Texas Pecan Pie Bars

Texas Pecan Pie Bars - made March 20, 2011 from The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather (book #64)

I was running low on pecans so when I happened to be at Costco a couple of weekends ago, I went to buy the usual 2-lb bag I normally get.  Costco is one of the places where I get certain baking ingredients because it's cheaper there for the quality: Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips, C&H granulated & brown sugars, eggs, butter and pecans.  Last time I had to get a bag of pecans, I remember being slightly dismayed that they had gone up from $8.99 to $9.99 a bag.  So imagine my utter shock when I saw that they were now $14.99 a bag.  Holy crazy expensive Batman!  Has there been some blight on pecan production in the past several months that I hadn't heard about?  Because that's a serious price jump.  Much as I hated the thought of shelling out $15 for a 2-lb bag of pecans, past experience has taught me that if Costco's price was that high, other places would have it even higher.  And that was borne out later when I checked Target, Trader Joe's and amazon.  So I bit the bullet and bought the bag.  It's safe to say I spend more on baking ingredients than I do to feed myself "real food".  But we all have to have a hobby and mine is more innocuous and less expensive than, let's say, skydiving, bungee jumping, parasailing, skiing, golfing, etc.

So it was time to try the very expensive pecans on this recipe for pecan pie bars.  I'm not normally a fan of the typical pecan pie.  I don't like the gelatinous stuff that makes up the filling for the pecans to rest on.  A pecan pie should be stuffed with pecans, not gelatin.  So I was hoping this recipe would be different.  The original recipe listed below as is calls for a 12" x 17" pan.  That's a trifle too big, even if I were to share it with my former coworkers so I made half the recipe.  I had planned to bake it in a 10 x 10 pan because 12 x 17 = is 204 so half a recipe in a 10 x 10 = 100 works just right.  Unfortunately I couldn't find my 10 x 10" baking pan which was frankly irritating because it could only be somewhere in my kitchen pantry or cabinets.  Yet it remained elusive.

So I used a 9 x 9 pan to make thicker bars and also put some crust and filling in mini tart pans.  This probably still came out thicker than it should have.  I baked it longer because they were thicker.  The top layer formed a crust and browned fairly quickly but I knew it couldn't be done yet.  I left it in the oven for over 40 minutes until the top was as brown as I dared to have it without burning.  The toothpick test doesn't work here because when I poked one in, it broke through the crust, leaving the crust in pieces and showing the layer just beneath the crust was liquid.  Yikes.  I took it out anyway because I didn't want the top crust to burn and just hoped that once the bar cookies had cooled completely, the liquid would jell into something a little more solid.  Fortunately, it did.

Taste-wise, I liked these - the coconut gives it some chewiness and distracts from the jelly-like texture of the filling.  I had toasted the pecans before I used them and their flavor really comes out, just like in a pecan pie.  Appearance-wise though, I'd consider them a FAIL.  Because I baked them for so long and the top crust was so "crusty", they didn't slice cleanly and instead broke apart because the layer underneath was jelly-like.  That's probably because I baked them in too small of a pan so the bars were too thick to cook properly.  After the bars had cooled, some of the liquid hadn't firmed up and still oozed out between the slices, making them look worse.  Next time, they should be made thinner so the top crust won't be able to form so thickly.  I would also cut the filling recipe in half to 1 part crust (i.e. if you make half the crust recipe, make only 1/4 of the filling to go with it) and stuff it with more pecans than the recipe calls for.  Oh well.  It's good to fail once in awhile - it's how to learn and make things better.

Crust

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

Filling

8 large eggs

6 cups firmly packed golden brown sugar

¼ cup bourbon (optional)

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

2 cups pecan halves

1.     To make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease a 12 by 17-inch baking pan with butter or cooking spray.  Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter in a large bowl on medium speed about 1 minute.  Add the sugar and beat about 1 minute, until fluffy.  Add the flour and salt; mix on low speed until evenly incorporated but still crumbly.  Press the mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan.  Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until it has darkened to a deep golden brown.  Leave the oven at 350 F.

2.     To make the filling: Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until blended.  Stir in the bourbon, butter, vanilla, flour and salt, then the coconut and pecans.  Pour the filling over the crust, spreading evenly.  Bake until set, 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool thoroughly, at least 30 minutes, before cutting into 3-inch squares or diamonds.

