper of a Citrus Month...and then ate almost all of the fruit raw. Grapefruit for breakfast, sometimes two or three oranges per lunch--they were just that good. So unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) very few of the citrus fruits actually made it into baked goods.

But! I was able to save a few from my ravenous lunch-belly and make a few goodies, like this Pink Grapefruit Cake. I've actually been intending to bake this for over a year now, ever since I first saw it on Two Peas and Their Pod. I'm no stranger to baking with oranges or lemons, but pink grapefruit...now that sounded intriguing!

This cake recipe uses grapefruit zest in the batter, and grapefruit juice in a soaking syrup and glaze, so it's full of tart citrus flavor. It also has plenty of greek yogurt to keep it moist and add a little extra tang.

It turned out to be a quiet, sweet little thing--not a showy birthday cake, but perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up next to a glass of tea. And, if you happen to nibble on it for breakfast one morning, you won't even feel too guilty--it's just that light and tart and refreshing.

Pink Grapefruit Yogurt Cake
from Two Peas and Their Pod

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1 1/2 pink grapefruits
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup canola oil

Grapefruit Syrup [I doubled this amount]
1/4 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
2 T granulated sugar

Grapefruit Glaze [doubled this and I added about 1/2 tsp of citric acid to make it more tart]
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2-3 T freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a 9-inch round cake pan with cooking spray. Dust lightly with flour too. Set pan aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl, add the grapefruit zest to the sugar. Rub together with your fingers until fragrant. In a large bowl, mix together the yogurt, sugar, and zest with large spoon or spatula. Whisk in the eggs-you can do all three at once. Mix until smooth and then add in the vanilla and stir again.

Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. Mix just until flour is incorporated.

Add the oil and mix well. It might take a minute to get the oil mixed in, but it will.

Pour the batter into your prepared cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until your cake tester comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly touched in the center.

Cool on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes and then remove from the pan. While the cake is cooling make the syrup and glaze.

For the syrup, in a small sauce pan add the grapefruit juice and sugar. Whisk over medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

For the glaze, in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar and grapefruit juice. If it is too thick, add more juice, if it is too runny, add more sugar.

Poke little holes into the cake with a toothpick. Spoon the grapefruit syrup over the cake and let it soak in. Let the cake cool to room temperature and then add the glaze. Drizzle over the top of the cake.

TWD: Corniest Corn Muffins

2011-03-07T22:52:00.000-08:00

It's a rare day when I post a savory recipe on this here blog. I think this is literally only the 3rd or 4th non-dessert to be posted since this blog started lo these many years ago. And one of the previous times was another TWD cornbread recipe!
The truth is, I don't have a clearly defined reason for focusing just on desserts. I like cooking all kinds of things. I like eating all kinds of things. I certainly like having a balanced diet where sweets do not comprise 99% of my intake, all blog appearances to the contrary. But for some reason, I most enjoy photographing and writing about desserts, and since I already struggle to carve out time for my personal blog, it always seems to make the most sense to do what's most fun.

With all of that being said, these "Corniest Corn Muffins" we made this week were sort of like a sweet in disguise. The original recipe called for 6 tbsp of sugar for 12 muffins (I only got 10 out of the batch) and I reduced that by half so they wouldn't be too jarringly sweet. I also added chopped thyme and rosemary and used fire-roasted corn from TJ's to make them a little more savory.

Served with black bean chili, these corn muffins were amazing! Moist inside, with that crispity crackly crust that's so good for dipping in soups. I loved the addition of the fresh herbs, and think next time I might add some grated pepper jack as well.

The recipe can be found on Jill's blog, My Next Life. And with that, I leave you with the greatest cinematic mention of cornbread, ever.

P.S. I got a few questions last week on the Pot de Creme post about where I got those cute little white cups. They're darling, right? Unfortunately I got them at a thrift store a few months ago, so I'm not much use in helping other people find them. I've actually had great luck finding beautiful glassware at various thrift stores for really cheap--each of those white cups was 39 cents each! If anyone is ever in Pasadena, Acts Thrift Store on Hill & Locust has the absolute best selection of kitchen stuff in the area!

Mini Chocolate Doughnuts

2011-03-03T22:48:00.000-08:00

I hope this doesn't make you uncomfortable, but I have to share. In January, we went to New York City, and I had a spiritual experience.

I went here, and my life was changed forever:

Prior to my trip to the Doughnut Plant, I was lukewarm on the question of doughnuts. Sure, I'd been known to eat them, but usually under conditions of extreme hunger or boredom or to win a bet.*

*That never actually happened. But how great would it be to win money for eating doughnuts?

Point being, I'd had a lot of mediocre doughnuts, and didn't think, in general, assembly-line fried dough was anything special. But then.

These doughnuts, at the Doughnut Plant? They are something special.

We actually made two trips to the shop, because the first time we went it looked like this:

MAYDAY MAYDAY. Doughnut Plant is closed on Mondays. Save yourself the heartbreak we experienced and check the days/hours before you go!

So after making two trips to the Lower East Side to try these doughnuts, we decided to go big and get a half-dozen flavors. Among those, we tried...

The distinctive square PB&J, filled with fresh raspberry jam and glazed with a chunky peanut butter glaze, which made Jason moan like this:

The Valhrona chocolate doughnut, full of chocolate pastry cream, which made me grin like this:

The carrot cake doughnut, packed with carrots, walnuts, raisins, and actual cream cheese frosting in the middle of the doughnut,

and the signature creme brulee doughnut, with a crackly, caramelized sugar top and a filling of vanilla pastry cream.

The Doughnut Plant's gotten a lot of buzz and I'm sure there's going to be a huge backlash soon (Magnolia Bakery anyone?) but for what it's worth, all of our doughnuts were excellent and we seriously considered making the hike across town the next day to pig out on more doughnuts.

So after my transformative doughnut experience, I was much more open to doughnuts in my life. And when I was at Sur La Table and saw this adorable mini doughnut pan, well...it had to be mine.

To be sure, the doughnuts you make with this pan aren't "real" doughnuts. They're cake-style, not yeast, and they're baked instead of fried. In taste and texture, they're really more like a doughnut-shaped chocolate cupcake. But what a cute doughnut shape they have!

These mini doughnuts have an intense chocolate taste that's enhanced by the chocolate ganache glaze on top. They're good for two (or possibly three, if you're dainty) bites, and we can say from firsthand experience that they're the perfect sweets for munching on during game or movie nights.

Okay, so they're not Doughnut Plant doughnuts. But they're still tasty, and they bake in five minutes, and they're a good excuse to go crazy with my sprinkle collection. And isn't that enough?

Chocolate Doughnuts
yields: about 4 dozen mini doughnuts

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup buttermilk
1.5 tablespoons butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a mini doughnut pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and melted butter.

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry. Use a pastry bag fitted with a round 1/2" tip to pipe the batter into a thin layer in each doughnut mold. (It will rise a great deal, don't add too much or your doughnuts will puff out of the mold.)

Bake for 4-6 minutes, until they spring back when lightly pressed. Allow to cool in the mold for 5 minutes, then gently remove and cool completely.

Ganache glaze
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chopped chocolate

Heat cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour hot cream over the chopped chocolate, and gently whisk to combine. Let ganache cool slightly so that it gets a bit thicker, then dip the tops of the doughnuts in the glaze. If it's getting too cool and thick, you can microwave it briefly to thin it out again. Sprinkle the tops of the doughnuts with sprinkles while the ganache is still wet.
1 In a bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, buttermilk, and melted butter to blend. Stir into dry ingredients until well blended. Chill until cold, at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours.

Chocolate Pot de Cremes, A Cure For the Common Plague

2011-02-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

I am back from the brink. Hallelujah and high-fives all around!

For the past two weeks I've been suffering from something I not-at-all melodramatically termed "the plague," which also not-at-all resembles the actual plague, either in symptoms or severity.

Nevertheless.

It was gnarly.

My body is recovering, my drugs are doing their job, my husband is no longer forced to listen to me complain for hours at a time and then go to work and read emails with more complaining, and--most importantly--I am feeling like myself again!

Today really felt momentous. I had a full day of kitchen work planned, and instead of dragging my feet and moping around and taking breaks to photograph the progression of the plague for posterity, I was happy to be back at work. Singing to my ipod, dancing in my apron and kitchen clogs, doing endless dishes with nary a grumble.

Wait, that last part doesn't seem like me at all. Must be the plague talking.

Honestly, how could I not be happy to be back cooking, when I had these adorable chocolate pot de cremes* to greet me? Pot de creme is like a baked custard--somewhat similar in concept to pudding, but with a smooth, firm texture that comes from being thickened with egg yolks instead of cornstarch or arrowroot.

*pots de creme? pot des creme? Probably not that last one

I'm not always a custard fan, but something about these little cups hit just the right note. Their petite size means their richness isn't overwhelming, and they were barely sweetened, letting the chocolate flavor really shine through. In fact, my husband asked if there was caramel (!) or peanut butter (!!) mixed in, because they had a depth of flavor you wouldn't expect from a simple chocolate custard.

The pot de creme recipe will be on Christine of Black Cat Cooking's blog. Make it, bake it, love it. No plague required.

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

2011-02-13T17:26:00.000-08:00

This week's recipe, Chocolate Oatmeal Drops, is a toughie to explain. Imagine cookies with the flavor and texture of brownies. Yum, right? Now mix in...oatmeal.

It's weird, it's unexpected, but it actually kind of worked. Much like other unusual couplings--french fries with milkshakes, chocolate with bacon, Taylor Swift with Jake Gyllenhaal--sometimes it's the contrasts that make the pairing work so well.

Not so much with Taylor and Jake, though. That was just weird.
[Call me, Jake.]

Ahem. Back to the cookies! They were rich, and chocolatey, and surprisingly chewy from the oatmeal. They reminded me a bit of those oatmeal no-bake cookies that have oats, chocolate, and peanut butter, and that in turn made me think that these would be awesome with some chopped up Reese's pb cups in them. Am I a baking mastermind? Quite possibly.

Other things I can tell you from experience: these are awesome...
1) as dough before being baked
2) right out of the oven
3) a few hours later
4) the next day
5) three days after that
6) defrosted from the freezer a week later

Also, four of them in a baggie fit nicely into a slipper tucked in a suitcase...you know, just in case the rest of you were hoping to travel with these and wanted to know the best way to keep them from crumbling. The ole slipper trick hasn't failed me yet. Bon appetit!

Salted Fudge Brownies: Happy Valentine's Day to YOU

2011-02-09T12:19:00.001-08:00

Fresh on the heels of the salted caramel bars, I'm back with another dessert guaranteed to raise your blood pressure and lower your life expectancy.

I promise, they're worth it.

Salted Fudge Brownies are my Valentine to those of you who, like me, can never get a brownie fudgy enough. It could be half-raw and oozing in the middle, and I'll think, "It's pretty good…but can't it get more fudgy?!"

These babies finally answer that question: NO. They cannot possibly be more fudgy. They're decadent and dense and loaded with chocolate flavor. The only thing that saves them from being chocolate overkill is the generous portion of salt in the batter, which cuts through the richness of the chocolate. But the real star is the flaked sea salt on top, that add the occasional crunch and pop of pure salty bliss.

I gifted these to a few friends as an early Valentine's present, and I do believe it's the best idea I've ever had. Everyone loved them. Of course, you don’t have to cut them into heart shapes, but if you do, I have it on good authority that the resulting brownie scraps make a delightful mid-morning snack. If you're in to that kind of thing.

Happy early Valentine's Day, Fudge-o-holics!

Salted Fudge Brownies

6 oz (1.5 sticks) Butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
3 whole eggs, room temperature
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp large-flaked sea salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Press a piece of foil inside a 9x9 pan, and spray the foil with cooking spray.

2. Melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate in the microwave, stirring occasionally, until the butter and chocolate are entirely melted. Whisk to combine.

3. Add the sugar and cocoa powder and whisk until they're incorporated. At this point the mixture will look grainy and not very appetizing. Add the eggs one at a time, being sure to whisk well after each addition. With each egg added, the mixture will get smoother and shinier, and after all 3 have been added and the batter has been well-mixed, the graininess should be gone.

4. Add the vanilla extract, then stir in the flour and fine sea salt until any dry streaks disappear.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle the remaining large-flaked sea salt over the top of the brownies.

6. Bake for about 35 minutes, until the edge is set but the center is still a bit soft and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out coated with a little of the batter. Cool at room temperature in the pan for about an hour, then refrigerate just until they are firm. Lift the brownies from the pan and remove foil. Cut the brownies into 12 or 16 squares, or use a cookie cutter to make shapes.

TWD: Outrageously Good Orange-Chocolate Bread Pudding

2011-02-07T20:59:00.000-08:00

Few things make my heart pitter-patter more than bread pudding. Done properly, it's one of my top 5 favorite desserts. (Done wrong, it's borderline inedible, but I don't like to think about such scary things so close to bedtime.)

This week's TWD recipe was for Bourbon Bread Pudding, but being a teetotaler, I made a few necessary adjustments. Since my "Bourbon Bread Pudding" didn't contain any alcohol, I figured it needed a new, more accurate name. How about...

Bourbon-less Bread Pudding
or
The Bread Pudding That Bourbon Forgot
or
Bread Pudding: The Prohibition Years
or
Don't Tell Dorie The Pudding Has No Bourbon
or
Are you There, Bourbon? It's Me, Bread Pudding

Don't get me wrong, those are all great options, but I like it by this title best of all:

Outrageously Good Orange-Chocolate Bread Pudding

Instead of making a plain bread pudding (yawn) I infused the cream with the rind of one orange overnight, to make sure orange flavor permeated every bite of the pudding. For the bread I used stale challah, which might just be my favorite yet. I've used brioche, croissants, and cinnamon raisin bread to good success in the past, but the challah had the best texture and flavor, I think, and it stayed nicely moist throughout the baking. Holla for challah!

Here's my other secret weapon:

I chopped up strips of freshly candied orange peel and added them, along with a big handful of bittersweet chocolate chunks, to the bread-and-custard mixture. The orange peel softened during the baking, so I had large pockets of juicy orange peel and melted, gooey chocolate studded throughout the pudding. Chocolate, orange, rich custard, crunchy crust of bread on top? I'm calling this

America's Next Top Bread Pudding

The hungry hungry husband is out of town, so I forced myself to make a half batch in little baby ramekins, because a whole batch of bread pudding + unsupervised me = serious trouble.

You know what else is trouble?

The ginooooormous mound of oranges and grapefruit I have shoved in my (perilously overloaded) refrigerator! SEND CITRUS RECIPES STAT.

Okay, so the condensed milk has nothing to do with bread pudding, bourbon, oranges, or silly pop culture references. I just also happen to have a ridiculous amount of condensed milk as well (oh my poor fridge) and am soliciting condensed milk recipes too.

Q: Are you a bread pudding fan? If so, what's your favorite variation? And if not--come over! This bread pudding'll convince you.

