SMS: Sugar Cookies

This week's SMS was chosen by Nina of Nina's Cupcakes: sugar cookies.  I really like sugar cookies but I don't make them that often because royal icing and I don't get along all that well.  Sure, I could leave the cookies plain and just eat them that way but their blank canvases and all of the endless possibilities for decoration are just too much for me to resist.  Unfortunately, I'm just not very talented when it comes to royal icing.  I really want to be good at it - I do.  But first I need to develop some patience because I'm going to need a lot more practice to develop this skill!  It took me an absurdly long time to decorate six cookies and I wasn't thrilled with the way they turned out, so definitely a lot of room for improvement! 



Some of the SMS bakers who made these cookies early in the week reported they were bland so I made just a few changes to add some flavor.  I love almond extract so I added 1/2 teaspoon in addition to the 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract the recipe called for.  Also, I added the zest of an entire lemon.  I think orange zest would work well in these cookies too and I may give that a shot if I make these again.  I'd purchased cupcake-shaped cookie cutters last summer and was glad to finally have an opportunity to use them here.  I snuck a few heart-shaped cookies in too because I've been feeling so much birthday love the past few days :)  Since the book didn't provide instructions on how long to bake these cookies I kept an eye on them and thought about 10 minutes at 350 F was perfect.  



The verdict?  I liked them a lot - they were sturdy yet still chewy and their flavor reminded me a lot of  my go-to sugar cookie recipe, mainly because of the almond extract in both.  Shane ate some of the leftover dough (ok, I did too) and we both thought it was tasty.  The dough was easy to work with and the cookies didn't puff or spread much in the oven, which is always important when making cut-out sugar cookies.  Overall, a definite thumbs-up to these!  Thanks to Nina for hosting this week!  You can find the recipe on her blog.  

Brown Butter Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips

I had hoped to get this post up sooner but it's been a busy day.  Shane and I have been celebrating my birthday!  I always forget how much fun birthdays are and this has been an especially good one :)  The day's not over yet though so I'm going to keep this short and get back to the fun!



I will be making a more elaborate layer cake to celebrate (and I'll post that next week) but for today I went simple with this brown butter banana cake.  I really like the combination of bananas and chocolate and ever since using brown butter to make chocolate chip cookies, I've been eager to find another recipe that called for it.  The brown butter was subtle here but I think it improved the flavor of the cake and imparted just a bit of nuttiness.  The cake is incredibly moist and quite delicious!  Although the recipe called for mini chocolate chips, I didn't have any so I substituted regular chips.  Most of my chips sunk to the bottom of the cake as it baked (so they were actually on the top once it was flipped out).  The batter is pretty thin so I suspect I would have had better luck with the lighter mini chips as opposed to the heavy full size ones.

Brown Butter Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips
from Fine Cooking Chocolate! (also available here)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup finely mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium bananas)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
7 1/2 oz (1 2/3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
2/3 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter and flour a 10-cup tube or bundt pan.  (I sprayed my pan well with cooking spray with flour and had no problems getting the cake out.)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.  Once the butter is melted, cook it slowly, letting it bubble, until it smells nutty or like butterscotch and turns a deep golden hue, 5 to 10 minutes. If the butter splatters, reduce the heat to low. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter through a fine sieve into a medium bowl and discard the bits in the sieve.  Let the butter cool until it’s very warm rather than boiling hot, 5 to 10 minutes.

Using a whisk, stir the sugar and eggs into the butter. (Since the butter is quite warm, you can use cold eggs for this.) Whisk until the mixture is smooth (the sugar may still be somewhat grainy), 30 to 60 seconds. Whisk in the mashed bananas, vanilla, and salt. Sift the flour and baking soda directly onto the batter. Pour the chocolate chips over the flour. Using a rubber spatula, fold just until the dry ingredients and the chips are combined.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it evenly with the rubber spatula. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out with only moist crumbs clinging to it, 42 to 45 minutes. Set the pan on a rack to cool for 15 minutes then invert the cake onto the rack and remove the pan. Let cool until just warm and then serve immediately or wrap well in plastic and store at room temperature for up to five days.

Shepherd's Pie

It's been forever since I've shared something that was even remotely savory and since I've got a few sweet recipes lined up for the coming days, I figured today would be a good time to slip this one in.  The recipe caught my eye in a section in the February issue of Martha Stewart Living that featured lighter takes on comfort food.  Shepherd's pie doesn't necessarily scream "comfort food" to me as much as some of the other recipes in the section (especially the chicken parmigiana) but I had the ingredients on hand so it's the one I tried first.  We used to have shepherd's pie when I was a kid and though I don't remember liking it all that much, I hoped my adult taste buds might have a more favorable opinion!



