TWD: Honey-Nut Brownies

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.

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Things I Have Been Doing Instead of Blogging Here

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.

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Summer Lovin' with Grilled Peaches

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.

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Baklava Fingers & Spiced Orange Sorbet

Until recently, I've never given honey too much thought. My father worked as a beekeeper when he was younger, which meant that he was full of entertaining stories about bee shenanigans--including a dark time when a hive "went rogue" and made their own queen--and our pantry was always full of his honey.

Jeopardy trivia break: did you know that honey is the one food that never spoils? It can literally last for hundreds of years. It might crystallize, but it will liquefy again once warmed.

Anyhow, I grew up eating that honey, and then graduated to buying my own in little bear-shaped bottles. It was nice, it was sweet, it wasn't too memorable. And then I tried this:

I got some of this Wild Raspberry Honey from Bee Raw as a giveaway on Blake Makes (which, if you aren't familiar with the website, often has great giveaways.) It would be a slight exaggeration to say that this honey changed my life, but it certainly changed the way I think about honey. It. Is. Amazing. I could eat it by itself, with a spoon. It's really mild, and fruity, with some mellow tart notes not unlike a raspberry! Incredible.

So after making yogurt-honey parfaits and honey sandwiches, I decided to put it to good use by showcasing it in a few dessert recipes. Of course, my first thought was baklava.

I've never made baklava before but I often order it when we have Greek food. It's not to everyone's taste but I love the combination of crispy phyllo dough and toasted nuts soaked in a honey syrup. Of course, the problem is that it's easy to do wrong, and there's nothing appealing about an overly sweet, soggy mess of gooey dough.

Instead of the traditional large pan cut into squares, I made Baklava Fingers based on this recipe from Baking Obsession. The fingers are maybe more time intensive to make, but they're less messy to serve and eat, and I also think they look nicer when served with...drumroll please...

Spiced Orange and Honey Sorbet. (recipe from Epicurious.) This was such a delightful surprise! I chose it because I thought it would fit in with the honey and Middle Eastern theme, but we loved it in and of itself. It was incredibly light and refreshing, and all of the spices made it more interesting and playful than a straight fruit sorbet. It's a perfect summer recipe.

Another benefit of the orange sorbet is that it helped cut the sweetness of the honeyed baklava, and the baklava added some much-needed texture to the sorbet. Of course, now that the dessert is gone and my honey jar is almost empty I feel a bit adrift. I've tasted the good stuff and I don't want to go back to the bear! Maybe my dad will send me some of his "vintage" honey from the garage...

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TWD: Honey Wheat Cookies

I had my doubts about these Honey Wheat cookies. The truth is, I OD'ed on wheat germ back in high school, and it's been years since I've even wanted to be in the same room with the stuff. (Lunch every day involved yogurt with gobs of wheat germ stirred into it. Four years of this will cure you of any wheat germ cravings right quick.) So I wasn't too excited at the thought of trying to turn my old frenemy into a tasty cookie ingredient.

However, I actually kind of loved these. They weren't my usual crisp on the outside, soft in the center, bursting-with-chocolate extravaganza, and it was refreshing! I loved the chewiness the wheat added, I loved the strong honey flavor, and I loved the addition of lots of lemon zest. I also added a teaspoon of cardamom, which I was hoping to love, but I couldn't taste it at all in the finished cookies, so I guess I'll double it next time and love it later.

These didn't prove as popular with the husband, as he pronounced them "healthy-tasting" with an unmistakable whiff of disdain in his voice. I tried to explain how much butter and sugar was in them, but it didn't do much good. So it's up to me to polish these off, but don't worry, guys, I think I'm up to the job.

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