Q: Any ideas for yummy orange/grapefruit/condensed milk recipes? (Definitely not all at the same time.) Aside from key lime pie, that is...

Nutella Semifreddo for World Nutella Day

2011-02-05T12:07:00.000-08:00

My Google Reader was a thing of beauty this morning: dozens of new posts from my favorite food blogs, bursting with delicious Nutella recipes in honor of World Nutella Day. It's the most wonderful time of the year...

I've already featured two different types of homemade nutella, and four-ingredient Nutella cupcakes, but trust me when I tell you, I've saved the best for last.

Nutella Semifreddo is perhaps the best thing I've eaten so far this year. This may not seem like an earth-shattering statement, but in the last month I've created 16 new recipes for the candy site, made multiple baked goods for this here blog, and eaten my way through the patisseries of Boston and New York.

(Also, I have vowed to start eating well aaaaaaany day now...just as soon as I find a diet that endorses Nutella and full-fat cheese.)

Semifreddo, if you're not familiar with it, is an Italian word that means "half-frozen" and it can refer to any number of desserts, most of them in the sorbet/frozen mousse/ice cream tart category. This Nutella Semifreddo is perhaps most similar in taste and texture to a frozen mousse. Slightly warm and liquid Nutella is stirred into well-beaten eggs, then soft whipped cream is folded into this mixture to lighten the texture and round out the flavor. The final touch is stirring in shaved dark chocolate and chopped toasted pistachios, for pockets of bittersweet crunch sprinkled throughout.

This semifreddo can be made in a loafpan and served in slices (easy way) or spooned into individual glasses or serving dishes (bonus credit). I liked it best after it had sat out of the freezer for about five minutes. The edges start to soften, the way good ice cream gets melty along the edges, but the rest of the dessert holds its body when you put it in your mouth, silky-smooth and lighter than air, where it ever so gently melts with your body heat until all that's left is the taste of chocolate and hazelnuts coating your tongue.

If you like mousse, you'll love semifreddo.
If you like ice cream, you'll love semifreddo.
If you like Nutella, you'll love semifreddo.
If you don't like any of these, you've probably come to my blog by mistake because you meant to type Death of Cake but got Cake or Death instead. I'm sorry. It happens. Perhaps some semifreddo will make you feel better.

Chocolate Nutella Semifreddo
Adapted from More Than Burnt Toast

4 large eggs, room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 13 ounce (400 gram) jar Nutella
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon chocolate or hazelnut liqueur, or vanilla extract
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, shaved
2/3 cup roasted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
Chocolate curls, for decoration

*****************
Line a mold of your choice with plastic wrap, taking care to leave about a 3 inch length hanging over the edge. I recommend a loaf pan about 8x4, or you can use individual serving cups and not worry about the plastic lining.

Gently whip the cream until it holds soft peaks. Be careful not to overwhip and cause the cream to break or become grainy.

Heat the Nutella in the microwave for about 20-25 seconds to soften it up. Set aside.

Place eggs and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Place mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk until the eggs are warm, about 2 minutes.

Place the bowl in a stand mixer. Using the whisk attachment, whip the eggs on high speed until pale and tripled in volume, about 5 minutes.

Add the softened Nutella and the chocolate or hazelnut liqueur, or the vanilla extract, to the egg mixture and mix on low speed until blended.

Gently fold in the whipped cream, half of the shaved chocolate and 1/2 cup of the chopped nuts.
Scrape mixture into the mold and spread evenly, or spoon into the individual serving cups. Top with the remaining shaved chocolate. Cover the top of mold with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 8 hours or overnight.

When you are ready to serve, unmold the semifreddo and flip it upside-down. Cut it into slices and top them with a few curls of chocolate and the remaining chopped nuts. Like ice cream, this would be bonkers with a warm chocolate (or chocolate-hazelnut?) sauce and/or whipped cream. But it's pretty epic just the way it is.

Four-Ingredient Nutella Cupcakes

2011-02-03T23:07:00.001-08:00

Just when you thought Nutella couldn't get awesomer, someone comes along with the idea of making cupcakes out of it. But not just any cupcakes--four-ingredient cupcakes.

To be honest, I think these are actually even three-ingredient cupcakes, because one of the ingredients (chopped hazelnuts) is a garnish and could easily be omitted with no hard feelings. So the equation is really something like this:

Nutella + 1 egg + a few spoonfuls of flour + 11 minutes in the oven = CUPCAKE PERFECTION

I know, I had my doubts too. I was mostly worried that they would turn out to be rubbery, in the way that so many fishy pseudo-cupcakes often are. But they were actually moist and fudgy--denser than many cupcakes, but in a good way. These may be small, but they have a lot of flavor from the Nutella "frosting" and crushed hazelnuts on top.

I actually feel a little bad sharing this recipe, because I think it could be dangerous. Delicious cupcakes in 12 minutes with only 4 ingredients? THAT is a recipe that could do some serious damage. But, the upcoming World Nutella Day leaves me no choice. I apologize in advance.

Four-Ingredient Nutella Cupcakes
adapted from Savory Sweet Life
yields 9 mini cupcakes

1 cup Nutella spread, divided use
1 large egg
5 tablespoons all=purpose flour
2 tbsp cup chopped hazelnuts

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 9 cups of a mini muffin pan with paper or foil liners.

2. Put 1/2 cup of the Nutella and egg in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth and well blended. Add the flour and whisk until blended.

3. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and bake until a pick comes out with wet, gooey crumbs, 11 to 12 minutes. Don't overbake!

4. Set on a rack to cool completely. Once cool, warm the remaining 1/2 cup of Nutella in a small bowl in the microwave just until warm and fluid, about 15-25 seconds. Dip the tops of each cupcake in the Nutella, so that it's completely coated. (You will have extra Nutella left over. I trust you can find something to do with this.) Sprinkle the tops of the cupcakes with the chopped hazelnuts. These keep for up to 3-4 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

World Nutella Day: IT'S COMING

2011-02-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Halloween. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Sound like big holidays? WRONG.

These holidays are nothing--nothing--compared to what's coming up this Saturday.

Friends, are you prepared? Giant 26-ounce jars of Nutella purchased? Pantry stuffed with baguettes, pretzels, bananas, and apples, all ready to be slathered with Nutella? Starvation diet enacted to compensate for the calorie bomb that is a spoonful of Nutella?

Bring. It. On.

Nutella Day isn't until Saturday, so there's plenty of time to make preparations if this holiday has caught you off guard. There's lots of information and about a million recipes at the Nutella Day website, to whet your sweet tooth.

To kick things off I thought I'd start with a recipe for homemade Nutella. I've actually made two different versions. One can be found at the Oh Nuts blog--that recipe uses melted chocolate and condensed milk, and has a smoother, fudgier texture. That blog post has step-by-step photos for making Nutella, if you're new to this sort of thing.

The recipe I'm posting here uses cocoa powder instead of chocolate, and the end result has a bit more texture, but it's a little less sweet, which is my personal preference. Either way, you absolutely cannot go wrong with freshly ground roasted hazelnuts and chocolate!

So go forth, my friends, and create luscious Nutella creations. I'll be back tomorrow with another Nutella recipe for ya.

Homemade Nutella
from the Los Angeles Times

Servings: Makes about 1 1/2 cups
Note: Use good-quality cocoa powder, such as Scharffen Berger.

2 cups raw hazelnuts
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons hazelnut oil, more as needed

1. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the hazelnuts evenly over a cookie sheet and roast until they darken and become aromatic, about 10 minutes. Transfer the hazelnuts to a damp towel and rub to remove the skins.

2. In a food processor, rind the hazelnuts to a smooth butter, scraping the sides as needed so they process evenly, about 5 minutes.

3. Add the cocoa, sugar, vanilla, salt and oil to the food processor and continue to process until well blended, about 1 minute. The finished spread should have the consistency of creamy peanut butter; if it is too dry, process in a little extra hazelnut oil until the desired consistency is achieved. Remove to a container, cover and refrigerate until needed. Allow the spread to come to room temperature before using, as it thickens considerably when refrigerated. It will keep for at least a week.

Each tablespoon: 109 calories; 2 grams protein; 8 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams fiber; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 cholesterol; 13 mg. sodium.

TWD: Great Grains Muffins

2011-02-01T22:52:00.000-08:00

In trying to articulate my feelings about the Great Grains Muffins for this week's TWD recipe, I decided that it would be easiest to explain with a visual aid.*

If you will please refer to the above figure, it is evident that my enjoyment of a food increases proportionally to the degree to which said food resembles dessert.

In making these calculations, there are a few additional considerations. Extra weight is given for the presence of a) frosting b) chocolate ganache and c) whipped cream. Points are deducted for a) pastry cream b) excessive meringue and c) booze.

Now then. Given that my sweet tooth is the boss of me, and given that these muffins tasted fairly healthy-ish, it is safe to say that there were not my new favorite thing. Don't get me wrong--they weren't bad at all. In fact, Jason really liked them. (But that makes sense, since he's the MC Skat Kat to my Paula Abdul.)

For a healthy muffin, these performed admirably. I used whole wheat flour, spelt flour, oats, and cornmeal, and will all of that, they still stayed nice and moist for days. I tried to jazz them up with dried apricots, pistachios, and bittersweet chocolate, but I still found myself picking out the clumps of chocolate and chunks of fruit and leaving the rest of the muffin sitting around all morning.

None of this is the muffin's fault. Remember those Costco superpacks of muffins? I was the girl who always made a beeline to the double-chocolate muffins, which we all know are basically unfrosted cupcakes on steroids. I cannot be trusted to define what constitutes a delicious muffin.

So yes--these can stay earmarked as "treats to make for other people who value healthy baked goods," but as for me--I'm counting down the days until we make bread pudding (!!) next week(!!!)

*This super-scientific graph is brought to you by every single liberal arts class I took in pursuit of my English & American Studies degrees. Who says the humanities are useless?

Salted Caramel Bars

2011-01-30T21:59:00.000-08:00

Jason & I are not one of those "twinny" couples who seem to belong together at first glance--in fact I think our relationship sometimes mystifies people who don't know us very well. Although I think we're pretty well matched in the important areas, it's true that we're opposite in many ways. I love to run long distances, he would be happy never standing up from his chair. He could talk politics all day long, but just the thought of that makes me want to jam earphones in my ears. He's a people person, I'm working on the title of World's Youngest Curmudgeon.

Yes, Paula Abdul, you were right all along. Opposites do attract.

We also have differing tastes in food and desserts. I'm a pure chocolate girl, but Jason's heart belongs to caramel. Chewy, buttery, rich, slips through your teeth caramel. So when I saw this recipe for Salted Caramel Bars, I knew I had to make them for him.

These bars don't have many components, but they make every ingredient count. The base is an ultra-buttery, crisp shortbread. The thick caramel layer is chewy without being sticky, and sweet without being cloying, thanks to the generous spoonful of salt in the recipe.

The best part, though, are the large sea salt flakes that are scattered on the bars just before serving, to add a crunch and a savory bite that perfectly contrasts with the caramel.

These bars really satisfied both of us. Jason loved the caramel component, I liked how easy they were to make, and we both enjoyed the crunchy salt on top. Not to mention the fact that when his mouth is full of caramel, it's harder to hold a sustained conversation about politics.

Just sayin'.

Being the chocolate advocate in the household, I actually tried to top these with chocolate ganache, but the combination of cream-filled ganache and buttery caramel meant that the layers didn't coalesce and the ganache had a tendency to slide off. I still think chocolate can be incorporated somehow--perhaps pure chocolate, drizzled on top? Dunking the bars shortbread-side first into tempered chocolate? Further experimentation is needed.

Salted Caramel Bars

Crust:
10 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk, whisked
1 2/3 cups AP flour

Caramel Layer:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
12 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp sugar
4 tbsp heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Sea salt flakes

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9-by-9-inch pan with parchment paper with the edges of the parchment hanging over the sides. This will make removing the bars easier.

In a large bowl combine the melted butter, sugar and salt with a fork. Add the yolk and combine with the fork. Add the flour and using your hands, combine the dough until its flaky. Transfer the dough into the parchment lined pan and press down with your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup. Refrigerate this for 30 minutes. Once chilled, bake for 27 minutes until lightly browned.

Once baked, remove and set aside to cool.

Meanwhile, in a pot combine the topping ingredients; butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, salt, sugar and cream. Bring to a boil and make sure all the sugar is dissolved. Insert a candy thermometer and cook, stirring occasionally, until it reads 250 degrees F. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract and pour on top of the shortbread.

Refrigerate for 2-4 hours. Then sprinkle with the sea salt flakes and serve! If you have leftovers, keep them refrigerated because the caramel will soften and gradually lose its shape at room temperature.

Lemon-Mascarpone Layer Cake with Edible Flowers

2011-01-28T17:30:00.000-08:00

Over Christmas break I stopped by to see my old high school friend Claire. As I was leaving, she offered me lemons from her overflowing tree. My first instinct was to decline, since I was staying with my parents and had no interest in shlepping random lemons back home with me in my already-overstuffed car. Plus, I had chocolate buche de noel on the brain, not lemons.

However, once I saw that her tree was full of Meyer lemons, I did a ten-point vault over her head and raced to the tree, yelling at her to dust herself off and bring the biggest cardboard box she could find. As a result of my wanton selfishness, I ended up with a generous supply of this awesome fruit.

Most folks are probably familiar with Meyer lemons, but if you're not, here's a handy visual comparison:

The usual lemon suspect, the Eureka lemon, is on the left. It's a light yellow color, with a thick rind and a sour citrus flavor. The Meyer lemon is on the right. They're usually rounder than the traditional lemon, with a yellowy-orange color, a thin rind, and a perfumey, almost floral fragrance. Wikipedia tells me it's thought to be a cross between a lemon and an orange, which makes sense, since it's juice is sweeter and more complex than the usual super-tart lemon juice.

But enough lemonology. The question is, what did I do with them? Well, Claire handed me Meyer lemons, and I made Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake:
Two of my good friends had birthdays this month, so a group of us got together for a girl's night out to celebrate them. We could have had desserts at the restaurant, but there's something special and personal about a homemade birthday cake, and I wanted them to feel the love, so I arranged with the restaurant to bring our own cake.
The cake I chose was from The Art and Soul of Baking, a beautiful cookbook given to me by another friend. A basic genoise cake is brushed with lemon syrup and layered with lemon curd and a lemon-mascarpone-whipped cream mixture. The result is a light, pillowy cake that is almost like a trifle, it's so creamy and moist. If I had any criticism it's that the lemon flavor and lemon curd layers could have been heavier, so in the instructions below I've changed the quantities to suit my tastes.
But what really makes this cake special are the flower decorations, and that part couldn't be easier. Here, I've written all the steps out for you:

1. Go to Whole Foods or another upscale grocery store
2. Buy organic "Edible Flowers"--they're usually in the prepackaged herb section
3. Put edible flowers on cake
4. Bask in warm glow of compliments and adoration

Edible flowers are stunningly beautiful, and require absolutely no work or skill to decorate with. I really can't recommend them enough. In answer to the inevitable question "But what do they taste like?" the answer is pretty much...nothing. They have a slight green taste, sort of like a lettuce leaf, but in general it's like a whole mouthful of nuthin'. Because the cake was heavily loaded with flowers, we ate some but ended up leaving some on our plates. I think of them like fondant--a beautiful decorating touch but not necessarily meant to be consumed with the cake.

