having my cake and sharing it 2

I'm moving...to wordpress...

2009-12-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

I am currently moving my blog from blogger to wordpress. I am in the middle of the transition, so I am sorry for any weird things that might happen in the meantime. Here is the new web address to bookmark/follow: http://cakesharing.wordpress.com/

chocolate cheesecake

2009-11-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

I know what you are thinking, "again with the chocolate?" and to that I say, yes, again with the chocolate. See, I wanted to try out my new spring-form cake pan

(here is the pan, unloaded-without the bottom)

and cheesecake was the best thing I could think of. However, I don't really like cheesecake, so it had to be chocolate to help mask the cream cheese flavor of classic cheesecake. I hope it will taste really good. (I am still waiting for it to come out of the oven and then it has to cool) Anyway, I made every bit of it from scratch, the chocolate wafers, the crust, and the filling. I already made the chocolate wafers, so just follow the link and you will have the recipe for that part. The rest of the recipes came from the same book, and the link about the book is on the post with the chocolate wafers, so again, just follow the link. I am getting really repetitive with my writing, sorry. There is no other word that I can use for "cheesecake" or "chocolate" or "link" so just bear with me. The pictures for this post will obviously come later.

Chocolate Cheesecake:
Chocolate Crumb Pie Crust (recipe to follow)
8 oz. (8 squares) semisweet chocolate
3 pkgs. (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour
1 cup heavy cream (I used milk-we'll see how it turns out!)
1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Preheat oven to 350º.
Prepare crust according to directions.
Lightly grease 9-inch spring-form pan and press crust mixture onto bottom and 1 inch up sides of pan.
Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Remove pan from oven and cool completely on wire rack.
Melt chocolate, remove from heat, and set aside to cool.
Place cream cheese and sugar in mixer bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add flour and beat until thoroughly combined.
Stir in reserved chocolate and beat until thoroughly blended.
Add cream and vanilla and beat about three minutes until thoroughly combined.
Pour over cooled crust and bake in preheated oven 60 minutes.
Turn off oven and leave cake in closed oven 1 hour.
Remove cake from oven and cool completely on rack.
Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Run knife around edge of cake and remove side of pan. (Impatient me will probably skip the refrigerate part! Gosh, I've already waited like 2+ hours!)

Chocolate Crumb Pie Crust
1-1/2 cups finely crushed chocolate wafers
3 Tbs. sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350º.
Combine crushed wafers, sugar, and cinnamon in bowl.
Add butter and stir until well combined.

Press crumb mixture onto bottom and partly up sides of lightly greased 8-inch or 9-inch pie plate or spring-form pan. Flatten to even thickness with back of a spoon.
Bake in preheated oven 8-10 minutes.
Cool completely before filling.

Use as base for cheesecake or fill with ice cream, chocolate mousse, or other pie filling.

Thanksgiving (x2)

2009-11-29T12:29:00.000-08:00

First, I want to apologize for the late Thanksgiving post. I came home from Thanksgiving sick, so I've been spending my time resting. I had two Thanksgivings this year (sort of). The first one was last week and it was at my house, with my roommates, and their friends and family. It was nice, and a BIG feast! There was pretty much two of everything, and way too much food for about 15 people. I made zucchini bread (cake, really.) and muffins and banana cake.

The second (and real) Thanksgiving was at Benjie's family's house in San Jose. It was nice and there was also a lot of food there. Benjie and I made most of the meal ourselves. I made pumpkin pie and apple pie/crumble. We also made the turkey, stuffing, butternut squash soup, and other sides were brought by the guests. It all tasted very good. I wish I had pictures of the food that I made, but I was so caught up in the business (busy-ness) of it all that I forgot to stop and take pictures. Oh well. I'll still have the memories, but you'll have to just use your imagination! (Ha!) I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and is well rested now, and ready to ease into the Holiday season. Since when did Christmas start right after Thanksgiving? I guess I didn't notice it as much growing up in a Jewish household? Or just didn't care that much since I was the one getting the presents and not the one buying the presents/just eating the food and not the one making the food? Anyway, I am looking forward to the New Year. Hopefully, it will bring me luck on the job front and will be much better than the last. I am looking forward to cleaning up and starting again. What are you looking forward to this holiday season? Do you have any New Year's resolutions?

Four weddings and...a birthday!

2009-11-19T11:41:00.000-08:00

This year was full of weddings (and one "wedding") and of course, my birthday!
First up was Jenessa and Mike's on July 4th weekend:

lovely summery cake with all of those sunflowers!

After that, in the middle of August was my sister and (now) "sister-in-law" 's "wedding" celebration. They didn't have cake, just some refreshing mint ice cream. I heard it was very minty, and therefore, I did not try any, as I don't like mint. However, it was a nice party, and it was nice to see my whole family together.

