Obsessed With Baking

Red Velvet Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sat, 07 May 2011 20:39:00 +0000

I've never eaten a red velvet cupcake before. I guess the whole, is it a vanilla or chocolate cake or just something in between steered me away from even attempting this cake. If it wasn't for my brother who begged me to make these cupcakes for his friend, I don't think I would ever make these. I chose a butter based instead of oil recipe for maximum flavour because I just couldn't see how a cake made with one tbsp of cocoa would have any taste. Red velvet isn't supposed to be a chocolate tasting cake, but the thought of a something tasting like it had a 'hint' of chocolate flavour didn't seem appealing to me. Plus with the tanginess from the buttermilk and vinegar, I was really worried these would have some weird flavour and that the only thing drawing me into eating these was the pretty red colour and cream cheese frosting!

As it turns out, these weren't so bad. They were even moist the next day even after storing them in the fridge, which was great because most butter based cakes dry out. I used the recipe from the Joy of Baking, increasing the butter by 2 tablespoons.

Red Velvet Cupcakes:

1 1/4 cups (125 grams) sifted cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons (10 grams) regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1/4 cup (57 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used 6 tablespoons)
3/4 cups (150 grams) granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) buttermilk
1 tablespoon liquid red food coloring
1/2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and line 12 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until soft (about 1-2 minutes). Add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy (about 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In a measuring cup whisk the buttermilk with the red food coloring. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter mixture, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour.

In a small cup combine the vinegar and baking soda. Allow the mixture to fizz and then quickly fold into the cake batter.

Working quickly, divide the batter evenly among the 12 muffin cups and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 18 - 23 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes and them remove from pan. Let cool completely before frosting. Either spread the frosting with a knife or offset spatula, or use a large 1M Wilton open star decorating tip to pipe the frosting.

Read more: http://www.joyofbaking.com/RedVelvetCupcakes.html#ixzz1LhfpGcJ0

Cream Cheese Frosting
6 tablespoons of butter at room temperature
8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
1.5-2 cups of icing sugar, sifted depending on how sweet you like your frosting

Cream butter at medium speed until smooth
Add cream cheese and continue beating at medium low speed until there are no lumps
Sift icing sugar and continue beating at medium low until incorporated
Do not overbeat or else frosting will be too soft to pipe

I could only take this picture at night when the lighting is all screwed up, but this is what the red velvet cupcakes were really made for.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 15:49:00 +0000

I'm not generally a fan of chocolate based cookies, but these are amazing! I added chopped caramel to the top to make them look a little prettier and for some extra chewiness. The easiest way to cut the caramel up is to use a pair of sharp scissors. I love the simplicity of this recipe because all the chocolate comes from cocoa powder. There's no need to melt chocolate. Sometimes I get so obsessed with thinking that real chocolate is the only way you can get good chocolate flavour, but this recipe proves me wrong.

The dough is very sticky so it's best to chill it for a while. As usual, I press my cookies down so they spread a little nicer.

If you're looking for a truely chewy cookie and not one that's cakey like most chocolate based cookies are, try this recipe!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
Adapted form Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup chocolate chips
Chopped caramels

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Put chopped caramel pieces on top. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 (I baked for 12) minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

TWD: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 23:52:00 +0000

It's been, oh, I don't know... 6 months since my last TWD post! I'm shocked if I'm still on the blogroll for being such a lazy member. Anyway, I thought I'd make my return with blondies.

I used to be a coconut hater, but ever since I made the samoas bars, I've been finding excuses to bake with coconut. Instead of adding the coconut into the batter, I toasted it and sprinkled it on top for a nice textural contrast. I don't like putting coconut into the dough because it makes them gritty. For the coconut haters, I sprinkled the nuts on the other half. I also don't like putting nuts in the dough because I find that they get soggy. I omitted the white sugar completely to cut down on the sweetness. These were good, but I wasn't crazy about them. I would rather have a chocolate chip cookie so I can enjoy the crispy edges rather than a uniformly soft and chewy square. I may try these again with white rather than butterscotch chips.

Thanks to Nicole of Cookies on Friday for choosing this week's recipe

Chocolate Oatmeal Almost Candy Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:15:00 +0000

What's not to love about oatmeal cookies sandwiched with a fudgey chocolate centre?! My expectations for these bars were pretty high, especially since they were very rich so it was a little bit of a disappointment when they weren't amazing. They were still good, but if I'm eating something this fattening, it better be crazy delicious.

I meant to blog about this for TWD when it was chosen by Lillian of Confectiona's Realm back in January!

Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 18 May 2010 18:12:00 +0000

Who wouldn't want to bite into a super chocolatey cookie, only to find a caramely surprise in the middle? Even though these cookies were a lot more time consuming and messy than usual drop cookies, it was totally worth the reactions I got once everyone bit into the centre. I had these bookmarked ever since I saw them over at Rebecca's blog, indecisive baker.

I opted for caramilk instead of rolos because I think they just taste better.
Cadbury >> Hershey's in my opinion.