Though shepherd's pie is typically topped with mashed potatoes, this recipe also includes parsnips along with the potatoes.  Instead of using butter, cream, milk or any of the other ingredients that make mashed potatoes so yummy, plain fat-free yogurt is substituted (I used Greek yogurt).  I was skeptical, to say the least.  The topping ended up being my favorite part of this dish, though!  I loved the addition of the parsnips - they added just a bit of sweetness - and the yogurt really did make the topping creamy and delicious.  Lean ground turkey is used in place of ground beef to make the recipe lighter and chili powder is added for flavor since ground turkey can be pretty bland.  Carrots, celery, onion and peas are also included in the filling.  I haven't learned to like peas yet so I substituted corn.  I made the shepherd's pie in individual gratin dishes so I could add the corn only to mine and not Shane's.  Still, he helped me make this dinner and saw the carrots, celery, onion, and parsnips so I knew it'd be a struggle to convince him this could be good, even with all of those veggies in there.  He ate it, but I suspect it was only to be a good sport.  I really enjoyed this dish though and will definitely make it again, but only on a night when I'm alone for dinner!

Finally, I’m happy to share that I was fortunate to be featured in Refrigerator Soup’s "Twenty Questions with our Favorite Food Bloggers" this week!  Refrigerator Soup is a site that shares gorgeous photos from food bloggers around the world and it's a great place to discover new recipes and blogs as well as find inspiration.  You can check out my interview here if you'd like.

Shepherd's Pie
from Martha Stewart Living, February 2010

Topping
1 1/2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
3 parsnips (6 ounces), peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Filling
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 pounds lean ground turkey
coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
3/4 teaspoon chipotle or regular chili powder
2 tablespoons plus 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
6 ounces frozen peas (about 1 1/2 cups) (I used corn instead)

Preheat oven to 425 F.

To make the topping: Place potatoes and parsnips in a medium saucepan, cover with water by 2 inches, and bring to a simmer.  Cook until fork tender, about 20 minutes.  Drain, reserving 2 cups cooking liquid.  Pass potatoes and parsnips through a ricer.  Stir in the yogurt and 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt.  Season with pepper to taste.

To make the filling: Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook onion, celery, carrots, and garlic, stirring, until tender, 10 to 12 minutes.  Add ground turkey; cook, breaking up any large pieces, for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt, the thyme, and chili powder; season with pepper to taste.  Whisk together cornstarch and reserved 2 cups cooking liquid; add to turkey. Boil for 1 minute. Stir in peas.

Transfer to a 2-quart round or oval baking dish; top with potato/parsnip mixture.  Bake until filling is bubbling and top is browned (my topping never really browned, but the filling was bubbling and I was hungry, so I ate), about 35 minutes.

Fastest Fudge Cake with Ganache Drizzle

Recently I needed a last-minute dessert to bring to a friend's house.  I had picked up a copy of Fine Cooking's Chocolate magazine and had been itching to try one of the recipes, so I decided to start there in my search for ideas.  This cake caught my eye as the introduction said it was super easy to make but delicious enough for company - just what I needed!  As I skimmed the recipe I saw that the cake was made entirely by hand and that I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry.  Plus, the butter is melted, which is one of my favorite things to see in a recipe as I really hate bringing butter to room temperature.  One of the other nice things about the cake is that it's adaptable - it can be made in either an 8 or 9 inch pan, you can choose to drizzle ganache over the top or leave it plain and I didn't think of it when I made this cake, but I bet a peanut butter frosting would be delicious!



I baked my cake in an 8-inch pan and topped it with leftover ganache from the s'mores cupcakes I'd made a few days earlier.  My friend's 2-year old son was the first to sample the cake and declared it a success!  He even ate a bit of the cake, which is saying something, as he almost always eats only the frosting off of cupcakes/cake I bring him before handing the cake portion back to me and requesting a second :)  I thought the cake was great - very moist and definitely something I could see eating plain in the future if I didn't have a reason to dress it up with the ganache.  When I went to Fine Cooking's site to look for an online link, I saw that this recipe actually comes from Alice Medrich so if you're a fan of her recipes you'll definitely want to give this one a chance. 

Fastest Fudge Cake with Ganache Drizzle
from Fine Cooking Chocolate! (recipe can also be found here)

4 1/2 oz (1 cup) all-purpose flour
1 oz (1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsweetened natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 lb (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and warm
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup hot water
1 cup ganache drizzle (recipe below) (optional)

With a rack in the lower third of the oven, preheat oven to 350 F.  Place a round of parchment in the bottom of an 8x2 or 9x2 round cake pan and then grease it with butter or spray with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  In a large bowl, mix the melted butter with the brown sugar using a wooden spoon.  Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until combined.  Add the flour mixture all at once and mix just until the flour is moistened.  Pour the hot water over the batter and stir gently until incorporated.  The batter will be smooth. 

Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes if you use a 9-inch pan or 35-40 minutes if you use an 8-inch pan.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes then run a thin knife around the edge of the pan and invert the pan to remove the cake.  Remove the parchment (if you used it) and turn the cake right side up to cool completely. 