And here's the secret to getting a birthday plaque to stay at an angle: lots and lots and lots of whipped cream! It's a very lucky birthday girl indeed who got that piece of cake.

Read on for the full recipe, and don't be intimidated by all the steps! It can easily be modified by using your favorite sponge (or box) cake, store-bought lemon curd, and simple whipped cream instead of the whipped cream-mascarpone mix.

Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake
adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking by Cindy Mushet

For the cake
[you can subsitute any light sponge cake you like in this recipe]
6 large eggs, separated
6 oz (14 tbsp) sugar, divided use
6 oz (1.75 cups) sifted cake flour
Zest of one lemon

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Line two 9" cake pans with parchment paper, but do not grease them in any way.

Whip the egg yolks with half of the sugar (3 oz, or 7 tbsp) in the bowl of a large stand mixer on high speed for 5 minutes, until they are very thick and light in color. Transfer the yolks to a separate bowl and wash the mixing bowl and whisk very well.

Whip the egg whites in the cleaned mixing bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 3 oz/7 tbsp sugar a spoonful at a time, while mixing on high speed, until the egg whites hold firm peaks.

Fold one-third of the egg whites into the yolks with a spatula, then sift half of the cake flour on top and gently fold it in. Fold a second third of the egg whites into the yolks, sift the remaining cake flour on top, then fold that in. Finally, add the last of the egg whites, and when they're almost incorporated, add the lemon zest and fold until everything is mixed together.

Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 18-22 minutes, until the tops are golden, firm, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the cakes to a rack to cool completely.

For the lemon syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup fresh-squeezed lemon juice

Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and the liquid is clear. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice. Allow to cool completely before use.

For the lemon curd
5 large eggs
5 egg yolks
1.5 cups sugar
1 cup + 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
9 tbsp (4.5 oz) cold unsalted butter, cubed

Fill the bottom of a double-boiler with 2 inches of water and bring it to a simmer.

Place the eggs, yolks, and sugar in the top of the double boiler (off the heat) and whisk until blended. Add the lemon juice and mix well. j

Place the egg mixture over the simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the curd reaches 180 F on a candy thermometer. (If you don't have a thermometer, it should thicken enough to coat the back of a spoon.) Don't let the curd boil, or you'll have bits of scrambled egg in your curd.

Once cooked, strain the curd through a metal strainer into a bowl. Add the cold butter pieces to the curd, and whisk gently until the butter melts and the mixture is velvety-smooth. Press a layer of cling wrap on top of the curd and refrigerate it until it is cool, at least 3-4 hours or overnight.

For the mascarpone filling
2.5 cups (20 oz) heavy whipping cream
3 oz (7 tbsp) granulated sugar
1 lb mascarpone, I suggest making your own if you have time--it's much better and cheaper

Place the cream and sugar in the large bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until they form firm peaks, but do not over-beat or it will become grainy and curdled.

In a large bowl, combine the mascarpone and 1-1/2 cups of lemon curd, and stir until they're well-mixed. It should be the consistency of pudding. Gently fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture, being careful not to overmix, or the mascarpone will look grainy and separated. If this happens, stir in a spoonful or two of heavy cream to smooth it out.

To assemble the cake

Unmold the cakes, and use a sharp serrated knife to cut each one in half, so you're left with four thin cake rounds. Place one round on a cake cardboard and brush it with a quarter of the lemon syrup.

Spoon about 1/3 cup of the mascarpone filling on top of the cake round, and use a spatula to spread it evenly around. Top the mascarpone with about 1/3 cup of lemon curd, and spread it in a thin layer.

Place another cake round on top of the first, and brush this one with an equal amount of lemon syrup. Repeat the layer of cake rounds, lemon syrup, mascarpone, and lemon curd until you have added the final cake round to the top of the cake. Brush the top with the remaining lemon syrup.

Spread the remaining mascarpone mixture along the top and sides of the cake. If you have lemon curd left over, you can pipe dots of lemon curd along the top of bottom border of the cake (or you can just save it to eat on toast and oatmeal!)

This cake is best made a few hours--or even a day or two--in advance, so the flavors and textures have a chance to meld.

TWD: Nutty Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

2011-01-25T00:44:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late posting this amazing bundt cake I made over the weekend, but I have a good excuse. Her name is Madeline, and she is verrrrrry distracting.

My niece is visiting for a few days, and we've had a swell time getting to know each other better. Madeline's likes include Olivia the Piglet, swinging, knocking down her wooden giraffe, and playing hide-and-seek. Her dislikes include going to bed on time, sun in her eyes, dirty hands, and, until recently, my baking.

I know. I KNOW. The last time I baked for her, I made a mini cake for her 1-year birthday. This was pretty much the reaction I got. Completely underwhelmed. So of course I was anxious to make a good impression this time around.
I brought out a secret weapon: a rich chocolate ganache glaze atop the cake, with more available to serve on the side.

I also tried to be generous with the flavors, using brown sugar, lots of bittersweet chocolate chunks, and fresh-grated cinnamon in the bundt's swirly layers. After all, 20-month olds are well known to have finely developed palates.

I think my strategy worked, because all of us--toddler included--loved this cake! This is the second Dorie bundt cake the has completely blown me away (the first being the Double Apple Bundt Cake).

It was rich, it was moist, it was flavorful, with the tang of sour cream and orange zest, and the thick swirl of chocolate, brown sugar, and cinnamon. This is a cake dainty enough to be served in small slices with tea, but delicious enough to be eaten out of the hand standing over the sink. Not that I would know that from experience.

This is a keeper and a make-again (and again, and again) for sure. In fact, I might be making it sooner rather than later, because her highness was none too pleased to find out the cake's completely eaten:

TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

2011-01-17T20:16:00.000-08:00

Hello, little blog. It's been awhile. You've probably missed me, since the last post was about New Year's Eve and it's now the middle of January. You've been sitting around feeling unfashionably behind the times. I'm sorry.

I haven't missed you too much, since I've been doing lots of traveling and LOTS of dessert eating. Don't be jealous, it was all in the name of blog research, and I'll have some fun pastry posts up shortly.

But in the meantime, let's spruce you up with some new content! Will muffins suffice?

I made these lemon poppyseed muffins a few weeks ago over--not to bring up a sore subject--New Year's Eve. My brother and sister-in-law were in town visiting, hooray!

But we were all sick and feeling pretty lousy after NYE, boooo!

The day after New Year's, we literally sat around the apartment all day. We had fuzzy heads and stuffy noses and scratchy throats and lazy bones. It was gray and rainy outside. We took lots of naps. Time seemed to drag on, and we couldn't quite find anything to keep us properly entertained.

It was a weird day, in the way that sick days often are.

We had also overdosed on too much junk food over the holidays and were feeling the need for nutritional atonement. For brunch that day, I sliced up every fruit in the house and threw it in a big bowl with a hefty squeeze of orange juice over it. I scrambled some eggs, set out the tangerine juice, and served these lemon poppyseed muffins, warm from the oven.

Okay, so maybe muffins aren't the most virtuous of breakfast foods, but in comparison to everything we'd been eating the week before, they're practically a vegetable.

But what really matters is the taste. These muffins were like liquid sunshine, bright and tart, with a little earthy crunch from the poppyseeds. The sour cream kept them moist and cakey, but the high baking temperature gave the tops that sugary crust that I so love.

They may not have come in a bottle from the drugstore, but these light and lemony muffins were all the medicine we needed that day.

TWD: Midnight Crackles

2011-01-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How has this happened? I wasn't even used to saying twenty-ten yet, and now we're already on twenty-eleven. (Cue old-lady grumping about the passage of time and kids these days.)

We had an exciting New Year's Day. I'll give you a hint: it involved giant dragons...

...and marching bands...

...and horned frogs (ew)...

...and Paula Dean, y'all!

Yes, we had front & center seats for the Rose Bowl Parade! We live about 3 blocks from the parade route so we got together with some friends and camped out the day before and staked out some prime real estate. Let me tell you, people here take their parade viewing verrrry seriously.
Dibs started at 7am the day before the parade, and folks basically stayed in their spots for the next 24 hours on the street. It was pretty surreal to be camped out in front of the local Indian buffet at 3:30 AM, playing games, warming our hands by the fire in the BBQ, fending off cotton candy and bacon-wrapped hot dog vendors, and watching the next group over dance to salsa music all night. I love this town.

It was totally worth it, though. Where else could you see such a marvelous idea for a float?

But oh no, that's not all. For New Year's Eve our friends had a "Minute to Win It" party featuring ridiculous stunts, feats of strength, tests of skill, and general daring-do. It was delightful.

But enough about how well Jason juggles balloons, let's talk about cookies! I brought these Midnight Crackles to the NYE party, where they performed poorly in the Feats of Strength category but earned high marks in the Edible and Delicious category.
To make them more festive, I topped the cookies with edible gold star confetti. (From Michael's--expensive but pretty awesome.) They just needed something to make them pop visually, something that screamed Happy New Year!

Taste-wise, they were a little less exciting. I was hoping they'd have a soft, gooey center, but they were more cake-like. The flavor was nice, but it just wasn't the texture I was hoping for--adding some chunks of chocolate might also have helped.
But they were still tasty, and they still helped us ring in the new year on a sugar high, so what more can you ask for?

Fashionably Late Buche de Noel

2010-12-27T02:47:00.000-08:00

Merry Few-Days-After-Christmas, friends! Did you all have wonderful holidays full of eggnog and stockings and too many cookies and repeated viewings of Elf? I know I did.

I also had an awesome gift from Santa:

How great is that?! I guess he reads the blog! Sweeeet. A sassy shirt is all well and good, but next year I'm going to be dropping waaaay more hints about the VitaMix I'm currently coveting. Ahem.

But back to more important things! Like what I used all the ganache for. I'll give you a hint: it's chocolatey. I'll give you a second hint: it was seasonally appropriate, but now, two days after Christmas, it's woefully unfashionable. I'll give you a third hint: it rhymes with smoosh the po-elle.

If you guessed a buche de noel, you're right!

Most buche de noels, or yule log cakes, are made from a springy sponge or genoise cake rolled around a filling, then decorated to look like yule logs. This recipe was a bit different--and dare I say, much better--because it used a flourless chocolate cake that was more like a baked mousse in taste and texture. It was a little more finicky to work with, but the melting, creamy texture more than made up for a few more minute's work.

The cake was rolled around sweetened vanilla whipped cream, and then covered with simple ganache. I used a spatula and a fork to give it a little texture, and stole a few sprigs of rosemary from my parent's bush to decorate the plate, along with some freshly shredded coconut and fresh cranberries.

And the mushrooms. Let's not forget the meringue mushrooms! What should have been a simple accompaniment was made more interesting by the fact that I baked them on the day a big storm rolled into town, causing the meringues to get spongy and sticky. I was able to assemble about a third of them, held together with the most fervent of hope and the sharpest of toothpicks.

The mushrooms were a wreck by the end of the night, but they held together enough for the pictures, which is the important part. Plus, they're fun to make, even when they collapse in a gooey pile.

In the end it was a huge success. We took slices that were way too big, polished them off, and licked our plates clean. And isn't that what Christmas is all about?

Fashionably late--OR AWESOMELY EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS 2011--buche de noel recipe below!

Buche de Noel
Cake recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible

1/4 cup (50 grams) plus 2 tablespoons (28 grams) granulated white sugar
6 large eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 ounces (112 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped in small pieces
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter, or spray with a non stick vegetable spray, a 17 x 12 inch (43x30 cm) baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper and then butter and flour the parchment paper.

While the eggs are still cold, separate the eggs, placing the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Cover and bring to room temperature before using (about 30 minutes). Meanwhile melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and cool.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) place the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about five minutes). (When you slowly raise the beaters, the batter will fall back into the bowl in a slow ribbon.) Beat in the vanilla extract. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the melted chocolate and beat only to combine.

In a clean mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar until stiff peaks form.

Gently fold a small amount of the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture using a rubber spatula or whisk. Fold in the remaining whites just until incorporated. Don't over mix or the batter will deflate. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Bake until the cake is puffed, has lost its shine, and springs back when gently pressed, about 15-17 minutes. Remove from oven and place on wire rack to cool. Cover the cake with a clean, slightly damp towel.

Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Beat together all ingredients until the cream starts to hold firm peaks, but don't beat so long that it starts to curdle and have a buttery, overwhipped texture.

Ganache

12 oz good-quality semi-sweet chocolate
1.5 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp softened butter

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a large bowl. Add the butter on top. Put the cream in a saucepan over medium-high heat and heat until it simmers and bubbles appear along the sides of the pan, but do not bring it to a boil.

Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and whisk it together until the chocolate melts and the mixture is shiny and smooth.

Cover with cling wrap and, ideally, let sit overnight at room temperature to firm up until it is a spoonable consistency, like peanut butter. If you don't have that much time, place it in the refrigerator and whisk it every 15 minutes until it is the texture of frosting. Do not leave it in the fridge too long, or it will get hard!

Meringue Mushrooms
Try my recipe here, or there's also a photo tutorial. Easy, yay!

Buche de Noel Assembly
Once the cake has cooled, spread it with an even layer of the whipped cream. Gently roll the cake, peeling off the parchment paper as you roll (the cake may crack).

Trim one end of the cake at an angle and set it aside. Then place the cake, seam side down, on your serving platter lined with strips of waxed paper. Take the slice of reserved cake and attach it to the top of the cake to resemble a branch growing off the log.

Gently spread the ganache over the outside of the cake. Once it's completely covered, use a spatula or a fork to create waves and texture in the ganache to resemble tree bark.

Finish the buche de noel with meringue mushrooms, powdered sugar or coconut for snow, and optional accents like leaves or chocolate shavings.

Hot Chocolate On A Stick

2010-12-20T22:10:00.000-08:00

I have a love-hate relationship with hot chocolate.

I love that such a product exists. Chocolate! In a cup! Suitable for slurping!
I hate that it most often comes from chalky powdered mixes. Ew.
I love that hot chocolate goes with everything: marshmallows, candy canes, a nutritious veggie-packed dinner...
I hate that it is the caloric equivalent of a small meal, especially when I add those marshmallows and candy canes.

As I've grown older, the sensible part of my brain has sided with the "hates" and hot chocolate has become more and more of a rarity in my diet.

Until.

Hot Chocolate On A Stick.

The name is a bit of a misnomer. It should really be called "Super Intense Fudge Blocks That You Skewer And Oh Yeah, If You Put Them In Milk They Melt And Make Amazing Liquid Fudge."