The only thing I was worried about was the caramel hardening after the cookies cooled because that would kind of defeat the purpose of putting a chocolate covered caramel in the centre in the first place. To retain the gooeyness of the caramel, I broke chocolate into squares and then froze them before wrapping in dough. By the way, I'm not sure if I just totally made that up, but I figured that if the caramel stayed cooler longer, it would cook less and therefore, not harden as much later. The frozen chocolate also helped with shaping the cookie because the dough stayed cooler longer and was less sticky. I would definitely recommend chilling the dough first before shaping.

If only it wasn't that obvious that there was something in the middle...

Since I love Ina's chocolate white chocolate chunk cookie recipe, I used hers minus the white chocolate instead. You can also use Rebecca's recipe

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used white chocolate chips)
40-48 caramilk squares/rolos

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed until just combined.

Cover and place bowl into the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours. (you need to chill or else it's too sticky)

Use a small cookie scoop (I use the Oxo brand, 2 tsp capacity) and unscoop it onto your hand. Flatten into a circle and place chocolate in the middle. Add another 1/2 a scoop to cover the top and seal the cracks.

Bake for 12 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Samoas Bars

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:21:00 +0000

Have you ever had a samoas? I haven't, until now because the only girl guide cookies in Canada are vanilla, chocolate and thin mints. This is something that everyone must try, even coconut haters because they are that good! To make it easier, I made the bar version from Baking Bites. I was seriously addicted to these and they even contain coconut and shortbread, both of which I'm not a fan of.

Unwrap

Melt

Enjoy

I'm posting the recipe showing the proportions of ingredients I used for an 8 x 8 square. For my bars, I made the crust thinner and topping thicker than it would have been had I followed the recipe for a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Homemade Samoas Bars from Baking Bites

Cookie Base:
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbsps unsalted butter, softened
1/2 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

First, make the crust.
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 8x8-inch baking pan, or line with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter, until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Working at a low speed, gradually beat in flour and salt until mixture is crumbly, like wet sand. The dough does not need to come together. Pour crumbly dough into prepapred pan and press into an even layer.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until base is set and edges are lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack before topping.

Topping
1.5 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) I used unsweetened
8-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tbsp milk
1 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok) - I only drizzled

Preheat oven to 300. Spread coconut evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet (preferably one with sides) and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula. (I melted caramels over a double boiler)
Put dollops of the topping all over the shortbread base. Using the spatula, spread topping into an even layer. Let topping set until cooled.
When cooled, cut into 30 bars with a large knife or a pizza cutter (it’s easy to get it through the topping).
Once bars are cut, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 45 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each bar into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment or wax paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate (or melt a bit of additional chocolate, if necessary) into a piping bag or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle bars with chocolate to finish.
Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 30 bar cookies.

Note: You can simply drizzle chocolate on top of the bars before slicing them up if you’re looking for yet an easier way to finish these off. You won’t need quite as much chocolate as noted above, and you won’t quite get the Samoas look, but the results will still be tasty.

Smarties Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 13:24:00 +0000

Forget the mixer, everyone should make cookie dough by hand. It's more fun and you get a bit of a 'workout' HA! to help burn off all those cookies you end up eating.

I had a hard time incorporating all the flour in so I ended up using my hands, which gets kinda messy, but at least that's more cookie dough for me to snack on.

I flatten my cookies so they actually spread.

10 minutes later... I may have underbaked these a little too much because they were really soft and kind of reminded me of snacking on sugar cookie dough. I love cookie dough when it's completely raw, but the in between raw and cooked texture of grosses me out a little.

I wanted these to be more sugar cookie like than chocolate chip cookie like so I adapted a snickerdoodles recipe from CI. I thought that increasing the butter while decreasing the flour would make these chewier, but they ended up even softer and cakier than the regular snickerdoodles. Does anyone have a crispy edges, but chewy center sugar cookie recipe recommendation?

Smarties cookies
Based on CI's Snickerdoodle recipe
2 3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 tbsp butter
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 335 F
Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated
Add vanilla.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix until the flour disappears
Portion dough using a medium cookie scoop ~ 1.5 tbsp and place on prepared cookie sheet three inches apart.
Flatten the dough slightly and press smarties into the dough
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are very lightly colored around the edges, the tops have cracked and the cookies have puffed and started to deflate
Cool cookies for 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack.

Smores Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 13:30:00 +0000

Best cookies ever! Seriously, make these now. Thanks to Kim at Lovin' From the Oven for sharing these because they are out of this world. These had the perfect cookie texture, being crunchy on the outside with a chewy interior. They also spread out really nicely, although mine were a little thinner than I would have like.

This had to be one of the yummiest tasting cookie doughs. I had to bake this before I ate it all

Chop the chocolate beforehand so that you can place the chocolate and marshmallows as quickly as possible partway into baking. It doesn't show here, but I cut them into thirds

Too yummy to share!