With the cake still on the rack, set it over a baking sheet or a piece of foil or parchment paper to catch the drips.  Pour the warm ganache over the cake and use an offset spatula to spread it over the top and down the sides of the cake.  Let set for about an hour before serving.

Ganache Drizzle

1/2 pound bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream; more as needed
granulated sugar (optional)

Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl.  In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk gently until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  (If you use a 70% bittersweet chocolate the ganache might be thick - just add more cream, one tablespoon at a time, to thin it until you reach your desired consistency.  Also, if you use a bittersweet chocolate but want a slightly more sweet ganache, you can add a couple of teaspoons of sugar when you add the hot cream.)

TWD: Honey-Wheat Cookies

This week's TWD was chosen by Michelle of Flourchild: honey-wheat cookies.  The recipe is really interesting, mainly because it calls for quite a bit of wheat germ, which is not a terribly common ingredient (at least in cookie recipes I've made in the past).  Fortunately, I had purchased a small bag of wheat germ a few months ago for a different recipe and stuck it in my freezer, so I had some on hand and was glad to have another chance to use it before it expired.  The cookies also incorporate a lot of honey (as their name implies) as well as lemon zest, one of my favorite ingredients lately.  



These cookies doesn't spread much in the oven and I loved that about them.  It was easy to make them all about the same size and for some reason I appreciated the uniform look, probably because I don't usually achieve it with other cookies I bake.  As for their flavor, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed them!  They're soft and chewy with a subtly sweet lemon flavor.  Dorie says they're a nice tea cookie, and while I don't drink tea, I can definitely see what she means.  I only baked half of the dough for these photos and I gave most of those away so I'm glad to have the other half to bake off later this week!

Thanks to Michelle for her selection this week!  You can find the recipe on her site or on page 81 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.

SMS: Strawberry Lemonade

It may still be winter but yesterday it felt like anything but in my little corner of Rhode Island.  The sun was shining, temperatures climbed to almost 50 F, I broke out my flip-flops instead of my Uggs for a trip to Target and to top it all off, I was drinking strawberry lemonade - a decidedly summery beverage - on my couch.  Jessica, of My Baking Heart, must have known that yesterday's weather would offer the perfect motivation for me to make the strawberry lemonade, her selection for this week's SMS.

The recipe is easy - it starts with a simple syrup, which is made by dissolving sugar in hot water.  Though the recipe didn't call for it specifically, I made mine in a saucepan on the stove to ensure the sugar was completely dissolved.  Fresh lemon juice and more water are added to the simple syrup as well as a strawberry sauce to finish the lemonade.  The strawberry sauce is made by blending fresh strawberries, a bit of lemon juice, water and sugar and then straining the sauce to remove the seeds. 

I really enjoyed the lemonade!  I have a major sweet tooth and this lemonade was perfectly sweet in my opinion, but if you like things a bit less sweet, you might want to cut back on the sugar.  The strawberry flavor is prominent and I liked it that way, but the recipe can easily be adjusted by using less strawberry sauce if you want more lemon flavor.  I only made 1/2 of the recipe this time but I know I'll be revisiting it again this summer, if not sooner!  Thanks to Jessica for hosting this week.  You can find the recipe on her site or on page 85 of the book.   

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

On Tuesday I promised to share a wonderful chocolate chip cookie recipe and here it is!  This recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated and resulted from their attempts to create a cookie that would be moist and chewy in the center yet crisp at the edges.  There are a few interesting thing about the recipe.  First, it has you brown most of the butter before incorporating it into the cookie dough to add just a bit of nutty flavor.  Also, the cookies are mixed by hand, and once the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla have been combined, the mixture is whisked for 30 seconds several times with a 3 minute rest in between. 



I baked a few cookies the day I made the dough and portioned the rest into individual balls of dough to stick in the freezer and bake off another day.  The ones I baked immediately spread a bit more and were slightly thinner than the ones baked from the freezer.  I preferred the ones from the freezer, but both shared many similar qualities.  They both had the most wonderfully moist and chewy centers possible - they were the exact texture I hope for in my chocolate chip cookies.  The edges were perfectly crisp too.  I separated a bit of the dough before I added the chocolate so I could bake a few cookies plain (as I mentioned the other day, the chocolate is actually my least favorite part of chocolate chip cookies).  The plain cookies were amazing - rich and buttery with toffee notes.  There's a very high likelihood that I'll be making an entire batch without the chocolate very soon!



Shane and I bought thought these cookies were about as close to perfect as they could be so they certainly live up to their name.  I can't state with 100% certainty that they're my absolute favorite ever, but only because I can't accurately compare them to my other top contenders without a side by side taste test!  I simply don't have a good enough memory to remember the intricate details of the flavor and texture of the other cookies.  Give them a try - they may just become your favorite chocolate chip cookie!

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
from Cook's Illustrated, May/June 2009

1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
3/4 cups (5 1/4 ounces) packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks
3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted (optional) (I omitted)

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour and baking soda together.

