Streusel Squares

Streusel Squares - made April 2, 2011 from Great Cakes by Carole Walter (book #78)

My final contribution to the bake sale for Japan is streusel cake.  The bake sale is 10-2 pm on Sunday, April 3 and I thought at 10 am, not everyone might be up for a chocolate brownie and might want something more brunch-y instead like a morning coffee-cake type of sweet.  I love streusel cake.  The best one I ever remember having was when I was working for Pacific Gas & Electric in San Francisco when I was right out of college.  For meetings, we'd order in these coffee cakes and I remember them being so moist, buttery and sweet.  I loved that cake.  My taste buds have changed since then and I may not like the same things now that I did back then (which is a good thing since I was also 30 pounds heavier back then - yikes).  But I still remember that coffee cake quite fondly.

Carole Walter is another good cookbook author I recommend for beginning bakers.  Her recipes are detailed and easy to follow and she includes basic instructions that remind novices not to forget the scrape the sides of the bowl during mixing, how to prep a baking pan, etc.  I have a few of her books and tend to skip most of the directions since I have my own method of doing things but her recipes are generally pretty good.  I did vary this one slightly though by substituting brown sugar for the granulated sugar in the streusel topping.  I'm not sure if that was a typo in the book or if she really meant for people to use granulated sugar in the topping.  I've never had a streusel or crumb topping with just granulated sugar so I took the liberty of putting in brown sugar instead for a more traditional streusel.

This cake turned out to be excellent.  I baked it for a little less than 40 minutes before the toothpick came out clean.  At first I thought I might've overbaked it because that's what a clean toothpick usually signifies but the cake was just right with a fluffy, tender texture.  There's so much beating of the batter that the soft, fluffy texture is almost a given so don't shortchange that step.  This is a great vanilla cake to hold the streusel as the topping got a bit crunchy during baking.  It's almost like having nuts in the topping but only the crisp ones that don't soften and steam during baking.  It might not be the coffee cake I remember from PG&E but it comes pretty close.  I enjoyed the taste test piece as much as I did Martha Stewart's Classic Crumb Cake.  I may try making it again with granulated sugar in the streusel and see how that turns out.  As with most cakes of this type, they're best served warm so you get the best contrast between the soft texture of the cake and the crunchiness of the topping.

Streusel Topping

1/3 cup (2/3 stick) unsalted butter

1 ¼ cups unsifted all-purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar (I used brown sugar)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cake

2 ¼ cups unsifted all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup superfine sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup milk

1 large egg white

1.     Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350⁰F.  Butter a 9 x 13 x 2” pan.

2.     To make the streusel topping; melt the butter (30 seconds in the microwave usually does it).  Cool slightly.  Add the flour, sugar and cinnamon all at once and stir with a fork until the mixture forms small crumbs.  Take a handful of the crumbs and make a fist to press the mixture into a large clump.  Then separate into smaller clusters, at least two or three times the size of the original crumbs.  Repeat until all of the crumbs have been reshaped.  Set aside.

3.    To make the cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.

4.    Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces and place in the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to soften on low speed.  Increase speed to medium-high and cream until smooth and light in color, about 1 ½ to 2 minutes.

5.    Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, taking about 6 to 8 minutes to blend it in well.  Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary.

6.    Add the eggs and additional yolk, 1 at a time at 1-minute intervals, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.  Blend in the vanilla.

7.    Reduce mixer speed to low.  Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, dividing the flour mixture into three parts and the milk into two parts, starting and ending with the flour.  Mix just until incorporated after each addition.  Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix for 10 seconds longer.

8.    Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with the back of a tablespoon.  Beat the egg white lightly with a fork.  Using a pastry brush, spread about half of the beaten egg white over the top of the cake batter.  Discard the remainder.  (The egg white helps wht streusel adhere to the top of the cake.)  Sprinkle the entire surface of the batter generously with the streusel.  Gently pat the crumbs into the batter with the palm of your hand; do not press hard.

9.    Center the pan on the rack and bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown on top, begins to come away from the sides of the pan, and the streusel is crisp.  A toothpick inserted into the center should come out dry.

10. Remove the cake from the oven and set on a cake rack to cool.  When ready to serve, dust the top with confectioners’ sugar and cut into squares.