Smores Cookies
From Lovin From the Oven

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups miniature chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

1. In a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars until fluffy.
2. Mix in egg and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, graham crackers, salt, and baking soda, mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Refrigerate dough for about an hour.
4. Preheat oven to 375ºF (I baked at 335 F).
5. Drop by rounded tablespoon (I used a medium cookie scoop ~ 1.5 tbsp) onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8 minutes, and remove from the oven. Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a few pieces of a hershey's bar into each cookie. Return to the oven and bake an additional 2-3 minutes until fully cooked. Cool cookies on a wire rack.
6. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

CI: Old Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000

Simple and unadorned, that's how I like to enjoy my cakes. I made this recipe from before, but had to try it again. You see, I have this problem accepting that something as simple to make Hershey's chocolate cake always comes out so perfectly. Shouldn't the cake that requires 10 different steps and a bunch of messy bowls come out better, not the one where you throw everything into the mixing bowl and whip for 2 minutes?

Whip the eggs and sugar until they become thickened and pale. I'm lazy and hate cleaning the whisk so I just use the paddle.

Add melted chocolate mixture. Isn't the marbelled effect pretty?

This is going to sound really stupid considering I've been baking for so long, but I finally understand the importance of greasing now that I stopped using nonstick pans. I used to think people went crazy with PAM only because it was fun to use the spray can. It was not easy prying this cake out even though I lined with parchment.

Was this cake really worth all the extra effort of whipping, melting, more whipping and an extra dirty bowl? Probably not. Although the crumb was slightly more velvety compared to Hershey's perfectly chocolate chocolate cake, the difference is pretty small. When you take into account that this uses butter, chocolate and all the extra steps, I would rather have something lower in fat and easy to make if the cakes are fairly comparable. Don't get me wrong, this was still really delicious and I would never sacrifice taste for ease, ie. microwave cake in a mug... no thanks!

Here is the whole recipe. I only made the cake portion.

Cook's Illustrated Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake
Cake

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), very soft, plus extra for greasing pans
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8 3/4 ounces), plus extra for dusting pans
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate , coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (3/4 ounce)
1/2 cup hot water
1 3/4 cups sugar (12 1/4 ounces) ; 1/2 cup, 1 1/4 cup
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon table salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
2 large egg yolks

Frosting

16 ounces semisweet chocolate , finely chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons corn syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (cold)

1. FOR THE CAKE: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch-round by 2-inch-high cake pans with softened butter; dust pans with flour and knock out excess. Combine chocolate, cocoa powder, and hot water in medium heatproof bowl; set bowl over saucepan containing 1 inch of simmering water and stir with rubber spatula until chocolate is melted, about 2 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar to chocolate mixture and stir until thick and glossy, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and set aside to cool.

2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Combine buttermilk and vanilla in small bowl. In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whisk eggs and yolks on medium-low speed until combined, about 10 seconds. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups sugar, increase speed to high, and whisk until fluffy and lightened in color, 2 to 3 minutes. Replace whisk with paddle attachment. Add cooled chocolate mixture to egg/sugar mixture and mix on medium speed until thoroughly incorporated, 30 to 45 seconds, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add softened butter one tablespoon at a time, mixing about 10 seconds after each addition. Add about one-third of flour mixture followed by half of buttermilk mixture, mixing until incorporated after each addition (about 15 seconds). Repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining buttermilk mixture (batter may appear separated). Scrape down sides of bowl and add remaining flour mixture; mix at medium-low speed until batter is thoroughly combined, about 15 seconds. Remove bowl from mixer and fold batter once or twice with rubber spatula to incorporate any remaining flour. Divide batter evenly between prepared cake pans; smooth batter to edges of pan with spatula.

3. Bake cakes until toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few crumbs attached, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool cakes in pans 15 minutes, then invert onto wire rack. Cool cakes to room temperature before frosting, 45 to 60 minutes.

4. TO MAKE FROSTING: Melt chocolate in heatproof bowl set over saucepan containing 1 inch of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside. Meanwhile, heat butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted. Increase heat to medium; add sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, and salt and stir with heatproof rubber spatula until sugar is dissolved, 4 to 5 minutes. Add melted chocolate, butter mixture, and cream to clean bowl of standing mixer and stir to thoroughly combine.

5. Place mixer bowl over ice bath and stir mixture constantly with rubber spatula until frosting is thick and just beginning to harden against sides of bowl, 1 to 2 minutes (frosting should be 70 degrees). Place bowl on standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir with rubber spatula until completely smooth.

6. TO FROST CAKE: Place one cake layer on serving platter or cardboard round. Spread 1 1/2 cups frosting evenly across top of cake with spatula. Place second cake layer on top, then spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. Cut into slices and serve.

Cheddar and Dill Cream Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:00:00 +0000

I still had half a carton of heavy cream sitting in the fridge leftover from the ganache for my chocolate cupcakes. It kills me to waste cream, butter or chocolate even when the stuff I make sometimes ends up in the trash anyway. I just can't throw out straight cream, butter or chocolate. Since I wasn't up for the caloric overkill of whipping cream pound cake I made these cream biscuits from ATK. I threw in some cheddar and dill for some savoury goodness.