Set a medium skillet over medium-high heat and add 10 tablespoons of the butter. Cook until melted, about 2 minutes, then lower the heat slightly and continue cooking until the butter is golden brown with a nutty aroma. Swirl the pan frequently to ensure the butter browns evenly. Transfer the browned butter to a heatproof bowl and add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter, stirring until it melts completely.

Whisk the brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt and vanilla into the butter until fully incorporated. Add the egg and egg yolk and whisk until the mixture is completely smooth, about 30 seconds. Let the mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat the resting and whisking 2 more times until the mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Add the flour mixture to the bowl, stirring with a rubber spatula until just incorporated. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if using).

Portion the dough into large balls, each about 3 tablespoons, and arrange them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake, 1 tray at a time, until the cookies are golden brown and puffy, with edges that are just set and centers that are soft, about 10-14 minutes. Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely.

Chocolate Truffles

Are there tasks associated with cooking or baking that you dread (aside from washing the dishes - I don't think anyone enjoys that!)?  For me, it's chopping chocolate.  I'll often skip right past a recipe that looks absolutely delicious simply because the ingredient list reads "bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped."  Those two words, finely chopped, are enough to make me run the other way. 



Sometimes though, for the right recipe, I'll put aside my fear and chop chocolate.  I'll break out my cutting board and despite my best efforts at neatness, that chocolate will wind up all over my hands, on the countertops and on the floor.  Worse still, if I happen to be making a recipe that calls for pouring hot cream over the chocolate to melt it, my chocolate is never chopped fine enough.  The chocolate doesn't melt fully and I end up having to microwave it briefly to achieve a smooth, silky result (yes, that happened here too - 15 seconds in the microwave at 50% power took care of the problem). 



When I saw these truffles on Kristin's site, the promise of decadent treats made from just two ingredients (3 if you count the optional liqueur), was enough to make me look past the fact that one of those two ingredients needed to be "finely chopped."  The recipe is simple - you make a ganache, let it thicken then chill and finally scoop and form into little bite sized-treats.  The process of forming the truffles proved messy, even after chilling the ganache.  I used a melon baller, but if I had a smaller cookie scoop, that would have been even better.  I rolled my truffles in two different types of cocoa powder and popped each one in its own little silver candy cup. 



These truffles were never meant to stay at our house.  I don't even like truffles- too rich for my tastes - but I knew they'd be appreciated by others so I was happy to send them off to be enjoyed.  I did, however, keep one here for Shane to taste so I could report back.  Kristin had raved about them and the reviews from Martha Stewart's site (the original source of the recipe) were positive, so I wasn't too worried.  The truffles got a thumbs-up, but the cocoa powder coating?  Well, that elicited one of the most adverse reactions I've ever seen from Shane to something I made.  Needless to say, he wasn't a fan.  I started to worry maybe I'd done something wrong, but when I went back and checked the recipe, it definitely said "unsweetened cocoa powder" and a quick internet search yielded many other recipes that called for the same coating on chocolate truffles.  So, I'm left to assume it's simply a matter of personal preference.  Still, I'm curious - if you've had truffles rolled in cocoa powder and enjoyed them, please let me know so I can confirm my theory about personal preferences.  One thing's for sure: future truffles in our house will be coated with confectioner's sugar! 



Chocolate Truffles
from Martha Stewart (as seen on The Kitchen Sink Recipes)

8 ounces best-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon liqueur, such as triple sec or framboise (optional) (I used vanilla extract)
unsweetened cocoa powder, for rolling (confectioner's sugar would work well too)

Place chopped chocolate into a large heatproof bowl. Bring cream just to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat; pour over chocolate in bowl. Stir in liqueur or extract, if using. Cover with plastic wrap; let stand 10 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let stand until thick, about 15 minutes.

Pour chocolate mixture into a shallow 8-inch dish or pie plate. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until mixture is very cold and set but still pliable, about 30 minutes.

Using a teaspoon or a 1/2-inch melon baller, scoop balls of chocolate mixture, transferring them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper as you work. Refrigerate truffles 10 minutes.

Using hands dusted with cocoa powder, dip each truffle in cocoa powder to coat, then quickly shape truffle into a rough round. Refrigerate truffles in an airtight container until ready to serve, up to 2 weeks; before serving, reshape into rounds, and roll each truffle in cocoa powder, if desired.

Yield: I made half of the recipe and wound up with 10 truffles.  Mine were slightly larger than the teapoon size indicated in the recipe.

TWD: My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

This week's TWD was chosen by Kait of Kait's Plate: my best chocolate chip cookies!  Believe it or not, I'm not a huge chocolate chip cookie fanatic.  Warm from the oven I like them a lot, but once they've cooled, I could easily pass them up.  Chocolate chip cookie dough, though, that's another story.  I could eat a ton of it, probably because it's easy to pick around the chocolate in the dough, which is my least favorite part.  Once the cookies are baked it's much trickier to avoid the chocolate!  



