Irish Soda Bread

Irish Soda Bread - made March 16, 2011 from The Best Quick Breads by Beth Hensperger (book #60)

In honor of St Patrick's Day tomorrow, I was poking around to see what I could make to mark the occasion.  Frankly, I have a hard time making anything for St Patrick's Day - a traditional (US version) dessert seems to always be artificially colored green or (worse to me) naturally green which means it probably involves vegetables.  To a carnivore like me, that's almost a no-starter.  Zucchini bread?  Nah. Or it could be something that includes mint but I don't like mint unless it's in my toothpaste.  I definitely don't like mint combined with anything.  Mint and chocolate?  That's like eating really good chocolate after you've brushed your teeth.  No thanks.  Using drops of green food coloring to turn frosting green so you could top it on a cupcake and call it St Patty's cupcakes?  That's literally just faking it. (Although you'll notice I have no problem using red food coloring for red velvet cake and cookies - yeah, I'm inconsistent.)

Other traditional St Patrick's Day baking also involves using Irish whiskey, beer or stout.  Also a no-starter since I don't drink and generally steer clear of alcohol in baking (notable exception: Kahlua and other flavored liqueurs).  So I had to expand out to the usual icon of St Patrick's Day being green and just think "Irish".  Which makes Irish Soda Bread a perfect contender.  I've always wanted to try soda bread.  All the recipes I have for it look much easier than the more traditional kneading, rising, kneading, rising, rolling of dough.  And it's bread.  I love bread.

I didn't realize I had two recipe books by Beth Hensperger until I started looking for Irish soda bread recipes.  Really, it's kind of embarrassing not to know what I already own.  Which means I have too much?  Probably.  Self-awareness is so overrated.

This recipe makes 2 loaves but I didn't need 2 loaves so I only made half the recipe.  The trickiest part is using half an egg but just beat the egg and eyeball a half portion of it to add to the dough.  Keep the other half to brush over the top of the bread as egg wash.  It browns better that way.  I omitted the currants and the candied orange peel since I just wanted pure bread.  The egg wash worked beautifully except the "X" cut into the top of the bread meant the loaf really split open and the non-egg wash parts didn't really brown as much.  But that's okay because this bread was awesome.  It has a slightly different texture than yeasted breads, a bit more crumbly and was more dense and hearty than a cake.  Surprisingly, it was a little sweet and I say surprisingly because there's not that much sugar in it.  Eat this warm from the oven slathered with some fresh butter and you have a winner.  Once it's cool, it's not quite as yummy but warm it up a bit and go to town.  I can't believe how easy and simple this was too make and how good it was.  Next time I host a brunch, Irish soda bread is on the menu. 

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ cup raw or granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

1 ½ cups dried currants, rinsed in hot water and patted dry

3 tablespoons minced candied orange peel or dried pineapple

1 ½ cups cold buttermilk

4 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg

1.    Preheat the oven to 400⁰F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, currants and candied peel.

2.    In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, melted butter and egg with a whisk.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and stir with a wooden spoon just to moisten.  Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently until the sticky dough just comes together, about 5 times, dusting with flour, if needed.  Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and shape each into an 8-inch round.  Sprinkle all over with flour.

3.    Place the rounds on the prepared baking sheet. With a sharp knife, slash the tops with an X about ½-inch deep.  Bake the loaves in the middle of the oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 375⁰F and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes, or until the loaves are brown and crusty.  Cool the loaves on the baking sheet.  Serve them warm or at room temperature on the day they are baked.

Brownie Cheesecake Bars

Brownie Cheesecake Bars (or rounds) - made March 15, 2011 from Favorite Brand Name Cookie Collection (book #59)

I've hardly used this cookbook and I think I must've bought it because it had a lot of pictures to go with the recipes.  Or I bought it early in my baking days and, at the time, liked the simplicity of the recipes.  It tends to use a lot of name brands for the ingredients since their companies published this cookbook but I've deliberately taken out the brand names and would recommend you use what you're comfortable with using.

This is the closest I'll likely come to making a cheesecake: as part of a brownie with the chocolate layer on the bottom and the cheesecake layer on top so I decided to use my mini cheesecake pan to bake them in.  With the leftover batters, I baked the rest in an 8" square baking pan.  The mini cheesecakes didn't quite turn out as I had envisioned.  I thought they would just be cute little rounds with an even brownie layer and an even cheesecake layer.  Haha.  Not so much.  The brownie layer, because it had the chemical leavening of baking powder, rose up in the center forcing the cheesecake layer to dome around it.  The cheesecake batter was so liquidy that it ran down the sides of the brownie layer, ruining the even layer effect.  Regardless though, I like the more "rustic" look of these and as always, taste matters to me more than appearance.


