"Best" Brownies

"Best" Brownies - made May 14, 2013, recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

This was the name on the allrecipes site but I put the "best" in quotation marks since "best" is a relative term.  I needed to make another rendition of my Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies and I couldn't resist trying a different brownie recipe for the base.  Usually I can scan a recipe and predict how it'll turn out.  Because this one gets its chocolate flavor only from cocoa powder, I figured this would make a dark chocolate base that would pair well with the lighter and sweeter peanut butter crunch topping.  The baking powder would also make a lighter texture than a brownie without any chemical leavening.

I was actually right on how this turned out.  It was good but I wouldn't consider it particularly memorable.  If I had made it as a standalone brownie, I'd probably be more critical of it but since I paired it with the topping, it served its purpose nicely.  Sometimes I think I make the brownie just so the Snickers, peanut butter cups and peanut butter crunch topping will have something to sit on.

1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Peanut Butter Crunch Topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line an 8 x 8" pan with aluminum foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter.  Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.  Beat in cocoa, flour, salt and baking powder until batter is smooth and glossy (do not overmix).  Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
4. A few minutes before brownies are done, sprinkle top with chopped peanut butter cups and Snickers.
5. Prepare Peanut Butter Crunch Topping and spread over baked brownie, covering peanut butter cups and Snickers completely.  Let cool, cut into squares and serve.

Cocktail Buns

Cocktail Buns - made May 12, 2013, recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

I love the cocktail buns from the Asian bakeries.  I first had them at dim sum: they're the oblong sweet bread rolls filled with a coconut-butter-sugar mixture and sprinkled with sesame seeds on top.  Not to be confused with custard buns that are the same sweet bread rolls but filled with pastry cream or custard. I don't go to dim sum that often so I never had them that much but then I discovered they sold them at the Asian bakeries and sometimes places like Ranch 99 in the hot-food-to-go section.  Like anything else that I enjoy from bakeries and restaurants, I like trying to make my own version at home.

I got this recipe from allrecipes.com and it was pretty simple to make.  The main mistake I made though was not rolling the dough out thinly enough.  I ended up with too much filling and not enough dough.  Which meant my cocktail buns, once they had gone through the second rising, were too much bread with not enough filling.  So I know what to adjust for next time.  I liked this recipe a lot though and the filling was almost exactly like what you could get at the dim sum places.  There was just a tad too much of the dry ingredients so I would recommend cutting both the flour and the powdered milk from 1/2 cup each to 1/3 cup each.  Otherwise, the flavor was just like what I buy at the Asian bakeries.

1/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, more if needed
1 cup milk
1/4 cup softened butter
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
up to 1 additional cup of all-purpose flour for kneading, if needed (I ended up using 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup)

Filling
1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder (I would recommend cutting to 1/3 cup)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (I would recommend cutting to 1/3 cup)
1 cup finely grated fresh coconut
1 tablespoon sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)

1. Place 1/3 cup sugar and milk in a small saucepan, and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add 1/4 cup softened butter, and gently warm the mixture until the butter melts and the mixture is warm but not hot (no warmer than about 100 degrees F (40 degrees C)). In a large bowl, stir together the yeast with 2 1/2 cups flour until well blended, and pour the milk mixture into the flour-yeast mixture. Stir in 1 beaten egg, and mix until the mixture forms a sticky, wet dough.
2. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface, and knead for about 10 minutes, gradually kneading in 1 cup of additional flour or as needed to make a smooth, elastic dough. Form the dough into a round ball, place into an oiled bowl, and turn the dough around in the bowl a few times to coat with oil. Cover the bowl with a cloth, and allow dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
3. Cream 1/4 cup softened butter with 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy, and stir in dry milk powder, 1/2 cup flour, and the coconut until the mixture is smooth and well blended. Set the filling aside.
4. Working on a floured surface, punch down the dough, and cut into 2 equal pieces. Cut each piece into 8 equal-sized pieces (16 pieces total). Form each piece into an oblong bun, and flatten the bun with a floured rolling pin. Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of filling with a spoon, and place in the center of a bun. Pull and pinch the edges of the dough together to enclose the filling in the bun. Repeat with all dough pieces, and place the filled buns, seam sides down, onto the prepared baking sheets. Cover the buns with a cloth, and allow to rise in a warm place 1 hour.
5. Preheat an oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. For a glossy coating, beat 1 egg in a bowl, and brush each bun with a little beaten egg. Sprinkle each bun with a few sesame seeds.
7. Bake in the preheated oven until the buns are golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. If the bottoms are too pale but the tops are golden brown, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake an additional 5 minutes.

