insidiously good

Shortbread is awesome, you guys.

2011-10-28T20:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so my new precious happens to be shortbread. My first foray into it was an unmitigated disaster of which we shall never, ever speak. EVER. My second attempt, though, was more ambitious and about twenty different kinds of awesome. SERIOUSLY. I kept taste-testing the finished product and telling myself how ridiculously brilliant I am. And I wasn't even exaggerating!

Anyway, here are four different kinds of shortbread I made. I have some fancy ceramic shortbread pans, but nine-inch cake pans (not the dark ones!) would do in a pinch.

Basic Shortbread Recipe (from Kingarthurflour.com)

Ingredients:

1 c unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 c flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*F.
2. Cream the sugar and butter together. Add the flour and mix until it resembles a fine cornmeal. (I start with a wooden spoon for the creaming and the initial flour mixing, and then I just use my hands.) Don't overmix! If you do, your shortbread will be gross and ungood.
3. Butter the baking dish, ceramic or otherwise. Press the shortbread dough into the pan evenly.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges start to turn a sandy color. Be careful not to overbake! If you do, your shortbread will be (unsurprisingly) gross and ungood.
5. Remove to a wire rack to cool in the pan for a good 15 minutes or so, then turn out of the pan to finish cooling. I put a bit of parchment paper over the wire rack so that weird stripes don't get pressed into the bottom of the shortbread, but that's not really a big deal.
6. Cut while shortbread is still slightly warm. When the shortbread is completely cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature. It gets better as it ages, and it can last for a week or longer in the right kind of container and at the right temp.

But I can never be satisfied with a base recipe, can I? OH, NO. NEVER!

So I made four different kinds. The variations are as follows:

Lemon Ginger Shortbread

Add the zest of two lemons and 1/4 c crystallized ginger pieces to the dough. I mixed the zest and ginger pieces in with the sugar and butter so I wouldn't overmix once I added in the flour. It worked great!

Cherry Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Add 1/2 c dried cherries and 1/2 c mini chocolate chips to the dough. Again, I added these to the creamed sugar and butter so the dough wouldn't be overmixed when the flour was added.

You could always go with a smaller amount of chocolate chips, if you want, around 1/3 or even 1/4 c. I haven't tried this with the cherries soaked in coconut rum yet, but that's my next experiment. I'll let you know how it goes.

Update: It goes awesomely! You just have to be sure to drain the cherries very well so there's no excess moisture to mess up the shortbread dough's texture.

Orange Spice Shortbread

This one's my favorite so far. Add the zest of one largeish orange, slightly less than 1/4 tsp cinnamon, and a small pinch of ginger. Since this is mostly dry stuff, you could add it in with the flour. To make these even more awesome, when they've cooled, I suggest dipping the bottoms in dark chocolate. Divine!

Vanilla Shortbread Dipped in Chocolate

Add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp vanilla extract to the butter and sugar as you cream them together. When everything is cooled and cut into its individual pieces, dip the bottoms in dark chocolate. Om nom nom...

So, there you have it: shortbread four ways. I'm going to experiment with the coconut rum cherries and with a maple ginger shortbread over the next week, and if they turn out well, I'll post those recipes, too.

Happy baking, all!

They say it's your birthday ...

2011-06-03T18:06:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I made some awesome stuff the other day because it was my birthday and that required, you know, CAKE. Not just cake, but copious amounts of it. Thus, CAKE.

Anyway, these are adapted from recipes I use all the time and would be easy to figure out on your own, but they turned out so nicely I thought I'd share them in their entirety just in case you didn't feel like branching out and doing the experimentation on your own.

Aaaaand away we go!

First, I made a couple of lemon berry poundcakes. One was lemon raspberry, and one was lemon blueberry. They were both ridiculous. And by ridiculous I mean nomsome to the extreme. I started with my favorite base poundcake recipe and just added a couple of things from there. GENIUS, people. It was absolutely genius.

Lemon Berry Poundcake

Ingredients:

2/3 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 c sour cream or vanilla yogurt
zest of 5 small or 3 large lemons

6 oz of a large fresh berry of your choice (like raspberries or blackberries) or 8 or 9 oz of a smaller-ish fresh berry of your choice (like blueberries)

For the glaze:

½ c sugar

¼ c coconut rum

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*F. Lightly butter 9 x 13-in. baking pan.
2. Cream butter. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 min. (Or, you know, do it by hand until it's creamy and fluffy.) Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.

3. Add lemon zest and vanilla extract; stir until incorporated.
4. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, and add alternately with the yogurt or sour cream to the creamed sugar mixture. Beat on low until just blended.
4. Add in berries; stir gently until just mixed in. Don't overdo it, though! Otherwise, your poundcake will be all weirdly rubbery and dense in a not-good way.
5. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hr and 15 min or until cake tests done. (You can also make muffins, round cakes, or whatever. Baking time will vary, though.)

6. Just when you pull the cake out of the oven and put it on a wire rack to start cooling, dump the sugar and coconut rum into a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk briskly until the mixture begins to boil and goes clear (about 5 minutes). Pour it over the cake, making sure to coat the whole top. I usually use a large spoon to pour puddles of glaze over the cake and then stroke the glaze into the cake with the back of the spoon.

7. You can let the cake cool in the pan if you like before cutting, which is what I do, or you can pop it out of the pan after 15 minutes, let it cool completely, and then do the glaze. But the glaze won't soak in at all the way it does when the cake is hot, and the soaking in is part of what makes this cake so amazing. The top doesn't get sticky or soggy if you glaze it while it's still piping hot—it just gets delicious.

Okay, the second (third? Do the two lemon berry cakes count as one total, or one each? Meh, who cares? They were delicious) thing I made was a ganache-filled chocolate cupcake. And they were total amazeballs, okay? Okay?! So that completely justifies another chocolate ganache cupcake recipe so soon after my other one. NO. REALLY. IT DOES! So stop looking at me like that, will you? Just ... go bake something!

Chocolate Raspberry Ganache Cupcakes

The Chocolate Raspberry Ganache

Ingredients:

4 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (60-72% recommended), in pieces (I used Ghirardelli semisweet chips because they were handy)
1/4 c heavy cream

1/4 c raspberry preserves
2 Tbs confectioners' sugar

Directions:

1. Drop the chocolate, cream, raspberry preserves, and powdered sugar in a small glass bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth after you've stirred it a bit.
2. Set aside in the fridge to cool (unlike the other ganache I've made for cupcakes, this one is really soft. So I recommend making it 2 hours before you make the batter. Seriously). When the cake batter is poured, drop about 1 tsp of ganache on the top of each cupcake before baking and—this is important—push it down so the top of the ganache dollop is even with the top of the batter. If you don't, the ganache will just run over the top of the cupcake, not sink to the center. Actually, since this ganache is so light and soft, it doesn't really sink at all. That's why you have to refrigerate it and push it down to have it end up in the middle of the baked cupcakes.
4. If there's any ganache left over, eat it up with a spoon. NOM!

The Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3/4 c boiling water
3/4 c high-quality dark cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli for these, and they turned out great)
1 c buttermilk or heavy cream; I used heavy cream this time
2 1/2 c flour

1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F.
2. Pour boiling water over cocoa to dissolve; whisk until smooth. Stir in buttermilk and set aside to cool.
3. Stir together the dry ingredients (minus the sugar, of course), and set aside. Note: You can leave out the cinnamon, if you like, or drop it down to 1/4 tsp if you want a subtler hint of it in the cupcakes. I really like the way the cinnamon plays off the chocolate cake and the rich raspberry ganache centers, though, so I do recommend it.
4. Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. (You can use an electric mixer, but I usually do this by hand. It seems to work just fine.) Stir in vanilla.
4. Beat dry ingredients into butter mixture, alternating with the chocolate mixture.
5. Pour into paper cup-lined muffin pans (leave a bit of space at the top, but to tell the truth, these won't rise too much), drop 1 tsp. of ganache onto the top of each and push the ganache down a bit, and then bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 30 cupcakes, depending.

The Ganache Frosting

Ingredients:

8 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (60-72% is good)
1/2 plus 2 Tbs heavy cream (you can go up to 3/4 c heavy cream if you want a much softer frosting, but remember that it won't hold up as well at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate and cream in a microwave in 30-second intervals until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth after you've stirred it a bit.
2. Dip the top of each cupcake in the ganache and swirl around a bit to completely coat each one with the ganache frosting. Set aside to cool a bit and let the frosting begin to harden a little, then store in an airtight container in the fridge until you're ready to eat. Rejoice in the awesomeness of your endeavor.

Too sexy for my kitchen

2011-01-18T20:39:00.000-08:00

Okay, check this out and try not to flail right out of your chair: orange cranberry cookies with white chocolate chips and a hint of coconut rum.

Right? RIGHT?!

And they're super easy because I just used the regular old Tollhouse recipe as the base. I mean, ffft, I've made these cookies twice, and they just keep getting better. And I don't like dried fruit or white chocolate in my cookies! Or generally care for white chocolate at all!

But enough about the fabulous flavorgasm that is these cookies. On to the recipe!

Sexy Orange Cranberry Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:

1 c butter, softened
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
the zest of 2 medium to large oranges
2 1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ginger
1 c dried cranberries
1/2 c coconut rum
1 c white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Soak the cranberries in the rum overnight. When you're ready to bake, drain the cranberries and set them aside.
2. Preheat oven to 375* F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper because parchment paper is awesome.
3. Cream together the sugars and the butter. Add eggs and beat until fully incorporated.
4. Add the zest; stir until mixed.
5. Add in the dry ingredients (from the flour to the ginger). I know the Tollhouse recipe says to add the flour in two stages and whatnot, but screw that. Just do it all at once. It's fine. The dough will seem a bit dry, but that's okay. The rum-soaked cranberries will fix that.
6. Add the cranberries and the white chocolate chips. Stir until fully incorporated. But don't overdo it or your cookies will be like leathery hockey pucks. Sadness.
7. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the cookie sheets, a dozen cookies per sheet. Bake at 375* for about 10 minutes. You want these to be on the lighter side of done so the subtle flavors all meld together properly and don't get lost if the cookies get really brown and caramelized. Unless that's totally the only way you'll eat cookies, in which case you should totally be my guest!
8. Remove from cookie sheet a few minutes after they're out of the oven. Let finish cooling on a wire rack (if you can! I dare you to not eat these morsels of flavorosity right up while they're still warm).

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Wasabi Ganache Filling

2010-07-29T09:47:00.000-07:00

I made Chocolate Wasabi Ganache Cupcakes on Wednesday, and they turned out awesome.

For the cake itself, I used a recipe off an old Droste cocoa box that's lurking in the pantry, and then I added some wasabi powder to the recipe for Cook's Illustrated's ganache-filled cupcakes from this year's May issue. (I think it was May, anyway.) And for the ganache frosting, I just did a very, very simple chocolate-and-heavy-cream mixture that turned out great. I even took pictures! But then I managed to delete them while attempting to transfer them from my camera to my computer. Oops. You'll just have to make your own to see how gorgeous they are when they're finished.

Chocolate Wasabi Ganache Cupcakes

The Cupcakes
Ingredients:

3/4 c boiling water
3/4 c high-quality dark cocoa powder
1 c buttermilk
2 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F.
2. Pour boiling water over cocoa to dissolve; whisk until smooth. Stir in buttermilk and set aside to cool.
3. Stir together the dry ingredients (minus the sugar, of course), and set aside.
4. Mix butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. (You can use an electric mixer, but I usually do this by hand. It seems to work just fine.) Stir in vanilla.
4. Beat dry ingredients into butter mixture, alternating with the chocolate mixture.
5. Pour into paper cup-lined muffin pans (leave a bit of space at the top, but these won't rise too much), drop 1 tsp. of ganache onto the top of each, and bake for 18-20 minutes. Let cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 30 cupcakes, depending.

The Chocolate Wasabi Ganache
Ingredients:
4 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (60-72% recommended), in pieces
1/2 c heavy cream
2 Tbs confectioners' sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp wasabi powder (I use Ninja Wasabi Powder from New Zealand. Please note that if you use the lesser amount, the wasabi flavor will be subtle, and some people won't be able to taste it. If you use the greater amount, more people will be able to taste it, but the chocolate might take on a strangely stale, chalky flavor -- too much wasabi in chocolate does that. You might do well to split the difference at 3/8 tsp, which is what I used.)

Directions:

1. Drop the chocolate, cream, and sugar in a small glass bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth after you've stirred it a bit.
2. Add the wasabi powder; stir to incorporate fully (and remember, the wasabi taste will be a bit stronger when the ganache is cool, so if you can't taste the wasabi very much when the ganache is warm, it's probably just perfect).
3. Set aside to cool (while you make the cake batter). When the batter is poured, drop about 1 tsp of ganache on the top of each cupcake before baking.
4. If there's any ganache left over, eat it up with a spoon. NOM!

The Ganache Frosting
Ingredients:

8 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (60-72% is good)
1/2 plus 2 Tbs heavy cream (you can go up to 3/4 c heavy cream if you want a much softer frosting, but remember that it won't hold up as well at room temperature)

Directions:

1. Melt the chocolate and cream in a microwave in 30-second intervals until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth after you've stirred it a bit.
2. Dip the top of each cupcake in the ganache and swirl around a bit to completely coat each one with the ganache frosting. Set aside to cool a bit and let the frosting begin to harden a little, then store in an airtight container in the fridge until you're ready to eat. Rejoice in the awesomeness of your endeavor.