When you combine sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese for the cheesecake layer, I figured this would make a pretty rich cheesecake brownie.  Instead of nuts in the brownies, I added mini chocolate chips in the cheesecake layer so it wouldn't be so plain or look so starkly cream-cheesey.  The only drawback is the cheesecake batter was so liquid-y that the mini chocolate chips sunk to the bottom.  Taste-wise, this was pretty good.  The brownies were more cakey than I had expected though but as a cheesecake base, it turned out okay.  I tried a piece without so much of the cheesecake layer so it wasn't as overwhelming to me.  I think the more traditional way this is baked into bars might be richer.

Read through the recipe first as the ingredients listed are for both the brownie layer and the cheesecake layer and need to be mixed separately in the right amounts.

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter

1 ½ cups sugar

1 ½ cups flour

2/3 cup cocoa

½ cup milk

3 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1.    Preheat oven to 350⁰F.

2.    Melt 2/3 cup butter.  In large mixer bowl, beat melted butter, sugar, flour, cocoa, milk, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and baking powder until well blended.  Stir in nuts if desired.  Spread in greased 9 x 13” pan.

3.    In small mixer bowl, beat cream cheese, remaining 2 tablespoons butter and cornstarch until fluffy.  Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk then the remaining 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Pour evenly over brownie batter. 

4.    Bake 40 minutes or until top is lightly browned.  Cool.  Chill.  Cut into bars.  Garnish as desired.  Store, covered, in refrigerator.

Biscuit Muffins

Biscuit Muffins - made March 14, 2011 from Bread for Breakfast by Beth Hensperger (book #58)

I haven't make a lot of recipes from this book although it contains the oatmeal hotcakes recipe I like to fall back on time and again, especially when I need to use up some leftover buttermilk.  I love breakfast food but I'm rarely hungry enough in the morning to eat a lot for breakfast and when I do eat breakfast, I prefer to go for protein rather than bread.  However, I do believe breakfast food can be eaten at any time of the day so I didn't think twice about baking up these biscuit muffins for an afternoon snack.  I did another 11-mile walk again today and figured I could have some carb calories afterwards.

I mixed all this by hand since I took the "muffin" name in the title seriously and didn't want to overwork the dough.  I ended up adding a little more than a cup of buttermilk to absorb more of the flour mixture.  I also substituted cinnamon for the cardamom as I don't like the taste of cardamom and I didn't have enough nutmeg on hand.  I don't know if it was because of the changes or if it's just this particular recipe but I didn't think this had a lot of flavor.  It's not very sweet so if you need more of a savory muffin, this would be a good one to use.  It didn't rise up as much as I expected, considering how much baking powder is in it and it didn't smooth out but remained craggy on top as it baked but I liked it that way since it gave it a bit more texture.

This is one of those breakfast breads best served warm from the oven.  You can also make it as mini muffins as part of a brunch.  I'm not sure I'd recommend it as a standalone muffin.

2 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon + ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cardamom or nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1 cup cold cultured buttermilk

1 tablespoon sugar, for sprinkling, optional

1.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Grease the cups of a standard 2 ¾” muffin tin.

2.     In a large bowl or in the workbowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt.  Distribute the butter over the top of the flour mixture.  Using a fork or with the electric mixer on low speed, cut in the butter for 2 to 3 minutes, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs laced with small chunks of butter.

3.     Turn off the mixer, if using, and pour the buttermilk into the center of the dough.  Using a fork or with the mixer on low speed, mix until the dough forms a sticky mass, about 30 seconds.  Increase the speed to medium for about 10 seconds; the mass will form a moist, sticky clump on the paddle and clear the sides of the bowl.  Do not overmix; you are just lightly mixing the dough and letting it pull together.

4.     Lightly dust a work surface with flour.  Scrape the dough off the fork or paddle with a rubber spatula or plastic dough card.  Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl and add the batter to the mass of dough.  Sprinkle the top with some flour.  With floured fingers, fold the dough over and gently knead for 6 to 8 gentle strokes, leaving the dough very soft and as sticky as possible.  Using a dough card, cut the dough into 12 equal portions; they will be lumpy and uneven.  Place each dough piece in a muffin cup, sprinkle with some sugar, and press lightly to fill the cups.