Can be stored at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fusion Brownie

Chocolate Peanut Butter Birthday Fusion Brownie - made April 1, 2011 from Celebrate with Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers (book #77)

Still baking for the bake sale for Japan on Sunday.  I've committed to donating at least several dozen brownies which I figured meant making a couple of different kinds of brownies in 9 x 13 pans.  Except I forgot my idea of a brownie is smaller than perhaps what people would want to buy at a bake sale.  Meaning I had to cut the brownies into larger pieces because, let's face it, if I were a customer, I'd want a big brownie to make it worth my while.  Not something small, wimpy and just meant to be a taste test piece.  So each 9 x 13 pan was only yielding me 9-12 (good-sized) brownies.  Not to mention I apparently suck at cutting each piece the same size so rather than having very obviously different sizes (why pay the same price for something smaller when someone else got a bigger piece??), I had to trim some of the behemoth pieces down to large.  Not that I wasted the smaller pieces since they're going into care packages and possibly towards the dessert gathering I'm hosting at my house on Sunday.  In any case, that still meant I had to make more brownies.  And since I have recipe ADD, I had to make different brownies than the ones I've already baked so far.

Sticking to what I think would sell and what seems to be a favorite with adults and kids alike (except those with peanut allergies), I settled on another chocolate & peanut butter combo only this time I upped the ante to peanut butter cream cheese to go with the chocolate.  This brownie has peanut butter both in the cream cheese batter and in the chocolate batter itself.  I left off the part about garnishing with chopped peanuts and instead sprinkled with chunks of Reese's peanut butter cups after the brownie had baked and while it was still warm so the peanut butter cups would melt slightly into the top.  It just seemed a little more visually appealing and I figured anyone who likes peanut butter and chocolate together wouldn't mind some peanut butter cups either.  You could even add peanut butter chips to the chocolate batter if you wanted to go all out.

This baked up into a nicely thick brownie.  I didn't time it exactly but I don't think I baked it for as long as the recipe called for, maybe 40-45 minutes instead?  Bake only until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs, not completely clean.  When I marbleized the batter to swirl the peanut butter cream cheese and the chocolate batters, I deliberately didn't smooth the top and left them craggy from the marbleizing.  I thought the top would smooth out in baking but it actually remained a bit craggy.  I decided I liked that rougher look better and it made for better nooks and crannies for the peanut butter cups to adhere and melt into.

If you like peanut butter cups, you'd like this brownie - it essentially is the brownie version of a peanut butter cup.  The peanut butter cream cheese layer is slightly more dense than the brownie layer but both are moist and the flavors complement each other nicely.  I don't really taste the cream cheese, just the peanut butter.  Although, given the thickness, maybe this is more like a dense peanut butter chocolate cake rather than a brownie.  Either way, chocolate & peanut butter lovers, here you go.

Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Fusion

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

4 ounces cream cheese, cut into 1-ounce pieces

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/3 cup sour cream

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownie

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into ½-ounce pieces

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

4 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

¼ cup sour cream

1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Make the peanut butter cream cheese fusion

1.     Place the peanut butter, cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.  Mix on low speed for 30 seconds; then increase the speed to medium and beat for 1 minute until combined.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Add the egg yolk and beat on medium for 30 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Add the sour cream and beat on medium for 30 seconds until combined.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Set the mixture aside at room temperature until needed.

Make the chocolate peanut butter brownie

2.     Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.

3.     Lightly coat the insides of a 9 x 13 x 2-inch nonstick rectangular baking pan with cooking spray.  Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper or foil then lightly coat the paper or foil with more cooking spray.  Set aside.

4.     In a sifter combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and baking soda.  Sift onto a large piece of parchment paper and set aside.

5.     Melt the 4 ounces of butter, the semisweet chocolate, and the unsweetened chocolate in the top half of a double boiler; stir until smooth.  Set aside.

6.     Place the sugar and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.  Beat on medium-high speed for 4 minutes until slightly thickened and a pale ivory color.  Add the chocolate and butter mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds to combine.  Operate the mixer on the lowest speed while gradually adding the dry ingredients; mix until incorporated, about 35 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the peanut butter, sour cream, and vanilla extract and mix on low to combine, about 15 seconds.  Now beat on medium for 20 seconds.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the batter until thoroughly combined.

7.     Immediately pour about half (about 2 ¾ cups) of the brownie batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly to the edges of the pan.  Pour the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Fusion over the top of the brownie batter and use an offset spatula to spread evenly to the edges of the pan.  Now pour the remaining brownie batter over the fusion layer and again spread evenly to the edges of the pan.