Next was Gur and Hilary's small wedding, in the middle of October:

a very elegant cake-I just noticed how it matches the decor in the place that the reception was held-nice!

Fourth was recent, in the beginning of November, Adina and Ned's very Jewish wedding:

they had a lovely wedding (bride's?) cake and a lovely groom's cake

and, lastly, my birthday. no big cake, but there was a tasty dessert with my name on it:

the chocolate bites at Farallon. yum!

and I took a picture of what Benjie had, the "caramel apple sundae":

I had the last bite-it was pretty good!

overall, a great year full of celebrations! next year will also be full of weddings. crazy how life changes from going to all of your friends'/family's birthday/bar/bat mitzvah parties to all of your friends' weddings. just shows that we are all growing up!

chocolate bundt cake

2009-11-18T15:29:00.000-08:00

I bought a bundt cake pan the other day, so it was time to test it out.

I got the recipe from allrecipes.com. It's a good site, especially because it has a calculator right on the screen. Just put in the number of servings, and it re-calculates the recipe for you. Of course, since I was making cake, there was no need for this feature this time, but nice to know it's there. Also, I had to choose a chocolate or chocolate chip cake because I am, after all, a chocoholic. This cake recipe was easy, and I am glad I found it because most of the other recipes I found involved cake mix and sour cream, and I wanted one that was made entirely from scratch. I had a slightly smaller pan (9 inches vs 10) but I think it'll be okay. It takes a little over an hour to bake, so I am typing this while waiting for it to come out of the oven. (Pictures obviously added later.) I made the recipe almost exactly as on the site, but instead of shortening, I used all butter. This resulted in 3 sticks of butter, but that just adds more flavor and richness. I thought about adding in chocolate chips as well, but I wanted to see how it came out first, and will maybe add them next time.

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 eggs
1 cup milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sift flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter, shortening, sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each. Add flour mixture alternately with the milk. Mix well.
Pour into 10 inch Bundt pan. Bake at 325 F (165 degrees C) for 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

Pretty straight forward, simple recipe. I can't wait to try a piece!

I tried some and it is good and moist. Not much of a chocolate flavor, though. I guess using all butter instead of some butter, some shortening changed that because the shortening would have let the chocolate shine through more. I guess I will add chocolate chips next time. Or, I can make a vanilla cake with chocolate chips, hmm...

it's a hot, sticky mess...

2009-11-13T18:35:00.000-08:00

...not the drunk kind, but the gooey, marshmallowy kind. I got a bag of marshmallows sent to me as part of a birthday present from my mom, and they were all stuck together, so I needed something to do with them, and I couldn't just eat them out of the bag, because, well, they were literally stuck in the bag! So, I looked hard and long (ugh-get your minds out of the gutter!) on the interwebs for ideas and mostly found marshmallows added to brownie or blondies, so I thought a little longer, and I decided that I could probably caramelize the 'mallows before adding them to the brownies, so that's what I did. They turned out to be really good, and it was a literal explosion of a brownie.
I suggest melting/caramelizing the 'mallows right before you add them to the batter, because otherwise, like me, you will end up having to reheat it to get it out of the pot, and that is what made the hot, sticky mess.

(look at the bubble of marshmallow peeking out!)

Anyway, they are really easy to make. Just follow this brownie recipe and caramelize one bag of marshmallows, then layer the brownie batter with the brown goop in your pot, and bake for like 30 minutes. The marshmallows smell so campfire-y and good when they are being melted, it is tempting to just eat that, and of course, you could stop right there, and add it to some ice cream. Or, you could add them to some graham crackers and chocolate for some s'mores. Again, all of these possibilities!

decorating

2009-11-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

Since I haven't worked in a bakery, or have done any cake decorating since I graduated school, I decided it was time to practice my piping skills again. So, I made some cupcakes to give me a nice "canvas" for my decorating skills.

I only had a large pastry bag, so I was only able to use the star tip and the bigger size of the straight tip that I have, but still, some practice is better than none. I used a combination of the "shell" design and the "pearl" design for these cupcakes.

Next time, I will have another bag that I can use with my smaller tips, and I will practice making buttercream roses, and other flowers. I will also get some food coloring, so there will be no boring, really ugly, brownish chocolate frosting.

Also, now that I have a piping bag, I can make other desserts that require piping, such as eclairs, and macaroons. I also just bought some new cake and tart pans that I can't wait to try!

ice cream & cookie sandwiches

2009-11-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite combos would be cookies and ice cream, so to make a sandwich with them is just fabulous. Whoever thought of the ice cream sandwich gets a gold star in my book!
We made the cookies from scratch, using the first chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, Nestle Tollhouse.

We then used Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream. It was a good flavor combo, but I like the classic vanilla ice cream in the middle of my chocolate chip cookies. What about making cookie sandwiches with chocolate cookie dough ice cream? or is that going too far? There are so many different cookie flavors and ice cream flavors, the possibilities are endless!