5.     Bake on the center rack of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until firm to the touch and the tops and bottoms are golden brown.  Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the muffins to the cooling rack to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies - made March 10, 2011 from Big Mama's Home Kitchen

One of the things I've been participating in lately is linking up one of my posts to Sweets for a Saturday.  Just like with the Almond Butter & Nutella Swirl Cookies, this was one of the recipes I came upon that their original bloggers linked up.  It's fun to share something I've made and even more fun to see what other people have made and discover new blogs and new recipes.  There are an overwhelming number of goodies and I can't possibly try them all but one of the ones I did try was this recipe for Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies.  I love red velvet cake and one of my favorite cookies is the Red Velvet Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting that I've made before.  The concept here is similar except these are sandwich cookies so the cream cheese is the filling rather than the frosting.  But the basic ingredients are the same.

The only thing I would change to the original directions is to add the red food coloring to the creamed butter mixture first or any time before you add the flour.  This is when your dough is most liquid and will more evenly distribute the red food coloring.  When you add after the flour, you have to beat a little more to get the food coloring mixed in and I'm not a fan of mixing a lot after the flour is already added since that has a tendency to develop the gluten in the flour and make the cookies tough.  As little handling as possible after the flour is added is key for tender cookies.  I added 2 teaspoons red food coloring before I was happy with the color of the batter.  I like my red velvet to be red, not some wussy pink or trying-but-not-quite-getting-there "dark rose".

Oh, wait,  I guess I changed two things from the recipe direction - the second one being that I made the dough balls first before chilling the dough but I do that with all cookie dough recipes.  It's usually much easier to make the dough balls before the dough is chilled and this way I can put the dough balls straight into the freezer until I want to bake them.  I used my small ice cream scoop to make the little dough balls for these since I wanted cutesy little sandwich cookies and I wasn't sure how much they would spread.

Overall, these cookies are pretty good.  Because of the sugar coating, they reminded me of snickerdoodles in a red velvet version.  I baked them for 9 minutes and thought they might still be a little underdone just based on appearance but once they had cooled and been sandwiched with the cream cheese filling, they were just right as the cookies were chewy, not cakey.  The sugar coating makes it a trifle sweet for me so I may try the next batch without rolling them in the granulated sugar and see how that turns out.  All in all, another keeper recipe.

Almond Butter and Nutella Swirl Cookies

Almond Butter and Nutella Swirl Cookies - made March 10,2011 from Savory and Sweet blog

Here's another recipe that I got from Sweets for a Saturday.





I'd never baked with almond butter before and frankly, never even knew it existed.  Since it had the magic ingredient of nutella and I'm still only halfway through the first Costco-size jar in my pantry (they come in a 2-pack), it seemed like a good cookie to try just for something different (the almond butter, not the nutella).  In my initial search for almond butter, my friend Linda who I have mentioned previously keeps me stocked in fresh almonds, offered me a jar of creamy almond butter that she had on hand.  In typical generous Linda fashion, she mailed it to me shortly after my request and it arrived in the mail in good time.  Thanks Linda!

I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this recipe (click on the title of this post to go directly to the recipe on Amelia's blog) but the pictures looked so good on Amelia's site.  Most importantly the cookies look like they didn't spread much and stayed thick.  The dough was a dream to work with once it was mixed - it wasn't too soft or sticky as I scooped them into dough balls with my ice cream scoop.  When you mix this dough, beat the butter until it's soft and creamy before you add the almond butter.  This'll help the two butters mix together more smoothly without any lumps.  When you have it all mixed except for the nutella, blend in the nutella by hand.  I dropped spoonfuls of nutella into the batter and mixed slightly just to swirl it in but not fully incorporate into the dough.  You want to keep the nutella distinctive.

I made this dough yesterday and put the dough balls to freeze in ziploc freezer bags until I would be ready to bake them.  This afternoon, as part of my exercise, I decided to walk more than 3 miles to go to the nearest Michaels store for parchment paper and to Trader Joe's to get hazelnuts for another nutella recipe I wanted to try.  It was about a 7-mile walk roundtrip and might seem a little excessive to walk that far for two items but I'm in "drive as little as possible because gas is more than $4 a gallon" mode so whenever I can, I put on my tennis shoes and take off on foot to do my errands.  Unfortunately, while I was able to get the parchment paper at Michaels, I walked all the way to Trader Joe's only to stare at the empty space on the shelf where the hazelnuts were supposed to be.  Yes, they were out.  All that way for nothing.

When I got home I was tired and my fitbit assured me I had burned off almost 900 calories on my walk which sounded a little high to me but I was tired enough to want to believe it, especially since I had walked 11 miles 2 days earlier to go to my credit union's ATM.  The new blisters on my old blisters on my feet convinced me I needed a treat so I decided to bake off a couple of these dough balls to test out the cookies.  OMG.  These are to die for.  I've made a lot of desserts and some I like, some I think are just okay, some I love and some are the pinnacle.  These go in the pinnacle category.  They stayed thick, they were smooth and creamy, moist and superb.  I baked them for only 9 minutes in my convection oven, just long enough for the edges to get a little crisp but the thick middles were moist and chewy, almost like raw cookie dough but way, way better.  The swirls of nutella added to the flavor and the almond butter complemented it nicely.  In fact, I think the nutella was better showcased by not being in a chocolate cookie.  It stood out on its own against the more subtle flavor of the cookie.