8.     Marbleize the brownie by dipping the flat blade of a dinner knife into the batter to the bottom of the pan, then lifting the blade of the knife out of the batter in a folding motion like the roll of a wave, repeating about 12 times throughout the batter in the pan.  Smooth any air pockets on the surface of the batter with a spatula.  Sprinkle the peanuts evenly over the batter.  Bake on the center rack in the oven until a toothpick inserted in the center of the brownie comes out clean (I prefer when the toothpick comes out with moist crumbs, not raw batter), 53 to 55 minutes.  Remove the brownie from the oven and cool in the pan at room temperature for 30 minutes.

"Pecan" (or M&M) Fudge Brownies

Pecan Fudge Brownies - made April 1, 2011 from Mary Engelbreit's Cookies (book #75) + Fudge Frosting from A Passion for Chocolate by Meredith Press publishing company (book #76)

You know me well enough by now to know that I generally don't add nuts to brownies unless they're a topping or a bottom crust layer.  This is another brownie for this weekend's bake sale for Japan and my friend Robbie said popular bake sale items are traditionally chocolate and caramel items and that "anything with M&Ms goes early".  Robbie is a mother of 3 so I'm going to take her word as gospel.  I also have 6 nephews under the age of 10 (actually I have way more than that but these 6 are the geographically closest to me) and my experience with them and my nieces as they were growing up is that kids also usually don't like nuts, whether they're allergic to them or they just haven't developed the taste for them (yet).  So one plain fudge brownie, frosted with chocolate frosting and dotted with plain M&Ms coming up.  Visually, they're appealing as well since the bright M&M colors show up well against the chocolate frosting.

The brownie batter is pretty basic and could not have been easier to mix together.  I substituted chocolate chips for the pecans (of course).  As they baked, the brownies formed a very thin layer of that crusty film some brownies get.  I've never cared for that crust but in this case, it doesn't matter since I covered the top with frosting.  Start the frosting only after you take the brownies out because it comes together quickly and you need to use it right away before it hardens.  Make it like a ganache: after the evaporated milk, butter and sugar boil for 5 minutes, pour it directly over the chocolate chips and corn syrup and whisk until glossy, smooth and free of lumps.  Then spread immediately over the brownie.  I added the M&Ms right after the frosting so they'll adhere to the top before the frosting sets.

This isn't a brownie I necessarily advocate eating warm.  The chocolate won't have set so it'll seem a little mushy.  But once it cools, it's nice and fudgy.  It's a personal choice though so you can't really go wrong with however you eat it.  After all, it's chocolate.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (5 ¼ ounces)

1.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan. 

2.     In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat.  Remove from the heat and let cool for about 10 minutes.

3.     In a large bowl, mix the eggs and sugar with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Add the vanilla, then gradually stir in the chocolate mixture and the salt.  Gradually add the flour, mixing until smooth.  Stir in the pecans.

4.     Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan.  Bake for 25 to 28 minutes until the brownies are just set.  A toothpick inserted in the center will not come out clean.  Do not overbake.  Set the pan on a wire rack to cool completely then cut into 24 squares.

Fudge Frosting

One 5-ounce can evaporated milk

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons butter

1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate pieces

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1.     In a medium saucepan, combine evaporated milk, sugar and butter.  Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil.  Boil for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove pan from heat.

2.     Add semisweet chocolate pieces, stirring until melted.  Add corn syrup; stir until combined.  Use frosting immediately.

Nutella Crunch Brownies

Brownies - made March 31, 2011, adapted from Bruce's Bakery Cookbook by Bruce Zipes (book #74)

Thanks to my friend Hildy, I have an opportunity to contribute baked goods to a bake sale where the proceeds will go to Save The Children for Japan relief efforts.  The bake sale is on Sunday and I don't have a lot of time to put some donations together but I'm going to devote the next few posts to what I'm baking for the bake sale.  It'll be April 3, 10-2 pm in Menlo Park (email me if you want the address).  I can't be there due to other commitments that day but Hildy was kind enough to volunteer to pick up the baked goods from me on Saturday afternoon so that I could still contribute.