Fabulous Food Festival

2009-11-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to the Fabulous Food Festival. It was a bunch of booths of free samples and demos and other giveaways, but mostly businesses trying to sell their products to the masses. I think this picture explains it pretty well (if not, check out the picture at the bottom of this post.):

I tried some olive oils, and some fudge, along with some interesting things, such as tea infused chocolate. I even networked (sorta) by talking to the people who were selling chocolate bars and other chocolaty items. I did get this one guy's business card who said that I should call him when I do start up my own business and that he would give me samples of his chocolate to use. I also found this company that rents out commercial kitchen space to caterers and bakers, and other chefs that are trying to start a business, but don't have the money for kitchen space yet. I think the most random item being sold at the food festival was sheets. I didn't get what that company was doing there. There were some other non-food but food related items there, such as "pies" that weren't really pies, but little ornaments that looked like pies, but had things inside them that made them smell like pie, but then they also had other scents that I wouldn't want to associate with pie, such as lavender. Is it me, or do flowers just not belong in food? I mean sure, one could argue that fruits are flowers, too, but don't get me started there. I also tasted fennel pollen for the first time. Sure, it was mixed with other spices that you would generally use with apples, such as nutmeg, and cloves, and I wasn't really sure what exactly fennel pollen was, and it was pretty much masked by the other flavors, but I guess it was good. I also bought some honey sticks, which are meant to be eaten kinda like pixie sticks, you just bite off the end, and then suck down the flavored honey. I guess you could also squeeze it into some tea, I guess it is probably just the right amount.

I also bought chocolate covered caramel, which had sea salt on top, which, since I like sweet and salty together, was good, though this was a little too salty for my taste. Overall, an interesting experience at the festival.

Today, I was going to do some volunteering down at the Food Bank, but then had other plans, but then those plans got changed, so now I am left with just hanging out in my apartment with nothing to do. Perhaps I'll end up baking something, and therefore blogging about it later, but we'll see.

crackers

2009-11-04T17:39:00.000-08:00

So, I made some chicken soup the other day because I was feeling a little sick, but I forgot to buy crackers to go with it, so I made my own. I used this recipe I found on this website but I took away the egg wash and the sesame seeds. I am sure they are less bland with these components added back in, and if I make them again, I might sub in olive oil for the veggie oil. The site happens to have a variety of other cracker recipes too. Make sure to roll the dough out thin to get the right texture. I would use a pasta machine, if I had one. It would be easier, and I would know that it was all the same thickness. But of course, doing this by hand is fun, too.

Sesame Water Crackers

      2 c All-purpose flour
      1 ts Baking powder
    1/2 ts Salt
    2/3 c Warm water
    1/3 c Vegetable oil
      1    Egg white blended with 2 Tbs
           -water
      6 tb Sesame seed

These crackers are excellent served with salad, soup, cheese or spreads. Makes about 4 dozen

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Lightly grease two 14x17-inch baking sheets.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Stir in water and oil, mixing until smooth dough forms. Halve dough.

Flatten 1 piece into large square directly on 1 prepared sheet.

Cut into 2 3/4 x 3 1/4-inch pieces, leaving in place on baking sheet. Pierce all over with fork. Brush generously with egg white mixture. Sprinkle with half of sesame seeds.

Repeat with remaining half of dough.

Bake until crackers are dry and golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Cool on racks. Store crackers in airtight container.

zucchini bread and muffins

2009-11-02T17:55:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in my kitchen waiting for the zucchini bread and muffins to come out of the oven. Quite literally, and it smells wonderful. I wish there was some way to pass the smell through the computer, but the only way to get this smell in your kitchen is to bake it yourself! ;o)
The recipe is one of those "mix it all in a food processor" recipes, but I found it just as easy to do by hand.

Zucchini Bread (or cake or muffins)
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Heat oven to 350º. (Peel-if you desire) zucchini and grate. Squeeze out excess water. Beat eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla together (could be done in a food processor-I used my hand mixer).

(yum-green zucchini mixture-eh-it gets better after the next steps)

(Sift-to be sure there are no lumps) flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until combined.

Grease and flour (or line with foil) 2 loaf pans, OR 1 cake pan OR line muffin tin with 12 liners. (OR a combo of these-I did 1 loaf and 6 muffins, and hopefully, I will remember to bring the muffins to trivia tonight!)
Bake for 60-70 minutes. Do the knife test. (If it comes out clean-it's done.)