THAT is truth in advertising.

The basic recipe is just four ingredients: cream, condensed milk, and two kinds of chocolate. They're blended together, and then once the fudge sets up, it's cut into blocks and be-sticked. Really, that's it. It's a plain and simple process that produces the best hot chocolate I've had in a long time. It's ridiculously rich, of course, but not too sweet at all, and it actually tastes like chocolate instead of defatted cocoa and hydrogenated palm kernel oil and whatever else they're shoving into those cocoa mixes these days.

The fudge is fine on its own, but I would absolutely recommend making this primarily as a hot chocolate delivery device. The fudge can be cut into squares or rectangles (or circles! or dodecahedrons!) and can be flavored with all sorts of flavoring oils. I left some plain, rolled some in crushed candy canes, and drizzled and dunked some in orange-flavored white chocolate. [PSA: do not add orange zest to white chocolate, it will seize. Stick to orange oil for flavoring. Cannot believe I did not know this before. Older and wiser, et cetera.]

Through hard experience, we can vouch that the hot chocolate is also an excellent biscotti-softening tool. I made this Christmas biscotti for the Oh Nuts blog and if I may be a huge braggart, it's a winner. It has red & green pistachios, cranberries, white chocolate, and orange zest, and it's simply begging for a hot chocolate bath. Biscotti + hot chocolate on a stick = best gift plate ever? Just sayin....

I still have a love-hate relationship with hot chocolate, however:

I love how it tastes
I hate that it's still one trillion calories
I love that I've had two mugs today
I hate that the second batch is almost gone!

Hot Chocolate On A Stick
yield: about 25 pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

14-oz can sweetened condensed milk

18 oz (about 3 cups) chopped semi-sweet chocolate or chips

4 oz (about 3/4 cup) chopped unsweetened chocolate

lollipop sticks, coffee stirrers, straws, etc

Prepare an 8x8 pan by lining it with aluminum foil and spraying the foil with nonstick cooking spray. Place the chopped semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolates in a large heat-safe bowl.

Pour the heavy cream and condensed milk into a medium saucepan and whisk until combined. Put the saucepan over medium heat. Bring the liquid to a simmer, whisking frequently so that the condensed milk does not scorch on the bottom of the pan.

Once the liquid is simmering, pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and let it sit for a minute to soften. Begin whisking the cream and chocolate together, until the chocolate is melted and you have a shiny, smooth mixture. It will be fairly thick.

Pour the chocolate into the prepared pan and smooth it into an even layer. Allow it to sit and firm up overnight, or for 3-4 hours in the refrigerator.

Once the fudge block is firm, use a large, sharp knife to cut it into pieces. If you do squares you get about twenty-five pieces (five rows and five columns), or you could do longer rectangles like I did. For the smoothest cuts, rinse the knife in hot water and dry it between each cut. Skewer each block with a lollipop stick.

To make hot chocolate: heat a mug of milk (water does not work well in this instance) and add a chocolate block. Allow it to sit and soften for a minute, then vigorously stir until it is dissolved. I find it's easiest to use a fork to break up the chocolate, or a mini whisk would also work well.

Store Hot Chocolate On A Stick in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature, two weeks in the refrigerator, or up to a month in the freezer.

TWD: Apple-Coconut Family Cake

2010-12-14T00:30:00.000-08:00

On paper, this Apple-Coconut Family Cake had a lot going for it.

For one thing, I like apple, and I love coconut. Love. Try to use it as often as possible. Named a whole month after it. Want to call my first child Coconut LaBau. (Actually, I want to call my first child Angela-Merkel LaBau*, like the German Chancellor, but someone in the house thinks it's inappropriate. He'll be sorry when we end up with Baby Coconut.)

For another, I actually had family visiting when I made it! My parents, these distinguished individuals, were in town and begging for dessert:

And finally, it looked pretty sexy going into the oven, with the overlapping apple slices and dusting of sugar:

Well, the positive news is that it retained its good looks upon baking. This is a distinguished cake, much like Chancellor Angela Merkel. Just sayin'.

Unfortunately, the taste and texture of this one just didn't measure up for me.

There's a passage in Steve Almond's book Candyfreak--which should be required reading in high school English classes, it is a true work of art--in which he compares eating coconut to chewing on cuticles. I never really agreed with that analogy, until I tried this cake.

It's like this: I take a bite, the cake is nice. Tender chunks of apple, a strong vanilla scent, all is going well...until most of the cake is chewed and swallowed, and I'm left with stringy bits between the teeth, refusing to break down, resembling nothing so much as stubborn cuticles in the mouth. Gross.

I will say, however, that the rest of the family quite liked it, so obviously I have my own cuticle-and-coconut issues to work out. What did everyone else think?

* My obsession with her has everything to do with the way her name flows off the tongue and nothing to do with her politics. Just to be clear.

Make Your Own Candy Cane Joe-Joes

2010-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:00

I don't know what I would do without my local Trader Joe's grocery store. Where else would I go with a shopping list 3 items long and leave an hour later, $70 poorer and with four overflowing shopping bags stuffed to the brim with impulse buys like chocolate-covered soybeans and freeze-dried mangoes? Yes, Trader Joe's is a magical place, and despite the danger to my wallet, I keep going back, because so many of their products are so darn good.

Take the Candy Cane Joe-Joe's, for instance: an Oreo-like cookie with a cream filling studded with candy cane pieces. Chocolatey, minty, crunchy, creamy... Can it get any better?

Well, actually...
I really like Candy Cane Joe-Joe's for what they are: a tasty mass-produced, industrially made cookie. But how could they possibly compare to homemade cookies, made fresh, with quality ingredients?

Um, they can't.

Which is why I'm here to share this recipe for homemade Candy Cane Joe-Joe's with you.

I'm not going to sugar-coat it: this recipe can be a bit time-consuming if you share my nitpicky tendencies and want all of your chocolate wafers to be uniform. That'll require lots of rolling, cutting, re-rolling, chilling, et cetera. So budget some time for that, and then meet me at Obsessives Anonymous at 7pm sharp. I'll bring identically-sized treats.

OR you can throw caution to the wind, and just roll the dough into balls and flatten them with a drinking glass. If you go this route, the recipe is a snap to put together: a quick-mixing dough, a short baking time, and a super-fast buttercream of the powdered sugar-and-butter variety.

And the crushing of candy canes. Can't forget that crucial aspect. Get your heaviest rolling pin and your pent-up angst, it's about to get real.

I also recommend that you be judicious with the use of pink food coloring, otherwise your Joe-Joe's will have an alarming shade of pink on the inside, as mine so helpfully demonstrate above. But that's just one more thing that makes them charmingly homemade. Sorry Trader Joe's...you can do many things, but these cookie have you beat.

These are a MUST for my holiday Christmas plates every year, but I'm still planning out the rest of my holiday baking. What are your must-makes during the holidays?

Homemade Candy Cane Joe-Joe's
Cookie recipe adapted from Bon Appetit, Dec 2005

Cookies
* 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
* 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
* 1 large egg

Filling
* 3 cups powdered sugar
* 1 stick unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
* 2 tbsp milk at room temperature
* 1/2 tsp mint extract
* 1/8 tsp salt
* drop of red or pink food coloring

* 4 large candy canes

For cookies:
Whisk flour, cocoa, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in egg. Add dry ingredients; beat until blended. If you want to roll it out, refrigerate the dough 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until it is a little less than 1/4" thick. Use a small circular cutter to cut 2" circles of dough out and place them on the baking sheets. If the dough is still chilled, re-roll and cut out more circles, otherwise, chill it briefly until it is firm enough to work with. Continue until all of the dough has been shaped into circles.

Alternately, scoop out dough by level tablespoonfuls, then roll into smooth balls. Place balls on prepared baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart. Using bottom of glass or hands, flatten each ball to 2-inch round (edges will crack).

Bake until cookies no longer look wet and small indentation appears when tops of cookies are lightly touched with fingers, about 9-11 minutes (do not overbake or cookies will become too crisp). Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer chocolate cookies to racks and cool completely.

For filling:
Sift the powdered sugar. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter and powdered sugar until combined--it will look crumbly. Add the milk in a slow stream, then the mint extract and the salt.

Once combined, scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle, then turn the mixer to medium speed and beat until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add a drop or two of red or pink food coloring.

Assembly
When you're ready to assemble the cookies, put the unwrapped candy canes in a large Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to crush them into very fine pieces, almost crumbs. You could also use a food processor for this task. The crumbs get sticky if exposed to air for long periods of time, so save this step until you're ready to use them.

Pipe or spread 2 generous teaspoons of filling evenly over flat side of 1 cookie to edges; top with another cookie, flat side down, pressing gently so that the filling comes all the way to the edge of the cookies.

Place the crushed candy canes on a plate or in a shallow bowl. Roll the edges of the cookie sandwiches in crushed candies.

TWD: Devlishly Good Chocolate Shortcakes

2010-11-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

Whew! One major holiday down, one big one to go. Now that I have somewhat recovered, I can tell you that Thanksgiving was epic. My friends, we had three pies and one cake for four adults. Plus whipped cream. And ice cream. It was obscene. There are not enough stretchy-waisted pants in the world to satisfy me after the last week of pie scarfing and cookie dough ball chowin'. So how did I end up making yet another dessert?

Well, when said dessert involves a little of this...

...yeah.

I AM POWERLESS IN THE FACE OF GANACHE. If someone ever puts that slogan on a t-shirt I'll buy one in every color.

This week's TWD recipe was for "Devilish Shortcakes," a chocolate variety of the traditional shortcake. Early bakers reported that they weren't very flavorful on their own, so I decided to jazz mine up with some (woefully out of season and somewhat disappointing) raspberries, whipped cream, and a bittersweet chocolate ganache.

Despite outwardly resembling some things that cannot be mentioned in delicate company, these biscuit-like shortcakes had a nice, subtle chocolate flavor. I used Valhrona cocoa powder, which helped give them some oomph, and I think adding some finely chopped chocolate next time would also be a good idea.

When topped with the berries, soft whipped cream, and warm chocolate sauce, they were pretty incredible. I loved that they were tender on the inside and a little crunchy on top--it reminded me of eating the top layer of a chocolate cake, and everyone knows cake top is the best part! They were mixed and baked in about 25 minutes, which is faster than any chocolate cake I've ever made.

What did everyone else think? Were you all desserted out, or up for a chocolatey diversion?

Adventures in Cookie Dough Balls

2010-11-26T10:00:00.000-08:00

It's the day after Thanksgiving, which means most of us are lolling around, trying to shake off yesterday's food coma while simultaneously justifying today's breakfast of pumpkin pie + whipped cream (vegetables and dairy!). So I really have no business posting about more desserts, especially desserts that are completely unrelated to pumpkins, apples, pilgrims, or Indians.

But.

I have recently been inducted into the mysterious world of cookie dough balls, and I really can't keep it to myself.

Cookie. Dough. Balls?

Oh yes. These are balls of cookie dough baked until barely set in the middle, so that they can be handled like a cookie but retain most of the taste and texture of cookie dough. Think they sound awesome? You're totally right.

I tried two very different recipes, one for chocolate chip, and one for peanut butter chocolate chip. I don't feel like either is my perfect recipe, so I'll probably keep tweaking them, but let's face it, I'm not going to kick these cookie dough balls out of bed, so I figured I'd share the love while I labor in the Cake or Death kitchen perfecting them.

First up: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. These were basically a modified chocolate chip cookie dough, with less butter and more flour, baked cold so that they spread a bit less. While the end result was pretty tasty, I thought the dough needed more sugar, and the cookies were closer to actual cookies than dough balls, even though I baked them less than the time recommended.

The thing is, even imperfect cookie dough balls are still REALLY good. We polished these puppies off posthaste.

Next: peanut butter chip cookies. These were modified from a vegan recipe (hello, buttah) but they could easily be made vegan, since they don't have any eggs and you can re-substitute vegan margarine for the butter. The big difference in these cookies is that they use powdered sugar instead of granulated, which made a huge difference in the texture and produced a much stiffer dough without adding more flour.

The dough was actually too dry and crumbly for me, but after I added a little invert sugar, it held together well and produced this sexy beast:

Soft, melting, but with a slightly crisp exterior...these were seriously good. So if you haven't died of a sugar overdose yet, the recipes are below with my notes and suggested changes. And you'd better believe I'm going to keep fiddling with these until I find the perfect recipe...stay tuned.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls
original recipe from The Chic Life, my changes in red brackets

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 stick butter, softened/room-temp
1 tbsp sugar [I would bump this way up, at least 1/3 cup. Next time I'm going to try powdered sugar instead of granulated, too]
1 egg (or flaxseed-egg)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips [I used 1 cup and had no regrets]

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda.

In a medium bowl, mix sugars and butter till creamy. [I used a stand mixer, but DON'T beat these until light and fluffy. You don't want to add extra air, which will cause them to spread.] Add egg and vanilla and mix till combined.

Mix wet into the dry. Note: it will appear there is not enough liquid for the amount of dry ingredients, but continue mixing. It will form into a dough, it will just be a firm dough. Careful to not overmix.

Gently fold chocolate chips into the dough, without overmixing.

Refrigerate dough for at least 20 minutes before using a small sorbet scoop to scoop out dough into small mounds. Roll each mound into a ball and spread evenly on a baking sheet, leaving roughly 2-3 inches between each ball. Preheat oven to 350 and spread parchment on baking sheets.

Bake balls for 10-14 minutes, depending on how set you want your centers. [I baked for 9 and thought I could have gone a little less]. Let your dough balls rest on the baking sheet to cool at least 5-10 minutes.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls
original recipe from Peas and Thank You, my changes in red brackets

1/2 c. non-dairy margarine [I used sweet, sweet butter]
3/4 c. natural peanut butter [I used 1 cup]
1/2 c. organic brown sugar
3/4 c. organic powdered sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1 c. whole wheat pastry flour [I used 1.5 cups AP]
1/2 c. unbleached organic flour [see above]
1/2 c. natural peanut butter chips
1/2 c. non-dairy chocolate chips
[I added 2 tbsp invert sugar]**

Using a stand mixer, beat margarine, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla until fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, salt and flours.

Add dry mixture to the mixer bowl a little at a time. Mix until a dough forms, add chips, c
combine and chill dough for 30 minutes.

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop dough with a mini ice cream scoop (or your fingers) and place balls on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. [I baked for 10 minutes, they were perfect.] They’ll still be soft and look much like they did going in, but don’t overbake. Let the dough balls rest on the pan for a minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

**Invert sugar is a liquid with a consistency similar to corn syrup, composed of glucose and fructose. A good scientific overview can be found here. It's great to add to cookies if you want them to stay moist and gooey, and it's also great in candies to prevent crystallization and to keep ganache fudgy and soft.

Final Thoughts
I loved the addition of invert sugar--it made the cookies stay really soft and moist and doughy. However since it's not as readily available in grocery stores, I'd like to try to get to a recipe that produces the same effect with common sugars. I think the key is finding the right mix of brown, granulated, and powdered sugars to give them structure without drying them out. More experimenting to come!