Note: You can also make these with a chocolate cinnamon, chocolate mint, orange chocolate, or raspberry chocolate ganache filling (and/or frosting, too). Hell, you could make them with pretty much any flavor ganache filling and frosting. In fact, Chocolate Guinness might be awesome, now that I'm thinking about it ...

Almost Perfect, But Not Quite

2010-05-08T20:46:00.000-07:00

For Mother's Day, I've tried my hand at making lemon ginger green tea ice cream. I'm pretty happy with the recipe, but I do want to try it over again with some fresh ginger instead of powdered. I think that'd make a big difference. Unfortunately, living in the second circle of suburban hell like I do, good quality fresh ginger is a little bit harder to come by than I'd like.

Anyway, here you go.

Lemon Ginger Green Tea Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk
6 green tea bags
2 c heavy whipping cream
the zest of 3 large lemons
1/2 tsp high-quality vanilla
1 1/4 tsp ginger (not fresh; I'm pretty sure you'd want to use less)

Directions:

1) Let green tea bags steep in the milk for 3-4 hours. The milk should stay in the fridge so it's cold and doesn't spoil. Remove them when you're ready to start mixing up the ice cream base.
2) Whisk together eggs and sugar.
3) Add tea-milk; mix thoroughly.
4) Add cream; stir.
5) Add lemon zest, vanilla, and ginger. Stir.
6) Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to directions. Don't forget to taste-test!
7) Remove from ice cream maker and turn out into airtight containers. Finish freezing completely.
7) Enjoy with abandon! Makes about one quart, give or take.

I'm thankful for wasabi powder

2009-11-26T09:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a while, hasn't it? Unfortunately, I haven't made much that was exciting or shareable until now. Sad, eh?

Whatever. Hooray for Thanksgiving 2009!

So for part of dessert tonight, I've made chocolate wasabi ice cream.

Yeah. You read that right. Chocolate wasabi ice cream. I got the idea after eating at Wagamama in Cambridge last June. They had this fantastic chocolate wasabi cake, and I loved the subtle zing of the wasabi with the smooth richness of the chocolate. It was a total winner of a combo. I mean, I like more traditional spicy chocolate flavor combos, too, but those are always a hot spice. Wasabi hits the top notes of the spicy spectrum, so you don't get the heated burn that exists with pepper-based spiced chocolate. And wasabi goes beautifully with a good chocolate. Trust me.

Anyway, without further ado, here's the recipe.

Chocolate Wasabi Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk
2 c heavy whipping cream
12 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (62-70% is best), melted
1 tsp high-quality vanilla extract
3/4 to 1 tsp wasabi powder (I used Ninja Wasabi Powder; if you have a better source for wasabi, omg share!)

Directions:

1) Melt chocolate. Stir in sugar and wasabi powder. 3/4 tsp will be more subtle; 1 tsp will be stronger. If you use more than 1 tsp, though, your ice cream will taste weird, not interesting and delicious. And if you have a very sensitive palate, you could easily get away with 1/2 tsp of wasabi powder. After all, the zing shouldn't overpower the chocolate; it should complement it.

2) Add milk and eggs; mix thoroughly.

3) Add cream; stir.

4) Add vanilla. Stir some more.

5) Once mixture is completely cooled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to directions. Make certain to steal little spoonfuls as the ice cream begins to thicken and freeze. Feel free to make little happy noises as you taste-test.

6) Remove from ice cream maker and turn out into airtight containers. Finish freezing completely.

7) Serve. Enjoy. Serve some more. Enjoy some more. Makes one quart.

Holiday Chicken

2009-07-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th, my fellow Americans!

I bring you a delicious and simple chicken recipe, which is what I made for the fam tonight. It's awesome.

I don't remember where I got the original recipe (sorry!), but I'm pretty sure it was from some magazine. Yeah, that really helps, doesn't it?

Anyway, enjoy!

Lemon and Pepper Chicken

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
5 medium-to-large lemons
1 Tbs olive oil or room temperature butter
kosher or sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400F. Pull the giblets out of your chicken (poor chicken!) and feed to the dog. Wash your naked, empty chicken inside and out with cold water, then let it drain, butt-side down, in a colander or similar thingie.

2. While you're waiting for your naked, empty chicken to finish draining and warm up to room temperature, juice three of your lemons.

3. Pour lemon juice all over your chicken, inside and out. Give it a lovely little lemon juice bath! It deserves some TLC before you pop it in the oven. Follow the lemon juice bath with a lovely moisturizing massage with the butter or olive oil (outside only; the chicken doesn't need any inside).

4. Salt and pepper all over the place, top and bottom. Fork your two remaining lemons (by which I mean stab your two remaining lemons with a fork), then stuff them inside the chicken's inside.

5. Put the lemon-stuffed birdie in a roasting pan (boob-side down), lower the oven's temp to 350F, and bake your bird--uncovered--for 15-20 minutes.

6. Remove from the oven, flip the chicken (use wooden spoons or tongs or something like that), and put it back in the oven for another 35-40 minutes, after which time you should check it for doneness. If it's still not ready (fussy chicken!), bake it until it is.

7. Let your poor, hardworking chicken rest for a few minutes (it's totally earned it by this point!) before carving it and serving it with some lovely veggies and potatoes. Nom nom nom, my friends! Nom nom nom.

Ice Cream, Times Two

2009-06-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

My parents are going to some sort of dinner party thing tomorrow night. This is big; my parents don't go over to other people's houses (or have people over) that often. They generally only feed family.

Anyway, since it's too warm for my mom to make truffles, I offered to make them dessert.

And darlings, it is good.

Behold! I give you the wonders of Chocolate Guinness Ice Cream and Lemon Ice Cream:

Chocolate Guinness Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk
2 c heavy whipping cream
12 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (62-70% is best), melted
2 Tbs Guinness (you can do up to 3 or 4, but more than that will totally overpower the chocolate and may thin the ice cream base too much)

Directions:

1) Melt chocolate. Stir in sugar.
2) Add milk and eggs; mix thoroughly.
3) Add cream; stir.
4) Add Guinness.
5) Once mixture is completely cooled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to directions. Make certain to steal little spoonfuls as the ice cream begins to thicken and freeze. If there's someone else in the room, taunt them as you do so.
6) Remove from ice cream maker and turn out into airtight containers. Finish freezing completely.
7) Serve. Enjoy. Serve some more. Makes one quart.

Lemon Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk
2 c heavy whipping cream
the zest of 3 large lemons
1/2 tsp high-quality vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

1) Whisk together eggs and sugar.
2) Add milk; mix thoroughly.
3) Add cream; stir.
4) Add lemon zest, vanilla, and lemon juice. Stir.
5) Pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to directions. Don't forget to taste-test!
6) Remove from ice cream maker and turn out into airtight containers. Finish freezing completely.
7) Nom nom nom... Makes one quart.

Yes, I Like Booze and Chocolate. WHY DO YOU ASK?