Easy. But takes long to bake. But the wait is worth it, I promise.

mmm...muffins!

mmm...zucchini bread!

dulce de leche brownies

2009-10-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last night's baking adventure kinda took all day because of making the dulce de leche. It's really simple, just have to simmer a can of sweetened condensed milk for 3 hours, but still, that's three hours you have to wait to get this awesome, tasty caramel. Of course, you could just pour it on some ice cream, or dip some apples into it. But I made dulce de leche brownies. I used the recipe for brownies that I've been using since I got the kid's cookbook. (when I was around 12). They are really gooey, fudgy brownies to begin with, and the addition of dulce de leche just made that that much gooier and fudgier. Since I just folded in the duce de leche (there wasn't enough to spread out an even layer) the brownies just look like brownies. Next time, I will make two cans, instead of one, and make brownie-dulce de leche layers. Also, I could've tried baking regular brownies, and then just pouring on the dulce de leche; that would have been the easiest, but messiest way to go, I think. Ah, so many options. I guess I am going to have to make these again some time. Anyway, here is the brownie recipe, and I found out about making dulce de leche from this blog, Not Without Salt. They have links to learn more about dulce de leche, and also links to recipes to use the dulce de leche. I really like the pictures they took, too.

Fudge Brownies
3/4 c cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup oil
3/4 c water
2 c sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c flour

put cocoa, baking soda, and 1/3 cup oil into a bowl. mix well. boil water. measure 1/2 cup of boiling water and add to bowl. mix till mixture thickens. add sugar and vanilla to bowl and mix well. add remaining 1/3 cup of oil, eggs, and salt to bowl. mix well. add flour to bowl and mix well. pour cake mixture into 13x11 cake pan. bake at 350 degrees for 1/2 hour.

for the dulce de leche brownies, I baked them for a little longer (perhaps a little too long, the edges were a little over done, and they were really chewy.) for regular, even fudgier brownies, I like to bake them in a smaller pan, either 8x8 or 9x9, whichever I have around.

Chocolate Mousse

2009-10-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

I've been working on trying the recipes that I now have saved together in a binder from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines. So, last night we made "Inside-out Eggplant Parmesan." It was really easy, just a lot of steps involved. You could use jarred sauce, and take away the arugula, but where's the fun in that? I know I am trying to stay on track and write a dessert only blog, but this was too good not to share.
So here it is:

You probably are more interested in the chocolate mousse we made, since this is a dessert blog after all. Also, that is what the title of the post promised you'd be reading about, so here goes:
I made some chocolate mousse from the recipe binder, too.

Chocolate Mousse
3 eggs, seperated
3/4 of a stick butter
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60%)
cream, whipped

Melt chocolate and butter together.
Whisk egg yolks until thick and pale in color.
Whisk whites until soft peak.
Whisk cream.
Fold in the yolks to the chocolate mixture.
Fold in the whites.
Fold in the whipped cream.

The amount of cream used depends on how chocolaty you want your mousse. (also makes it lighter in texture, but of course the more you add, the more calories you are adding, too.)

By the way, do not be intimidated by the fact that these recipes come from magazines. Remember, that just means they might have some fancy ingredients in them, but mostly, they are made for the home chef.

A note on Gourmet magazine: this month's issue (Nov. 2009) was the last issue of Gourmet. (sad news, I know.) Good thing I saved over 100 recipes!

my Eggplant Parmesan-a little messy, but so tasty!

my chocolate mousse-rich, but so good!

Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies

2009-10-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, another double-post day. This time it is because this is the (semi) regular post for this week, the Monday post. The last post was really leftover, just never posted until now. Anyway, this post's recipe is from The Little Black Book of Chocolate. All recipes in this book include chocolate. I made half of the recipe because I only had half the amount of butter than what is called for in the recipe. But it doesn't really make that much dough, even though it says it makes about 72 cookies. (36 for a half recipe) Also, I don't really like oatmeal cookies, because they usually include raisins, and I do not like raisins, and I don't really like oatmeal. But, I had oats on hand, so I decided to try this recipe, and these cookies are pretty good. (Those of you going to trivia tonight will have a chance to try them.)
So, here's the recipe:

Chocolate-oatmeal cookies
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350º. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Cream butter and sugar in a separate bowl and stir in rolled oats, vanilla, and 4 tablespoons of water. Add flour mixture gradually and stir until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake 8 to 10 minutes until edges are lightly browned. Cool on racks. About 72 cookies.

butterscotch pudding

2009-10-19T11:41:00.000-07:00

Another recipe from my binder was made recently. Butterscotch pudding. Really easy and really delicious. There are no eggs to temper, which is what makes it great for the home baker. This also means that it is not really a custard, and it is only thickened by the corn starch. Here's the my picture and the recipe: ***I had a picture with the recipe on it after my picture, but it was not showing up on some computers, so I removed the picture of the recipe and typed it up for you.***

Butterscotch Pudding
serves 4. active time: 15 minutes start to finish: 1-3/4 hour

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 Tbs plus 2 tsp cornstarch
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp butter, cut into bits
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

accompaniment: lightly sweetened whipped cream

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp salt in a heavy medium saucepan. Then whisk in milk and cream. bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking frequently. Then boil, whisking, 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. pour into a bowl then cover surface with buttered wax paper (or plastic wrap) and chill until cold, at least 1-1/2 hours.