The dry.

Pour in the heavy cream

Stir until it comes together with a spatula, but don't over do it.

Knead lightly until it comes together into a ball. I like to do this over saran wrap so clean up is easy.

Squish down and cut into squares. I like squares because there are no scraps to deal with. Plus, I don't have biscuit cutters :(

I can never help picking at something warm. So the rise wasn't so great, but the texture was really nice and soft, something I would have expected considering it was made with heavy cream.

Cream Biscuits
America's Test Kitchen's Revised Cookbook Chock Full Of Recipes

These are very simple, made with flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and heavy cream — NO butter or Crisco.

2 cups (10 oz) all purpose flour, plus extra for the counter
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup heavy cream

1. Adjust an oven rack to the upper middle position and heat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Stir in the cream with a wooden spoon until the dough forms, about 30 seconds. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and gather into a ball. Knead the dough briefly until smooth, about 30 seconds.

2. Pat the dough into a ¾-inch thick circle. Cut the biscuits into rounds using a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter or 8 wedges using a knife. Place the biscuits on the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 06:06:00 +0000

Lately, I've been feeling a little lazy. I bake, eat, but never photograph and so I never end up blogging. Ever since I bought a new camera, I can't stop taking pictures... of walls, random things on the table and of course, food. I don't usually do progress pics, but I couldn't help it.

These cookies were inspired from someone at work. Normally, I wouldn't bake cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookies because I'm not the hugest fan of cinnamon or raisins, but these actually turned out really well. They had crispy edges with a chewy centre and crispy edges that actually stayed crispy for a good period of time. It drives me crazy when my cookies turn uniformly chewy because the best part for me are those crispy edges.

My favourite part, creaming the butter and sugar

The dry

I find that oatmeal cookies never spread no matter how much butter is added so I always press them down or else I end up with oatmeal mounds.

12 minutes later...

This recipe is really a merge of different recipes until I was happy with the amount of oatmeal, chew and crisp.

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips
10 tbsp butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 335 degrees.

In one bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, mix raisins, chocolate chips and oats.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and continue beating. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed. On low speed, add the flour mixture until just combined. Then add the oats mixture and continue to beat on low until everything is evenly distributed.

Using a medium cookie scoop, divide the dough into 24 portions. Press the dough down about 1 inch thick. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool before transferring on a wired rack

Makes 24 cookies.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:15:00 +0000

I made these cupcakes for a birthday party. As usual, I went with Hershey's perfectly chocolate chocolate cake and a ganache frosting. For the rose, I used a Wilton 2D tip and swirled from the inside to out. Lately, I've been really into playing around with fondant. They just make the cutest cakes, but I don't think I could ever wrap an entire cake with it until it can magically taste ok. I'm not even asking for good, just not gross. Until then, it's little fondant cutouts...

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (natural)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate Ganache
From Savoury, Sweet, Life (with an excellent tutorial)

8 ounces of chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
*optional 3 tbl. of flavored liqueor

Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set. Typically I stick mine in the refrigerator so it is slightly cold before whipping. For piping or frosting, allow the ganache to completely cool and set up. When you are able to spoon the ganache and it can hold its texture, it is ready for piping

TWD: Cocoa-Nana Bread

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

I had a feeling that when I picked the cocoa-nana bread that there would be some debate about the whole banana and chocolate combination. While most people love banana bread with chocolate chips, chocolate banana bread seems to be another story. There were a few substitutions that were mentioned, including apple sauce, pumpkin, pears, sweet potato so it might be an interesting week for variations. For those who were afraid of the whole chocolate-banana combination, I'd still give it a try because you never know! I was a little undecided when I first tasted this bread, but it really grew on me afterwards. The best part was the dense yet tender texture. I only wish the recipe gave the banana amount in cups because the variation in fruit size will affect the flavour and moisture of the final product. My bananas measured out to 1 cup and the bread tasted like Dorie describes, chocolate-chocolate and then you get hit with the banana.

Thanks to everyone who baked along with me! I hope I didn't ruin too many people's experiences with banana and chocolate.... the P&Q freaked me out a little.

Cocoa-nana Bread
Dorie Greenspan

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1/2 cup store-bought chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and place it on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked on top of the other. (This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from over baking.)

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and baking soda.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about a minute, until softened. Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. At this point, the batter may look a little curdled -- it's okay. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Still on low speed, add the buttermilk, mixing until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Bake for 30 minutes. Cover the bread loosely with a foil tent to keep the top from getting too dark, and continue to bake for another 40 to 45 minutes (total baking time is between 70 to 75 minutes) or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the bread and unmolding. Invert and cool to room temp right side up.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:00:00 +0000

This is my first Ina recipe and it was fabulous! I love her show, but between her and Paula, I don't know who uses more butter. I think the butter usage seems worse than it is though because Ina likes to use pound measurements for butter. 1/2 lb of butter sounds more than 1 cup of butter, well at least to me. I'm not a fan of chocolate based cookies because they're generally bland, chalky or too bitter. Almost every chocolate based cookie recipe I've found has melted chocolate in them so I was a little concerned that these wouldn't have enough flavour. Then I figured that if Dorie's world peace cookies (which are totally amazing and everyone should make them!) can do without melted chocolate, then so can these. I added 1 tsp of espresso powder to give it an extra boost in flavour just in case.