Lemon Loaf Cake

Lemon Loaf Cake - made March 19, 2011 from The Golden Pear Cafe Cookbook by Keith E. Davis (book #63)

Now that we've "sprung forward" with the time change last week, I'm switching gears temporarily to lemon, which always struck me as a spring and summertime dessert flavor even though I seem to get much of my fresh lemons from friends' lemon trees in the winter.  My mom bought me a lemon tree that I planted in my backyard a couple of months ago.  Anyone who knows me knows I have the world's worst green thumb.  Plants see me coming and shudder in horror at the havoc they sense I can wreak.  I over water.  I under water.  I neglect.  I hover.  And I am inept at gardening.  At my last house, I had my entire backyard paved over so I wouldn't have to deal with it and I spurned suggestions of having potted plants on the patio.  No sense endangering flora or fauna at my hands.

At my current house though, I decided to take a stab at growing a lemon tree.  I'm thinking ahead to future lemon bars, lemon cakes, lemon cookies and such.  And maybe I can break the curse of being a plant killer.  It was touch and go initially with my lemon tree when I first planted it.  My mom supplied me with all the accoutrements: tree, potting soil, shovel, little spade and instructions.  I followed them to what I thought was the letter - planted it in a corner of the yard that got the most sun and was higher than the rest of the backyard so the water would flow down and not bog it when it rained, mix in the potting soil so it could have some nutrients, dig a little moat around it so when I do water it, the water would seep down to the roots, etc.  I mostly got it right.  When my mom came by later to inspect my handiwork, she didn't think I had dug the hole deep enough or used enough potting soil.  Sigh. 

Nevertheless, the lemon tree seems to have adapted well enough.  We did have a cold snap where I thought it would die and (at my mom's advice), I covered it with a plastic tarp to keep it from freezing.  The initial buds looked like they were going to turn black and wither because it was so cold and some of the leaves did turn brown and fall off (you can see some of the light brown on the leaves that "recovered" from the cold snap).  But the weather's been warming up and it looks like new growth is coming from the tree.  So yeay, I haven't killed it yet.  Although the deluge of rain we've had in the past few days and more of it promised for next week makes it look like my lemon tree is temporarily drowning.  Which I'm going to chalk up as "not my fault."  That's usually my mantra with plants.

So that's my incredibly long lead-in to this recipe for lemon loaf.  The lemons from this didn't come from my tree since my tree isn't even really blossoming yet but they did come from a church friend's lemon tree.  And hopefully I'll be able to use my own lemons someday for this recipe and others like it.

I only made a half recipe since I only needed one loaf, not two.  I poured the batter into mini loaves since they're cuter, easier to give away, slice and eat and because my mini loaf pans are newer and bake better than my older, regular-size loaf pans. If you read the directions closely, you'll see it calls for a lot of beating and mixing as the flour is added to the batter.  Normally I'm not a believer in mixing the batter a lot once the flour is added since you don't want to develop the gluten and make the cake tough but in this case, since it uses cake flour instead of all-purpose flour, the additional mixing aids the cake in getting aerated and there's less worry about having a tough texture or crumb.  Cake flour is softer than all-purpose flour with less gluten to develop.  Still, I didn't follow the instructions exactly to let it beat for so long.  Old habits die hard, cake flour or not.

If you like lemon, don't be afraid to get generous with the lemon zest that gets added to the batter.  Although a lot of the lemon flavor will come from the glaze/lemon syrup you brush on after the cakes are baked, the zest also adds flavor from within the cake itself.  When you zest, just be careful you're only getting the outer, yellow part of the lemon and not the white pith underneath.  A microplane zester is fantastic for zesting.

On the glaze, glazing can be a bit tricky.  This is actually more of a thick soaking syrup than what you'd picture a typical glaze to be.  It's meant to flavor the cake so you don't want to pour it all at once.  Do an initial brush of glaze all over each cake, let it sit for a few minutes to absorb, then brush again.  How much you use depends on your flavor preference for a strong or a light lemon flavor.  I don't like it too strong so I hardly ever end up using all of the glaze.  But don't use too light either or you won't end up with a very lemony cake.  Overall, I like this cake.  I tried a taste test when it was just the slightest bit lukewarm.  It wasn't too lemony for me and the cake texture was soft and fluffy, lighter than a pound cake but not airy like a sponge cake.  In essence, it was the perfect cakey texture.  The rest of the taste test piece was actually pretty good at room temperature as well.  You can taste the lemon and savor the texture even more then.