Brownies or cookies? How about both?!

2009-10-15T19:07:00.000-07:00

Two posts in one day? Yes, I wanted to get right on baking things from my recipe binder, since there's 101 recipes in there. (That's no exaggeration, I counted and that's really how many recipes there are.) So, I made the brownie chunk cookies...sorta. See, I was thinking about the Treasure Island Music Festival and I wanted to be able to bring some dessert to snack on while we are there, and well, there will be four of us, among the crowd of other SF/Bay Area locals coming together for this (awesome) concert. What better way to make some new friends than to share some delicious treats? (and make the friends I already have happy.) Therefore, I made the cookies into brownies. The original recipe

is for cookies with brownie chunks in them. (See picture) Since I wanted to make enough dessert for a crowd, I opted to make them brownies (blondies?) because then you get more pieces. I also have leftover regular brownies. Hopefully, by Saturday, there will still be brownies (both kinds) left, since I know that my roommates like eating my treats really quickly. If not, I suppose I can make something else...

basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, but instead of chocolate chips, it's brownie chunks. I don't like nuts in my cookies/brownies, so I didn't add the walnuts.

note: I did not refrigerate/cool the brownies before adding them to the cookie batter, which is why there is not that pretty cookie/brownie contrast.

this is the brownie-cookies in brownie (blondie) form...YUM!

Rugelach

2009-10-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

Alright, so it's been a while since I posted, but I am going to try out the regularly scheduled posting again. So, last night, we made rugelach. It was really easy, especially because we had the dough already made. We used the leftover dough from the pumpkin pie we made a while ago. (It was frozen and then defrosted the night before we wanted to use it.) We used this filling recipe and substituted chocolate chips for the shredded chocolate. It was good, but I thought that it tasted a little gritty, like there was too much sugar. We rolled it up two different ways, first by making a log and cutting it like a jelly roll, and second, cut triangles and rolled it up the traditional way. With the jelly roll style, the butter and chocolate melted out a bit, but most of the pieces were okay. The traditional rolls were really good. (I couldn't stop eating them!) Another easy and quick recipe.

Also, I just finished putting together a recipe binder that includes recipes from Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines from 2008-2009. I am going to try all of those recipes, and of course I will blog about them. I also typed up the old recipes from my great-grandmother and I want to try those, too, so it should be an exciting time trying these recipes.

Meringues

2009-10-02T16:48:00.000-07:00

We made some chocolate meringues on Wednesday. (I was too tired to post about them yesterday.) They are really easy to make. I don't really have a recipe, but allrecipes.com should have some good ones. I just whipped up some egg whites and sugar, and then folded in some cocoa powder. Spooned them onto cookie trays (I suggest spraying with pan spray/greasing them.) Bake for about 20-25 minutes in a pre-heated 300º oven. ***Update: The "recipe" I used was more like the meringue you would use for the top of a lemon meringue pie. You need finely granulated sugar for meringue cookies. Also, a lower temperature (like around 200º) for about 3 hours is better.***Then, I took them out, but most recipes say to turn off the oven to dry them out. I like meringues dry (If I eat them at all.) but Benjie likes them gooey, so I chose to pull them out of the oven and ate them then. *This is still true for meringue cookies (not pie meringue)* If you omit the chocolate, I definitely suggest drying them out because otherwise, you are going to be left with icky, gooey egg whites. Nothing yummy about that. The picture of the whipped whites are kinda cool, (look how white and fluffy!) but the picture of the chocolate meringues are not that pretty, and are not blog-worthy.

I am attending a friend's wedding tomorrow and a pre-wedding dinner tonight, so I will hopefully get a chance to take some pictures of/try some nice looking/good desserts this weekend!

Part Two(s)

2009-09-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

So, we made the Better Than Brownie Cookies (again) but this time we added butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips. They were well-received at the Break-fast that we went to after Yom Kippor ended last night.

Also, we made pumpkin pie from the leftover filling that was in Benjie's freezer from the pie pops.
That was really good, too. For the crust, I made the dough that was supposed to be turned into puff dough for turnovers, so it was a little bit different than basic pie dough. This recipe included milk and sugar, which I used in place of ice water in ordinary pie crust. We will be making turnovers some time in the near future, so look for the crust recipe then.