2009-05-11T19:29:00.000-07:00

I don't like beer.

For drinking, that is. I love it in food, particularly baked goods-type food. And yeah, I know; Guinness isn't beer. It's Guinness. But still! It's a malty beverage; it sort of counts.

I've made this cake several times over the last few weeks. I love it to bits, and it only gets better if you let it age for a day or two. I also like it best when it's unfrosted, though a simple chocolate ganache or coconut rum cream cheese frosting work beautifully, too.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson, I give you:

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Ingredients:

1 c Guinness stout
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 c cocoa powder (the darker and higher quality, the more delicious the cake)
2 c granulated sugar (Lawson calls for superfine; regular granulated works just as well)
3/4 c sour cream (or plain/Greek style yogurt works well, too)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla (Lawson calls for 1 Tbs; I don't use that much)
2 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda (Lawson calls for 2 1/2 tsp; I think that's waaaaay too much)
1 c chocolate chips (optional - I like this option Very Much)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch cake pan. (Lawson says to use a springform with parchment paper, but meh. I use a regular cake pan and am generous with the butter; it works fine.)
2. Microwave butter and Guinness until butter is mostly melted; whisk until butter is completely melted and incorporated with Guinness. (Lawson calls for a saucepan, but again with the meh.) Whisk in cocoa powder and sugar.
3. Add in sour cream and vanilla; whisk until thoroughly mixed. Add in eggs. Mix like a mad mixy thing. Woot. (Lawson has you do the eggs, sour cream, and vanilla together in a separate bowl and then pour into the cocoa-stout mixture. Again, MEH.)
4. Whisk in flour and baking soda. And add the chocolate chips, should you decide to go that route.
5. Pour into pan. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour (check at the 45-minute mark). Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack.
6. When the cake is cold, get it out of the pan using your favorite method. (I like to run a plastic fork around the edges and then tip it upside down.)
7. If you want to frost it, frost it. Otherwise, slice and eat. Slice more. Aaaand maybe just a smidge more. Undo the top button of your jeans and beach yourself on the couch for a while so you can digest.

Enjoy!

More Pancakey Goodness

2009-02-22T09:44:00.000-08:00

I made these this morning. I'm a huge fan of honey and cinnamon in chocolate, but I don't actually like the taste of either honey or cinnamon alone. Together, though, they're a lovely combination. Anyway, it's raining like the dickens, and warm, slightly sweet pancakes are exactly what the grayness of the outdoors called for.

So, without further ado:

Honey Cinnamon Pancakes

Ingredients:

Your favorite base pancake recipe (mix or from scratch) plus the wet stuff it calls for (For our purposes here, I'm using a recipe that calls for about 2 cups of dry ingredients)
1/4 c honey
1/2 to 3/4 tsp cinnamon (you can go up to 1 tsp cinnamon if you loooove it, but remember that you don’t want to overpower the honey. We're interested in sweet harmony here, not bashing tastebuds over the head and dumping them in a back alley somewhere)
1/4 c plain lowfat or nonfat yogurt

Directions:

1. Heat the milk for the pancakes over the stove or in the microwave. You don’t want it to boil, but you want it hotter than lukewarm (to help the honey dissolve properly; otherwise, you’re going to be whisking for a goodly while and still end up with pockets of honey in your batter. You don’t want that. They’ll burn on your griddle. Not that something like that has ever, uh, happened to me or anything…).
2. Add in the honey; whisk.
3. Add in the rest of the ingredients (flour, etc. or pancake mix; eggs, yogurt, cinnamon). Whisk.
4. Pour batter onto the griddle! The pancakes will likely be a bit thinner than regular, but that’s okay. Slightly crepe-like pancakes aren’t a bad thing. You can stack more of them on your plate, for one, and they double as desserty goodness at a later time, for another.
5. Serve with butter, syrup, and sliced bananas. Or with a cream spread, syrup, and sliced bananas. If you have leftovers, they make a great base for a tower of fruit and whipped cream for dessert!

Gooey, Chocolatey Goodness

2009-01-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

So my Christmas desserts were a whole lot of FAIL with some NOT A SUCCESS sprinkled on top, right? (I used a new recipe for the most delicious-looking torte, and it turned out to be absolutely disgusting. I mean, seriously - it was awful.) And I have a reputation to think about, so New Year's was my chance to redeem myself. And boy, did I.

I used the recipe below. I've added in a few of my notes and observations, mostly because I think I'd like to do things a bit differently the next time I make these. They were good, but I think they can be even better, you know?

Hot Fudge Chocolate Cakes
From the December 2008 issue of Cooking Light

Ingredients:

3/4 c flour
2/3 c unsweetened cocoa
5 tsp instant espresso powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 c unsalted butter, softened
2/3 c granulated sugar
2/3 c brown sugar, packed
1 c egg substitute (or 4 eggs, if you prefer)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2.6 oz of dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa), finely chopped (note: I'd actually use coarsely chopped chocolate next time; it'd make the pockets of dark, gooey, melty YUM even better)
2 Tbs powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into measuring cups; level with a knife. Sift together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Or, you know, just throw them all in a bowl together. GENTLY. Which is what I did. Because I don't hold with that sifting crap unless it's for a really good reason. These aren't a fancy cake or anything, so sifting can go suck it.
2. Place the butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at medium speed 1 minute. (As we all know, I don't use a mixer most of the time. This was no exception. Mixing by hand was fine; it just took a couple minutes longer.) Add sugars, beating until well blended (about 5 mins). Add egg substitute and vanilla, beating until well blended. Fold flour mixture into egg mixture; fold in chocolate. Divide batter evenky among 10 4-ounce ramekins; arrange on a jelly-roll pan. (I used 8 ramekins, and everything turned out juuuust fine.) Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to 4 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350*F.
4. Let ramekins stand at room temp. for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake at 350* for 21 minutes or until cakes are puffy and slightly crusty in top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar; serve immediately. Makes 10 servings. Note: You can bake these for 3 minutes less for even more deliciously gooey cakes - and then serve them with ice cream or whipped cream on top.

Eggnog Cake. Rich and Nutmeggy Delicious!

2008-12-31T11:50:00.000-08:00

Yeah, yeah. Oh look! Another baking recipe to do with eggnog. Well, 'tis still the damned season, so suck it up and enjoy. And really -- this is an excellent cake. Really excellent.

Eggnog Cake

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/4 c eggnog (yes, you read that right)
1 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Coat and flour a 9x13-inch baking pan. Or, if you're lazy as hell like I am, line it with foil and then coat the foil. Muahahaha. Fewer dishes to wash for the win!
2. Cream butter. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Or you can just be hardcore and stir by hand, which is what I do. Add eggnog 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring or beating (whichever you prefer) after each addition.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt, and add to the eggnog mixture. Throw in the dash of nutmeg. Beat on low until just blended. Or, you know, stir until just blended.
4. Pour into pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour, or until cake tests done. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing the cake to a wire rack to cool completely. You can glaze the cake with a rum glaze (yummmmm!) or frost it with a cream cheese or vanilla buttercream frosting. Or you can serve it warm with plain or rum whipped cream and/or ice cream. Your choice!