When I think "bake sale", the first things that come to mind are brownies and cookies.  They can be individually packaged and are a small commitment for an impulse purchase so they should sell easily.  And if they're chocolate, so much the better.  I know cupcakes are popular items but I'm leery as the quality can be inconsistent, the frosting needs to hold up under the sun for potentially a few hours and they go stale or dry out faster than brownies.  I can make brownies today and freeze them until the weekend then they'll be just as fresh on bake sale day. So brownies it is.

I used the brownie recipe from Bruce's Bakery Cookbook to make the brownie base but I decided to do something similar for the topping that I did with the Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch brownies only this time, I went with nutella as the flavor of choice.  And Rice Krispies.  I don't know why but I've become enamored of using rice krispies in a chocolate topping.  Just something about the crunch of the crispy rice cereal providing a nice contrast to the smooth creaminess of the chocolate.  I have some ideas brimming for a blondie with a dulce de leche/rice krispie topping but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The directions aren't very clear in that they call for the butter to be softened then added to the melted chocolate so I wasn't sure if the butter was supposed to eventually end up in a melted state or not.  I saved myself a step and just melted both together as it would be hard to add even softened butter to melted chocolate and expect to stir it smooth without any non-melted butter lumps.  Risky to assume the heat from the chocolate can melt all that butter.  Otherwise, the brownie was very straightforward to mix together.  It was actually a slightly thinner layer than I normally like my brownies to be but since I was adding the nutella crunch topping, it was the perfect thickness to serve as the base for the topping.  If you do make it as a standalone brownie without the topping and prefer thicker brownies, bake in a smaller pan like a 10 x 10 or 9 x 9 and adjust the baking time accordingly.

Overall, these turned out to be pretty yum.  The brownie base was dark chocolatey-fudgy and the chocolate topping with the nutella didn't really "set" when I tried the taste test so it was more like a creamy thick chocolate frosting with rice krispies in the topping.  I didn't chop up any candy for the brownie like I did for the Peanut Butter Crunch brownies because I couldn't think of any hazelnut candy to complement the nutella and you know I wasn't going to add hazelnuts to the brownie.  Consequently, the nutella flavor is pretty subtle and almost lost in the chocolate.  But it's all good.  Now I just have to remember these are for donating to a good cause and not eat anymore.  Really.

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 ¾ cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Nutella Crunch Topping

1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup Nutella

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 ½ cups crispy rice cereal

1.  Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Grease a 9 x 13 x 2 inch pan or line with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the melted chocolate and butter and stir until smooth.  Add the sugar and stir with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Mix in the flour and nuts, if using, and stir.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

3.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the edges appear to be set (the center should still be soft).  Do not overbake.

4.  While the brownies are baking, place the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium saucepan.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted.  Remove from heat, add the cereal and mix well.  Allow this to cool for 3 minutes or so.  Spread the mixture evenly over the brownies once they’re baked.  Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.

Butter Biscuits....good for shortcakes

Butter Biscuits - made March 30, 2011 from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum (#73)

My cousin Abby is visiting from the Philippines and splitting her time this week between the relatives on her dad's side (my parents and me) and relatives on her mom's side (her aunt and other cousins) before heading back to her sister's and her new nephew.  During her time with me, my joke to her was to fill up on rice when she was at my parents and when we went out to eat because I didn't have any rice at home.  I've been Westernized enough to not eat rice that often or that much and, given a choice, usually go for bread as my carb of choice.  (Yes, sometimes I'm a failure as an Asian.)  So it was even funnier when my mom sent Abby over to my house loaded with food, including rice.  Okay, I did plan to feed her on my own but her packed bag of leftovers made that moot, lol.

This morning though, I did rustle up some biscuits to go with our breakfast as even I can manage scrambled eggs and (pre-cooked) steak strips.  This recipe is in several of Rose's cookbooks, including the Bread Bible which I had made the Touch of Grace Biscuits from.  But since it's also in the Pie & Pastry Bible, that made it fair game to count in my baking challenge.  I'll take any boost I can get as I don't think I'm even at the halfway mark yet.

The biscuit dough was firmer than the Touch of Grace biscuits and easier to manage as a more traditional biscuit dough.  What made it unusual was mashing hard-boiled egg yolks into it.  I wasn't sure how that was going to turn out but it was different enough that I wanted to try it.  My first sticking point was the yolks didn't go through a fine-mesh sieve that well.  In trying to push them through the sieve, they ended up crumbling into a powder anyway so I gave up on the sieve and added the yolk powder to the dry ingredients.  I used about 1/4 cup buttermilk and 1/2 cup heavy cream for the liquid and the dough was fairly easy to work with to pat out and cut into rounds.