No pictures of anything, sorry. Though, I will have my camera ready tomorrow night, when we make some meringues! :o)

chocolate cookies: part 2

2009-09-24T19:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I made some more chocolate cookies, again, because I was wanting something sweet and chocolaty, and a limited supply of ingredients. This recipe is also very simple and easy, and quick to make. It came from The Little Black Book of Chocolate and is called chocolate wafers. It says it makes about 24 wafers, but I think I made fewer than that because I ended up eating some of the batter, and probably scooped them a little bit bigger than "walnut size" and ate them right out of the oven, before I got a chance to count them. (Yes, I could have counted them before they went into the oven.) Also, since I just made chocolate cookies that looked very similar to these, I found no reason to take a picture of them. But if you really want a picture of these particular chocolate cookies, I would be happy to make them again, and post a picture. :o)
Chocolate Wafers
1-1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

This is the regular "creaming method", for those of you who come from the professional baking world. For those not from the professional baking world, here's what that means:

Cream together the sugar and butter, until "light and fluffy". (I put "light and fluffy" in quotes because it is a phrase I read all the time and think "what does that mean?" of course, I know it means lighter in color, and not little butter chunks mixed with sugar. (Oh, Chef Haymon, you would be so proud.)
Beat in the egg and vanilla.
Gradually beat in the flour and cocoa powder and baking powder and salt. Mix until just combined.
Scoop into walnut sized balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Press down.
Bake in preheated 375º oven for 8-10 minutes. Cool on racks.

Again, try not to eat them all right when they come out of the oven.

**Update: literal comment note from my roommate: "These things are so good! VERY addictive! Thank you..." Just goes to show you how good these really are; they were gone in about 24 hours!**

In case you are wondering, we did not make the Better Than Brownie Cookies (another part two) last night. But maybe tomorrow, or Saturday, if we are not too busy with everything else for the dinner we are hosting. (Or, rather, that Benjie is hosting and I am helping with, since it is at his house.) Maybe they will be made on Sunday, before we go down to San Jose? Anyway, they will be made over the weekend. So, look for them after Yom Kippor. If you are "celebrating", have an easy fast!

craving chocolate

2009-09-22T20:58:00.000-07:00

tonight, I was craving something chocolate. literal thought process: "I want something chocolaty. But I know I don't have anything. I could get out of my PJs and grab something from the convenience store. Nah. Hmm, let me go to the kitchen and see what's in my cabinet. Cocoa powder. (reads ingredients listed for chocolate cake) No milk. Hmm...(searches cabinet for more chocolate products. Finds Baker's chocolate, the unsweetened little squares. Reads back of box. Recipe for Soft and Chewy Chocolate Drops.) Hmm...I seem to have all of these ingredients. Oh, wait...FOUR chocolate squares?! (dumps out contents of box) Oh, I have TWO. Easy! I'll just cut the recipe in half. (re-reads recipe.) It calls for three eggs. Oh well, I'll figure out what half an egg is." Long story short...(weird expression, by the way.) I made the cookies on the back of the Baker's box. Really easy and quick. I omitted the glaze, because I did not have any cool whip. But no worries, these cookies are good with out it, and as the title of the recipe says, they are soft and chewy. Oh, and they took care of my chocolate craving, no problem.
Soft & Chewy Chocolate Drops
I will post the whole recipe, the one that is on the back of the box, even though when you grab your box, you can just read it from there. :o)
4 squares (4 oz) unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
350º oven. My spoonful made about 2 dozen cookies.
Microwave chocolate and butter until butter is melted. Stir in chocolate until chocolate is melted. Add sugar. Mix well. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, mix well. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or until dough is easier to handle. *I did not do this, and found the dough easy enough to scoop right away.* Bake 8 minutes, or until set.
That's it. Try not to eat all of them as soon as they come out of the oven.

Just a little p.s/preview: tomorrow night's baking adventure during movie night might be Better Than Brownie Cookies, Part 2, this time with peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips, instead of chocolate chips. Should be interesting, I like playing around with flavors. We'll be bringing them to break-fast on Monday. That also means no post for Monday. Sorry, I am already not living up to my Monday/Thursday regular schedule. Oh well. Also, Friday night, or Saturday morning, we might be making pumpkin pie, or using the leftover pie filling for some dessert to share with the crew that is coming over for dinner on Saturday night. Keep coming back for more updates regarding these baking adventures!