TWD: Cranberry-Lime Galette

2010-11-15T18:49:00.000-08:00

For many of us, the capital-H Holidays are approaching, and I don't know about you, but I feel like I've already been run over by a festive seasonal truck and it's barely mid-November. The last few months I've felt like Wile E. Coyote frantically churning my legs in midair, trying to run across the sky without looking down. All of which is to say, I'm sorry I haven't been reading and commenting much on blogs. Or blogging here, for that matter. Or showering as often as I should. (I guess that last one mostly applies to the husband. Love youuuuu.)

The hectic pace recently has made me grateful for simplicity wherever I can find it, like in this week's Cranberry-Lime Galette:

Galettes, or as I like to call them, "pies for lazy people," are a genius invention. Pie dough is piled high with filling, then the edges are folded over and the whole thing is baked on a cookie sheet. No tearing of misshapen top crusts, no crimping of edges, and no trying to wiggle perfect slices out of a reluctant pie tin. It's just fill, fold, bake, and devour. Near-instant gratification.

The filling in this case was a seasonal blend of fresh cranberries, dried cranberries, and apples, plus a surprise sneak attack from lime zest, lime juice, and fresh ginger. I cut down the amount of fresh ginger and it still shone through beautifully. This galette contained a lot of strong flavors, but they all worked surprisingly well together.

I continued my love affair with spiced whipped cream and made another batch flavored with vanilla and cinnamon to top this galette. I think cream--or possibly ice cream--is definitely necessary to mellow the tart flavors and balance everything out. So you have my permission--nay, my orders--to eat this with gobs of whipped cream. It's necessary! And oh so delicious.

You guys, I don't want to freak you out, but Thanksgiving is next week. When did this happen, and what are we going to do about it?? Have you all started planning your menus? Forget all the turkey junk, what are you making for dessert? I'm thinking the Cranberry Shortbread Cake is going to have to make another appearance.

TWD: Cranberry Shortbread Cake

2010-11-09T11:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday afternoon, as I was spoiling my husband's dinner by force-feeding him cranberry cake and whipped cream, he looked me in the eyes and said, with great feeling, "Miy WOUFF Troiusdapes miff Rorfty!"

Fortunately, we have been married long enough that I'm able to translate Full Mouth into English, and knew that he was saying that he loved Tuesdays with Dorie. I have to agree! I have so many wonderful cookbooks that I only consult when I'm baking for a special occasion. I'm sure Baking: From My Home to Yours would be one of those without a weekly obligation to make and blog about a recipe. I'm not sure I ever would have made this Cranberry Shortbread Cake without the prodding of a baking group, but I'm so glad I did.

First, we must discuss this dessert's identity crisis. Shortbread...cake...? Que? To me it tasted most like a double-crusted tart, which is definitely not a bad thing. The crust was similar to a sugar cookie dough, with a great mix of a crackling sugary crust and a tender crumb inside.

Inside is a simple cranberry-orange jam, with enough sugar to round out the tart edges but enough bite to balance the sweet dough. I chickened out a little with the filling, and didn't use all of it because it seemed like it might overwhelm the thin crust. In retrospect I could have used the full amount, but it didn't seem to be lacking for flavor, either.

The real kicker, for me, was the softly whipped cream on top. I added lots of vanilla and a little cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg to the cream, and the combination of spices, aromatic vanilla, and sweet cream on the tart cranberry cake was fantastic. I'm not usually much of a whipped cream fan, but I wanted to put this in a Big Gulp cup and drink it with a straw.

Not that that actually happened.

Ahem.

The final touch was a few of these glazed cranberries. The recipe couldn't be easier--fresh cranberries dunked in whisked egg whites, then rolled in granulated sugar. After an hour or two the sugar crust gets hard, so they almost explode in your mouth when you bite into them. The berries are juicy and fairly sour, but the sugar keeps them from being too lip-puckering. These were the perfect finishing touch to an already perfect dessert. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this recipe and using sauteed apples for the filling, and maybe a strawberry/rhubarb combination come spring.

TWD: Peanuttiest Blondies

2010-11-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

I'm more than a little obsessed with peanut butter--well, with nut butters in general. In my cupboards I have 4 different kinds of peanut butter and 3 other nut butters, and that's not even counting the coconut butter variations. Some might say I have a problem with nut butter consumption, but one person's problem is another person's pleasure.

I have found ways to have peanut butter in practically every meal. In the mornings before I run I have a "banana taco," a banana cut in half lengthwise and spread with a thick layer of chunky peanut butter. I like to have some with my afternoon apple, and I have been known to add a spoonful to soups or stews to give it a hearty, thick flavor. I also have a habit of running my finger around the inside of the jar and then sprinkling the peanut-butter smeared finger with chocolate chips before gnawing on it, but that's not what we're talking about today.

Today we're talking about peanut-chocolate blondies:

I don't mean to be a stickler, but if you're calling something "peanuttiest blondies" I expect to be punched in the face with peanut flavor. These were good, no doubt about it, but I thought the actual peanut taste was pretty mild, considering they had chopped peanuts, peanut butter, and I subbed some peanut flour for regular AP in the mix. I did add quite a bit of chopped chocolate to the mix, so the overall effect was of a peanuttyish chocolate chip bar.

Oh, and I think I overbaked them. I've had a fear of underbaked bar cookies ever since I created this hot mess back in July:

So I had a "better safe than sorry" policy where these bars were concerned, and they took their sweet time in the oven.

Still, these were eagerly devoured around the house and by J's students, and I found that just a thin layer of peanut butter smeared on top made them perfect for me!

The Secret to Stress-Free Birthday Cakes

2010-10-31T17:34:00.000-07:00

Today I would like to share the #1 secret to making amazing birthday cakes without breaking a sweat. It's not having all the fancy kitchen gadgets, although some specialty tools can help. It's not taking expensive baking classes, although you can learn lots from great teachers. And it's not using expensive ingredients, although sometimes it's worth it to pay more. No, the #1 secret to stress-free baking is to watch the time.

Allow me to illustrate this very important principle with an example. Well, it's really more of an anti-example...

This is Ryan. You may remember him from such previous cakes as the Baby You're A Rock Star cake, which he enjoyed while still in the womb. (Aw, baby's first taste of sugar.) Ryan recently celebrated his first birthday and I was lucky enough to be asked to do the baby cake and mini cupcakes for the party. Here's how it went down:

Get the email with the party details, everything's great.
Finalize the numbers and flavors and decorating ideas, everything's great.
Do all the prep work the day before, everything's great.
Get up the morning of the party and get started baking the cupcakes and decorating the cake. Everything is still great.

After a leisurely morning of swanning around the kitchen, fiddling with different tasks, I check my email to make sure that I have everything covered and all the details in order. Only then, upon closer reading, do I discover that I mis-read the party invitation and what I thought was the start time was actually the end time. Suddenly I am running an hour and a half behind, and the party is supposed to start in 10 minutes. And the cake's not quite done. And the cupcakes aren't frosted or decorated. And I haven't showered yet. And, oh yeah, it's a 25 minute drive to the party house. Commence panic.

The next 45 minutes were spent tearing around the house like a Tasmanian devil, piping cupcakes like a madwoman, trying to strike a balance between finishing everything and not being unforgivably late. It was not my finest moment.

Of course, this story has a happy(ish) ending. I made it to the party about an hour late, which, while embarrassing, still left plenty of time to have Ryan eat the cake and let the guests enjoy the cupcakes. My friend Jane, the hostess, was beyond gracious and understanding. And the cake and cupcakes turned out pretty well. There were things about the cake I didn't have time to fix, and cute fondant cut-outs that didn't make it on top of the cupcakes, but I'm trying not to focus on the negatives.

The guidelines Jane gave me were to use shades of blue, green, and brown, and to try to work in a striped pattern. I did that for the bottom layer, but since I know Jane is a wee bit ~~fond of~~ obsessed with argyle I thought it would be fun to do one of the layers in an argyle pattern. It turned out to be my favorite look, by far. I wish I'd done all the layers argyle...but then I would have been about 4 hours late to the party!

This picture is for my adolescent self, who would scowl in geometry class and huff, "When will I ever use this in real life?" Drink it up, Past Liz, you could have used a little more geometry learnin' this weekend. Diamond measuring is hard work.

I made the 1 out of rice crispy treats, which is a fabulous trick when you need to sculpt something with hard edges or difficult details. I didn't love how the plaid turned out, so next time it's all argyle all the way. Live and learn!

It wouldn't be a post about a first birthday cake without a few pictures of the cake carnage.

This picture pretty much sums up Ryan's whole attitude toward the cake-eating. He was extremely suspicious of the whole enterprise--I think he thought we were playing a trick on him.
After taking a few exploratory bites, he found what he really loved about the cake: pounding it flat. He made like Animal and wailed on the cake, sending cake shrapnel flying through the air. I laughed, and then I cried, and then I took about a million pictures.
The end result was a horrifying swamp of cake and frosting covering him, and his high chair, and a swath of floor around him. Good thing there were cupcakes for the guests to enjoy, because no one was eating that cake when he was done with it.

I made two kinds of mini cupcakes: S'mores and Caramel Apple.

The S'mores cupcakes were a rich chocolate devil's food, with a thin layer of graham crumbs on the base and a sprinkling of graham on top before they baked. The cupcakes were topped with a vanilla marshmallow frosting that was lightly torched for that toasted marshmallow-round-the-campfire flavor.
The caramel apple cupcakes were the brainchild of Jane's husband, Seth. I was actually a little less excited about them because to me, apple cupcakes = muffins. And we all know muffins aren't so exciting. However, it turns out if you add enough sugary accessories to apple cupcakes, they're awesome. Here they were filled with a mix of caramel sauce and apple butter, then topped with a caramel buttercream and a caramel drizzle.

The S'mores and Apple Caramel Cupcake recipes are below.

S'mores Cupcakes

Basic Chocolate Cupcakes
Yield: 1-6" round, 1-4" round, and 48 mini cupcakes (make a 2/3 batch if you just want 48 mini or 24 regular cupcakes)

9 oz butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp chocolate extract (optional)
1.5 cups buttermilk, room temperature
3/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
3 tbsp lukewarm coffee (can use water instead)
2-2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1.5 cups BEST QUALITY cocoa powder, Dutch-processed (I use Valrhona)
2-1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and 2 sugars on high speed until light and fluffy, approximately 5 minutes. Lower the speed to medium, add the eggs 1 at a time, then add the vanilla and mix well. In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, sour cream, and coffee. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. On low speed, add the buttermilk mixture and the flour mixture alternately in thirds to the mixer bowl, beginning with the buttermilk mixture and ending with the flour mixture. Mix only until blended. Fold the batter with a rubber spatula to be sure it's completely blended.

Divide the batter among the cupcake pans (1 rounded standard ice cream scoop per cup is the right amount). Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, remove from the pans, and allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make S'mores variation: mix 1 cup graham crumbs with 1/4 cup granulated sugar. Melt 1/4 cup butter and stir it into the graham mixture. Place a small spoonful (about 1/2 tsp) of graham mixture in the bottom of each muffin cup and press it down evenly. Fill the cups with cake batter, then sprinkle more graham on top of each before baking.

Marshmallow Frosting
8 large egg whites, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.

Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined. Use immediately.

After piping on cupcakes, use a kitchen torch to lightly toast the outside of the frosting. If you don't have the torch you can try sticking them under the broiler for 20-30 seconds at a time, carefully watching them the whole time. I have a very old, very crotchety oven that doesn't heat evenly, so I wouldn't trust it to brown these sufficiently, but you may have better luck.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

Apple Cupcakes
Yields: about 55 mini cupcakes

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 cups coarsely shredded apples, liquid squeezed out

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; mix in apples. Don't worry if the batter looks broken at this point. Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until just combined.

Divide batter among lined cups, filling about 3/4 full to get generous, crowning apple cupcakes. Bake until tops are springy to the touch, about 15 minutes for mini cupcakes. Remove cupcakes from tins; transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.

Brown Sugar Buttercream
Yield: enough to frost 55+ mini cupcakes (7-8 cups?)

8 large egg whites, room temperature
2.5 cups packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
5 sticks (20 oz) unsalted butter, soft but cool to the touch

Put egg whites, sugar, and salt into the bowl of a standing mixer set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly, until hot to the touch, about 5 minutes.

Beat in the mixer using the whisk attachment on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, and the bowl is no longer hot to the touch, about 6-8 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition. It's normal for the meringue to deflate and look soupy at this point. If your meringue wasn't hot when you started adding it, and your butter was cool but supple to the touch, you should be okay. Beat until frosting is smooth and glossy, 3 to 5 minutes. Buttercream can be refrigerated airtight for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature, and beat before using.

Caramel Sauce
Yield: about 2 cups

1/2 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
4 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream, warmed to 100 degrees F
1/2 cup full fat sour cream
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Pinch salt (less than 1/8 teaspoon)

Combine the water, sugar, and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Stir them together with very clean fingers, making sure no lumps of dry sugar remain. Brush down the insides of the pan with a little water, using your hand to feel for any stray granules of sugar.

Cover the saucepan and place it over medium heat for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, remove the lid, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil. Do not stir from this point on. Keep an eye on the pan. It will be very bubbly. When stray sugar crystals appear on the side of the pan, brush them down with a wet pastry brush.

As the sugar cooks, the bubbles will get larger. Insert a candy thermometer, and when the temperature reaches 300 degrees F, lower the heat to medium, which will slow the cooking. Continue to cook the sugar until it reaches 350 degrees F. It will be dark brown. Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit for 1 minute, or until the bubbles subside.

Add the cream to the caramel. It will bubble up vigorously, so be careful.

Vigorously whisk in the sour cream, lemon juice, and salt. This sauce is now ready to be served warm or cooled to room temperature. It will keep stored airtight in the refrigerator for up to 1 month.

To make the caramel buttercream:
Have buttercream in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and turn mixer to medium-low. With mixer running, add about 3/4 cup of room temperature caramel sauce--it should be the same temperature as the buttercream, not warmer or cooler. Once it's completely incorporated taste the frosting, and add a bit more caramel if you want the flavor to be more pronounced.

To assemble the caramel apple cupcakes: Poke a hole in the middle of each cupcake. I mixed together some caramel sauce and apple butter, since I had apple butter languishing in the refrigerator, but you can use straight caramel sauce if you want. Squirt a little sauce in the center of each cupcake. Pipe the caramel buttercream on top, and finish with a drizzle of the remaining caramel sauce.

TWD: All-American Apple Pie

2010-10-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

It is said that people are either Beatles fans or Rolling Stones fans, and that your musical choice explains a lot about who you are as a person. I prefer to group people in entirely different categories: are you a cake person or a pie person?