Banana Bread Brownies

Banana Bread Brownies - made May 12, 2013, recipe adapted from Life's Simple Measures

So....you remember how I always say I only eat 1 taste test piece of whatever I make and give the rest away, even if it turned out and I like it?  If something is really good, I might indulge in a second piece the next day but it would have to be pretty fantastic to warrant a second taste. So it might be something of an endorsement if I tell you I ate THREE pieces of this in the same afternoon.  Yup, three.  The first piece practically made my eyes roll to the back of my head in gastronomic bliss.  The second piece also went down easy.  I was probably a little sick by the time I finished the third piece a couple of hours later and I remembered why I usually eat only 1 (or 2) pieces of something really good.  But still....no regrets.

If you like bananas in any way, shape or form, you must make these bars.  I don't usually endorse something so wholeheartedly as I know we all have different tastes but seriously.....try these.  If you don't have overripe bananas on hand, go out right now and buy the most ripe bananas you can find then let them sit on your counter until they turn black.  The wait might be tortuously long  but let that be a lesson to you to have overripe bananas on hand for baking emergencies like this.  Although now that I've used up all my overripe bananas, I have to start the cycle over because I am so making these again.  If anything non-chocolate could be fudgy, that's how I would describe the texture of these bars.  Don't overbake them or else they'll be more cakey than "fudgy" but don't underbake them too much either since bananas already add a lot of moisture to whatever they're baked in and you don't want it mushy or gooey but "fudgy".  I baked mine to the point that the bottoms were still a bit dense but the top half was just perfect.

And once again, I have to say the frosting was perfect for these bars.  Even if you don't like frosting, don't skip it!  I ended up using only 3 cups of powdered sugar rather than 4 since I didn't want the frosting to be too sweet.  When you make the frosting, be sure to whisk it well over the stove to emulsify the brown butter in with the rest of the ingredients.  When you spread it over the hot banana bread brownies, the butter will tend to separate as the frosting sets.  Just blot it carefully with a paper towel to absorb it.  It'll look better once it cools not to have pools of separated butter on top.  I didn't try these until they were completely cool.  If I'd had a piece when they were warm, they might've been a bit gooey for me.  But once at room temperature, they were perfect.

The frosting does set once the bars are cool.  If you want to stack pieces on top of each other, separate the layers with wax paper or else the moist bottoms of the bars on top will stick to the frosting of the bars beneath them (I discovered that the hard way so you don't have to - you're welcome).

Banana Bread Bars:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 eggs

1 3/4 cups (3 or 4) ripe bananas, mashed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional, I left them out)

Brown Butter Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

3-4 cups powdered sugar (I only used 3 cups)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 tablespoons milk

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.  Line a 9 x 13 pan with aluminum foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.  For the bars, in a large bowl, beat together sugar, sour cream, butter, and eggs until creamy.  Blend in bananas and vanilla extract.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute.  Stir in walnuts, if using.
2. Spread batter evenly into pan.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. 
3. Meanwhile, for the frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling.  Let the butter fat solids turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.
4. Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk.  Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting).  Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm). If the butter separates from the frosting, blot carefully with a paper towel.  Cool completely before cutting.