apples and honey

2009-09-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

So, to celebrate the Jewish New Year, it is tradition to eat apples and honey together. Since I am not such a fan of fruit, but more of a fan of everything sweet, I decided to make apple and honey lollipops. They turned out pretty well, and even look good enough to give away to the various homes I will be entering to celebrate the holiday (or Holy Day, as some people might call it.) this weekend. Making candy is pretty easy to do. It just takes some time (doesn't everything?!) to wait for the sugar to boil to become about 300 degrees. (professional candy makers call this the hard crack stage, but last night we called it "waiting for the crack".) Since it is so easy, this will probably be my shortest post yet. (But perhaps my sweetest?!)
Lollipops (makes about 20-30 depending on how big you make them and how fast you are with the hot sugar)
1. Spray either a marble slab or counter space (if you are lucky enough to have one...) or a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with some non-stick spray.
2. Measure your ingredients. I did this in a liquid (glass) measuring cup, because if you pour the corn syrup on top of the sugar, it is easier to get out. It is really easy to remember: 1/2 cup of each: sugar, corn syrup, and water. For the apple flavored candy, I used apple juice concentrate, about 2 tablespoons. Do not add the flavor to the sugar mixture yet. You will do this after the sugar reaches the right temperature.
3. Pour the sugar, syrup, and water into a pot and let boil. If you have a candy thermometer (which I do, but did not remember it last night) you can use it to take the temperature of the boiling sugar mixture, and you want to wait till it reaches 293-300 degrees. (I looked at many sites and the temperature for hard crack stage varies from site to site. The Baking and Pastry book from the CIA says 293 degrees.) If you do not have a candy thermometer, you can test the sugar the old fashioned way, by putting some syrup into cold water. If you can form a ball and it is hard to crack, you are all set. Also, 300 degrees is right before sugar starts to caramelize (it starts at around 310 degrees) so, if you notice your sugar starting to turn yellowish/goldish then that is also a good way to know when the sugar is at the right temperature.
4. Add flavoring (and coloring, but it has to be oil based to work). Mix quickly.
5. Pour the sugar onto the pan, and quickly insert a lollipop stick, and rotate the stick so that you can be sure that it is completely covered in candy. You have to work quickly because the sugar will get thick and start to set up.
6. After the lollipops have cooled some, you can transfer them to wax paper and let them finish cooling before wrapping them.
If you are like me, and want to create two-flavored lollies, you can just pour the second flavor on top of the first.
That's it. Pretty easy, huh? If you have any questions, of course you can post them as comments, and I will try to help, but I also found this website helpful, too.
Pictures! I like the top one, the pop looks kinda like an apple, I think. :o)

yellow cake and chocolate: two ways

2009-09-14T15:27:00.000-07:00

Since I now have a job (although a temporary one) I am on somewhat of a regular schedule, and I want to blog regularly, so I am going to bake either Mondays or Wednesdays (during the dinner and movie nights that Benjie and I have) or both, if I am feeling up to the challenge, and then blog about what I bake either Monday evening, (before trivia night!) or Thursday during the day. These next couple of weeks will be busy with High Holy Day celebrations (Rosh Hashanah-The Jewish New Year and Yom Kippor-the Day of Atonement), but I think I can still make it work. Today, I made "yellow cake" (known in the professional baking world as sponge cake or vanilla cake) and finished them off with chocolate in two different ways.

1. traditional cake: vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. I don't have a cake wheel (again, something to add to the birthday wish list) so I didn't cut the cake in half and fill it with frosting, but I did the Suzie-homemaker version, and just iced the top and sides of the cake. so, nothing that special to blog about.

2. non-traditional: cake balls. I used the crumbs of the second cake (or, rather, made cake crumbs with the second cake) and leftover frosting from the first cake to make the balls. Then I made chocolate powdered sugar with unsweetened baker's chocolate and powdered sugar. I rolled the cake balls in this mix. a very rich, moist, way to eat cake.
not goin' to lie, I did use a cake mix, and pre-made frosting, because I was feeling kinda lazy, and didn't feel like going shopping for all of the ingredients for making cake from scratch. but, of course, all of this can be done from scratch, and will be just as tasty. therefore, I feel like it is unnecessary to explain the first cake much further, because I just followed the directions on the box. However, I will share with you the steps I took to make the cake balls in a little more detail.
Cake Balls:
1. Create cake crumbs from any kind of cake you want to make (I suggest a moist cake, such as sponge cake) this should be fairly easy, especially if you start with a warm cake. You can get all fancy and technical with a food processor, and make really nice cake crumbs, but I just used my hands.
2. I put the rest of the frosting in the bowl with the cake crumbs and mixed them together, again, by hand. (of course, you can use any frosting flavor that matches the flavor of the cake that is being used)
3. Roll the mixture into balls. (Again, you can get fancy and make all of your cake balls the same size by using a scoop.)

4. Make the chocolate powdered sugar. I used unsweetened baker's chocolate, that I melted and added powdered sugar to it. (2 ounces of chocolate, and about 3/4 cups of sugar) To make things easier, I added the sugar 1/4 cup at a time. The result that I got, since, again, I just mixed by hand, (and when I say "by hand" I really mean with a spoon or spatula, or whatever is appropriate in the situation, rather than something electrical.) was a bowl of small chocolatey-sugary balls. (see picture)

5. Roll the cake balls in the chocolate powdered sugar.

6. Have your "non-traditional" cake. (and share it, too!-ah ha!-a reference to the blog title!)

baking FAIL turns into awesome ICE CREAM! (aka this is what I did today)