Don't let the relatively humble look of these cookies fool you.  They go into the royalty category of cookies for me.  I'm now going to have to stock up on almond butter so I can keep making these cookies.  They're a keeper.  Thank you, Amelia, for posting the recipe!

ETA: I baked a fresh batch this morning to take to a friend and "had" to try another one to make sure it was as good as I thought the first time (yes, I had a cookie for breakfast, don't judge :)).  It was but definitely don't bake these longer than 7-9 minutes even if you don't think they look done.  Part of the cookie's appeal is the moist center.  If you bake it longer, it'll still be okay but more like a normal baked cookie.

Oh and for anyone like me who has never baked with almond butter before and didn't know where to get it, if you don't have a helpful friend named Linda in your life, I've been told other sources to find almond butter are health food stores and Trader Joe's.  And of course, my favorite website: amazon.  I used the Blue Diamond Almond Butter for this recipe.  Amelia said she uses one from her local health food store.

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Black Bottom Cupcakes - made March 9, 2011 from Sticky Messy Chewy Gooey by Jill O'Connor (book #57)

I really like this cookbook - it's not for the calorie conscious (almost nothing I own is) but everything I've tried from it so far has turned out well.  And who doesn't like the idea of sticky, chewy, messy and especially gooey desserts?  They don't always come out picture perfect pretty but they're definitely almost always very tasty.

Most black bottom cupcake recipes are made with cream cheese for the filling/swirl part but this one is made with mascarpone cheese.  I like mascarpone better than cream cheese since it's not as tangy and doesn't have as strong a taste as cream cheese.  I almost never eat cheesecake because almost all of them are made with cream cheese.  As a matter of fact, the only cheesecake I've ever liked was made with mascarpone cheese, had caramelized apples and was bruleed on top.  So it wasn't your typical cheesecake.  I can eat cream cheese as long as it's not the primary ingredient in something and if it's mixed in with chocolate.  But I still prefer mascarpone.

Anyway, the first thing I discovered is this doesn't make 24 cupcakes like the recipe says.  I don't know if I was just generous in filling the cupcake liners but I only got 18 cupcakes out of this and that's with skimping a bit on the chocolate batter and being generous with the mascarpone cheese batter to make it to 18 cupcakes and still use up both batters.  I baked the first muffin tin for about 20 minutes then thought they were done but when I tried taking them out of the muffin cavities, it was apparent they weren't done so I put them back in the oven for a second try.  I'm so paranoid about dry cupcakes that I tend to err on the side of underbaking but you don't want  these to actually be raw.  I like to take cupcakes out of the muffin tin cavity several minutes after they've come out of the oven.  If you let them sit in there too long, the heat from the muffin tin continues to bake the outer sides and toughen them up.  The downside though is you have to be careful when you take them out as, depending on how fragile they are, they can fall apart. That's the "messy" part of the recipes from this book.

This one is pretty rich because it also has a glaze over it which most black bottom cupcakes don't have since it's harder to see the mix of chocolate and cheese swirled together when the top is covered.  But you can see it well enough once you bite into the cupcake.  Given only 18 cupcakes came out, I only made a 1/2 recipe for the glaze and I still had some glaze leftover.  I must say I really liked these cupcakes.  The mascarpone cheese filling didn't overwhelm the chocolate and complemented it perfectly.  The chocolate wasn't too rich but it was nicely gooey.  The glaze might be a little over the top for richness though so I think these cupcakes can stand alone without it.

For the filling

8 ounces mascarpone cheese

½ cup confectioners sugar

1 large egg

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

For the cake batter

1 ½ cups bleached all-purpose flour

½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup natural cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup boiling water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the chocolate glaze

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

¼ cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.     Preheat the oven to 350˚F.  Line two standard 12-cup cupcake tins with paper cupcake liners.

2.    To make the filling: in a medium bowl, cream together the mascarpone, confectioners’ sugar, egg, salt, and vanilla until smooth and creamy.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

3.    To make the cake batter: in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a 2-cup measuring cup, combine the boiling water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid ingredients.  Stir together until smooth.

4.    Fill each cupcake cup one-fourth full of batter and top with a heaping tablespoon or so of the filling; divide it evenly and use it all.  Top the filling with the remaining batter, dividing it evenly.  Bake until the cupcakes are puffed and firm, about 25 to 28 minutes.