Lemon Cake

1 ¾ sticks (¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

 2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

Grated zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

3 cups cake flour, sifted after measuring

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt

Juice of 1 lemon (about 2 tablespoons)

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons whole milk

Lemon Glaze

Juice of 3 to 4 lemons (about ½ cup), strained several times to remove all pulp

½ cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons coarse or large-grain granulated sugar, for topping

1.     Position a rack in the center of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Spray two 8 ½” x 4 ½” loaf pans with nonstick spray.

2.    Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl of a stand mixer and mix at medium speed with the paddle attachment for 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy.  Using a fork, gently beat the eggs in a small bowl.  Add the eggs to the butter mixture and mix them at medium speed for 1 minute.  Add the lemon zest.

3.    Measure out the cake flour and sift into a separate bowl.  Add the baking powder and salt and stir the ingredients just to blend them.  Add one-third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix them at low speed for about 1 minute or until the flour is completely incorporated.  Add the lemon juice and 1 cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons of milk.  Mix them at low speed until they are completely incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape the side of the bowl and the beaters with a rubber spatula after each addition.

4.    Increase  the mixer speed to medium and mix the batter for 30 seconds.  Add one-third of the flour mixture and mix it in at low speed for 1 minute.  Add the remaining milk and mix it in until it is incorporated.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and mix the batter for 30 seconds.  Add the remaining one-third of the flour mixture and mix it in at low speed for 1 minute or until it is completely incorporated.  Increase the speed to medium and mix the batter for 1 minute.

5.    Scrape the batter into the loaf pans, dividing it evenly and smoothing the surfaces with a spatula.  Bake the cakes for 35 minutes; then rotate the pans 180 degrees to ensure even baking.  Bake them for 30 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake comes out clean.

6.    While the cakes are baking, make the glaze: cook the lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan set over high heat until the mixture comes to a boil.  Immediately remove it from the heat and keep it warm.

7.    When the cakes are done, remove them from the oven and use a pastry brush to spread each with half of the glaze.  Sprinkle 1 ½ tablespoons of coarse sugar on each cake.  Cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes before removal.

Farmstead Apple Crisp

Farmstead Apple Crisp - made March 19, 2011 from The All-American Dessert Book by Nancy Baggett (book #62)

Spring is supposed to officially arrive tomorrow afternoon but someone forgot to tell the weather that since it's been pouring rain for the past couple of days and an even bigger storm is forecast for tomorrow.  On the down side, that seriously curtails my long walking sojourns.  On the positive side, there's something about cold, rainy weather that makes me want to bake.  Okay, there's something about breathing that makes me want to bake but you know what I mean.  Rainy weather is about comfort food: a bowl of hot soup, a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, a cup of hot chocolate, fresh warm bread, newly baked chocolate chip cookies and for me on this fine, rainy day: apple cobbler.  Or rather, apple crisp.

Cobbler and crisp are actually two different things although many people use them synonymously.  If you want to be a stickler, cobbler usually involves some kind of dough on top whereas a crisp usually has a streusel-like topping.  I've often seen crisp toppings involve oats, nuts, and brown sugar whereas cobblers commonly don't have oats or nuts.  My favorite apple cobbler recipe was actually meant to be apple bars but I like serving it as cobbler.  While I love that tried and true recipe, this time I thought I would try a crisp and see how I like the oat topping with it.

When making an apple dessert like apple pie, cobbler, crisp, etc, one important aspect is what kind of apples to use.  It's all a matter of personal preference so there's no one "right" answer.  There was a time when I only baked with Granny Smith apples because they were tart and offset the sweetness of the rest of the dessert.  Now I like to experiment and mix it up with other types of apples like Braeburn, Fuji and so on.  The only apple I won't bake with or eat for that matter is Red Delicious.  I don't like the mealy texture and prefer my apples to have a crisp texture.  If you use really tart apples for baking, cut back on the lemon juice if it's called for in the recipe.

For this recipe, I used 2 large Granny Smith apples and 1 medium-ish-sized Braeburn apple.  I only wanted to make a half-recipe of the crisp although I made a full recipe of the other filling ingredients (except for the apples) and only a half recipe of the topping (confusing enough?).  As convoluted as that sounds, I'm glad I made it that way because there was a little more juice in the filling so the apple part wasn't dry and just the right amount of topping for the reduced amount of apples I used.  I loved this crisp - the oat topping got crunchy in the oven and not only offset the sweetness of the (extra) juicy filling but added texture to the dessert.  I might still like to have some dough for the bottom so next time I might combine the bottom dough from the Apple Crumble Bar recipe with the crisp topping from this recipe - best of both worlds.  If you do add ice cream to this - and you should because otherwise, what's the point? - let the crisp cool for at least 20-30 minutes so the ice cream won't immediately melt over a too-hot crisp.  Just a bit warmer than lukewarm is the perfect temp.

