TWD: Perfect Party (Cup)Cake!

This week's TWD was chosen by Carol of mix, mix...stir, stir: perfect party cake! I'd actually made this cake last year for my grandmother's birthday and we all loved it! I decided to scale the recipe down and make cupcakes this time as I really didn't have an occasion for a giant layer cake and didn't need all that temptation hanging around. I made 1/4 of the recipe, which yielded 5 cupcakes. They baked up beautifully in about 18 minutes.

When I made the cake last year I'd tried Dorie's whipped cream frosting recipe instead of the buttercream called for in the perfect party cake. I'm sure the buttercream is fantastic (how could it not be with 3 sticks of butter?) but I actually prefer a whipped cream frosting. Besides, I'd convinced myself the heavy cream in the whipped cream was healthier than the 3 sticks of butter in the buttercream (I've never actually compared the nutritional data on the two - I'm afraid of what I'd find). This time I went with a whipped cream frosting again but tried a lemon whipped cream playing off of the lemon flavoring in the cake.

Dorie's cake is just as fantastic as I remember it! It's very light and I love the nice tight crumb on the cake. The lemon whipped cream worked perfectly with the lemon flavor in the cake. The whipped cream has just the slightest hint of tartness from the lemon zest and juice but it's well balanced by the touch of sweetness from the sugar. I will definitely make both the cake and this whipped cream again! You can find the recipe for Dorie's perfect party cake on Carol's blog. Even if you're not going to try the cake, you should visit Carol's site and check out her gorgeous photography! If you'd like to see the other cakes this week visit the TWD site.

Lemon Whipped Cream

from Bon Appetit, April 2006 via Epicurious.com

1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and, using an electric mixer, beat to soft peaks. The whipped cream can be made up to 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill and rewhisk before using.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups.

Chipotle Chicken and Rice

After many, many weeks of trying to empty our fridge and freezer, I finally allowed myself to do some major grocery shopping recently. As I was making my list for the store, I really tried to thumb through some of my many cooking magazines (which unfortunately I don't cook from nearly enough) to find some recipes to make. This chipotle chicken and rice was one of the recipes I selected from the most recent issue of Everyday Food. It's got a relatively short ingredient list and though it does cook for over an hour, the hands-on time is minimal.



This dish was a huge hit at our house! As we were eating it Shane said he wanted to have it at least once a week. A few minutes later (after I mentioned how cheap it was to make), he revised his statement and declared that he wanted it 2 or 3 times a week. While I also really enjoyed it, I think once a week is my limit! One of the highlights of the dish for me was the chicken. By the end of the cooking time, I could practically shred it with my fork and it had absorbed so much flavor from the other ingredients. The note above the recipe in the magazine mentions "subtle heat" from the chipotle chiles. I'm not sure I agree - I thought it was pretty spicy, but I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to heat so you'll have to try it for yourself to see what you think!

Chipotle Chicken and Rice
from Everyday Food, July/August 2009

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds total)
coarse salt and ground pepper
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced lengthwise
3 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 canned chipotle chiles in adobo, minced
2 large tomatoes, diced large (I used one 14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes, drained)
1 cup long-grain white rice
lime wedges, for serving (optional)
chopped cilantro leaves, for serving (optional)

In a large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat. Season chicken on both sides with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Working in batches, brown chicken on both sides, about 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Reduce heat to medium. Add onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes, scraping up any browned bits from bottom of pot (if necessary, add a bit of water to release browned bits).

Add garlic, cumin and chiles; cook until garlic is soft and fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes and 1 teaspoon salt and cook until tomatoes begin to break down and release their juices, about 3 minutes. Stir in 1 cup water and return chicken and any accumulated juices to pot. Cover, reduce to a simmer and cook 25 minutes.

Remove several pieces of chicken and stir in rice, making sure it is completely submerged in liquid. Replace chicken, cover, and cook until rice is tender and liquid has been absorbed, 25 to 30 minutes more. Serve with lime wedges and cilantro if desired.