Enjoy, and Happy New Year, you guys!

Moar Pumpkin!

2008-12-23T13:15:00.001-08:00

'Tis the season, you know?

The following recipe is one I use quite frequently during the holiday season. The cake is delicious warm with melted butter, whipped cream, or ice cream; it's also good served cold on its own or with whipped cream or ice cream. It also travels pretty well. I've sent it across the country, and it arrived in good shape and didn't taste scary even after the trip. Score!

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:
2 c sugar
1 c plain or vanilla yogurt
4 large eggs
2 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 c pumpkin puree or cooked mashed pumpkin
1/4 c brown sugar to sprinkle on top of the batter before baking

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Combine wet ingredients (minus pumpkin) in a large mixing bowl; mix well.
2. Add in sugar; stir.
3. Sift remaining dry ingredients into a separate bowl; stir into wet mixture, beating well. (I don't actually sift because I'm laaazy. I just dump it all on top of the wet stuff and stir until it's no longer lumpy, and my cakes turn out just fine. So you can skip the sifting if you want.)
4. Stir in pumpkin puree.
5. Pour into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of batter. Bake at 350° F for 40-50 minutes.

I suppose you could forgo the brown sugar and frost this bad boy with cream cheese frosting, but that seems like it'd be a bit much, you know? So I don't recommend that. Like I said, I like this cake with whipped cream, ice cream, or just on its own. But there's no accounting for taste, so you do as you like. I won't know the difference. Oh no, I won't.

Enjoy!

Pumpkiny Goodness

2008-12-22T19:18:00.000-08:00

Riiiight. So I had the most awesome friend visit this weekend, and she loooooves pumpkin. She's also one of those people who "only likes plain pancakes." Yeah, I've heard that about a million times before. EVERYONE WHO'S EVER TOLD ME THAT CHANGES THEIR TUNE ONCE THEY'VE TRIED MY PANCAKES. She was totally a good sport about me being an ass about that, and thankfully, the pumpkin pancakes met with her approval. Hooray!

So I thought I'd share the recipe.

Pumpkin Pancakes

Directions and Ingredients:

Gather the ingredients to make your favorite base pancake recipe (the sort that uses about 2 c of dry ingredients, 1 c milk, and 2 eggs). To this recipe, add the following:

1/2 c pumpkin
1/4 c sugar (you can throw in a couple tablespoons more if you'd like sweeter pancakes and a couple-few tablespoons less if you prefer less sweet pancakes -- I'd personally go the less sweet route)
1/3 c plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2 tsp cinnamon (more if you prefer)
1/4 tsp ginger (use a little bit less if you prefer)
a pinch of nutmeg

Mix your pancakes as normal. If the mixture is a little bit too runny, add more yogurt.

Pour batter on the griddle (I usually do a little under 1/4 of a cup of batter for each pancake). Now, pay attention. This is the important part: I tend to like slightly lighter, more golden-brown pancakes for my regular stacks. With these, you have to let them get a little more done. They stick, okay? -- it doesn't matter how nonstick your griddle is. I found this out the hard way, you see. So before you try flipping them, wait until the edges are dry and some of the bubbles forming in the batter take a short moment to fill in when they pop. If you don't, you'll end up with really ugly (but delicious) pancakes. And your houseguest will rag on you for daring to serve her UGLY PANCAKES. o.o She wouldn't be wrong, either.

Serve fresh off the griddle with melted butter and maple syrup. They're also good cold the next day -- with some whipped cream and syrup. Mmm, desserty goodness for breakfast...

Enjoy! And happy holidays to all!

Something Not Cake

2008-12-22T19:00:00.000-08:00

Tonight for dinner, we had porcupine balls. My mom used to make these during the cold months when I was a kid. She'd use white rice, garlic salt, ground beef, and Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup. These days, I make them with different ingredients -- it's healthier that way, you know? But they still taste great, and they're still an excellent comfort food. Very filling, too! And they make good leftovers.

Porcupine Balls

Ingredients:

1 lb lean ground turkey breast
1 egg
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c minced yellow onion
1/2 c cooked brown rice
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
16 oz. creamy tomato soup

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* F.
2. Saute the onion and garlic for a couple of minutes.
3. Meanwhile, dump the ground turkey, egg, brown rice, and some salt and pepper in a medium mixing bowl. When the garlic and onion are done, add them to the bowl. Use your hands (don't wuss out!) to mix the ingredients together.
4. Mold the mixture into largeish balls and place them in a 9x9-inch pan as you finish them. It's okay if they're all friendly and touch each other. A food orgy is encouraged under these circumstances!
5. Pour half of the creamy tomato soup over the porcupine balls. Cover with foil. (You can poke some holes in the foil. I usually do, but that's because I'm a bit violent and bloodthirsty, and I like stabbing my dinner.)
6. Bake for about an hour.
7. Remove pan from the oven when the hour is up. Take off the foil. The porcupine balls will often end up filling the pan with a lot of juice and fat, which isn't very tasty. I usually drain that off and then cover them with the remaining creamy tomato soup, and then I put the foil back on top. You can throw them back into the oven for another few minutes, but they'll heat the soup through and cool off enough to eat all at the same time if you just let them be for about 5 minutes. That's what I'd do.
8. Serve and enjoy! We had ours with steamed squash and broccoli tonight. Mmmm. And the little bits of rice, turkey, and tomato left on your plate after you've demolished one or two are delicious if you coax them onto a small dinner roll.

'Tis the Season to Be Noggy...

2008-12-06T07:52:00.000-08:00

I made these for my parents last weekend, and they were as excellent as I remembered them being the first time I made them. Neither of my parents likes eggnog, but then, I find that many people don't. It's usually a question of texture, not taste. So even if someone screws up her face at the mention of eggnog pancakes, try to talk her into it anyway. Chances are she'll end up being dead pleased by a plateful of these beauties!

Eggnog Pancakes

(They're perfect for leftover holiday Nog!)

1) Your favorite base pancake recipe. Make as normal, except:

2) Substitute eggnog for the eggs (1/4 c eggnog equals 1 egg, so if your base recipe calls for 2 eggs, use 1/2 c of eggnog instead) and

3) Substitute eggnog for 2/3 of the milk called for in the recipe (so if the recipe calls for 1 c of milk, use 2/3 c eggnog and 1/3 c milk)

4) You may also wish to add an extra pinch of nutmeg to the batter, but don’t overdo it. These pancakes taste better when the flavor is more subtle.