5.    Meanwhile, make the glaze: combine all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high for 1 minute.  Remove from the microwave and stir until smooth.  If the chocolate is not completely melted, continue to microwave for 30-second intervals and stir until smooth.

6.    Transfer the cupcakes in the pans to a wire rack and let cool completely.  When cool, dip the top of each cupcake in the chocolate glaze (feel free to double dip, if you like!).  Let the excess glaze drip from the cupcakes for a few seconds and then place the cupcake right side up on the wire rack until the glaze firms up before serving.

Fantastic Fudgewiches

Fantastic Fudgewiches - made March 9, 2011 from All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett (book #56)

Back to the chocolate and nutella baking lovefest with this one.  Although there isn't any nutella in this recipe, I decided to forego making the Quick Fudge filling and just used nutella instead.  Nutella and chocolate are a natural combination and, in this case, comes with the added advantage that I don't have to worry about having too much or too little filling for the sandwiches as I still have my Costco-sized jars of Nutella in the pantry.  I skipped the added effort of rolling out cookie dough and cutting out with cookie cutters/shapers.  Whenever I make sandwich cookies, I roll the dough into cylindrical or square logs, freeze them, then cut them into slices when I'm ready to bake them.  It's much faster that way with less fuss than using cookie cutters.  As long as you shape your cookie log uniformly, you should get similar size cookies.  The only trick is to make sure you cut the slices evenly.  I also like to make the logs with a fairly small diameter so the sandwich cookies aren't too big.  But I've posted the directions as is for anyone who wants to make them the cookie cutter way.

For the cocoa, make sure you're using a high-quality cocoa since that's where the chocolate flavor in the cookies are coming from.  As previously mentioned, I use Pernigotti cocoa from Williams Sonoma.  It's a bit pricey but worth it for the rich, dark flavor it imparts to baked goods. I always sift mine first, whether it's lumpy or not.  It's faster to sift in the beginning before you add the cocoa than it is to try and get out any lumps in the batter or dough later on.

Beat the butter first until it's a creamy consistency before you add the oil or anything else.  Otherwise you'll have butter lumps and those aren't any fun either.  The dough ended up being a bit soft to shape into logs but doable if you're patient.  Shape it on a large piece of waxed paper and don't make the logs too big.  It's easier to handle shorter logs and make them the diameter you want consistently throughout the log(s).  Once you have the logs formed, roll it up in the waxed paper and place in the freezer to firm up.  The advantage of the log method is you don't have to use a lot of flour or cocoa to roll out the dough and try to keep it from sticking.

These turned out pretty well - the cookies didn't spread so they kept their shape pretty well.  Once they cooled and I sandwiched them with the nutella, it was a nice little snack.  The edges were crisp but the middles were still a bit chewy so this isn't like a wafer cookie.  If you want them more uniformly crisp, I'd bake longer than the 9 minutes the recipe suggests.  For me, I liked them as they were although I'm glad I made them small as each one can pack a chocolate punch.  I liked them with nutella but I think these would also be good with the quick fudge filling for a pure chocolate experience.

(If you look closely at the cover of the recipe book, the Fantastic Fudgewiches are the 2nd cookie on the right, partially standing.)

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder, sifted after measuring, if lumpy

1 teaspoon baking powder

2/3 cup (1 sticks plus 2 2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, slightly softened

2 tablespoons corn oil or other flavorless vegetable oil

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Scant ½ teaspoon salt

Quick Fudge

1 14-ounce sweetened condensed milk

1 ½ cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels

1 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate, broken up or coarsely chopped

1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, slightly softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

About 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder, for topping (optional)

1.     In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder; set aside.  In another large bowl, with an electric mixer on low, then medium, speed, beat together the butter, oil, and sugar until lightened and fluffy.  Add the egg, vanilla, and salt and beat until well blended and smooth.  Beat or stir in the flour mixture until evenly incorporated.

2.     Divide the dough in half.  Place each portion between large sheets of wax paper.  Roll out each portion 1/8 inch thick; check the underside of the dough and smooth out any wrinkles that form.  Stack the rolled portions (paper still attached) on a baking sheet.  Refrigerate for 45 minutes, or until chilled and firm but not hard or freeze for about 20 minutes to speed chilling.  (If desired, the dough may be held for up to 24 hours; let warm up slightly before using.)

3.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Grease several baking sheets or coat with nonstick spray. (I always line mine with parchment paper.)