Sweet Melissa Sundays: Double Dark Chocolate Cookies

This week's SMS recipe was chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures: double dark chocolate cherry cookies! I really enjoy Megan's blog - she posts lots of goodies I hope to get around making someday, including lots of ice cream and brownies :) I didn't have any cherries on hand so originally I thought I'd substitute raisins since I'm a huge fan of the chocolate and raisin combo. However, I was planning to give the cookies away and I wasn't sure if the recipients liked raisins (plus I knew Shane wouldn't eat them if they had raisins in them). So no fruit in these cookies for me.

This cookie recipe was very similar to the chocolate chip cookies we made a few weeks ago. After the dough is mixed it gets some time in the refrigerator before it is shaped into logs and chilled again. I made the mistake of mixing my dough and then leaving it in the fridge for about 5 or 6 hours when I got busy with something else. When I finally took it out it was rock hard so I used the heat of my hands to warm it up for a while before shaping it into logs. I love the slice and bake aspect of Melissa's cookies. I find it much easier than scooping out individual cookies and I think the cookies bake up perfectly (though the chill time probably has something to do with that too)!

It was a bit tricky to tell when these cookies were done because they're so dark but I wound up baking mine for about 13-14 minutes. That left them nice and chewy. They're really delicious and, as expected, super chocolately and rich! I only had one and that satisfied me. I really want to make them again and try adding the raisins, which I think I'll really enjoy. Many thanks to Megan for this week's great pick! You can check out the recipe on her blog and be sure to visit the Sweet Melissa site to check out all of this week's cookies!

Lasagna Rolls

If you like traditional lasagna you'll probably love these lasagna rolls from Giada De Laurentiis! I particularly like that they're a lot less messy than traditional lasagna since you can just scoop up one or two rolls for individual servings. It's also highly adaptable, which is nice for picky eaters. I left the prosciutto out because I don't like it but if Shane had been eating these I probably would have split the filling into two bowls and added the spinach only to mine and thrown some meat into his.

If there's any down side to this recipe it's that there are quite a few components. That said, each component is quite simple and many of them can be made ahead of time. You make a bechamel sauce, boil the lasagna noodles, prepare the filling, make the marinara sauce and assemble/bake the rolls. In my opinion all of the work is worth the effort, but if you wanted to simplify things a bit, you could definitely use no-boil lasagna noodles and jarred marinara sauce.


Lasagna Rolls
from Giada De Laurentiis via FoodNetwork.com

Bechamel Sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Pinch ground nutmeg

Lasagna
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, squeezed dry
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
3 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped (I omitted)
1 large egg, beaten to blend
3/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for salting water
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
12 uncooked lasagna noodles
2 cups marinara sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella (about 4 ounces)

To make the sauce: Melt the butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the flour and whisk for 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk. Increase the heat to medium-high. Whisk the sauce until it comes to a simmer and is thick and smooth, about 3 minutes. Whisk the salt, pepper, and nutmeg into the bechamel sauce.

Preheat the oven to 450 F.

Whisk the ricotta, spinach, 1 cup Parmesan, prosciutto, egg, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend.

Add a tablespoon or 2 of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water. Boil the noodles until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain. Arrange the noodles in a single layer on a baking sheet to prevent them from sticking.

Butter a 13x9x2 glass baking dish. Pour the bechamel sauce over the bottom of the prepared dish. Lay out 4 lasagna noodles on a work surface, then spread about 3 tablespoons of ricotta mixture evenly over each noodle. Starting at 1 end, roll each noodle like a jelly roll. Lay the lasagna rolls seam side down, without touching, atop the bechamel sauce in the dish. Repeat with the remaining noodles and ricotta mixture. Spoon 1 cup of marinara sauce over the lasagna rolls. Sprinkle the mozzarella and remaining 2 tablespoons of Parmesan over the lasagna rolls. Cover tightly with foil.