5) If the batter is too thick, add more milk, 1-2 tablespoons at a time, until the batter reaches the desired consistency. You want the batter to be on the thicker side, though. It makes the pancakes fluffier and more deeelicious.

6) When you cook the pancakes, you want them to be on the lighter side. They'll puff and fluff up more than regular pancakes because of the eggy goodness. This is to be expected and encouraged. Feel free to give them a little love as they cook! If you like darker pancakes, go ahead, but be warned that the darker outside will change the flavor and may slightly overpower the eggnoggy centers.

7) Serve in a gorgeous stack, lightly treated with melting butter and gently kissed with maple syrup. Or however it is you like to eat your pancakes. These are moist and flavorful enough that you don't need any window-dressing, but should you choose to add to them, butter and maple syrup don't hurt. You can also serve a stack of these with maple syrup and a dollop of whipped cream. Decadent and delicious!

I could eat these every day...

2008-09-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

As we all know, I am ever on the prowl for the perfect pancake. I'm getting closer every time I try out something new or revamp a tried-and-true favorite.

This morning, I made vanilla pancakes. They were very simple and incredibly delicious. They actually, factually melted in my mouth. Truly! I know people say that stuff melts in their mouths, but these pancakes really did. SO GOOD, PEOPLE. So very, very good.

Vanilla Pancakes

Ingredients:

Your favorite base pancake recipe and whatever it calls for (I like Bisquick, damn it), enough to make a little over a dozen pancakes - substitute heavy cream for 3/4 of the milk (if the recipe calls for 1 cup of milk, use 3/4 c of heavy cream and 1/4 c milk)
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp vanilla (use a high-quality vanilla, or the taste will be overbearing and fake rather than subtle)

Directions:

Make the pancake batter according to your recipe's directions, remembering to substitute heavy cream for 3/4ths of the milk called for in your recipe. Add the vanilla and the sugar; whisk until smooth. The batter should be slightly thicker than normal, but it shouldn't be so thick that it won't pour out of a cup and onto the griddle. You can always thin it out with a couple of tablespoons of milk at a time, whisking between each addition to check the consistency.

Pour batter onto griddle. These pancakes will cook a little more slowly than regular pancakes, and they're best when they're only a very light color. I served mine with a dollop of unsweetened coconut rum whipped cream and maple syrup, and they were divine. In fact, they were so good I'm making them again next weekend. Maybe I'll even try throwing a couple of mini morsels in there to see how that works. Heh.

Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake

2008-07-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

I made this on a whim because a friend asked for a chocolate something, but not a chocolate deathlike something. (Chocolate deathlike somethings are a particular favorite of mine.)

I wasn't sure if this would work, but the end product was rich and delicious without being overly chocolatey. I highly recommend it! It would go wondefully well with coffe, a cup of Earl Grey, or a glass of milk, which is how I have mine. Seeing as I don't like the hot beverages, that is.

Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake

Ingredients:

6 oz high-quality dark chocolate, melted
1/2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

3/4 c chocolate chips OR a glaze made with Godiva liqueur (1/2 c sugar and 1/4 c Godiva; heat sugar and liqueur on the stovetop until they reach a light boil and sugar is dissolved)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil; grease the foil with butter and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add melted chocolate, stirring until mixed completely. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. (You can melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave, and if you really wanted to, you can melt the chocolate with the butter. But that will change the texture of the cake. Also, make sure the melted chocolate isn't blazing hot. If it is, your eggs will cook when you add them in, and that? Is gross. GROSS, I SAY. You'll end up with bits of cooked egg white in your cake. DO NOT WANT.)
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Alternate adding this dry mixture and the sour cream to the batter. Stir after each addition until the ingredients are just mixed.
4. Add the vanilla. Stir until just blended. Don’t overdo it with the stirring, or your cake will end up dense and rubbery, and nobody wants that.
5. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top of the cake, if you're going the chocolate chip route. If not, skip this step and head directly to step 6. Whee!
6. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool entirely before cutting, and then serve it with dollops of whipped cream and a nice cup of coffee or tea. If you're glazing the cake, now would be the time to make the glaze and pour it over the cake. Mmm, sticky, chocolatey goodness...
7. Enjoy. Lick crumbs off of the plate and table. Taunt others with your cakey goodness.

A Taste of Summer

2008-07-05T12:10:00.000-07:00

I loved summertime when I was a kid. The heat never really bothered me then. But it sure as hell bothers me now! Probably because I'm half vampire or something.

Regardless, nothing says summer like cool coconut and delicious cherries. And a vanilla coconut ice cream with cherries and chocolate chips says summer like nobody's business! I made this ice cream for the 4th, and we had it with little wedges of lemon blueberry pound cake. So good it was wrong. Both of my parents (who've given me many mixed reviews, usually on the less positive side) for my desserts, loved it. My mom even refused to let my grandma take some of the cake home, and we totally polished off all of the ice cream. Score!

Once you've read the recipe, you know you're gonna want some:

Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream with Cherries and Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 c milk
3/4 c light coconut milk
2 c heavy whipping cream
1 tsp high-quality vanilla extract
2/3 to 3/4 c dried cherries (try to use dried cherries that haven't got a lot of preservatives; they'll stay softer when they freeze, and they'll taste better, too)
2/3 to 3/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips (the higher the quality of the chocolate chips, the better the end product!)

Directions:

1) Mix eggs and sugar together.
2) Add milk, coconut milk, cream, and vanilla. Stir.
3) If you live in fear of salmonella, now is the time to slap this stuff on the stove and bring to a low boil for a few minutes. Pour into a large glass bowl and refrigerate until completely cooled. If you're all intrepid and stuff (or you're using egg substitute), ignore this step and go straight to step 4, you rebel, you!
4) Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to directions. In the last two or so minutes of the freezing process, dump in the cherries and chocolate chips.
5) Remove from ice cream maker and turn out into airtight containers. Snag a spoonful or three as a "taaste test." (Note: the coconut flavor will be stronger and more obvious after about 24 hours in the freezer, yo, so don't worry if you can't taste it at this point.) Finish freezing completely.
6) Serve. Enjoy. Serve some more. Enjoy some more. Makes one quart of summery delicious AWESOME.

I Scream, You Scream...

2008-06-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

I've recently returned from a week abroad visiting Most Excellently Good Friends, Indeed. And on my trip, my friend J and I made this completely incredible chocolate orange cinnamon ice cream. To. Die. For. I shit you not!

We started with a base recipe from another friend, who got it from her mom. It's the most perfect vanilla ice cream I've ever had, homemade or otherwise. Really, it's so smooth and rich that it was almost a shame to add to it, but since I can never leave well enough alone and have a mad love of chocolate, orange, and cinnamon together, it had to be done.