I made these cookies to include as part of Shane's Valentine's Day gift (I left the nuts out) and while he enjoyed them, they definitely weren't a favorite.  They're much too thin and crispy; in fact, the edges were lacy.  We prefer a thicker, more chewy chocolate chip cookie.  If I made this recipe again I'd have to play around with adding more flour.  But, truthfully, with so many chocolate chip cookie recipes out there to try, I'm not likely to repeat this one.  In fact, just a few days after I baked these cookies, I tried a different recipe, which yielded fantastic cookies.  I'll be sharing them later this week! 

Thanks to Kait for hosting this week's selection!  You can find the recipe on her site and you can see the rest of this week's cookies if you stop by the TWD blogroll.

MSC: S'mores Cupcakes

It's the 15th of the month which means it's a posting day for the Martha Stewart Cupcakes Club!  This month's selection was chosen by Mary Ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen: s'mores cupcakes!  The photo of these cupcakes in the book was absolutely gorgeous - the frosting looks so billowy.  I tried a different recipe for s'mores cupcakes around this time last year and I loved them so I was excited to see how these would compare.



The first challenge was to find the graham flour that the recipe calls for.  I had to visit 4 or 5 stores but finally I was successful (for anyone looking, Bob's Red Mill).  The recipe indicated that these cupcakes needed to be served within a short time after being made and since it was just the two of us, I scaled way back.  I made 1/3 of the recipe, which yielded 8 cupcakes, but only frosted 3 of them, sticking the rest in the freezer for another time.  The topping is actually two parts - first a chocolate ganache and then on top of that, a marshmallow frosting.  Since there are three components to the recipe, it is a bit fussy, but not difficult.




I knew these would probably not be a favorite after I made the cupcakes.  As they cooled, I felt them and could tell they were very dense.  I kept an eye on them as they baked so I'm fairly certain they weren't overdone, but I'll be interested to see what everyone else says about their cupcakes.  The chocolate ganache was my favorite part of the cupcake - great consistency and wonderful flavor.  It was also really shiny!  The marshmallow frosting was a bit of a disappointment for me too.  It hardens quickly after being made so you have to pipe immediately.  I thought it was too rubbery when I sampled one of the cupcakes; I guess I'd hoped for soft and gooey like a toasted marshmallow.  As I expected, my cupcakes were also really dense - so much so we didn't end up eating the ones I topped.  I probably wouldn't make these again, but it was fun trying them once!

Thanks to Mary Ann for her selection this month!  We don't post the recipes, but you can find it on page 150-151 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book.  And if you don't have the book, you could always try the s'mores cupcakes I posted last year :)

SMS: Easy Chocolate Mousse

This week's SMS was chosen by Spike of Spike Bakes: easy chocolate mousse!  I'll just go ahead and say it (and of course, no offense to Spike intended): I don't like chocolate mousse, or any flavor mousse for that matter.  It reminds me of pudding, which I also don't really like.  Shane does like mousse though, and since this recipe only called for a few ingredients I figured I'd scale it back and let him give it a shot! 



I made 1/3 of the recipe which yielded enough mousse for the dish you see in the photos as well as a tiny ramekin.  I spooned some mousse into the bottom of the dish and then to make it look more decorative, I piped a few stars on top.  This recipe was simple, simple, simple but it did leave me with a big stack of dirty dishes.  We've got an assortment of homemade desserts at our house right now, but when it came time for a snack tonight Shane went straight for this mousse.  He declared it a hit - light, fluffy and delicious - something he'd definitely want me to make again!



A big thanks to Spike for her selection this week!  You can find the recipe for the chocolate mousse on her site and if you're interested, stop by the SMS site to see how the rest of the bakers fared this week.  Whether you're a fan of Valentine's Day or not, I hope you all have a wonderful day with the ones you love! 

Nutella Biscotti with Chocolate Chunks

World Nutella Day was last Friday, and as is so often the case, I couldn't get my act together in time to bake and post something to celebrate.  I even had a recipe in mind, a recipe that I was really looking forward to trying out.  At first I thought I would just save the recipe and make it next year but then I decided that was silly - there are plenty of other Nutella recipes I can try next year and, besides, I'd probably forget about this one if I didn't make it soon.  So, instead, I decided to share it with you all today - just in time for you to bake these wonderful biscotti for the ones you love this weekend to celebrate Valentine's Day!  And if you're not into celebrating Valentine's Day, just make these as a sweet treat to yourself, especially if you're a Nutella lover!



I don't make biscotti often because many times the texture is too hard and crunchy for me.  Those biscotti are made for dunking into a cup of coffee or tea and since I don't drink either, they just don't hold much appeal to me.  These biscotti are an entirely different story, though.  They're a bit softer, though still with the crunch you expect from biscotti - perfect for eating all by themselves.  I loved these with the combination of Nutella and the bittersweet chocolate chunks but you could modify the recipe to suit your tastes.  I omitted one cup of hazelnuts, which were in the original recipe (an obvious choice with the Nutella), but you could also use almonds or walnuts.  Likewise, you could use a different kind of chocolate, or none at all.  Like most biscotti, these will stay fresh for at least a week in an airtight container, but I highly doubt they'll last that long!