I think the best part about these cookies is the texture. The edges are crispy and the centre is brownie-like. I especially liked how pretty they baked up with the cracked tops and just the right thickness because I can't stand chunky cookies. The next day, the cookie becomes uniformly chewy. Just make sure to bake them for 12 minutes instead of 15 if you're using the 1 3/4 inch cookie scoop (Oxo medium). Many reviewers on food network also complained about 15 minutes being too long of a baking time. I will definitely make these again, but Ina.. why must you use extra large eggs?! I used 2 large eggs and it was fine. If you're not into the fuss of melting chocolate like me and crave chocolate based cookies, you should definitely give these a try!

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ina Garten
Makes 40 to 48 cookies (I got 36 because I used less chocolate)

Ingredients
1/2 pound (1 cup/2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large eggs at room temperature (I used large eggs)
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used white chocolate chips)
(I added 1 tsp of espresso powder)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. (I baked at 335 F)
Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Dissolve espresso powder in vanilla extract. Add dissolved mixture, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.
Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using a 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for exactly 15 (I baked for 12) minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

MSC: Coconut Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:00:00 +0000

I haven't updated in ages, but I really don't want to get kicked out of MSC. It's just been so busy since the holidays that I kind of let everything slip. Maybe I just need a new camera for some inspiration... I used a ganache glaze instead of 7 minute frosting. I wasn't trying to be lazy or anything, but I had just enough leftover from cupcakes I made earlier for a birthday party and that little container of ganache in the fridge was just begging to be used.

These were the cupcakes I stole the ganache from. The ganache on this cupcake was actually whipped, but I heated it up again for the coconut cupcakes so it went back to glaze form. Sorry for the blurry picture, but I took this on my blackberry because I was in a rush to deliver them. The flower on top is made with royal icing and tinted with 'no taste' red gel colour. As usual, I went with the always reliable and crowd favourite Hershey's perfectly chocolate chocolate cake recipe. The leftovers were brought to work and I think it's safe to say that everyone enjoyed them!

The coconut cupcakes on the other hand weren't really a favourite of mine so I left them at home, but I'm starting to feel that as long as something is sweet or has chocolate in it, people will just eat it anyway. It's actually kind of sad because the standards for good tasting food seem to be getting lower as processed food becomes more available and easy. From the reactions I was getting when I brought in cookies to work, it's almost as if people have never had a cookie made with butter before!

Thanks to Jennifer of Cinema Cupcakes for choosing coconut cupcakes!

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cake

2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (natural)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Royal Icing
Whimsical Bakehouse

You'll have no worries about pasteurization with this easy recipe. Royal icing is ideal as the glue to assemble your gingerbread house or for decorating cookies with the flood method or sanding sugar. Meringue powder can be found at baking supply stores and some grocery stores.

In a large bowl of a clean electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip to stiff peaks:
1/4 cup meringue powder
1/2 cup cold water

Add and mix at low speed with a paddle attachment, until combined:
1 lb confectioner's sugar

Continue mixing at high speed for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the icing is stiff.

Add and mix on low speed until combined:
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth while you are working with or coloring the icing, or immediately place it in an airtight container or pastry cone; otherwise, a hard crust will quickly form as it dries.

Yield: 4 cups

Chocolate Ganache
From Savoury, Sweet, Life (with an excellent tutorial)

8 ounces of chocolate, chopped into small pieces
1 cup heavy cream
*optional 3 tbl. of flavored liqueor

Place chocolate pieces in a large bowl. Heat heavy cream on medium high until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and immediately pour cream over chocolate and stir until completely mixed and glossy. Allow ganache to cool before pouring over cakes as a glaze. The longer you allow the ganache to cool, the thicker it will set. Typically I stick mine in the refrigerator so it is slightly cold before whipping. For piping or frosting, allow the ganache to completely cool and set up. When you are able to spoon the ganache and it can hold its texture, it is ready for piping

Shortbread Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:44:00 +0000

Sugar cookies always look so pretty, but most of the time they taste bland and leave me feeling like I just wasted a lot of calories on what could have been a delicious chocolate chip cookie. Instead of reading through all the sugar cookie recipes I could find in hopes of lucking out on one that actually tastes great, I made Dorie's espresso shortbread minus the espresso. These are pure and buttery with excellent texture. It almost feels like waste to slather it up with cloyingly sweet icing, which also only took me hours to decorate. For decorating cookies, I would definitely recommend royal icing over the glaze kind simply because it has a nicer finish. I prefer the texture of it better too even though the meringue powder has a slightly sour aftertaste. To colour the icing, it is important to use the icing gels instead of food colouring because that might dilute the royal icing too much. When using royal, you also have to make sure to keep it covered because it dries quickly. For one batch of cookies, you'll probably only need to make half a batch of royal icing..