I crowded them into an 8" round cake pan as I wanted biscuits with soft sides.  There wasn't enough room for all the biscuits so I baked about 6 separately in another pan.  These biscuits didn't spring up as high as I expected, considering how much baking powder was in them.  Instead, they only rose slightly.  Even though I brushed the tops with melted butter, they also didn't brown a deep golden brown like the Touch of Grace biscuits and I baked them longer than the 15-20 minutes the recipe called for, more like 25 minutes.  I finally took them out because the bottoms looked done even if the tops still looked pale.

But I'm glad I made these as they turned out to be pretty good.  Instead of traditional biscuits, these are more like the biscuits used for shortcakes.  In fact, this is what Rose says she uses when making strawberry shortcake.  The texture was light and delicate, more cakey than bread-y.  I loved the flavor.  You can't taste the egg yolks and they weren't a deep yellow color like Rose intimated they would be so I'm not sure if I did something wrong or not.  But taste-wise, these biscuits are great.  So far, Rose Levy Berenbaum is 2 for 2 on awesome-tasting biscuits.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs, hard cooked, yolks only

¾ cup heavy cream or buttermilk or a combination of the two

1 tablespoon melted butter, cooled

1.    Cut the butter into small bits.  Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or freeze for 10 minutes.

2.    Preheat the oven to 400⁰F for 20 minutes before baking.  Have an oven rack at the middle level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it before preheating.

3.    In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Add the butter and, with your fingertips, press into the flour to make small pieces that resemble coarse meal.

4.    Press the egg yolks through a fine strainer into the flour mixture, and whisk to distribute them evenly.  Stir in the cream and/or buttermilk, just until the flour is moistened and the dough starts to come together so you can form it into a ball with your hands.  Empty it onto a lightly floured counter and knead it a few times until it develops a little elasticity and feels smooth.  Dust the dough lightly with flour if it feels a little sticky and pat or roll it ¾” thick.

5.    Have a small dish of flour for dipping the cutter.  Dip the cutter into the flour before each cut and cut cleanly through the dough, lifting out the cutter without twisting it so that the edges are straight, for the maximum rise, kneading the dough scraps briefly so they won’t get tough, pat or roll out, and cut out more biscuits.

6.    For biscuits with soft sides, place the biscuits almost touching (about ¼” apart) on the baking sheet.  For crisp sides, place them 1 inch apart.  Brush off any excess flour.  For a crisp top, brush with the melted butter and sprinkle lightly with the sugar.

7.    Place the biscuits in the oven on the hot baking stone or hot baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes.  Lower the temperature to 375⁰F and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden.

8.    Split the biscuits in half, preferably using a three-tined fork to keep them from compressing and to create a rustic rough split.

Tita Cely, Abby and me

Pear Cranberry Vanilla Crumble...but it's really Apple

Apple Crumble - made March 28, 2011, adapted from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley (book #72)

The original title of this recipe was Pear, Cranberry and Vanilla Crumble but I don't really like pears and I didn't have any cranberries on hand.  Plus apples are one of my favorite fruits and I prefer apple desserts anyway so I adapted it to become an apple crumble.  But I did list the original recipe below in case anyone prefers the pear and cranberry version.  This recipe is similar to the apple crisp recipe I just did so I decided to mix it up a little.  As I said in the Apple Crisp recipe, the oat topping was great and the best of both worlds would have been to have a cobbler dough layer on the bottom.  So that's what I did with this.  I made half the recipe from the Apple Crumble Bars to use for the bottom layer (I only needed half since I was making a different topping) then followed Regan Daley's recipe except I substituted 3 large Granny Smith apples for the pears and cranberries.  The good thing about cobblers, crisps and crumbles is they also tend to be very forgiving with experimentation.

The crust bottom, filling mix and topping all have the same core elements: flour, brown sugar, and butter.  So they're easy to throw together in a short timeframe.  Baking time might be longer or shorter than the recipe calls for, depending on how thick or thin you make the crumble.  I use the toothpick test to see how tender the apples are as well as check how brown the topping is.  You don't want the topping to be soggy or the apples to be too firm.  I started off baking this at 375 degrees like the recipe called for but my baking dish was a bit small so the crumble was thick and I was afraid of the top browning too fast before the apples cooked so I turned the heat down to 350 degrees after the first 15 minutes.  I ended up baking this for about 50 minutes but don't take that as gospel since it really does depend on how thick you make your crumble.  The apples were only slightly firm when I poked them with a toothpick and the juice was bubbling along the sides so I figure it was close to done.