Nutella Biscotti with Chocolate Chunks
adapted from The Art & Soul of Baking by Sur La Table and Cindy Mushet

1 stick (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup (4 3/4 oz) sugar
1/2 cup (6 oz) Nutella, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 3/4 cups (13 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch chunks, or 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth and slightly lightened in color, 2-3 minutes.  Add the Nutella to the bowl and beat to blend.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well (15 to 20 seconds) and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt.  Add the flour mixture to the bowl of the mixer all at once and beat on low speed just until combined.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl again.

Add the chocolate and mix on low speed until just blended.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir gently a few times with the spatula to evenly distribute the chocolate and ensure there are no patches of unincorporated flour or butter at the bottom of the bowl.

Divide the dough in half and on a lightly floured surface, shape each half of dough into a 13-inch log.  Place the logs on the prepared baking sheet spacing them about 4 inches apart.  Press down on the logs to flatten them slightly until they are about 2 inches across.  Place a second baking sheet under the first to prevent the bottoms of the logs from browning too quickly.  Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the logs are firm to the touch.  Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the logs cool completely.  (Definitely let the logs cool before cutting them - otherwise the warm chocolate chunks will smear and make for a less attractive appearance.)

Turn the oven down to 275 F and position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Transfer the cooled logs to a cutting board and use a serrated knife to slice the logs on the diagonal into 3/8-inch thick cookies.  Line a second baking sheet with parchment paper.  Place the cookies, cut side down, on the prepared baking sheets.  Bake for 30-40 minutes, rotating the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through, until the cookies are dry.  Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Yields about 45 biscotti

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies

Valentine's Day is almost here and while I know lots of people think it's a dumb Hallmark holiday, I enjoy it!  What's not to like about a holiday that celebrates love?  It's a low stress holiday around here -  Shane and I aren't going to buy one another expensive gifts (in fact, we have a $5 limit this year, which I love because it means we'll be more creative) nor are we going out for a fancy dinner.  We'll be spending the day together at home and I'll probably prepare a nice meal for us to enjoy, though I'm still working out the details on that.  One thing is for sure, though: dessert will be decadent, delicious and probably involve chocolate!



In addition to making dessert on Sunday, I thought it would be fun to bake a few other treats this week that I specifically selected with Shane in mind.  I may also dig through the archives of the blog and re-make a few of his favorites, something I rarely do since there are so many new recipes I want to try.  The chocolate and peanut butter combo is one of his favorites so these sandwich cookies were an obvious choice when I was looking for a new recipe to try - peanut butter cookies with a creamy peanut butter-chocolate chip filling!



This recipe comes together fairly quickly.  You'll have a much easier time matching up the cookies to make the sandwiches if you use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough, ensuring that the cookies are all roughly the same size.  I got 42 cookies from the recipe and used about half of them to make sandwiches (I made half of the filling recipe below), leaving the other half plain.  I sampled a few of the plain cookies and thought they were really good - sturdy enough to stand up to the filling yet still soft and very chewy.  The filling reminded me of our favorite peanut butter icing so I was pretty sure it'd be a hit.  Fortunately, I was right!  Shane thought the sandwiches were delicious!  The only thing I'll do differently next time is to add a bit more chocolate to the filling.  I omitted the nuts from the filling recipe and would probably substitute an equal amount of chocolate (so 1/2 cup of chocolate total) when I make them again.

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Sandwich Cookies
from The Best of Fine Cooking Chocolate!

Cookies
6 oz (1 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour
2 oz (2/3 cup) cake flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 oz (3/4 cup, 12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg

Filling
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 oz (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 cup coarsely chopped roasted unsalted peanuts (I omitted)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped semisweet chocolate, or mini semisweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate)

To Make the Cookies: Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, and salt.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla and egg and continue creaming until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the flour mixture to the bowl and, with the mixer on low speed, beat until just incorporated. 

Using a small ice cream scoop (or cookie scoop) drop heaping tablespoonfuls of batter onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart.  With floured fingers, flatten each mound of dough into a 2-inch round.  Bake until the cookies are puffed and golden, 12 to 14 minutes.  Transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

To Make the Filling: In a medium bowl, cream the confectioners' sugar, butter and peanut butter with a mixer until smooth.  Add the heavy cream and beat until smooth and fluffy.  Stir in the chopped peanuts and chocolate.

To Assemble: Match similarly sized cookies to form pairs of 2 for your sandwiches.  With an offset spatula or butter knife, spread a teaspoon (or more) of filling onto one half of each cookie pair.  Set the other cookie on top of the filling and press gently to spread the filling.  Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.  They will keep for a few days. 