Filling

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

2 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

7 ½ cups peeled, cored and coarsely sliced tart, flavorful apples, such as Stayman, Rome, Granny Smith or Pippin (I used Granny Smith and Braeburn)

1 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Topping

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

½ cup walnuts or pecans (optional)

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1.    Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350⁰F.  Coat a 7 x 11-inch baking pan with nonstick spray.

2.    In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon until blended.  Stir in the apples, lemon juice and melted butter, tossing until the apples are coated with the brown sugar mixture.  Spread the filling evenly in the baking dish.  Bake for 25 minutes.

3.    Meanwhile, make the topping: In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, and nuts (if using).  Add the melted butter, stirring until incorporated.  Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples.  Press down lightly.  Increase the oven temperature to 375⁰F and bake for 25 to 30 minutes longer, or until the top is nicely browned and the filling is bubbly.  Transfer to a wire rack.  Let cool to warm for at least 30 minutes.  Spoon into bowls and serve with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

The crisp will keep, covered, at room temperature for 24 hours or refrigerated for up to 3 days longer.  Let come to room temperature before serving.

"Three-Chip" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies - made March 16, 2011 from The Search for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie by Gwen Steege (book #61)

Okay, I confess I only made this a one-type-of-chip cookie but I used almost 2 12-ounce bags to make up for it.  Sometimes you're just in the mood for a simple chocolate chip cookie without all the fancy.  Just need lots of (milk) chocolate chips.  If you prefer chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips, try cutting up Hershey milk chocolate kisses and adding them to the dough.

I must've gotten this cookbook years ago when I was in my phase of trying to find a chocolate chip cookie recipe like Mrs. Fields that baked up thick, buttery and good.  Something closer to Mrs. Fields than Nestle Tollhouse.  I think I had a fair go at a number of the recipes in this book and none of them came close to Mrs. Fields but I found some perfectly good recipes in it nonetheless.  They mostly had the same basic ingredients: butter (don't ever use margarine), granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and flour.  They differed mostly in proportions of ingredients used.  Some had add-ons like corn syrup, milk, dry pudding mix, chocolate shavings, shortening, etc.  My chocolate chip cookie conflict arose between the desire for a thick cookie that didn't spread much which would require shortening and the flavor that came from butter but that same butter also caused the spread into a thin cookie.

I elected to test out this recipe since it contained half butter/half shortening.  Much like the compromise for a flaky but flavorful pie crust: shortening gives crust its flakiness, butter give it its flavor.  I wanted to see if it would actually work, if it would have the buttery flavor while not spreading too much.  The dough was soft after I finished mixing it which was a bit worrisome but I froze the dough balls overnight to see how they would do once I baked them.  Don't forget to hold back some of the chocolate chips until you've scooped out most of the dough so you can make sure even the last few dough balls have a fair amount of chips in them.

I baked this using the convection setting on my oven so it didn't spread as much as it probably could have but still spread more than I would've liked.  I thought this cookie was okay as a basic chocolate chip cookie but it was nothing spectacular to make it stand out from the dozens upon dozens of other chocolate chip cookie recipes I've tried.  The Ultimate Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chunk cookie recipe I've blogged about before was better than this one.  Back to the drawing board.

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup shortening

½ cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 tablespoons water (I used milk)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

12 ounces (2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

8-ounce package white chocolate chips

2 3 ½-ounce packages Lindt Swiss Milk Chocolate

2 3-ounce Lindt Milk Chocolate bars, broken into squares

1.    Combine flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

2.    Cream together butter, shortening, sugars, eggs, corn syrup, water (or milk) and vanilla, and beat well.  Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, and beat well.  With a large wooden spoon, gently stir in all the chocolate pieces.

3.    Chill dough at least one hour.

4.    With moistened hands, roll dough into walnut-sized pieces, and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Bake at 375⁰F for 10 to 12 minutes until very lightly browned.  Cool for about 2 minutes before removing from pans.

Yield: 3 to 4 dozen

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.