I really enjoyed the modifications to this.  Loved having the cobbler crust on the bottom and love the crunchy oat topping covering the apples which had just the right amount of juice and flavor.  This could be my new standard for apple cobbler.  What I like about the oat topping is it provides added texture and flavor from my usual recipe which was mostly flour, brown sugar and butter.  And you can't go wrong with a pie-crust-type bottom layer - you just can't. I served this to a couple of guests today (my former Sunday School teachers, David and Sandy) and they enjoyed it as well so I'm glad it's not just my bias :).

Crust (half recipe from Apple Crumble Bars)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 cup powdered sugar
3/8 cup light brown sugar
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
 
Topping

¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

¾ cup tightly packed dark brown sugar

¾ cup butter, cold, cut into small pieces

Filling

Seeds of 1 plump vanilla bean, hull reserved for another use

¼ cup tightly packed light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

½ tablespoon cornstarch

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

5-6 medium-sized ripe but not mushy eating pears, such as Bartlett or Anjou

3 cups fresh cranberries

1.    Preheat oven to 375⁰F.  Butter a large (2 ½-quart) shallow baking dish, preferably ceramic.

2.    Make the crust: combine all ingredients and cut the butter into the dry ingredients until butter is the size of small peas and mixture is crumbly.  Spread evenly on the bottom of the baking dish.
3.   Make the topping: Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar and butter in a mixing bowl and cut together until the largest pieces are about the size of the oats.  Use your fingers to rub the ingredients together until the mixture forms a crumbly dough.  The crumble can be made up to 2 days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.

3.    Make the filling: In a large bowl, stir together the vanilla seeds, sugars, cornstarch and cinnamon.  Peel and core the pears and cut them into sixths or eighths.  Add the pears and cranberries to the mixing bowl and toss gently to thoroughly coat the fruit.  Scatter the fruit mixture in the baking dish, then crumble the oat mixture over top, distributing it evenly.

4.    Bake the crumble for 35 to 45 minutes for a shallow dish, 45 to 55 minutes for a deeper casserole, or until the top is crisp and golden and the filling can be seen bubbling up through the cracks.  Cool at least 15 minutes before serving, then serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of ice cream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Brownies - made March 27, 2011, adapted from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson (book #71) and Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars from Buttercup Bakes at Home by Jennifer Appel

I'm in experimentation mode again.  The brownie base is from Lisa Yockelson's Chocolate Chocolate recipe book and was originally called Toffee Almond Turtle Bars.  But instead of adding chopped up Heath Bars to the brownie and topping with a caramel turtle layer as the recipe directed, I decided to veer towards a peanut butter chocolate combination.  So I chopped up 7 ounces of Reese's peanut butter cups to add to the batter instead of toffee bars but baked the brownie layer per the original recipe's directions.  The brownies turned out fairly thick and took a bit longer than the 33-ish minutes the recipe directed.  I baked them for just over 50 minutes when a toothpick inserted in the center came out with moist crumbs but not raw batter.  The edges were done though so that's always worrying with thick brownies - that the edges would be dry while the middle would be raw.  You really have to pounce on these to take them out at just the right time.  Err on the side of underbaking.

For the topping, I modified the peanut butter crunch topping from the Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bar recipe from the Buttercup Bake Shop book.  I omitted the marshmallow layer altogether since I didn't care for it in the original recipe in the first place. Nothing against the concept of the recipe but I'm just not a fan of marshmallows. Buttercup's crunch topping recipe called for a 9 x 13 pan of brownies and Lisa Yockelson's recipe called for making the brownies in a 9 x 9 pan.  So I cut the crunch topping recipe to 2/3.  It still made a respectable layer, especially compared to how thick the brownie layer was.  Recipe below reflects my modifications.  If you do decide to make the full topping recipe from the Buttercup Bake Shop, then I would suggest baking Lisa Yockelson's brownie recipe in a 10 x 10 pan.  The brownie layer will be thinner but that'll be offset by the crunch layer so you should still have brownies of a decent thickness.