2009-09-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Since I had some left over cookie dough from the pie pops, and some time to kill today, I was wondering what I had that I could mix with it. I found butter, sugar (brown and regular, granulated), and cinnamon---all ingredients I needed for cinnamon rolls! So, I softened and rolled out the dough, and softened the butter and mixed it with the sugars and cinnamon. Spread the butter mixture on the dough, rolled it up, cut 1" pieces, placed them in a cake pan (I didn't use my jelly roll pan because there weren't that many pieces, and put them in a pre-heated, 375 degree oven. (sounds good, right? and if you look at the picture, it looks like they turned out well, and people ate them so quickly that all I had time to take a picture of was the empty pan---but after reading the title of this entry, you already know this is not true!) After about 5 minutes, I started to smell the butter browning. (kind of a nutty smell) So, I checked on the rolls, and found that all of the butter had melted out of the dough. I could have been frustrated, and dumped the whole thing, but instead, I put the pan back in the oven, and finished baking the dough, about another 15 minutes. Overwhelmed by the delicious smell of butter and sugar, I quickly thought "I bet this would be good in some ice cream. Like brown butter ice cream, with little cinnamon cookies sprinkled in." So, I ran out, and got some Bryer's vanilla ice cream (now with 30% more REAL vanilla beans!) and put the softened ice cream in a bowl, and dumped in my buttery, sugary, cinnamony dough pieces, and used a rubber spatula to mix them together. Dipped a spoon in, tasted, and LIKED it!

Now, I don't have any fancy equipment, such as a food processor, or ice cream maker (but they are on my gift wish list---and my birthday IS coming SOON...) but these items would be useful for making the dough pieces smaller, and I would have liked to make my own ice cream, because I did go to pastry school, and I know how to make it, but especially because I am not the biggest Breyer's fan. (also realized I don't have a rolling pin-I just used my hands to press out the dough-no big deal, since it was a small amount.) Anyway, the end result is still good, and because I am such a huge fan of chocolate, I added some chocolate syrup, but the extra flavor was not needed. (she writes, as she dips her spoon back in the bowl for some more ice cream...) Lesson learned: what might seem like a complete baking FAIL may turn out to be something GREAT.

While I don't have a picture of the failed cinnamon rolls, I do have some pictures of the ice cream, and I am willing to share with you the recipe for the ice cream, and real cinnamon roll recipes, in case you want to make those instead of the failures-turned-good rolls.
First, the fail-rolls:
If your dough has been in the refrigerator or freezer (as in you didn't just make it), then you need to soften it. I did this by putting it in the microwave. Easy and quick. Then, like I said, I rolled it out, spread on the butter mixture, etc.
I used part of the recipe for the Mama's mini-cinis (below) to figure out the right butter-sugar-cinnamon ratio. I used 3 tablespoons of butter, about 1-1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar, and a dash of ground cinnamon (about 1/2 tsp if you are really into measuring what I like to call "the small stuff"---spices, vanilla, etc. that don't make much of a difference in a recipe, unless you put in TOO much.) After spreading the butter mixture on the dough, I rolled it up, cut 1" pieces and placed them in the pan. 375 degrees. 15-20 minutes. I don't know exactly why, perhaps I was looking to soak up all of the butter that melted out, but I flipped over the baked dough. I used maybe a quart of ice cream. All I know for sure is that the label says 1.5 quarts, and there is some left, about enough for a good-sized bowl full. You'll know it's enough because You won't see any cookie pieces sticking out, it will just look like lumpy soft serve.
So, it was really easy to fix this baking fail. Just add ice cream!
Now, some of you might want the satisfaction of cinnamon rolls that never fail, but are really easy and quick to make, so I introduce to you Mama's mini-cinis. This is not a recipe from my mother, but someone else's, who decided to put this recipe up on the interweb.
Mama's mini-cinis:
Ingredients:
2 (8 oz) cans refrigerated crescent rolls (I guess Pillsbury makes these)

6 TBS butter, softened
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup pecans (optional)
1 TBS sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2/3 cup powdered sugar
1 TBS milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla or almond extract
1/8 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Unroll crescent rolls, and separate each portion along center perforation to form 4 rectangles; press diagonal perforations to seal.
Stir together butter, sugars, pecans, and cinnamon. Spread over one side of each rectangle. Roll up jelly roll fashion, starting at long end. Gently cut each log into 6 (1" thick) slices, using a serrated knife. Place rolls 1/4" apart into 2 8" cake pans. (can also use a jelly roll pan, but you want something with edges-do not use a cookie sheet.) bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. cool 5-10 minutes. makes 2 dozen.

Stir together powdered sugar and remaining ingredients, drizzle over warm rolls. (of course, you could eat these with ice cream, too!)

note: to make slicing easier, place logs in freezer for about 10 minutes.

Easy as pie: the pictures: part two: extras

2009-08-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

we had a lot of left over pie filling so we made a pecan pie and blueberry cookie crumble. (see Easy as pie post)