Makes about 18 sandwiches

TWD: Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia

I'm pretty set in my ways when it comes to a lot of things in life and honestly, I'm ok with that.  I acknowledge it and when I think it's necessary, I can step outside of my comfort zone.  One thing I was pretty certain about before this week - the kind of brownies I liked.  I've discussed this in previous posts but to reiterate, cakey brownies = good and fudgy brownies = bad.   In the introductory notes to this recipe Dorie specifically mentions that these are very fudgy brownies so I wasn't particularly excited about them.  I figured I'd bake them and ship them off to work with Shane.  



I almost always try to taste a little bite of whatever I make so I can comment about my impression on the blog, so I sampled a little corner of one of the brownies after I cut them....and then I ate the rest of that brownie and had to walk away so I didn't eat another and another and another.  Best brownies I've ever had, hands down!  They were perfection - fudgy and rich but not at all gooey.  This is one instance where I was thrilled to be wrong, turns out I do like fudgy brownies, I just hadn't tried the right ones - Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia!  My brownies were on the thin side because of the pan I used, but that didn't bother me one bit.  I'm psyched to have a go-to brownie recipe and since I am still planning to send these brownies to work with Shane I have a feeling I'll be making another batch very soon!



I was glad I waited until Monday to bake this week because I got some great tips from Nancy and Di that probably saved me from having trouble with this recipe.  Early reviewers described the brownies as gooey and underbaked so I was advised to either bake the full recipe in a 13 x 9 metal pan or 1/2 recipe in an 8-inch square metal pan (the recipe specified a 9x9 Pyrex pan for a full recipe).  My only square metal pan is 9x9 so that's what I used for a half recipe.  I sprayed the pan with nonstick cooking spray, even though the recipe didn't say to - better safe than sorry in my book.  I knew my brownies would probably be thin so I kept a close eye on them.  They were perfect at about 19-20 minutes.  After they'd cooled completely I was able to cut them and remove them from the pan easily. 



Many thanks to Tanya of Chocolatechic for hosting this week!  You can find the recipe on her site or on page 91 of the book.  The rest of this week's brownies can be seen by visiting the TWD blogroll.

Soft Pretzel Bites

We've been hosting a get-together at our house on Super Bowl Sunday since we moved in a few years ago.  Most (if not all) of our friends are Patriots fan, but even when the Patriots don't make it to the big game, we still like getting together to watch the game (and the commercials) and enjoy some good food!  Last night's game was really exciting and we definitely enjoyed watching the Saints win so congratulations to all of their fans!  Hopefully next year the Patriots will be back in the Super Bowl :)

I actually didn't make much food for our party this year since it was a small gathering.  Yesterday I blogged about the red velvet cupcakes I made and today I wanted to share the soft pretzel bites that were also on the menu.  I saw these over on Maria's site, Two Peas and their Pod, last week and I knew I wanted to try them.  They looked delicious and I've been on a pretzel kick lately plus homemade pretzels are so much better than anything you can buy in the store. 





These are definitely worth the effort!  They're really pretty simple, especially if you read the directions properly, which I failed to do on the first batch.  I didn't divide the dough into a small enough piece so my rope was thick, yielding jumbo pretzel bites.  Luckily, they still came out fine so no harm done.  The only other thing I'd advise is to spray the baking sheets very well with cooking spray.  Some of the pretzel bites from my first batch stuck to the bottom of the pan.  I liked these best when they were still a bit warm, but they're tasty at room temperature too. 

Soft Pretzel Bites
adapted from Bobby Flay (as seen on Two Peas and their Pod)

1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 F)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast (I used instant)
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled just slightly
2 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour
3 quarts water
3/4 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
coarse sea salt

On low speed, mix the water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and 4 1/2 cups of the flour and mix on low speed until combined.  Increase the speed to medium (I don't put my mixer above 2 when kneading dough so I just kept it there) and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl.  Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Spray a bowl with cooking spray (or oil with with vegetable oil), add the dough and turn to coat.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 F.  Spray two baking sheets liberally with cooking spray.

Bring the water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and add the baking soda.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 1/4 to 4 1/2 ounces each.  Roll each piece into a long rope measuring about 22 inches.  Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make pretzel bites.  Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches of about 10-15 for 30 seconds.  Remove with a large slotted spoon and place the pretzel bites on the prepared baking sheets, making sure they aren't touching.  Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt.  Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove to a cooling rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating.

SMS: Red Velvet Cupcakes

Happy Superbowl Sunday!  I love football and even though I'm really not a fan of either team playing today, I'll definitely be watching the game and enjoying plenty of delicious food!  Among the things I made are these red velvet cupcakes, which were selected for this week's SMS by Rosy of Rosy Lips & Lavender.

 

This recipe actually made a layer cake but I went the cupcake route instead.  I really love layer cakes and I wish I had more opportunities to make them, but they're just not very practical for a two-person household.  Cupcakes are so much more portable, not to mention easier to eat and give away to others.  There were a few things about this recipe I thought were interesting.  First, red wine vinegar is one of the ingredients, which struck me as weird.  I haven't made red velvet cake/cupcakes more than once or twice before (I can't even remember the last time) but I think I remember white vinegar was one of the ingredients.  I'm curious why this book uses red wine instead of white.  The cupcakes also called for cinnamon - another ingredient I'm not sure is traditional for red velvet.  In the end, the vinegar ended up being a non-issue, I couldn't taste it at all in the cupcakes.  I did detect the cinnamon hanging out in the background, but it wasn't prominent.