For myself, I fall firmly on the "cake" side of this equation. Preferably a big layer cake, definitely chocolate, and absolutely slathered with silky, luscious frosting. This might say something about my personality--and it might also account for my snug waistband right about now--but it also explains why I ~~rarely~~ never make pies for our casual consumption.

That being said, if I'm going to make a pie, it's going to be a big, beautiful, bursting apple pie. There's just something I love about watching a pie go from this...

...to this...

And giving credit where credit is due, this is an excellent apple pie recipe, from the perfectly flaky crust to the juicy and flavorful filling. You can tell how sinful the crust is from the pockets of butter scattered throughout the dough:

And look at the result! I would never top an apple pie with a streusel crust, because I think the crisp, crackling top crust is one of the best things about an apple pie. Even though pies aren't at their best when they're piping hot, I love the crust fresh from the oven, when it shatters when you pierce it with a fork, sending buttery shards everywhere.

My only changes were to use a mix of apples (Granny Smith and Gala) and to substitute corn starch for the tapioca--I am not a tapioca-in-fillings fan. I unfortunately had to photograph this pie when it was still quite warm, and it hadn't really mellowed yet. I liked it much better once it was room temperature (or even cold from the fridge!) and the filling had gelled around the apples a bit, keeping them juicy and moist.
The only miss for me was the lemon zest in the filling--that was too jarring. In the future I'll stick to lemon juice and reserve the zest for lemon-flavored desserts only.

I made a brown sugar ice cream to go along with the pie, and it tasted awesome when I made the base. I was so excited to share it with you guys! Unfortunately, I put on my mad scientist jacket and tried adding some xanthan gum to it, to make it more creamy...and added about four times too much. When I took it out to churn it after its chilling period, it was the texture of snot. No joke! It was sort of repulsive, actually. I whisked in some more liquid, and although it thinned out, it never really recovered. This one is going back to the drawing board, but hopefully I'll have a successful brown sugar ice cream recipe to share with you soon.

So how's about it: are you fine folks cake people or pie people? I promise not to judge you too much based on your choice.

Violet Velvet & Fondant Flowers

2010-10-24T15:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend I made a violet velvet cake for a friend of a friend's bridal shower. What is a violet velvet cake, you ask? Well, it's just like red velvet, only it's purple.
Duh.
I wish I had a picture of the cake when it was cut, because it was this deep dark purple color alternating with stripes of cream cheese frosting. Alas. I DO have pictures of the outside to show you, though, full of violetty things, like flowers.

Close-up of the baby flowers along the bottom border:

And on top of the cake:

I thought it would be fun to do a little tutorial on how to make these flowers. It's not rocket science but sometimes step-by-step photos make things a bit easier. Here we go!

Optimally, you will need:
*fondant (not pictured, because I forgot. Eh. Gumpaste also works)
*flower cutters
*veining tool (teal)
*bone tool (purple)
*foam
*teensy, tiny paint brush
*food coloring
*lots of time on your hands

Start by rolling your fondant out very thin, about 1/8 inch, and cut out your flowers. Don't do all the fondant at once, because in the time it'll take you to shape the flowers the fondant will be drying out, and the ones that you get to last might be too brittle. So do a handful at a time.

A word about fondant flowers: they're definitely more delicate than gumpaste. But seriously, gumpaste tastes terrible, and it's rock-hard. At least with fondant, if people want to eat it they can without losing a tooth or wanting to sandpaper their tongue. So for this cake, where I didn't need the decorations to have any sort of long-term staying power, I went with fondant. But just be aware that they drying flowers will be more brittle and prone to breakage. Moving on!

Place the flower on the thin sheet of foam and press the veining tool in the center of the petal--this gives it a neat 3-D effect. The foam, quite honestly, is totally replaceable--you could use a soft cloth napkin of piece of felt. And I think the veining tool could be replaced by the thin edge of this handy orange peeler I have--seriously, the shape is very similar.

If you want to make curved flowers, move the flower to the thicker foam and press the bone tool in the middle, to create a cupped shape. Again, you can make substitutions: maybe a clean, soft sponge for the foam, and a pencil (eraser side) for the bone tool.

Now what you SHOULD do is transfer the curved flower to a curved flower mold to dry. But I don't have one of those, so I'm going to make a substitution of my own: empty egg cartons! Works like a charm. You can even layer multiple flowers on top of each other so you can do much more than just 12 flowers at a time.

Once the flowers are dry (anywhere from several hours-overnight, depending on the moisture in the fondant, the thickness, the humidity level, etc) you can add some decorations. I took the world's weensiest paintbrush (purchased from a craft store in the painting section) and dipped it in food coloring and painted some contrasting strokes inside the petals: purple on the white flowers, and white on the purple.

Did you know they make white food coloring? The world is an amazing place.

Finally, pipe a dot in the center of your flowers. Royal icing is a great idea here, I just used buttercream because it's what I had on hand and I knew the cake would be eaten and the flowers disposed of in a short amount of time.

Voila! Do this about a million more times and you'll have a nice collection of flowers! It is a bit time consuming, but it's fairly mindless work, and I got all caught up on my Top Chef and Project Runway viewing when doing it. (Speaking of: how is it possible that Gretchen is going to the finals? Aaaaaahhhhh!)

The final step is to stick them on your cake. I usually like to pipe a few vines on before I stick my flowers down, just because they always look naked to me otherwise. Fondant tends to sweat when placed in the fridge--especially when placed on a soft, sticky, non-crusting frosting like cream cheese--so I wouldn't chance putting a fully decorated cake in the fridge overnight. Too risky! I did almost everything the night before, and then just added the flowers in the morning before the party.

TWD: Fold-Over Pear Torte

2010-10-13T00:43:00.000-07:00

What a strange little hybrid dessert this was.

It uses pie dough, but it's baked in a springform pan. The filling is chopped fresh pears, and pecans, and dried apricots. It's all held together with a vanilla custard, and then the pie crust is partially folded over the edges. So many things going on! It's like five different desserts got together and had a baby and named it Fold-Over Pear Torte--confusing in and of itself, since isn't a torte a European cake?--and baked it in my oven for fifty kajillion minutes during which butter leaked out of the pan and burned in the oven and filled the kitchen with stinky smoke and....somewhere along the way this sentence turned from a convoluted simile into straightforward whining. Apologies!

At the end of the day, this was better than I thought it would be, but I admit my expectations were low because it seemed so random. The truth is, most of these elements are not my favorite things--cooked pears and custard and pie crust, to name a few--so it probably didn't have a chance at winning my heart. The hubs and I were both pleasantly surprised at how not-gross it was, to give you the world's most lukewarm endorsement.

The real problem, of course, is that it's not a looker, and we all know how I like to judge books by their cover.

What did everyone else think? Were you able to see past the ugly duckling exterior and devour the tasty swan inside?*

*This time, it's a metaphor that's gone awry. Forgive me.

TWD: Double Apple Bundt Cake, Drenched in Deliciousness

2010-10-04T22:16:00.000-07:00

If you were around these parts for last week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, you may recall some apple-pickin' shenanigans that resulted in a half-bushel of apples taking up residence in my kitchen. Yes, my friends, they are still with us. [looks guiltily in the direction of the kitchen, overflowing with apples] Fortunately I've had a few more opportunities to bake with them, including this week's stellar recipe, Double Apple Bundt Cake.

This was actually the second apple bundt cake I've made in a week. The first was a variation on the Paris Hilton of internet apple cake recipes (surely that is a real category?), Mom's Apple Cake from Smitten Kitchen. Friends, I was not impressed. That particular cake has garnered over 500 fawning comments but I think Dorie's apple cake is much, much better. Maybe the Smitten Kitchen cake is not meant to be a bundt. I do not know. What I DO know is that I'm bummed I brought that gross cake to a potluck earlier this week instead of this other, far superior one! Superior, you say? Superior, indeed:

If you are wondering why my apple bundt cake looks drenched in deliciousness, it's because I made a brown sugar frosting for it. You might think the cake is moist enough, tasty enough, flavorful enough, sweet enough on its own, and it does not need a brown sugar frosting. You would be wrong. Fact: there is no apple cake that cannot be improved by a brown sugar frosting.

Especially a frosting that is thick and fudgy, with caramelized brown sugar notes, a hint of vanilla and maple, and a punch of salt in every bite. No, really. Check out this salt:

I didn't use salt in the frosting itself, but I sprinkled a large-grained sea salt liberally on top of the frosting. I wanted not just the flavor, but the texture of the salt to come through. I'm in love with this flaky sea salt and the way it pops in your mouth. I think a noticeable hit of salt is so necessary, especially in a dessert like this that could easily tip into the cloyingly sweet category.

I used my new favorite thing, Maldon Sea Salt. It's a great all-purpose large-flake sea salt that is perfect for finishing dishes (salted caramels, anyone?) because it keeps its texture well and crunches in the mouth. It's not wet (those moist sea salts creep me out) and it's reasonably priced--I got mine for about $6 total from saltworks. (I have no relationship with them at all, I just thought it was a monster steal and I'm in love, I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!)

Another exciting product going into this cake?

Okay, so fresh nutmeg is not exactly breaking news. BUT did you know you can buy it super-cheap at Cost Plus? 99 cents for about 8 nutmegs! (...nutmeg nuts? nutmeg megs? nutmeg seed pods? What do you call those??) Thus concludes today's Cheap Ingredient Shopping with Liz segment. Next week: vanilla pods on ebay!

So yes, if you were able to read between the lines of my product-bedazzled ramblings, this cake was phenomenal. I loved the way the grated apples melted into the cake, the extra apple kick from the apple butter, and the way it stayed so moist and flavorful day after day. It seems to keep getting better the longer it sits on the counter. I used plump dried cranberries and cinnamon pecans in the cake, and both of those were wonderful additions as well. I know I can sometimes be harsh on recipes (it's only because I love!) but I truly can't imagine improving on this.

The recipe will be posted on Lynne of Honey Muffin's blog, and the brown sugar frosting recipe is below.

Brown Sugar Frosting
Adapted from King Arthur Flour's brown sugar frosting

5 tablespoons (2 1/2 ounces) butter
1/2 cup (3 1/4 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark)
3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) cream
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tsp maple extract
hefty pinch of salt

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the brown sugar and cook, stirring, until the sugar melts. It might look separated, but that's okay. Stir in the cream, and it should all come together. Bring the mixture to a boil, then pour it into a mixing bowl to cool for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, stir in the confectioners' sugar, salt, maple extract, and vanilla. Beat well--I beat for about 30-45 seconds. If the mixture appears too thin, add more confectioners' sugar, if it's too thick, add a spoonful of hot water. Be aware that it sets up QUICKLY. Pour it over the cake while it's still warm. Know that it's hard to go back and correct mistakes because it starts setting and crusting soon after being poured, so one option is to put it in a large Ziploc bag and cut off a corner. Pipe the frosting over the top so it drips down where you want it to. Sprinkle any toppings on right away.

Tarts Worth Writing About

2010-10-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

I've had a few summer posts lurking around waiting to be completed, and now that it's October the time for fresh berry desserts has almost passed! Quickly, quickly now...

It all started with a new kitchen in a new apartment in a new city. Or rather...

A sweet pistachio tart crust in a new kitchen in a new apartment in a new city.

A light and luscious lemon cream in a sweet pistachio tart crust in a new kitchen in a new apartment in a new city.

Soft, ripe berries on a light and luscious lemon cream in a sweet pistachio tart crust in a new kitchen in a new apartment in a new city.

And best of all, some good friends to help us eat the soft, ripe berries on a light and luscious lemon cream in a sweet pistachio tart crust in a new kitchen in a new apartment in a new city!

When we had our housewarming party a month (...or two...) ago I made these cute mini tarts to celebrate. At the time, they fit the season perfectly: light, fresh, vibrant as the summer sunshine. Now it's a bit harder to find good berries at the market, but the tart dough and cream can still be made, and they could be topped with candied citrus peel, pomegranate seeds, or caramelized nuts.

Honestly, making these in mini muffin tins is a pain. The dough goes from rock-hard to super-soft in a matter of minutes, so it's a constant race between the table, the fridge, and the freezer. They have to be gently rolled and cut and pressed and trimmed and chilled and baked and then ever so gently coaxed out of the tins without shattering--my personal obstacle--and if you're like me and you only have two tins, you're ensnared in this process all morning and wondering what the heck is wrong with a full-sized tart anyways?

But really, I didn't mind. No, really. Because these tarts were about more than taking a good picture or having a cute centerpiece. The time I spent making these, rolling and scraping and pressing and nibbling on dough, in my pjs with flour in my hair, I had a heart full of gratitude. For our new apartment, for our old friends, for the luxury of time to make the tarts--to spend hours on stupid miniature crusts!--and for the money to buy fresh berries. I kept thinking how lucky I was, in this life.

It was all connected. And it turned what could have been a chore--what, too often, IS a chore in my overscheduled head--into an exercise in seeing the beauty and blessings in the world. And that is why these tarts are worth writing about, no matter what season it is.

Sweet Pistachio Tart Dough

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup ground pistachios (I like roasted & salted)
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6.75 oz very cold butter, cubed
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, ground nuts, confectioners' sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is cut in coarsely. Add the egg yolk and process in long pulses - about 10 seconds each - until the dough just starts forming clumps. Just before your reaches this clumpy stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change. Wrap the dough in cling wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.

Luscious Lemon Cream
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan's "Most Extraordinary Lemon Cream Tart"

1 cup sugar
zest of 3 lemons
4 large eggs
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Put the sugar and zest in a double boiler or a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy, and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice.

Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. Whisk constantly until it's thick, opaque, and the whisk leaves tracks. This might take 10-15 minutes to get to 180 F.

As soon as it reaches 180F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of a blender. Let the cream stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.

Turn the blender to high and, with the machine going, add the butter a few chunks at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going for 3 minutes. Although it will look blended before then, this extended whipping will give it a light, mousse-like texture.

Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. When you are ready to assemble the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell.

To assemble the tarts

Spray mini muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray and preheat the oven to 350 F. Dust a work station with flour and divide the tart dough in thirds. Keep two-thirds of it in the fridge and work with one third at a time. Roll it out very thinly on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Since we are making mini tarts the crust should be delicate and thin so it doesn't overwhelm the filling.

Use a large circular cutter to cut circles of tart dough--mine were about 3" wide. Gently lift the circles from the table and, one at a time, press them into the mini muffin cavities. Use a sharp knife or an offset spatula to trim the top and get a fairly smooth edge--it won't be perfect, but after they're baked they'll look fine. Freeze the first mini muffin tray while you form the second. If your dough gets too soft to work with, re-roll it and put it back in the freezer while you work with one of the chilled rounds in the fridge.

Once one of the muffin tins in the freezer is frozen, bake off the shells until they're light brown, about 10-12 minutes, rotating halfway throughout. Let them cool in the tins before attempting to remove, then gently slide them out and let them cool completely.

Fill with lemon cream (I found a pastry bag was easiest for this purpose) and top with season fruit or nuts.