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Baking: From My Home to Yours

Makes 32 cookies

Ingredients
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder (I omitted)
1 tablespoon boiling water (I omitted)
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips (I omitted)
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated.

Form 2 discs and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick or your desired thickness. Use cutters to cut out shapes.

Bake one tray at a time for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Let cookies cool for 5 minutes and then transfer the cookies to a rack.

Royal Icing
Whimsical Cakehouse

In a large bowl of a clean electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip to stiff peaks:
1/4 cup meringue powder
1/2 cup cold water

Add and mix at low speed with a paddle attachment, until combined:
1 lb confectioner's sugar

Continue mixing at high speed for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the icing is stiff.

Add and mix on low speed until combined:
1/2 tsp. lemon juice

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth while you are working with or coloring the icing, or immediately place it in an airtight container or pastry cone; otherwise, a hard crust will quickly form as it dries.

Yield: 4 cups

Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 02:37:00 +0000

A woman who I used to work with asked me to bake cupcakes for a birthday party. This was my first paid cupcake order so it was a little nerve wracking. She gave me a lot of freedom with the flavours, which was was actually worse for me because I can never make up my mind. In the end, I went with raspberry cream cheese because you can never really go wrong with cream cheese frosting... that's why we eat red velvet cupcakes right? I wish I could have done something super cool with the decorating, but it was really difficult to pipe cream cheese frosting without it looking sloppy and melty so I swirled it using my largest round tip. I was beyond excited when she told me how much she loved them!

Amy Sedaris' Cupcakes

24 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 1/2 stick (12 tbsp) unsalted butter
1 3/4 cup sugar (I used 1 1/2 cup sugar)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup milk

Directions
1. Preheat over to 350 degrees (Amy uses 375, but I think that's too high).
2. In a bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, salt together
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time making sure it's well incorporated
5. Beat in vanilla
6. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with milk. Do not overbeat.
7. Divide batter evenly. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes and toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
9. Cool on wire rack for 5-10 minutes then transfer cupcakes to cool completely

Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick butter, room temperature
1 block (8oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup raspberry jam

Beat butter on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy
Add cream cheese and beat on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy (30 seconds-1 minute)
Sift powdered sugar over creamed mixture and beat on medium low until the sugar is all incorporated
Add jam and continue beating.
Make sure you don't overbeat or else the frosting will become soupy.

New Moon: Werewolf Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:30:00 +0000

I can't believe New Moon is finally coming to theatres in 2 days! When I saw the werewolf cupcakes in Hello Cupcake, I knew I would eventually get around to making them. Even though I'm on Team Edward, I had to make something to support Twilight. It only took me forever to try and attempt these because I was afraid they would turn out looking more like blobs. The piping part actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be even though my super hot hands kept softening the frosting. I would have loved to use all butter, but I think the little bit of shortening was necessary for stability. Store bought frosting might have been easier for piping because of its consistency, but for something that I spent hours working on, it felt like a waste to have to eat the canned stuff. Instead, I kind of came up with my own, beginning with a 1:3 ratio of shortening to butter and then adjusting the other ingredients for taste and consistency. One of the best things about Hello Cupcake is, you don't really have to buy special tools. I wasn't really up for making my own ziplock piping bag so I used the Wilton tip 352

I know a lot of people were disappointed with Twilight, but I think New Moon will be a gazillion times better. It seems to have a more 'real movie' feel to it and they got rid of that annoying blue tint!

Hershey's Perfect Chocolate Chocolate Cake
2 cups sugar
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa (natural)
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans.

2. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared pans.

3. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost with "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" CHOCOLATE FROSTING. 10 to 12 servings.

VARIATIONS:
ONE-PAN CAKE: Grease and flour 13x9x2-inch baking pan. Heat oven to 350° F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely. Frost.

THREE LAYER CAKE: Grease and flour three 8-inch round baking pans. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost.

BUNDT CAKE: Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan. Heat oven to 350°F. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 50 to 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely. Frost.

CUPCAKES: Line muffin cups (2-1/2 inches in diameter) with paper bake cups. Heat oven to 350°F. Fill cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake 22 to 25 minutes. Cool completely. Frost. About 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate Frosting
6 tbsp butter
1.5 tbsp shortening
3 oz chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp cocoa
1 tbsp corn syrup

Melt chocolate and set aside to cool
Cream butter and shortening until creamy and there are no lumps
Add cooled melted chocolate to butter and shortening mixture
On low, add powdered sugar and cocoa until incorporated
Add corn symrup and continue mixing on medium low.