So without further ado, I give you:

Chocolate Orange Cinnamon Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 eggs
2/3 c sugar
1 3/4 c milk
2 c heavy whipping cream
6 oz. high-quality dark chocolate (62-70% is best), melted
zest of one large orange
1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1) Melt chocolate. Stir in sugar.
2) Add milk and eggs; mix thoroughly.
3) Add cream; stir.
4) Add orange zest and cinnamon, and stir until mixed completely.
5) Once mixture is completely cooled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to directions. Make certain to steal little spoonfuls as the ice cream begins to thicken and freeze. If there's someone else in the room, taunt them as you do so.
6) Remove from ice cream maker and turn out into airtight containers. Finish freezing completely.
7) Serve. Enjoy. Serve some more. Enjoy some more. Makes one quart.

Note: If you're afraid of salmonella (oh noes!), you can always use an egg substitute instead of regular eggs. You can also mix together the sugar, eggs, and cream over medium heat on a stovetop, and then add the melted chocolate as the mixture reaches a low boil. (If you try to melt the chocolate into the cream mixture, you will most likely be left with teeny, tiny granules of chocolate, which will make your end product oddly grainy and kind of ucky. So add only fully melted chocolate to the already heating or boiling cream mixture.) Remove the chocolatey, creamy, eggy mixture from the stove and add the milk, orange zest, and cinnamon. Allow this mixture to cool completely before attempting to freeze it. Be aware, however, that allowing the ice cream base to reach a boil before freezing will change both the flavor and texture slightly. Some will not notice the difference, but for those who do, it won't be quite as good as making this ice cream the dangerous way.

LIVE ON THE EDGE!!! That's all I'm saying.

Orangey Goodness

2008-05-21T09:16:00.000-07:00

This is my new specialty cake. I give you:

Orange Chocolate Chip Pound Cake (with Coconut Rum Whipped Cream)

I went trolling the 'nets, and I found a base recipe really close to the one I use for my adapted pound cakes. It's from a bloke named Will Barber, and I found it here. (The one I use makes a larger cake. That's the only difference.)

Anyway, here you go.

Ingredients for cake:

1/2 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c sour cream or plain yogurt
1 tsp orange juice
Zest from two large oranges
3/4 c chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil; grease the foil with butter and set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar together until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Your batter should now be a rich yellow and slightly thick.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Alternate adding this dry mixture and the sour cream or yogurt to the batter. Stir after each addition until the ingredients are just mixed.
4. Zest two large oranges into batter and squeeze 1 tsp of juice from one of the oranges into the bowl. Stir until just blended.
5. Add the chocolate chips. Don’t overdo it with the stirring, or your cake will end up dense and rubbery, and nobody wants that.
6. Pour batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool entirely before cutting, and then serve it with dollops of coconut rum whipped cream on top (recipe below).

For coconut rum whipped cream:

1 c baker’s heavy cream
1 Tbs coconut rum

Directions:
Pour cream and coconut rum into a chilled glass bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until cream holds stiff peaks. (I highly recommend licking the bowl, the beaters, and the spoon when you’re done.) Refrigerate until you’re ready to use it.

Enjoy!

Building a Better Carmelita

2008-05-07T14:07:00.000-07:00

Carmelitas: they are delicious bars of chewy, nutty, chocolatey goodness, and I just made some.

I took this recipe and changed it around a bit so that it better suits my particular tastes. For example, this recipe doesn't call for nuts, but a carmelita cannot, in my opinion, be a carmelita without nuts. Since I'm not a fan of walnuts (too crumbly!) and I think that pecans are too close in flavor to caramel, I decided to use chopped hazelnuts. Those are my favorite nuts anyway, so I'll toss them in just about wherever I can. I'm also not particularly keen on caramel, so I've added a bit of cinnamon to offset its sticky sweetness.

Cinnamon Hazelnut Carmelitas:

crumbly carmelita "crust":
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c quick oats
1 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 c melted butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon (optional - but I like the slight zing that the cinnamon adds)

gooey carmelita middle:
1 1/2 c chocolate chips
1 c chopped hazelnuts
1 c caramel ice cream topping
2 Tbs flour

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9-inch pan with foil.
2. Combine all ingredients for the crust in a large mixing bowl. Stir until a crumb mixture is formed.
3. Press half of the crumb mixture into the bottom of your 13 x 9-inch pan and bake for 10 minutes.
4. Remove from oven after 10 minutes and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips and chopped hazelnuts. Drizzle caramel topping over chips and dust with the 2 Tbs of flour (if you skip this bit, the caramel will melt into the top layer of the crust and sort of disappear into it, leaving you with an oddly hard, slightly chewy top layer and no gooey caramel center to speak of. As this would be a tragedy and defeat the purpose of making carmelitas, I wouldn't skip this step...).
5. Top with the remaining crumb mixture (I usually flatten palmfuls of the mixture between my hands and place them on top of the caramel like a jigsaw puzzle).
6. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes. Cool and cut into bars. Note: it's easier to cut these suckers into bars if you refrigerate them first.

You can always leave out the cinnamon or hazelnuts, or you can substitute a different kind of nut, should you so desire. I made them exactly to the original recipe the first time, and while those carmelitas turned out well, they weren't very interesting in either their texture or their taste. Hence my need to "build a better carmelita."

I hope you enjoy!

Bring on the Death!

2008-04-29T06:12:00.000-07:00

One of my fabulous colleagues just had a birthday (she totally turned 29, y'all; that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!), and she specifically requested Chocolate Strawberry Death. Chocolate *insert flavor* Death is a particular favorite of mine. It tastes like you spent hours and hours and hours slaving over it when the reality is pretty far from the truth. Yeah, there are a few different layers and you have to wait a few hours between at least two of them, but honestly, it's a fairly simple recipe.

The base is something that I got from... Oh, I don't even remember. I think I swiped the recipe from my mom, who got it from some cooking show. That's nice and vague, isn't it? Sorry; that's all I've got. The base was originally the filling for some sort of pie (?), but you didn't use all of it because you end up making more than will fit in a regular pie crust. WASTEFUL! I was not impressed, so I started making various Deaths. I've made all kinds (the orange one didn't turn out very well; I think I used the wrong kind of orange, consarn it), but this is one of the better ones, I think. It's very rich and delicious.