I made 1/3 of the recipe included in the book, which yielded 12 full size cupcakes.  They baked for 20 minutes and came out of the oven with cute little domed tops.  They were definitely red in color (though in some of my photos they look a bit more brownish).  I have to confess that I skipped the frosting recipe in the book in favor of my absolute favorite cream cheese frosting from Martha Stewart's Cupcake book.  I've made that frosting at least 3 times now and it never disappoints.  It's absolutely delicious and a perfect consistency for piping.  The recipe only has 4 ingredients and can be thrown together in minutes.  You can find it here if you'd like to give it a shot.



Since I don't have red velvet very often and therefore don't have much of a basis for comparison, I'm not sure I can fairly judge this particular recipe.  The cupcakes had great texture - very light and moist but when it comes to flavor, I thought they were just ok.  It may just be that I'm not a fan of red velvet in general, though, so I'll have to wait and see what others think when they try them tonight.  All that said, I'm happy to use the cupcakes as a vehicle for the amazing frosting so these definitely won't go to waste :)  Thanks to Rosy for hosting this week!  You can find the red velvet recipe on her site and if you'd like to see the rest of this week's cakes, stop by the SMS blogroll.

Caramel Ice Cream

Right before Christmas I added Thomas Keller's newest book, Ad Hoc at Home, to my wish list.  Unfortunately, it was backordered until mid-February everywhere so I didn't receive it.  A few of my friends already had copies, though, and last weekend when they tweeted about trying the caramel ice cream from the book, I jumped in too!  The recipe was available online via the Wall Street Journal, which made it easy to bake along, plus it allowed me to preview at least one of the recipes in the book before I purchased it.  I generally try to preview cookbooks before buying them, and my library has been a terrific resource, but there are quite a few holds on this book so it may be awhile before I get my hands on a copy.



This recipe forced me to face my fear of making caramel head-on!  I'm pretty confident with a lot of things in the kitchen now, but caramel still terrifies me for some reason.  It was actually going fairly well until I added the warm cream and milk and my caramel seized.  Fortunately, the recipe explicitly stated that it might seize, so I wasn't too freaked out.  I also had the benefit of Nancy, Di and Leslie encouraging me, as they had all made theirs just a bit before me.  I stirred and stirred over the heat and the caramel did eventually melt.  I also knew that the custard would eventually be strained so any of the little caramel rocks that didn't melt wouldn't wind up in my ice cream.



Just a few quick notes before the recipe - You do want to take the caramel to a nice, deep amber color when you make it or else the ice cream won't develop much flavor.  Don't be scared - if I can successfully do this, you can too!  Also, don't be terribly concerned if the ice cream is soft after churning.  It will get a bit harder after some time in the freezer, but this is definitely an ice cream with a softer texture than many I've made in the past (which also made photographing it pretty tough).  The ice cream has a very intense caramel flavor - it's delicious!  I'm not a huge caramel fan so for me this wouldn't be the kind of ice cream I'd eat in a bowl by itself.  More likely, I'd serve it on the side of a slice of pie or a piece of cake.  Di, Nancy and Leslie all raved about this one so it's a definite winner!

Caramel Ice Cream
from Ad Hoc at Home by Thomas Keller (via The Wall Street Journal)

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
2 cups whole milk, warm
2 cups heavy cream, warm
10 large egg yolks
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Put 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a deep heavy saucepan and stir in the water to moisten the sugar and make a mixture that resembles wet sand.  Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then simmer, without stirring, for 15 minutes, or until the sugar melts into a rich amber caramel. If any sugar crystallizes on the sides of the pan, brush with a wet pastry brush.

Remove the pan from the heat and slowly (to prevent bubbling up) stir in a dash of the milk and cream. Stir until bubbling subsides and carefully add more, until all is used. Should the caramel seize and harden, return the mixture to the heat and stir to dissolve the caramel, then remove from the heat. Whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and yolks in a medium bowl until slightly thickened and the whisk leaves a trail. Slowly, while whisking, add about 1/2 cup of the hot liquid to the yolks, then whisk in the remaining liquid. Set a fine-mesh basket strainer over the saucepan and strain the liquid back into the pan.

Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. Set a medium bowl in the ice bath; have a strainer ready.

Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom and sides often with a wooden spoon, until steam begins to rise from the surface and the custard thickens enough to coat the spoon (the custard should be about 170 F). Strain into the bowl, add the salt, and let cool, stirring from time to time.

Refrigerate the custard until cold or, preferably, overnight.

Pour the custard into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When the texture is "soft serve," transfer to a storage container and freeze to harden.