TWD: Apple Tarte Fine

2010-09-27T21:47:00.000-07:00

I made this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, a slender apple tart with puff pastry, and it was oh so good.

But the real story belongs to the humble apples that went into the tart, and where they came from.
My friends, I went apple-pickin' this week! Brace yourselves for a plethora (a gaggle? a herd? a murder?) of apple-pickin' pictures, and please do say that to yourselves in a country accent in your heads. If you're not the apple-pickin' type, there is more tart deliciousness at the end of the post, so scroll on down. I won't mind too much.

My very favorite sous-chef, my ma (of Tuesdays with Mommie fame One, Two, and Three) was in town visiting. What better field trip than to drive an hour outside of Pasadena, into the mountains of San Bernadino, and visit Oak Glen, an apple-pickin' paradise?

Our first stop was Riley's Farm, which offers U-Pick apples, pears, and raspberries. We were wildly optimistic and decided we needed a half bushel of apples, and I foolishly opted for the raspberries too. Did you guys know raspberry bushes have wicked thorns? Truth.

We know a thing or two about fruit trees, but we still felt like city slickers in the midst of the apple groves, wandering around trying to figure out which varieties they were, and if they were really ripe. Most of the apples were fairly small and many seemed quite green, even when they pulled from the tree easily. When it seemed like all the good apples were high up in the branches, my mom took matters into her own hands and employed THE CLAW to pick the tree tops.

Jason disproved the common wisdom that "white men can't jump" and eschewed the wooden claw in favor of his own hands and impressive vertical leap:

By the end we had a box overflowing with freshly picked apples and pears, still warm from the summer sun.
Next stop was Snow-Line Orchard. We already had more apples than we knew what to do with, so why a second apple farm stop?

I'll give you a hint:

Snow-Line is famous for their apple cider doughnuts. To look at them they don't seem so special. They're small, maybe 2 inches across, and rolled in a light coating of cinnamon and sugar. They're sold by the dozen, and not to flaunt our piggishness, but we easily polished off 2 dozen between the 3 of us.

They didn't have a strong apple flavor, but the cider did lend a deeper sweetness that was marvelous with the cinnamon-sugar on the outside. I honestly don't know what made them so good, but they were light, and crispy, perfectly fried and still soft on the inside. Our visit to Snow-Line consisted mostly of moaning and making these faces:

Once we got home and faced the mountain of apples, we knew we had to act fast. Fortunately, the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe this week called for apples (but, um, I'll need to make this tart 25 more times before I use up my stash).

I love the simplicity and elegance of this tart, but just like with the Parisian Apple Tart before it, I always make some modifications when baking apples in puff pastry, and I thought I'd share my tips to getting the perfect tart.

First suggestion: if you want clean lines around the tart, make a border. I prefer an even crust all along the outside, so after the tart is rolled out, I use a pizza cutter to cut thin (less than 1" strips) from the length and width of the rectangle. Brush the edges of the tart with a little egg wash, then press the strips along the outer edges of the tart. When it bakes up, you'll have a nice square shape, instead of lumpy edges with apples poking into them.

Second suggestion: cook the apples. I know, I know, the beauty of this tart is that it's so simple, and cooking the apples beforehand adds more time and complication. But honestly, every time I use this method I end up with apples that have dried out due to high heat and extended baking times. I prefer to take a little more time to make luscious apples that taste great, even after a long bake.

And really, sauteeing apples is pretty low-stress. I don't even measure, I just eyeball things. I put a good-sized chunk of butter (3 tbsp?) in an iron skillet and let it melt until it's foamy. Add a cup (or two!) of sugar, and slowly let it dissolve, stirring as little as possible. Squeeze some lemon juice on top to prevent crystallization. Let the sugar get to be a nice dark brown color, then add the apples. The caramel will seize--not to worry. As the apples cook, it'll liquify once again, and soon your apples will be swimming in a delicious caramel soup. You can add other things at this point--I added the seeds from a vanilla pod and a little cinnamon. Simmer until the apples are soft and have taken on some color, then remove them with a slotted spoon and let them cool. Once cool, you can arrange them on your pastry and you're good to go. They have an awesome flavor and stay nice and soft in the oven.

Bonus: keep the saucepan on the stove, add some cream, and cook it down. You now have a delicious apple-caramel sauce to put on your tart! It pairs wonderfully with vanilla ice cream and this warm apple tart:

We pretty much destroyed this tart in the space of one afternoon. I have no regrets. I'd do it all again. And with the mountain of apples staring me down, I just might!

A Tale of Two Tarts

2010-09-21T11:36:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been making a lot of Monets.

No, I haven't taken up impressionist painting. I mean "Monets" in the Clueless sense of the word. Desserts that look amazing, but upon closer inspection--or tasting--leave something to be desired. This is tragic for a number of reasons--wasted hours and ingredients, for instance--but the biggest disappointment is that I'm left with pictures that I love, and a lackluster recipe to go with it. I couldn't possibly post the duds, right?

But then I thought, wait. Why should delicious desserts have all the fun? Shouldn't there be a place in our blogging world for the runners-up, the wannabes, the mediocre Monets? Of course!

I present A Tale of Two Tarts.

First up: Fresh Fig Tart with Rosemary Cornmeal Crust and Lemon Mascarpone Cream

As Dickens so eloquently wrote, it was the best of tarts, it was the worst of tarts. It was the tastiest of toppings, it was the grossest of crusts and fillings. A true literary and culinary genius, that Chuck Dickens.

I was gifted with a bounty of fresh figs, and after eating about a pound of them straight from the bag, decided to turn them into a tart. I don't always love the pulpy texture of cooked figs, so I decided to make a tart that used fresh figs instead. This recipe seemed perfect. The unique crust recipe called for fresh rosemary and cornmeal, and the filling was a mix of mascarpone cream, sour cream, and lemon zest. Fresh figs were sliced on top and finished with a light glaze.

I don't want to totally pan this recipe because I think it has potential. The crust was way too savory for me. I felt like I should scrape out the cream and serve it with chili. I think the idea of adding rosemary is good, but next time I would add some chopped rosemary to a traditional pate sucree recipe, to get the flavor without sacrificing a tender pastry. The cream was also a problem. I used homemade mascarpone, which was a bit stiffer than store-bought, so I had to work it to loosen it and it ended up breaking. Completely my fault, but it still wasn't so appetizing to have curdled cream inside a taco shell-esque crust, topped by fresh figs. Uh, yum?

Tart the second: David Lebovitz's Chez Panisse Almond Tart

My very first pastry job was at a bakery where we made a very similar almond tart, so I had all sorts of warm snuggly nostalgic feelings as I was making this tart. There's something comforting about the simplicity of a buttery crust, crunchy almonds, and chewy, creamy caramel holding it all together. What could go wrong?

Well, you could overbake the tart, for one thing. Make sure you forget to set the timer and lose track of how long it's been in the oven. Then grow paranoid that it's underbaked and you'll be serving raw tart to your guests (yes, you've invited guests to "enjoy" this tart) so bake it an extra 10 minutes, for good luck.

Then serve the tart with honey-vanilla ice cream, preferably on top of each slice, so the cold ice cream can make the caramel harden and become impossible to cut or bite through. Now sit back and watch your guests try their hardest to gracefully eat their slices.

Neither one of these recipes was a true disaster, and I do think that I'll make them again. I'm older, wiser, and know not to follow the cornmeal crust recipe, or overwork my mascarpone, or lose track of the time the almond tart has been in the oven. I mean, tarts this beautiful deserve to taste as good as they look, right?

Coming up next: mini tarts that are total Baldwins.*

*I fear the Clueless lexicon is perhaps not entirely appropriate for food writing.

TWD: Summer Peach Upside-Downer

2010-09-14T09:51:00.000-07:00

The house I grew up in had a wonderful backyard full of fruit trees, including two peach trees that produced pounds and pounds of peaches during the summer months. I took this for granted, in the way that children do, and didn't appreciate the blessing of having so much fresh, delicious, free fruit growing at my fingertips. If I thought about it at all, it would be to complain about having to pick up the rotting fruit from the ground--which truly is a horrible chore--or the long, sticky days of canning peach slices and making peach jam.

Now I am older. Wiser. A buyer of my own produce, and a pincher of my own pennies. And a green-eyed monster when I hear others casually talk about their fruit trees, or berry bushes, or tomato plants. Now that I buy all of my produce at the farmers market, I wish I could have my childhood over again--I would spent whole afternoons just devouring the peaches, or the plums, or the strawberries that were so available and so unappreciated. The market yields good fruit, yes--bless sunny southern California--but I can only buy so many $12 bags of fuzzy peaches before the food budget is shot. Sometimes at the end of a particularly expensive farmers market trip, I feel like Scarlett O'Hara. I stand by my car, clutch my bulging bags of overpriced tomatoes, and shake my fists towards the sky: "As God is my witness, I will one day grow my own fruits and vegetables!"

Alas, dramatic pronouncements have so far failed to get me any closer to having a yard of my own, so for this week's cake I again relied on farmer's market peaches, the same ones I used to make grilled peaches and poundcake. The original recipe was for cranberry upside-down cake, which looked--and sounded--delicious. But with temperatures still in the 80s, it feels much more like summer still than fall, and I wanted to spend a little more time with summer fruits before the fall pumpkin and apple-palooza.

The verdict: aaaaaalright. It was missing something--maybe the crunch of nuts, or a more robust flavor from cranberries. The peaches were nice, but once baked, they had the unmistakable texture of those summer-packed canned peaches of my childhood, and the mild, slightly spiced cake underneath just didn't bring enough flavor for me. I love the idea of the cranberry-upside down cake, so once it really starts to feel like fall around here, I'm going to try it again.

Things I Have Been Doing Instead of Blogging Here

2010-09-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you a secret, but you have to promise to not get mad. The truth is, I make a lot of things that I never get around to blogging about. I know, shocking. It's not that they're not good, or that the photos didn't turn out, it's just that the act of baking and photographing is so much easier for me to fit into my day than the work of blog writing. I suspect this is a problem many of us have. It is something I'm working on--or, more realistically, something I'm hoping to plan on intending to work on--but in the meantime, I wanted to share some other fun things I've been doing around these here internets that haven't made it onto Cake or Death.

Honey cake for Rosh Hashanah

Okay, so the holiday technically started last night, but it's not too late to make honey cake! This one is moist and really flavorful, with lots of spices. I put together this recipe for the Oh Nuts blog, and you can find it on their site with lots of step-by-step pictures.

Deep-Fried Candy Bars Video

I've started making lots of video tutorials for About.com, and these are one of my favorites. You can practically smell the oil frying when you watch it. I did deep-fried candy bars and deep-fried Oreos on the same day, but in my opinion, the candy bars are waaaay better. I still have to try Twinkies, though! Anyone here done those yet?

Candy Sushi Video

Another video recipe for About. The trickiest thing about this, no lie, is finding green fruit roll-ups. I'm beginning to think the market's fixed, because every grocery store I visited was full of tie-dyed and rainbow and stamped roll-ups, but finding plain colored ones was ridiculously difficult. As soon as I get my personal blogging sorted out, I'm going to write an expose blowing the lid off the fruit roll-up industry.

Banana Split Truffles Tutorial

No video recipe here, just a good old-fashioned photo tutorial showing how to make these adorable banana split truffles. The filling is a banana-white chocolate ganache, and then the dipped truffles are decorated to look like the world's cutest army of mini ice cream sundaes. This decorating technique is also perfect for banana cupcakes: just use an ice cream scoop to top them with a scoop of buttercream, and drizzle them with chocolate ganache and all the fixin's.

TWD: Peanut Buter Crisscrosses

2010-09-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

The last time I made peanut butter cookies, I was less than impressed with the results. In fact, I got a little sassy and called the sorry flavorless cookies downright "wussy." (And I won't take it back!) So I was definitely ready to try a different peanut butter cookie recipe for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

Plus, this time, I had a secret weapon!

Have you guys seen/tried peanut flour yet? I started reading about it on blogs this year, and then about a month ago my local Trader Joe's started carrying it. I immediately bought a bag, got it home, realized I didn't know WHAT to do with it, and stuck it in the back of the cupboard, where it languished until this past week. (One day I hope to be cured of my impulsive grocery-buying ways. Except not really.)

I'd read of people using it to flavor their smoothies and oatmeal--it packs a lot of protein and peanut flavor, with much less fat and calories than actual peanut butter. I hadn't read about people using it for baking, but someone's got to be the first, right?

Since I'd never baked with peanut flour before, I stayed conservative. I made a half batch, which called for 1.25 cups of flour, so I used 1 cup of AP and 1/4 cup of peanut flour. I also added teensy chocolate chips in addition to the chopped salted peanuts. I would have tried the cocoa powder variation, but I wanted to see how the batter worked with the peanut flour before adding any other variations to the mix.

Now of course, the problem with this experiment is that I didn't have a control group of cookies--ones baked without the peanut flour. (I never claimed to be a scientist!) So I can't really say how much the peanut flour changed the texture or flavor of these cookies. I can say that their texture didn't seem negatively affected at all--they were still soft in the middle with a crisp outside edge.

The flavor, too, was good. They didn't hit you over the head with their peanutty-ness, which is either good or bad depending on your tastes. I would have expected maybe a stronger peanut flavor, but maybe I have dull taste buds, or maybe it would have been even fainter without the peanut flour. I am curious to try it again and substitute even more peanut flour and see what happens. I can also see it being awesome in brownies or chocolate cookies, to give them a bit of a Reese's taste.

Q: Any other peanut flour users here? What recipes should I use it in?

TWD: Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

2010-09-01T11:36:00.000-07:00

Shortbreads aren't the kind of cookies I usually crave. I guess they have their place at the side of a coffee cup, but given the choice, I'll always opt for good old chocolate chip cookies. So as I was dutifully making these cookies, I was already scheming about who I could gift them to--what unsuspecting friend or coworker would be the "beneficiary" of my "generosity" while unknowingly supporting both my overuse of mental quotation marks and my bake-but-don't-partake habit?

Well--spoiler alert!--I did give most of these away, but it was a bittersweet parting, because I ended up loving these humble little shortbread tiles.

The original recipe was for an Espresso-Chocolate shortbread cookie, but I'm not an espresso sort of girl, so already half the cookie's raison d'être was eliminated. I instead decided to add some warm fall spices to the dough. It started with cinnamon but soon I found myself shaking in big dashes of ginger, allspice, and cloves. In the finished product the spices were pretty subtle, just a little hint of interest that lingered and made you take another bite, and then another, trying to figure out what was tickling your tongue.

For the chocolate I kept it simple: small shards of 70% dark scattered throughout the dough. After an overnight chill in the refrigerator these baked up beautifully sandy and crisp, with small hidden pockets of melted bittersweet chocolate. Were I a coffee drinker I would drink an extra cup after dinner, just to have an excuse to eat more of these perfectly sized tea cookies.

In the end these cookies were perfect little bites that were just as satisfying as the biggest chocolate chip cookie, but in their own quiet way. Donna has the recipe on her aptly name blog, Life's Too Short Not to Eat Dessert First.