4.     Working with one portion at a time and leaving the remaining dough chilled, gently peel away, then pat one sheet of wax paper back into place.  Flip dough over, then peel off and discard the second sheet.  Using a 2-inch round or square cutter, cut out the cookies.  If desired, using a mini cutter, the larger end of a pastry piping tip, or a thimble, cut away a small hole from the center of half the cookies.  (If at any point the dough softens too much to handle easily, transfer the paper and cookies to a baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until firm again.)

5.     Using a spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to the baking sheets, spacing about 1 ½” apart.  Place the solid rounds on one sheet and the rounds with the cutaway centers on another.  Re-roll any dough scraps.  Continue cutting out the cookies until all the dough is used.

6.     Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the upper third of the oven for 6 to 9 minutes, or until almost firm when pressed in the centers; cutaways will bake faster.  Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through baking to ensure even browning.  Transfer the sheet to a wire rack and let stand until the cookies firm up slightly, 1 to 2 minutes.  Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks.  Let stand until completely cooled.

7.     For the Fudge: In a 1-quart or similar heavy saucepan, stir together the condensed milk, chocolate morsels, unsweetened chocolate, and butter over medium-low heat.  Heat, stirring constantly, until the chocolates melt and the mixture is completely smooth; be careful not to burn.  Immediately remove from the heat.  Stir in the vanilla.  Let cool until thickened just enough to spread.  (The fudge may be prepared a day or so in advance then refrigerated in an airtight container.  Before using, reheat it over low heat, stirring until spreadable.)

8.     Immediately spread the fudge about 1/3” thick on the underside of each cookie bottom.  (If the fudge stiffens, as you work, warm it just slightly over low heat, stirring constantly.)  Center the tops over the bottoms.  Very lightly press down.  Lightly dust the cookie tops with cocoa powder, if desired.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.  The cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month but should not be filled and sandwiched together until shortly before serving.

Pan de Campo (Mexican Camp Bread)

Pan de Campo - made March 8, 2011 from The Pastry Queen's Christmas by Rebecca Rather (book #55)

I hope those of you who celebrated it enjoyed Mardi Gras today.  Lots of revelry, King Cake, and other things I can't mention on my G-rated blog? :) But once it's over, what inevitably follows Fat Tuesday is Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent.  I'm not Catholic or of a religion that officially observes Lent but I did try to give up chocolate once.  Shoot.  Worst 10 minutes ever.

However, if you're made of stronger stuff than me and have given up chocolate or sweets in general, here's a fried bread recipe I tried in your honor.  (If you've given up bread or anything else that gives life meaning, sorry, this won't help you at all.)  Plus I finally got to use the cast iron skillet I'd bought ages ago.  Bonus!  This is probably one of the plainer recipes in The Pastry Queen's Christmas but I was still in a "fried bread-anything tastes good" mode so I thought I'd give it a go.  Although I will be back to this cookbook at some point in the future to try the Apple Spice Layer Cake with Caramel Icing because that just looked good.

The directions for this are very similar to making pie crust - combine the dry ingredients, cut in cold shortening then add the liquid gradually.  As with pie crust, it's best not to overhandle the ingredients because you don't want the dough to get tough or the shortening to melt into the flour.  I wasn't quite sure what I expected from this recipe and I was a little skeptical as I fried it, especially as my cast iron skillet kept smoking while the dough fried and I was afraid it was going to set off my fire alarm.  The outside browned okay but in less time than the 4-5 minutes I was supposed to fry each side so I took it off early.  Surprisingly, I liked the fried bread.  The outside was a little crisp, with a little flakiness like a tortilla (that's from those shortening pockets) and the inside was just like a dense bread.  You definitely don't want to undercook it though so don't be afraid of browning it too much.  The middle should be more cooked than doughy.  You might also want to make yours a bit thinner than mine for easier frying and eating.

I halved the recipe and it still made quite a bit so if you're not sure or you don't have a lot of mouths to feed, I suggest making only a half recipe or even a quarter.  It's easy enough to make again if you decide you like it and want more.

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons kosher salt

6 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening

1 ½ cups buttermilk

6 tablespoons unsalted butter for frying

1.     In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and sugar.  Use your hands or a pastry cutter to incorporate the shortening into the flour mixture until it is crumbly.  Add the buttermilk ¾ cup at a time and lightly stir until just mixed.

2.     Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and place on a lightly floured work surface.  Gently roll each portion into a quarter-inch-thick disk about 6 inches in diameter.

3.     Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a cast iron or heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat.  Add one of the disks and fry for 4-5 minutes on each side until golden brown.  Repeat for the rest of the dough and serve immediately.

Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap and reheated in a skillet or toaster.