Bake until heated through and the sauce bubbles, about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake until the cheese on top becomes golden, about 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the remaining marinara sauce in a heavy small saucepan over medium heat until hot, and serve alongside.

Marshmallows

The TWD group made marshmallows the week before I joined. At that point, I was already reading many of the TWD blogs so I'd seen their marshmallows and I've sort of been wanting to try making them myself ever since. So, a few weeks ago when I saw a recipe for homemade marshmallows on Smitten Kitchen that Deb claimed was easy, I knew I had to try it! Plus, it's summer and I'm craving s'mores and how cool would it be to have homemade marshmallows in my s'mores?

Now that I've finally gone and made marshmallows I really wish I hadn't waited so long to give them a shot. I'd heard so many horror stories about failed marshmallows and sticky messes that I kept putting them off, but my experience with this recipe was not only successful, but really pretty enjoyable. I tried one of the marshmallows immediately after cutting them and found it was a bit too sweet, but the next day, I thought the flavor was perfect! They're much better than store bought marshmallows. I find myself reaching for another one every time I pass them sitting on the kitchen counter. I'm hoping this weekend I'll finally get to try making my s'mores with them!

One quick note: Reviewers who tried this recipe with a hand mixer reported mixed results. Some said it was successful while others claimed their hand mixers overheated or were unable to achieve the volume necessary when beating the gelatin/sugar mixture. If you try the recipe with a hand mixer, increase the beating time for the gelatin/sugar mixture to at least 10 minutes.

Marshmallows
adapted from Gourmet, December 1998 via Epicurious.com (as seen on SmittenKitchen.com)

Approx. 1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 1/2 envelopes (2 tablespoons plus 2 1/2 teaspoons) unflavored gelatin
1 cup cold water, divided
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg whites or reconstituted powdered egg whites
1 tablespoon vanilla

Spray bottom and sides of a 13 x 9 x 2 metal baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and dust bottom and sides with some of the confectioners’ sugar.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup cold cold water, and let stand to soften.

Meanwhile, in a 3-quart heavy saucepan cook granulated sugar, corn syrup, second 1/2 cup of cold water, and salt over low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon, until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to medium and boil mixture, without stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 240 F, about 12 minutes. Remove the saucepan from heat and pour sugar mixture over gelatin mixture, stirring until gelatin is dissolved.

Using stand mixer beat mixture on high speed until white, thick, and nearly tripled in volume, about six minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate medium bowl with cleaned beaters, beat egg whites (or reconstituted powdered whites) until they just hold stiff peaks. Beat whites and vanilla into sugar mixture until just combined. Pour mixture into baking pan and sift 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar evenly over top. (You'll want to work fairly quickly getting the mixture into the baking pan because it starts to set almost immediately.) Chill marshmallow (room temperature worked fine for me), uncovered, until firm, at least three hours, and up to one day.

Run a thin knife around edges of pan and invert pan onto a large cutting board. Lifting up one corner of inverted pan, with fingers loosen marshmallow and ease onto cutting board. With a large knife trim edges of marshmallow and cut marshmallow into roughly one-inch cubes. (I sprayed my pizza cutter with nonstick cooking spray and used that.) Sift remaining confectioners’ sugar back into your now-empty baking pan, and roll the marshmallows through it, on all six sides, before shaking off the excess and packing them away.

The marshmallows will keep for 1 week when stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

TWD: Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise

This week's TWD was chosen by Andrea of Andrea in the Kitchen: coconut-roasted pineapple dacquoise! I love both coconut and pineapple so I thought this would probably be quite tasty! That said, it's a time consuming recipe (the meringue component alone bakes for 3 hours) and Dorie warns that the meringue does not like humidity and it's been raining here for what feels like all of June so I was on the fence about making this one. In the end, I had all the components on hand so I figured why not scale the recipe way back (I made 1/4) and give it a shot! Of course, I waited until the last minute to make that decision hence the late post today so let's get to it.