Ingredients:

base:
1 1/2 c (8 oz.) chocolate chips or semisweet chocolate (the higher the quality of the chocolate, the better it tastes)
1 1/3 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 c cream
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

cream layer:
8 oz mascarpone cheese
1/2 c heavy whipping cream
3/4 c fruit preserves of your choice

ganache layer:
1 1/2 c chocolate chips (or 8 oz of high-quality chocolate)
2/3 c heavy whipping cream (or milk, if you prefer)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*F. Put rack in center of oven, and grease a 9 x 13-in. baking dish.
2. Melt chocolate and cream in microwave (or double boiler) until chocolate is just melted; stir until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla; whisk. Stir in flour and salt.
3. Add eggs, two at a time, whisking after each addition. Pour into baking pan.
4. Bake for 55-70 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out with no more than one or two moist crumbs on it. Remove to a rack and cool; store in fridge once it has cooled completely.
5. When the base has cooled, dump mascarpone, heavy whipping cream, and fruit preserves into a large mixing bowl. Beat on medium-high speed until mixure is thick and holds farily stiff peaks. Spread over chocolate base.
6. Melt chocolate chips and cream for ganache in microwave. I recommend going in 30-second increments because you want the chocolate to melt but not be too hot. Once the chocolate is melted, whisk the ganache until it is smooth and glossy. If it's too hot, let it sit and cool off a bit (I usually do the darned dishes at this point, if I haven't already). Spread carefully over the cream layer. If the ganache is too hot, it'll melt the top of the cream and make your Death look kind of yucky.
7. Refrigerate for 5 hours or overnight. Store in the refrigerater.
8. Enjoy!

Also Makes a Good Breakfast

2008-04-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorite recipes is Apple Cinnamon Poundcake. I don't make it in a traditional loaf because I prefer to use a 9 x 13 pan. You get more breakfasty-sized pieces that way. Heh. Also, you can glaze the cake when it's done, but I think that that's just a bit too much sweetness. The apples and cinnamon play off each other nicely already, and the cake is already perfectly moist, so you don't really need the stickyness of a glaze to seal in the moisture.

I'm not sure where I found the original pound cake recipe that I use as the base for all of my pound cakes, but it may have been Foodnetwork.com. I dunno.

Anyway, here you go:

Apple Cinnamon Poundcake

Ingredients:

2/3 c butter, softened
2 c sugar
4 eggs
2 c all-purpose flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 c sour cream or vanilla yogurt
1 tsp cinnamon

1 large Granny Smith apple, cut into small chunks (I leave the skin on)
1 Tbs sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice (or thereabouts)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*F. Coat and flour 9 x 13-in. baking pan.
2. Put apple chunks, 1 Tbs sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, and 1 tsp lemon juice in a small saucepan. Cook on medium low heat until apple pieces are slightly softened. Note: You can leave out the lemon juice - the apples will get quite juicy on their own - but I quite like the slight tartness that they bring to the bits of apple. It makes a very subtle difference, but the difference is there. Also, feel free to add more or less cinnamon as your palate dictates. You could also toss in a dash of ginger for a little more zing, if you like.
3. Cream butter. Gradually beat in sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 to 7 min. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition.
4. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and 1 tsp cinnamon, and add alternately with the yogurt or sour cream to the creamed sugar mixture. Beat on low until just blended.
5. Add in apple mixture; stir until just blended.
6. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hr and 15 min or until cake tests done. (You can also make muffins, round cakes, or whatever. Baking time will vary, though.) Cool in pan for 15 min before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Orange Cinnamon Brownies

2008-04-08T13:22:00.001-07:00

Right, here we are. I'm a big fan of brownies, and while pretty much nothing beats a plain chocolate brownie, I think that these puppies right here have just become my number-one favorite chocolate sensation ever. Honestly, it's almost wrong how delicious these are. And it was entirely by accident!

I started with the best basic brownie recipe in the world: Wicked Easy Fudge Brownies from kingarthurflour.com. I use this recipe all of the time, though I do tend to tweak it a little. For some reason, the brownies usually turn out a bit too sticky, and they're nearly impossible to scrape out of your pan or peel off your foil (I line all of my baking pans with foil; it makes transportation and cleanup so much easier. Yes, I'm that lazy.). So I cut out a little bit of the oil, which seems to help.

This week, I ended up zesting an orange into the batter and adding in a bit of cinnamon. I also threw in a double handful of chocolate chips. I didn't want too many chips in there, though. Too much extra chocolate would have ruined the play between the orange, the cinnamon, and the moist, fudgy brownie. Too many chips would have made biting into the brownie a bit too much work, too. Brownies should be soft and moist and chewy with the occasional chunk of chocolate to provide texture contrast. If I wanted a mouthful of chocolate chips, I'd eat a mouthful of chocolate chips, thanks very much. Not that, you know, I have. o.o

Okay, I have. Frequently. What?!? Like you've never done it?

Anyway, these brownies turned out to be amazing. I was expecting them to be pretty good, but amazing? I may or may not have danced with glee in my kitchen when I "poison-tested" them. (That's what we call taste-testing in my family.) Even if you're not into orange and chocolate, I recommend giving these a try anyway. The cinnamon cuts through the sweetness of the orange and gives it a little bit of heat, particularly at the finish. And if you're not too keen on cinnamon and chocolate, you might still like these. The sweetness of the orange balances out the cinnamon beautifully. Just be careful that you don't use too much cinnamon or too much orange: chocolate is the primary flavor in brownies, and it should stay that way! Everything else is just a slight enhancement to bring out the richness of the chocolate.

Well, it is in my world, anyway...

Adapted Recipe for Orange Cinnamon Brownies:

Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar (I ususally go 1 c brown and 1 c granulated)
3/4 cup cocoa powder (I like Hershey's best, actually)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs
1 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup minus 1 Tbs vegetable oil
zest from one large orange (I like a slightly stronger, less sweet orange)
2 teaspoons juice from the orange
1/2 c cinnamon
2/3 c dark chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl (I love my microwave! Don't you?). Dump in the rest of the ingredients and stir until the mixture is smooth.

2. Grease a 9 x 13-inch pan and spoon in the batter.

3. Bake the brownies in a preheated 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they're just barely beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. I also use the knife test: one or two moist crumbs are okay, but anything more than that is TOO GOOEY. True story. If they're too gooey, you're never getting them all the way out of that pan!

4. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

5. Eat. Make orgasmic noises as you chew. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO HELP YOURSELF. I guarantee it.

Welcome to Sugarsville

2008-04-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

So here I am, blogging about baking. Please note that I am all about convenience. I think that there are a ton of awesome recipes out there, but I have a few favorites that I use as the basis for all of my flavah ex-per-i-men-tay-shun. I hardly ever come up with anything entirely new on my own; who has the time, and why waste all of those fabulous ingredients flailing around in the kitchen when the masters have already come up with the perfect pound cake or brownie recipes?

Anyway, I bake around once a week, and while I do tend to repeat myself (if it works, don't knock it!), I also like to try out new flavor and texture combinations. I'm all about the whole experience, you see. Texture is as important as flavor, and I like for the things I put in my mouth to have depth. I want whatever's tickling my palate to have a certain... [insert appropriate term here]... if you will. Heh. (If your mind just rolled into the gutter, that's good. Mine's there, too. Hi!) This week I made some seriously awesome orange cinnamon brownies. I'll post the recipe later, and let me tell you: I don't normally wax poetic about the things I've baked, but if I could clone myself and marry me for these brownies, I WOULD. They were that good. True story.

So, yeah. Welcome. Have a sugar fix and enjoy yourself.