Summer Lovin' with Grilled Peaches

2010-08-24T20:48:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't quite get around to making this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Crunchy & Custardy Peach Tart. It sounded lovely, and I even had the world's most beautiful farmer's market peaches on hand, luscious and just yielding to the touch and impossibly juicy.

But I had other plans in mind for these peaches. I wanted to take their sweet perfumed juice and introduce them to the tender buttery crumb of golden poundcake:

And then, in a perfect marriage of summer flavors and summer cooking, cook them both on the grill, until the peaches bore caramelized grill marks and gave no resistance to the fork, and the poundcake had a crunchy buttery crust that hid the still-soft interior.

Of course, they were not grilled naked. The poundcake was brushed with melted butter, and the peaches were dunked in a honey-butter sauce, with just a hint of cinnamon, before being put on the grill. While they were cooking, the sauce was returned to the heat to thicken for a few minutes, until it was the texture of a warm caramel sauce.

The peaches and poundcake were paired with a honey-vanilla ice cream and drizzled with the creamy honey-butter sauce. A glorious end to a casual dinner of grilled chicken and corn on the cob, and a perfect way to welcome in a balmy summer night.

Grilled Poundcake and Peaches
Serves 6

1-1/2 sticks unsalted butter, divided use
1/2 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 freestone peaches, halved and pitted
6 slices pound cake, sliced 3/4-inch thick
Ice cream of your choice

Melt the 1/2 stick of butter in the microwave and set aside for now.

In small saucepan over medium heat, combine the remaining 1 stick of butter, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Heat until butter is melted, then dip peach halves in the mixture.

Grill the peaches for 5 minutes, then flip them, cover, and grill for 5 more minutes. Carefully remove them from the grill, slice each peach half in quarters and cover to keep warm.

While the peaches are on the grill, continue to heat the honey butter mixture until thick and caramelized, about ten minutes. It will get thicker once it cools down, so err on the side of caution. If you find it's too thick, add some cream or milk and heat it to loosen it back up.

Once the peaches are off the grill, brush both sides of each pound cake slice with the melted butter. Grill them for about 2 minutes per side, until the slices are crisp and golden.

Top the grilled poundcake with grilled peaches, cold ice cream, warm honey-butter sauce, and swoon.

TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

2010-08-17T20:46:00.001-07:00

Whew! Whadda day. Everything about this Tuesdays with Dorie post snuck up on me, from the actual baking of the oatmeal breakfast bread to the posting of this here very blog post. Apologies, but I was busy doing very important things like making the world's largest Tootsie Roll:

Whadda Roll.

Aaaaaanyhow, back to the oatmeal breakfast bread. Here's the truth: I like my breakfasts healthy and my desserts deadly, and rarely should the twain meet. This way, I can gorge on all the warm chocolate-chip cookies I want in the evening, but console myself with the memory of the virtuous oatmeal or egg-white scramble I had for breakfast. So a recipe that commingles these two very distinct categories?

Ehhhh.

This oatmeal breakfast bread was fairly healthy, as far as baking projects go. Some of the oil was replaced by applesauce, and oatmeal stood in for some white flour. I added pecans, dried apricots, dried cherries, and--okay, you caught me--just a handful of mini chocolate chips. I'm not made of stone, people.

I thought the oatmeal gave it a lovely chewy, moist texture once it had cooled down, and all the different dried fruits and nuts were great additions. But I have to say, it was just a bit too healthy-tasting for me. My favorite part was the cinnamon-sugar-pecan crust on top, which I think cancels out most of the healthy attributes.

So although I think there's lots to love about this bread, it's just not my bag, baby. We'll keep eating Ginormous Tootsie Rolls around here, and leave the healthy breads to the other folks.

TWD: German Chocolate Ice Cream, Ya!

2010-08-09T23:24:00.000-07:00

Attention all chocoholics, sweet lovers, and gluttons of good food, have I got a dessert for you!

The fabulous Katrina, of Baking and Boys! (gotta have that exclamation mark) chose Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. If you're not familiar with Katrina, quit reading now--but please do come back--and check out her blog, because she is awesome. Funny, enthusiastic, with super cute sons and delicious recipes like raspberry chocolate chip cookies. Love her!

Another thing I love is this recipe for chocolate ice cream. I'd made it before, and despite the fact that it always causes my cheapie ice cream maker to go into convulsions (it hardens quickly and usually ends up having seizures before it's fully churned. Small price to pay for good ice cream) it's one of my favorites. Since I've already tried it plain, I decided to spice things up a little by making German Chocolate Ice Cream, with brownie chunks and swirls of rich coconut-pecan sauce.

However, the road to greatness is never smooth, and I learned several hard lessons during the course of making this dessert.

* Lesson 1: there is a difference between ½ cup of flour and 1-1/2 cups of flour. A big difference. Thrice the amount of recommended flour-style difference. When making the brownies, I accidentally triple the amount of flour the recipe called for. It was late, and I was tired from lugging boxes down to our storage space, and also, reading is hard. I didn't realize my mistake until I noticed that the batter was extremely sticky and actively fighting back at my attempts to stir it.

As the flour was the last ingredient, I decided to bake them off anyway and see if they would be usable in the ice cream. You might ask yourself what a brownie batch with three times the amount of flour looks like. Wonder no more:

Sexy, right? And by "sexy," I mean "nasty." BUT! It turns out I AM a culinary genius, because these brownies were perfect! I wanted something that had a cakey texture (hence the German Chocolate "Cake" part) but could keep its shape when mixed and scooped into ice cream.

These little nuggets were definitely on the cakey side, and they were sturdy without being too dense or hard. I wouldn't have served them plain, but for use in ice cream, they were totally fine.

* Lesson 2: it is impossible to make coconut-pecan sauce look appetizing. Even if you know what it is, and can imagine how delicious it tastes, it still looks like the vomit of Satan. Enjoy!

*Lesson 3: Ditto the above for German Chocolate Ice Cream. After the chocolate was churned, I stirred in the brownie bits, and then carefully swirled and layered the coconut-pecan sauce. It. Was. Amazing. But when it came time to photograph, the sauce blended into the ice cream and the whole thing looked like regular chocolate ice cream. You'll just have to imagine the hidden pockets of rich, brown-sugary sauce with chunks of toasted pecans and chewy coconut.

*Lesson 4: Despite all good intentions, it is impossible to resist eating several helpings of German Chocolate Ice Cream when you're photographing it. It starts innocently enough: a stray brownie bite here, a lick of the coconut-pecan spoon there, but soon you find yourself standing over the sink, tipping the bowl upside-down to lick out the last melty spoonfuls of ice cream. Or is that just me? Tell me it's not just me.

The ice cream recipe can be found over on Katrina's blog, and my recipe for coconut-pecan sauce (basically a looser version of the coconut-pecan frosting commonly found on German chocolate cakes) is below the cut. I'd give you the brownie recipe, but I don't quite trust myself to get the quantities right…just use your favorite cakey brownies, and don't forget to double-check the flour!

Coconut-Pecan Sauce for German Chocolate Ice Cream

1 stick (4 oz) butter, cubed
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 large egg yolks
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
heavy pinch salt
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Combine the butter, evaporated milk, and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Heat the mixture almost to boiling, stirring often so it doesn't scorch. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks in a medium bowl.

Once it's simmering, temper the hot liquid into the yolks, then pour the whole thing back in the saucepan. Add the vanilla and the salt. Continue to cook, whisking often, until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Recipes always say to not let it boil, but I've been neglectful and boiled it before and nothing terrible happens.

Remove the custard from the heat and stir in the pecans and coconut. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until chilled. Makes a wicked awesome ice cream topping, oh yeah. [For cake frosting, take the evaporated milk down to one cup.]

Passionate Baking, Three Ways

2010-08-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Even before I'd ever tasted passion fruit, I fell in love with the name. Growing up surrounded by boring, utilitarian fruit names (are you listening, orange?), learning that there was a fruit that broke this mold was a revelation. It belongs on a soap opera! Of course I was intensely curious about its flavor. Did it taste like joy? Lust? REVENGE?

By the time I finally tasted passion fruit, my expectations were high, but fortunately they were met with equal passion. This fruit, with its distinctive floral tropical taste and sweet-sour bite, is one of my favorite flavors. I'm sure it's much more common in other cultures, but in my experience it's still relatively rare, making passion fruit desserts that much more interesting to me.

My local grocery store carries lots of Mexican brands, and for years I've seen Goya passion fruit puree in the frozen food aisle. I've tried making smoothies with it, but--spoiler alert--it doesn't play well with protein powder. Recently I decided to give it the respect it deserves and create a dessert that showcases passion fruit's best qualities, so I came up with these passion fruit truffles for the candy site.

Passion fruit, at least in my experience, is pretty tart. If you're eating the whole fruit, you need to let it sit and really ripen for awhile, until it wrinkles and all those starches turn to sugar and its natural sweetness comes out. Frozen fruit puree doesn't have the benefit of sitting for a week on the kitchen counter, so it needs some outside assistance to mellow the harsh edges of the passion fruit.

I used the puree to make a white chocolate ganache. The remarkable thing about this ganache is that almost all of the liquid is fruit juice--only a little bit is cream. Of course there's plenty of fat from the white chocolate, but the high juice ratio still makes it float a little bit lighter on the tongue, and glide down the throat a little easier than some heavier ganaches.

When you're making these truffles, you'll want to use good chocolate, the kind you buy in bars and chop up, the kind that you want to snack on while you're chopping. White chocolate chips have other additives that make them resistant to melting, and they don't taste like much of anything, so avoid them if you can.

The resulting passion fruit ganache is rich and creamy, with a light fruity taste that whispers of warm afternoons and island vacations, but with a white chocolate finish that brings your feet back down to the ground. The ganache sets somewhat loose, so you'll want to mold these truffles, instead of hand rolling them. Dusted with a sprinkling of gold luster dust, they look--and taste--like a million bucks. The full passion fruit truffle recipe is here.

But this passion fruit party is only starting. Because the other thing I didn't tell you about the ganache is that it makes a lot. A LOT. A-maybe-we-should-invite-the-neighbors-over-to-help-eat-all-these-truffles-lot. So if you're like me, and the thought of molding five dozen truffles doesn't appeal to you, you'll try to find other ways to use your extra ganache.

Solution #1: Chocolate Passion Fruit Tarts

The ganache was poured into miniature chocolate tart shells and topped with bittersweet chocolate shavings. That is the full extent of this recipe. Ganache. Tart shell. Bliss.
The shell is barely sweetened, and the crunch of the savory cocoa shell contrasting with the sweet-tart creamy ganache is heavenly. This is one of those showstopping desserts you want to keep up your sleeve to impress company, so after you receive all of their compliments, you can say--with the blush of honesty but with a twinkle in your eye--"It really was nothing."

My second attempt at reworking the passion fruit ganache was a little more elaborate but equally delicious:

Passion Fruit-White Chocolate Ice Cream

I incorporated some of the ganache into a custard ice cream base and churned it to produce an ice cream that had the signature passion fruit taste, tempered by the addition of more milk, more cream, and more sugar. This is a perfect introduction to the fruit for skeptics, and it paired beautifully with small cookies made from tart dough scraps.

Looks like my passion for passion fruit yielded the world's longest blog post. If you're still with me, and looking for recipes, they're right below the cut...

Passion Fruit Ganache

2 tbsp heavy cream
2 tsp light corn syrup
2/3 cup passion fruit juice or puree
9 oz good-quality white chocolate (not chips)

If you are using passion fruit puree, pass it through a mesh strainer to remove the solids from the juice, and discard the solids. Place the 2/3 cup of juice in a small saucepan with the light corn syrup and the heavy cream over medium-high heat. Bring this mixture to a boil.

Finely chop the white chocolate and put it in a heat-safe bowl. Once at a boil, pour the hot liquid over the white chocolate and immediately begin gently whisking to melt the white chocolate and emulsify the mixture. If you have a handheld immersion blender, use it to blend the passion fruit ganache together. Otherwise, just continue whisking until you have a silky smooth mixture with no bits of white chocolate remaining.

Press some cling wrap over the top of the ganache and refrigerate the bowl until the ganache has cooled, about 2 hours. Alternately, you can refrigerate it over night, and then take the bowl out of the refrigerator the following day and let it sit at room temperature until it loosens up.

Dark Chocolate Tart Dough
Adapted from Dorie's chocolate tart dough
1 1/4 Cups Plain flour
1/4 Cup Unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 Cup powdered sugar
1/4 Tsp Sea salt
135g Very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 Large Egg yolk

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry mixture and pulse until you have butter pieces the size of oatmeal.
Stir the yolk with a fork and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition.
Process in long pulses (10 seconds each) until the dough comes together in clumps and curds.
Turn the dough to a lightly floured surface a knead briefly in order to incorporate the dry ingredients that might have escaped the mixing.
Press into tart shells and freeze before baking at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

Passion Fruit Ice Cream

About 1.5 cups passion fruit ganache, loose and at room temperature
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup of whole milk
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar

Bring the milk and the cream to a boil in a medium heavy bottomed saucepan.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until well blended and just slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they won't curdle.

Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Pour the custard back into the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. I always use a thermometer and shoot for 175 degrees F.

Immediately remove the pan from the heat and slowly and gently stir the custard into the ganache. Cover the ice cream base with cling wrap and refrigerate until completely cool. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Carrot Cake Cookies

2010-08-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

Huzzah! After a week of ~~frantic unpacking~~ leisurely opening a box or two at a time, the new kitchen is finally in workable condition. The best part is, it has a big window and enough room for a wee table on which to take photographs, so there'll be no more carrying food from the kitchen to the dining room to get pictures.

I'd like to say the first thing I baked was this week's TWD recipe, but the truth is I made these (fabulous) Snickerdoodle Blondies over the weekend, and then we scarfed them too quickly to get a picture. Moving on!

The second thing I baked were these Gingered Carrot Cookies, chosen by Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina.
I added carrots, coconut, pecans, and dried cranberries to the mix, and I have to say, the dough was delicious. I found myself doing a little of the ole one-for-you, one-for-me trick when scooping it onto the baking sheets. After they were baked, they had a beautiful soft, cakey texture, with just enough carrots to make them seem healthy.

However, the next day, I thought they were leaning toward tasting a little stale, and a little plain. So I did what I always do when confronted with less than stellar baked goods: add frosting.

I made a simple cream cheese frosting and topped some cookies with a dollop of frosting and crushed pecans. I also tried a few whoopie-pie style, which worked out surprisingly well despite their bumpy texture.
My favorite variation was the cookies topped with the layer of frosting, because it had the maximum frosting-to-cookie balance.

These will probably never replace the classic chocolate chip or oatmeal cookie, but they were tasty and different, and I could see making them when I wanted a fun variation on carrot cake.

Q: What's your favorite cakey cookie? I've made some "banana bread cookies" that were...well, just what they sound like. Pretty fab! What about you?