TWD: Molasses Spice Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

Pamela, thank you so, so much for choosing these!! I would have never tried them on my own seeing as they contain my favourite (not) spices, allspice and cloves. If cinnamon is sometimes too overpowering for me, then there's no question that the other two are way too strong. I was brave this time and didn't reduce the spices... I'm so proud of myself...haha. My cookies aren't as dark because I ran out of brown sugar and had to use half granulated sugar, but they were still delicious. I wanted these to be chewy rather than crisp, but may have underbaked these a little too much because the centre was soft with an almost, but not quite raw dough quality to them. Another 30s-1 minute and these would have been perfect. Next time I'm baking these until they're crisp so I won't have to obsess over getting that perfect chewy texture. I'm surprised I had enough dough to form cookies because this has to be one of the yummiest cookie doughs ever (and I don't generally like cookie dough)

TWD: Cran-Apple Crisps

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

I think it's obvious that I have no self control when it comes to crumbs and dug into this immediately. The apple cranberry crisp was the perfect version of a pie for the non crust lover in me. I absolutely loved the addition of ginger, which I think made this crisp extra special. The spicy ginger, sweet apples and tart cranberries complemented each other really well. Before baking, I cooked the cranberries and apples with the sugar until they released their juices so I wouldn't end up with soup because who likes soggy crumbs?! It also helps to cut down on baking time, which is a plus considering I used the toaster oven and the ramekin is so close to the coil. So far, there haven't been any explosions... I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Thanks to Em of The Repressed Pastry Chef for choosing this week's recipe

10 more days til New Moon comes out!! Is anyone else excited?!?!

TWD: All-In-One Holiday Bundt Cake

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 05:00:00 +0000

This pumpkin dessert was liked a little more by my family compared to the previous scones or cupcakes/muffins. Thank god because I didn't want to finish the entire bundt myself, even though I halved the recipe (which is why it looks a little funny and short). I really liked the texture of the cake and was glad I omitted the apples. As nice as apples in desserts sound, I find that they add sogginess, which eventually leads to questions like 'eww, why is this cake raw?' and me replying, 'it's not raw, it's apples'. Since there was already so much pumpkin puree in this, I decided that any more moisture would scare my family away. I also used dried instead of fresh cranberries to keep the wetness down. Overall, I really enjoyed this cake, which would have surprised me a year ago when I wasn't exactly open to the idea of pumpkin in desserts... I blame the pumpkin pie!

Thanks to Britin of The Nitty Britty for choosing this recipe!

Chewy, Fudgy Brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0000

I didn't get a chance to complete this week's TWD, but if it makes it sort of better, I made brownies (just not the recipe I was supposed to). I know I said I wasn't a huge fan of regular brownies because I find that they're excessively rich, but I didn't want to give up on full fat brownies just yet, especially since they always look irresistable. I decided to give CI's chewy, fudgy brownies a try because they sounded like they would have the perfect balance between chewy and fudgy. To be honest, I was a little disappointed considering how much richer these were compared to the low fat fudgy brownies. I would have thought that more fat = tastier, but these didn't really do it for me. They were a little too light and not 'brownie dense' or fudgy enough. The texture and flavour improved by day 2. These weren't horrible, but I guess they're just not for me. If I'm going to eat something with so much fat packed into a tiny square, they better be special or exceptional!

Chewy, Fudgy Triple Chocolate Brownies
Cook's Illustrated

Either Dutch-processed or natural cocoa works well in this recipe. These brownies are very rich, so we prefer to cut them into small squares for serving.

Makes Sixty-four 1-inch Brownies
5 ounces semisweet chocolate or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate , chopped
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), cut into quarters
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Fold two 12-inch pieces of foil lengthwise so that they measure 7 inches wide. Fit one sheet in bottom of greased pan, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; overhang will help in removal of baked brownies. Following illustration 1 below, fit second sheet in pan in same manner, perpendicular to first sheet. Spray foil with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In medium heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost-simmering water, melt chocolates and butter, stirring occasionally until mixture is smooth. Whisk in cocoa until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk warm chocolate mixture into egg mixture; then stir in flour with wooden spoon until just combined. Pour mixture into prepared pan, spread into corners, and level surface with rubber spatula; bake until slightly puffed and toothpick inserted in center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan using foil handles (see illustration 2, below). Cut into 1-inch squares and serve. (Do not cut brownies until ready to serve; brownies can be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated up to 5 days.)

Cinnamon Rolls

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0000

I waited way too long to finally give cinnamon rolls a try. These were fantastic!! They were sticky, sweet, cinnamony, fluffy and very addicting. If I didn't have a little more self control, I probably would have fallen into a sugar coma after devouring one too many. I was supposed to make a caramel glaze and pecan topping, but I skipped it because I didn't want these to be sickly sweet. These could have benefited from a little more goo so next time I'll make half the glaze.

It's so satisfying for me to see the transformation of cinnamon rolls...skinny to fat. If you ever make cinnamon rolls, don't forget to line the pan. I almost did and that would have been such a pain to scrub away after all that sugar caramelization.

These were so tempting, I almost couldn't resist digging into the ones I was photographing too. I like to unravel my cinnamon roll, how do you like to eat yours?

Sticky Buns with Pecans for Freezing (I baked the buns right away instead of freezing them. It took me 25 minutes to bake in total).
Cook's Illustrated

Makes twelve 3 1/2-inch buns.