There are 3 main components to this dessert and they're all pretty easy in their own right. First, there's the meringue which is made by combining whipped egg whites and a coconut/almond/sugar mixture. The meringue is spread into rectangles and baked for 3 hours, during which time the rectangles become golden and crisp. The second component is pineapple, which is cut into wedges and then broiled. I decided, instead, to use my kitchen torch to speed this process up and it worked perfectly. Finally, there's the ganache, which is simply a combination of white chocolate and whipping cream that is chilled and then whipped until light and fluffy.

The dacquoise is assembled by layering the components. One of the meringue rectangles is laid down, then topped with the ganache and some of the pineapple wedges. That process is repeated two more times. To finish the dacquoise, the remaining ganache is spread around the sides of the cake and garnished with toasted coconut. Unfortunately, once you've got this beautiful cake assembled, you can't dig in because Dorie recommends chilling it for at least 4 hours before serving.

My 4 hour countdown just finished a few minutes ago and my mom had stopped by after work so I had her taste the dacquoise with me. I think it's safe to say that we are absolutely smitten with this dessert! Wow, was it ever good! My favorite component was the ganache but I also loved the way the pineapple and coconut worked together. I loved it so much that it makes me a bit disappointed I only made 1/4 of the recipe. The tropical flavors are perfect for summer so I know I'll be making this treat again before too long!

Thanks to Andrea for a really surprising pick this week - we loved it! You can find the recipe on her blog and check out the other cakes this week by visiting TWD!

Grilled Pepperoni Pizza

Operation empty the fridge/freezer is ongoing at our house and we're getting close to being done. It's actually been really fun to see what we can come up with based on the limited ingredients we have on hand. Recently we made grilled pizza with my mozzarella from the farmer's market and some tomato sauce that was in the freezer. I'd have preferred mushrooms and red onion on my pizza but all we had was pepperoni, so that's what we used. Grilled pizza is one of my new favorite summer meals - it's so quick and delicious! This is actually the second time we've made grilled pizza but I didn't blog our first attempt because I overcooked (read: burnt) the dough a bit. I noted this below too, but just keep an eye on the dough since it does cook quickly - probably much faster than you expect!


Grilled Pepperoni Pizza
adapted from The Kitchen Sink Recipes

1 recipe of your favorite pizza dough (see below for the recipe I used)
extra virgin olive oil
1-2 cups of your favorite tomato sauce (here's one I use from time to time)
1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced into thin rounds
pepperoni
fine-grain sea salt

Preheat your grill to medium. While the grill is heating stretch the dough out to your desired shape and size. I've used the dough recipe below twice. The first time I made one large rectangular pizza and the second time I split the dough and made two smaller circular pizzas. I thought the rectangular dough was more difficult to work with since it was larger.

Brush one side of the dough with olive oil. When the grill is heated, transfer the dough to the grill, placing it directly on the rack, oiled side down. (I don't have a pizza peel so I use a baking sheet turned upside down to transfer the dough.) The dough will cook quickly so keep an eye on it. In the meantime, quickly brush the exposed side of the dough with olive oil. You'll know the dough is ready to flip when the top begins to bubble, about 1-2 minutes.

Using tongs or a spatula, turn the dough over. I like to flip it so it's over indirect heat (so I can leave it there to let the cheese melt). Top the dough with the tomato sauce, mozzarella and pepperoni. Close the grill lid and cook until the cheese is melted and the toppings are heated through. Remove the pizza from the grill.

Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, slice and serve.

Pizza Dough
from Bon Appetit, March 2007 via Epicurious.com

3/4 cup warm water (105 F to 115 F)
1 envelope active dry yeast (I use instant yeast)
2 cups (or more) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. (Note: You can skip this step if you use instant yeast. Just add the yeast to the dry ingredients in the food processor and add the water along with the olive oil.)

Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil or spray with cooking spray. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil; process until dough forms a sticky ball. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Knead dough until smooth, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 1 minute. Transfer to prepared bowl; turn dough in bowl to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Roll out dough according to recipe instructions.

The dough can be made 1 day ahead of time. After the rise, just place in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.