Buttermilk Beignets

Buttermilk Beignets - made March 7, 2011 from Dam Good Sweet by David Guas and Raquel Pelzel (book #54)

Do you have a foodie bucket list?  Every foodie I know has some sort of foodie bucket list - you know, both the food you want to eat before you die and where you want to eat it.  Some people want to eat at French Laundry, some want to take an Italian cooking course in Tuscany, etc.  I've done a fair number of things on my foodie bucket list - eaten a fresh baguette while strolling down the Champs Elysee in Paris, had gelato in Florence, lobster in Maine, fresh pineapple in Hawaii, noodles in Beijing, and pavlova in New Zealand, gone to the Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival, done a chocolate week in Belize, etc.

I still have a fair number of items on my foodie bucket list still to do, eat and visit.  Just below attending the National or World Pastry Championship, next on the list at the moment is to have beignets at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans.  Beignets are deep-fried dough but don't think they're doughnuts.  They're French.  They have to be more uppity than that.  The dough is usually not as sweet as doughnuts and their sweetness comes from the confectioners' sugar normally sprinkled on top.  I've done deep-fried bread concoctions before, my favorite being zeppoles (fried Italian dough balls made with ricotta cheese), but have never made beignets.  In honor of tomorrow being Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, I thought I'd give it a go.  The advantage of having 200-something recipe books is I likely have a recipe for everything.  It also helps that this particular recipe book has a sub-title of "Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style".

It was a last-minute decision to make the beignets as I didn't even realize it was Mardi Gras tomorrow until I got an email from a friend about it.  Fortunately I had most of the ingredients on hand so when I came home, I could throw it together.  Unfortunately, what I didn't have on hand was bread flour so I had to substitute all-purpose flour in this recipe.  I hate doing substitutions that may be key to the recipe but I thought I'd take a chance with it, especially since I had just come from the grocery store and didn't want to go back, not with the price of gas these days.  The problem with substitutions is it's hard to judge the original recipe itself or if it was the sub that threw it off.  The dough for this turned out to be pretty soft, almost more like batter than dough.  I ended up adding an extra 1/2 cup of flour to the mixture just to make it more the consistency of dough.  I don't know if it's because of the all-purpose flour or if even with bread flour, it would've still been soft.

In any case, this rose nicely but trying to roll it out, even with added flour for kneading, was almost impossible.  The dough was just too sticky and soft to manage well.  I ended up hacking some random chunks of dough to throw in the fryer but didn't try to shape or knead it any further.  It fried pretty well and turned a nice golden brown fairly quickly.  I turned them a few times to ensure even browning, drained them on paper towels, and sprinkled with powdered sugar before trying them.  I have to say, you almost can't go wrong with fried anything, especially warm fried dough.  I should've cooked it a little longer as the middles were a bit doughy but overall, these weren't bad.  The beignets themselves weren't that sweet.  Instead, the sweetness came from the powdered sugar sprinkled on top.  Having never made beignets before and the rare times I've tried them before they weren't warm, I'm not sure how this recipe stacks up.  I'm just going to have to go to Cafe du Monde and try their beignets so I can gauge the bar.

¾ cup whole milk

1 ½ cups buttermilk

4 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 ½ tablespoons sugar

3 ½ cups bread flour plus extra for flouring work surface

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Peanut oil for frying

Confectioners’ sugar for serving, as much as you think you’ll need – then double that!

1.    Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until small bubbles form at the surface.  Remove from the heat, add the buttermilk and then pour into a stand mixer bowl.  Whisk in the yeast and the sugar and set aside for 5 minutes.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed, using a dough hook, until the dry ingredients are moistened, 3 to 4 minutes.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and continue mixing until the dough forms a loose ball and is still quite wet and tacky, 1 to 2 minutes longer.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set the dough aside in a draft-free spot for 1 hour.

2.    Pour enough peanut oil into a large pot to fill it to a depth of 3 inches and bring to a temperature of 375⁰F over medium heat (this will take about 20 minutes).  Line a plate with paper towels and set aside.

3.    Lightly flour your work surface and turn the dough out onto it.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with flour, gently press to flatten, fold it in half, and gently tuck the ends under to create a rough-shaped round.  Dust again and roll the dough out into a ½” to 1/3”-thick circle.  Let the dough rest for 1 minute before using a chef’s knife, a bench knife, or a pizza wheel to cut the dough into 1 ½” squares (you should get about 48).

4.    Gently stretch a beignet lengthwise and carefully drop it into the oil.  Add a few beignets (don’t overcrowd them) and fry until puffed up and golden brown, turning them often with a slotted spoon for 2 to 3 minutes.  Transfer to the prepared plate to drain while you cook the rest. Serve while still warm, buried under a mound of confectioners’ sugar, with hot coffee on the side.