This recipe has four components: the dough that is shaped into buns, the filling that creates the swirl in the shaped buns, the caramel glaze that bakes in the bottom of the baking dish along with the buns, and the pecan topping that garnishes the buns once baked. Although the ingredient list may look long, note that many ingredients are repeated.

Ingredients

Dough
3 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
4 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (21 1/4 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
6 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled until warm

Caramel Glaze
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
3 tablespoons corn syrup , light or dark
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Pinch table salt

Cinnamon-Sugar Filling
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
Pinch table salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter , melted

Pecan Topping
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (1 3/4 ounces)
3 tablespoons corn syrup , light or dark
Pinch table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup pecans (3 ounces), toasted in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant and browned, about 5 minutes, then cooled and coarsely chopped

Instructions
1. For the dough: In bowl of standing mixer, whisk eggs to combine; add buttermilk and whisk to combine. Whisk in sugar, salt, and yeast. Add about 2 cups flour and butter; stir with wooden spoon or rubber spatula until evenly moistened and combined. Add all but about 1/4 cup remaining flour and knead with dough hook at low speed 5 minutes. Check consistency of dough (dough should feel soft and moist but should not be wet and sticky; add more flour, if necessary); knead at low speed 5 minutes longer (dough should clear sides of bowl but stick to bottom). Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface; knead by hand about 1 minute to ensure that dough is uniform (dough should not stick to work surface during hand kneading; if it does stick, knead in additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time).
2. Lightly spray large bowl or plastic container with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to bowl, spray dough lightly with cooking spray, then cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and set in warm, draft free spot until doubled in volume, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
3. For the glaze: Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for glaze in small saucepan; cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until butter is melted and mixture is thoroughly combined. Pour mixture into nonstick metal 13- by 9-inch baking dish; using rubber spatula, spread mixture to cover surface of baking dish. Set baking dish aside.
4. To assemble, store, and reheat buns: For filling, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and salt in small bowl and mix until thoroughly combined, using fingers to break up sugar lumps; set aside. Turn dough out onto lightly floured work surface. Gently shape dough into rough rectangle with long side nearest you. Lightly flour dough and roll to 16 by 12-inch rectangle. Brush dough with 1 tablespoon melted butter, leaving 1/2-inch border along top edge; with butter remaining on brush, brush sides of baking dish. Sprinkle filling mixture over dough, leaving 3/4-inch border along top edge; smooth filling in even layer with hand, then gently press mixture into dough to adhere. Beginning with long edge nearest you, roll dough into taut cylinder. Firmly pinch seam to seal and roll cylinder seam side down. Very gently stretch to cylinder of even diameter and 18-inch length; push ends in to create even thickness. Using serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, slice cylinder in half, then slice each half in half again to create evenly sized quarters. Slice each quarter evenly into thirds, yielding 12 buns (end pieces may be slightly smaller).
5. Arrange buns cut side down in prepared baking dish; cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in warm, draft-free spot until puffy and pressed against one another, about 1 1/2 hours. Place baking dish in freezer; store for up to 1 month.
6. To bake, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Remove buns from freezer, remove plastic wrap, wrap dish tightly with foil, and set on baking sheet. Bake buns for 30 minutes, then remove foil and continue to bake until golden brown and center of dough registers about 180 degrees on instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes longer. Cool on wire rack 10 minutes; invert onto rimmed baking sheet, large rectangular platter, or cutting board. With rubber spatula, scrape any glaze remaining in baking dish onto buns; let cool while making pecan topping.
7. For the topping: Combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt in small saucepan and bring to simmer over medium heat, whisking occasionally to thoroughly combine. Off heat, stir in vanilla and pecans until pecans are evenly coated. Using soupspoon, spoon heaping tablespoon nuts and topping over center of each sticky bun. Continue to cool until sticky buns are warm, 15 to 20 minutes. Pull apart or use serrated knife to cut apart sticky buns; serve.

TWD: Pumpkin Biscuits

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0000

I really liked the creamy texture that the pumpkin added to these biscuits. Even my dad told me he liked these. I thought I was actually making progress with changing my family's mind about pumpkin until he had another one and realized that he was just starving before. O well, pumpkin just isn't for this family. I have to admit that I wasn't crazy about the taste of these either (or my embarrassing flour spots). Maybe it would have been better with the sweet potato, but I had some leftover pumpkin from the pumpkin patch cupcakes that I wanted to finish up.

Thanks to Erin of Prudence Pennywise for choosing this week's recipe! Don't forget to visit the TWD Blogroll.

MSC: Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (Steph) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:00:00 +0000

Everyone in my family hates pumpkin except for me. It also doesn't help that these look really ugly! Since I wasn't going to get any help from anyone, I skipped the frosting. It wasn't easy eating all of these myself even though I quartered the recipe. Pacing myself at 2 to 3 a day, I eventually finished them. I'm making this sound like hard work... which it was especially after day 2, but when they were all gone I actually missed them. I doubt I'll be making another batch soon though!

Thanks to Kim of What the Whisk for choosing this recipe!