Shrimp with Garlic and Cilantro

Shrimp with Garlic and Cilantro - made May 12, 2013, recipe adapted from Cooking Melangery

The original recipe called for using parsley but I needed cilantro for another recipe and I didn't want to buy both when I only needed a little of each.  So I substituted cilantro in this recipe.  I thought I had a dusty bottle of white wine in my pantry but it turns out it was a dusty bottle of red wine from the last time I needed a couple of tablespoons for cooking so I also substituted that in as well.  The good thing about cooking is it's a lot more forgiving than baking on substituting random ingredients. And while I have the pickiest taste buds when it comes to desserts, I'm less picky about savory foods, especially when I have to cook it myself.  Then I'm a lot more flexible.

This is another quick shrimp stir fry that took mere minutes to throw together.  It was good and it was simple, making it a contender for an easy weeknight meal when you're short on time.  Plus healthy and low calorie when you have it on a bed of salad greens which is what I did.  I saved my calories for dessert.

4 to 5 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 to 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 tablespoons dry white wine
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a sauté pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes and paprika and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant. 
2. Increase the heat to high, add the shrimp, lemon juice and dry white wine, stir well, and sauté until the shrimp turn pink and are opaque throughout, about 3-5 minutes. 
3. Season with salt and black pepper, sprinkle with the cilantro and serve.

Top Favorite: Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chocolate Chips and Chunks Cookies - made (again) May 15, 2013 from Averie Cooks

People!  It's National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day!  Just thought you would want to know.... (and I'm posting this so late because blogger took over 2 hours to upload the three pictures in this post - argh).

So it's quite apropos that I blog about these chocolate chip cookies today.  Although, technically, I made these with chocolate chunks but let's not split hairs.  Or chocolate.  I first made these cookies last holiday season and they were definitely worth making again. This is one of the cookie doughs I made over the hot weekend when it was too hot to turn my oven and bake yet I wanted to do something baking-ish.  The only thing I love more than chocolate chip cookies is chocolate chip cookies with chunks of milk chocolate instead of chips.  As in, I took one of my remaining slabs of milk chocolate that I'd bought on my last European trip and cut them into chunks for this cookie dough. I can have the slabs of chocolate in my pantry for weeks and even months without touching them but once I get it into my head to put them in cookies, they're dust.  Or chunks.

I actually have a couple of favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes - one of them being Alton Brown's version.  But I also like this one from Averie's blog.  Regardless of which recipe you use, here are my recommended cookie-baking techniques for moist, chunky cookies with little spread, crisp edges,  chewy middles and just overall goodness:

• Only use butter.  Trust me.  If you're going to use shortening, make sure to use at least an equal amount of butter.  Butter-flavored shortening will not save you or your cookies.
• Start with your butter slightly chilled, not softened and not room temperature, especially in warm weather.  If your butter is too soft, your cookies will spread too much, even if you chill the dough first.
• Use the good chocolate!  You can get away with Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips but if you're going to go with chocolate chunks, use good quality chocolate.  Go large with the chunks.  They're called chunks, not chocolate slivers or bits, for a reason.
• Chill your dough until firm, preferably overnight in your fridge or freezer before baking.  Make the dough into dough balls before you chill or freeze them.  
• Bake the cookies on light-colored cookie sheets.  Dark-colored pans will brown the bottoms of your cookies too quickly and cause them to be too hard or dry before the tops are baked properly.  I like to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper for easier cleanup and better baking. 
• Bake the cookies just until the edges are golden brown and the middles are just barely past the raw stage, i.e. not shiny or doughy-looking.  Do not bake until they're puffy and have cracks in the middle - they're overbaked by then.
• Eat your first cookie 10 minutes after you take them out of the oven. The edges will be crisp, the middle moist without being too mushy and the chips will be melt-y.  It should be lukewarm and not so hot that you can't taste the cookie. You'll be spoiled forever and won't eat chocolate chip cookies any other way after that.  