Chocolate Chunkers

Chocolate Chunkers - made March 7, 2011 from Rosie's Bakery Delicious and Decadent Dessert Book by Judy Rosenberg (book #53)

I've been stepping up the baking experiments over the past few days.  I have more time to bake now but fewer people to eat my baking since I'm not going into the office anymore or working at the moment.  So I have to leverage when I do see people and can pawn off, er, share, my baking experiments.  Sometimes I email one (or two) of my ex-coworkers to see if they're around so I can do a dropoff of baked goods that they can share with the rest of the office. No way am I eating all this by myself.  I'm also finding I have a dismaying tendency these days to lose my sweet tooth.  Sometimes even a bite or two already satisfies.  While that may be good for the waistline, it's a little (frankly) irritating when my greedy taste buds wants something but the rest of me says, "hey, that's enough.  I'm good."  I almost feel betrayed.  By myself.

When I can, I like to make up cookie doughs and put them in the freezer for when I need them.  Sometimes I'm in the mood to bake and sometimes I'm not.  It's so much easier to always have cookie dough on hand ready to bake at a moment's notice when the occasion arises.  This one's a bit impractical to do that with since it calls for a glaze and you don't want to hang onto glaze too long.   However, I exercised a little creative license and instead of making the glaze, I frosted these with some nutella.  I bought the Costco-sized jars so it's almost inevitable that I'm going to be focused on making things with nutella in the immediate future.  I'm not big on ganache-type glazes anyway and nothing is simpler than warming up a little nutella for easier spreading.  It also has the added advantage that you can use as much or as little as you need from the jar without fussing over making a ganache and using it all at the same time.

The dough for this was pretty soft, almost the consistency of a brownie batter.  Let the melted chocolate and butter mixture cool slightly but not too much before you add the rest of the ingredients.  You want to add the flour before the chocolate sets or stiffens up and makes mixing harder.  The more you have to mix in the flour, the tougher your cookies will be so minimize the mixing as much as possible.  Once you have it mixed, let it sit for a few minutes to cool into more of a cookie dough texture then when you scoop it into dough balls, it'll hold its shape better. Lastly, I also omitted the nuts and substituted Heath milk chocolate toffee bits for the raisins.  There's no need to ruin a perfectly good chocolate cookie with raisins.  Seriously.

This came out pretty fudgy-moist, chocolaty and rich. I don't think I really needed to add the toffee as just chocolate chips would've done. For serious indulgent decadence, let these cool to just slightly warmer than lukewarm so that they're not so fragile but still warm enough to melt the nutella, top with a spoonful of nutella and enjoy blasting into the chocolate stratosphere.

The Cookie

3 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used 4 ounces)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon baking powder

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 whole large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 cup raisins (I substituted Heath toffee bits but you can omit entirely or add more chocolate chips)

¾ cup chopped pecans (optional)

4 ounces (¾ cup) semisweet chocolate chips

The glaze

½ cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped small

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1.     Preheat the oven to 325˚F.  Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.     Melt the unsweetened chocolate and the butter in the top of a double boiler placed over simmering water (don’t let the bottom of the top half of the double boiler touch the boiling water).  Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

3.     Sift the flour and baking powder together into a small bowl and set aside.

4.     Place the sugar in a medium-size mixing bowl, add the melted chocolate mixture, and blend for 10 seconds.  Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.

5.     Add the eggs and the yolk and mix until blended, stopping the bowl once to scrape the sides with a rubber spatula.

6.     Add the flour mixture on low speed and mix until blended, stopping the mixer once to scrape the bowl.

7.     Add the raisins and blend 5 seconds.  Then add the nuts and chocolate chips.  Finish the mixing by hand. (If the dough seems too soft, let stand for a few minutes and it'll cool to more of a dough consistency that'll hold its shape when you scoop into dough balls.)

8.     Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough and form them into mounds with your hands.  Arrange them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

9.     Bake the cookies until they form a thin crust, 20 to 25 minutes.  Allow them to cool on the sheets.

10.   Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: place the cream and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking occasionally.  Remove from the heat immediately.

11.   Add the chocolate and butter to the pan, cover, and let sit about 5 minutes until the chocolate melts.

12.   Stir the mixture with a whisk until it is shiny and velvety.

13.   Dip each cookie, upside down, in the glaze, coating the entire top.  Place right side up on cooling racks or on a sheet of parchment paper to set for several hours.

14.   Store the cookies in an airtight container, with parchment paper between the layers, for a couple of days in the refrigerator.  After that, store them in the freezer for up to 2 weeks.

Makes 24 cookies