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup bread flour (all-purpose flour may be substituted and used exclusively in place of bread flour)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

6 ounces (3/4 cup) semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

6 ounces bittersweet or dark baking chocolate, chopped into bite-sized chunks

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. 
2. Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
3. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flours (solely using all-purpose flour will work, but the cookies will not be as chewy), corn starch, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Add the chocolate chips and chunks, and either fold in by hand or beat for a few seconds on low speed. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, up to 5 days (although chilling the dough is theoretically not necessary; in reality cookies spread less with chilled dough).
4. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 2-ounce cookie scoop or a 1/4 cup measuring cup, form heaping mounds  and place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges, even if slightly undercooked in the center, noting the tops will not be browned and will be pale. Do not cook longer than ten minutes as cookies will darken and firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.  Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.

Caramel Bundt Cake

Caramel Bundt Cake - made May 10, 2013 from Bake or Break

We're getting into warm weather and picnic season so it's picnic cake time.  Actually, I'd be willing to eat this cake at any time of the year.  It was really good with the perfect pound cake texture.  Think of it as a vanilla cake lightly flavored with brown sugar.  Then pour a brown sugar caramel icing over it.  Despite my preference for cake more than frosting, I have to admit, it was the frosting that made this cake.  It was almost like penuche but not as sweet and not as grainy.  It was just ridiculously good and perfectly complemented the cake.  You want to pour the icing over it while it's still warm as it sets rather quickly.  I didn't use all of the icing in the recipe since I didn't want to make a thick layer of it but I reserved it for some pecan praline cookies I made later (to follow in a future blog post).

Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk

Caramel Sauce
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Generously grease a 10-cup Bundt pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
4. Gradually add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk. Begin and end with flour mixture. Mix just until combined and batter is smooth.
5. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a pick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes. Then, transfer to a wire rack, frost and let cool completely. 

To make the caramel sauce:

1. Combine brown sugar, condensed milk, corn syrup and salt in a heavy saucepan.  Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Continue to boil for 4-5 minutes or until mixture is smooth.
2. Remove from heat.  Add butter and vanilla and stir until butter has melted and mixture is smooth.  Pour desired amount over cake.  Store any remaining sauce in refrigerator.

Honey and Soy Baked Chicken

Honey and Soy Baked Chicken - made May 4, 2013 from She Wears Many Hats

I feel like I've made some semblance of this already but I had all the ingredients and no idea what to pack for lunches for the coming week so I threw this recipe together since it had all my requirements for a savory dish: quick and easy.  Marinating something is the easiest way to provide flavor in my otherwise bland cooking repertoire.  I mixed up the marinade ingredients, put the chicken thighs in a gallon-size ziploc bag and poured the marinade over it.  Then I put the bag in a bowl and plunked the bowl in the refrigerator overnight, turning it occasionally to redistribute the marinade.

When it came time to bake, I placed the chicken skin-side down first and covered the baking dish with foil.  After 20 minutes, I turned the chicken skin-side up, left off the foil and let it bake until the skin was nicely golden brown.  This couldn't have been simpler.  The only downside is the sauce is what gives it the most flavor and would have been perfect with rice.  Except I was cutting back/cutting out rice (bucking my Asian roots once again) so I ended up just eating the chicken as is, sans the skin since I don't eat skin even though that looked like it would have been flavorful as well.  So you can make this dish as fat or as lean as you want - your choice.

3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce
5 tablespoons honey
4 cloves of garlic; minced (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
3 pounds (approximately) chicken thighs (or preferred chicken meat)
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Mix first 6 ingredients together in a large plastic zip-top storage bag. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the chicken to plastic bag making sure to coat each piece.
3. Place chicken in baking dish along with sauce/marinade or leave in large plastic bag to marinate in the refrigerator.
4. When ready to cook, in a baking dish, bake chicken in a 425° oven for 20-25 minutes with the skin side down. Turn the chicken skin side up and cook another 15-20 minutes to crisp up the skin. Cook until internal temperature of chicken reads 165°F and/or until skin is golden brown.