Since the base is a Lisa Yockelson brownie, I almost don't have to mention how good it is.  It's moist and fudgy and the chocolate set up nicely.  The edges weren't dry at all and the middle was all fudgy goodness.  Peanut butter chocolate lovers might really love this one.  I'm actually almost indifferent to peanut butter but I do like it paired with chocolate and I love the rice crispy cereal in the topping.  It gives it some crunch and is almost like eating a soft Nestle crunch bar except it's flavored with peanut butter as well as chocolate.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bar Cookie batter

1 cup bleached all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

7 ounces Reese's peanut butter cups, each cut into quarters

½ pound (16 tablespoons or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

4 large eggs

1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons superfine sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup chopped or slivered almonds, optional

Topping

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter

2/3 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup crispy rice cereal

1.     Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Film the inside of a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Mix the batter: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  In a small bowl, toss the chopped toffee with ½ teaspoon of sifted mixture.

3.     In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter and melted chocolate until smooth.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs until blended, about 15 seconds.  Add the sugar and whisk until combined, about 45 seconds to 1 minute.  Blend in the vanilla extract and melted butter-chocolate mixture.  Sift the flour mixture over and stir to form a batter, mixing thoroughly until the particles of flour are absorbed, using a whisk or flat wooden paddle.  Stir in the peanut butter cups and almonds, if using.

4.     Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.

5.     Bake, cool and cut the sweet: Bake the sweet in the preheated oven for 33 to 37 minutes, or until set.  (I baked mine for 50 minutes.)   
6.   To make the topping, melt the chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in the  top of a double boiler and stir together until smooth.  When the brownie has baked, stir in the crispy rice cereal into the melted topping mixture.  Spoon and spread the topping in an even layer over the chocolate bar base.  

Bake and serve within 2 days

Oatmeal Chippers

Oatmeal Chippers - made March 27, 2011 from Afternoon Delights by James McNair

I've already baked a recipe from this cookbook (Lemon Poppyseed Bread) so technically it doesn't get to count again in my baking challenge.  I've tried lots of oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipes and have no shame in obliterating the raisins out of an oatmeal cookie recipe and substituting chocolate chips instead.  I tried this recipe because of the large amount of oats in the recipe in proportion to the other ingredients, especially the flour.  I believe oatmeal cookies should have, you guessed it, lots of oats.

The weird thing about this recipe is the cookies baked to a weird appearance. Some spread thin and others stayed a bit bulky, even on the convection setting in my oven.  Usually when that happens, that means the cookie dough wasn't very well mixed and that the butter was unevenly distributed.  Except I know that wasn't the case because I mixed it the way I do all the other cookie recipes and have never had that happen.  So I'm not sure what's going on there.  Subsequently, this cookie gets low marks for appearance.  But I have to say the taste was pretty good.  The cookie was crisp at the edges and chewy elsewhere and I really like the oat taste and the combination with the chocolate chips.

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups old-fashioned (not quick cooking) rolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1.     Position an oven rack so that the cookies will bake in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a baking sheet with kitchen parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.

2.     In a bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.  Whisk to mix well and set aside.

3.     In another bowl, combine the butter and sugars and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add the egg and vanilla and blend well.  Add the flour mixture and mix at low speed just until incorporated.  Stir in the oats, about 1 cup at a time, just until incorporated, then stir in the chocolate chips.

4.     Using a #20 (¼-cup) ice cream scoop, scoop up level portions of dough and place them about 3 inches apart on the lined baking sheet until the sheet is full.

5.     Transfer the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the edges of the cookies are lightly browned and the centers are set, about 18 minutes.

6.     Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes, then using a spatula, transfer the cookies directly to the rack to cool completely.

7.     Repeat the forming and baking process until the dough is used up.

The cookies may be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Fudgy Chocolate Cake

Fudgy Chocolate Layer Cake - made March 26, 2011 from Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax (book #70)

I wasn't planning on baking today even though I was meeting friends for a movie and late lunch because I had plenty of baked goods stored up in my freezer from baking this past week.  But the expiration date on my carton of buttermilk was fast approaching and that always spurs me to baking action.  The easiest way to use up a lot of buttermilk is typically in cakes, certain breads and muffins.  Bread and muffins aren't always a good care package component though so I went with this chocolate cake recipe instead.  It's from yet another cookbook that I've had for at least 15 years, if not longer, and I've packed and moved it through at least 3 homes and have yet to make a recipe from it.  I do remember this book being a gift from a friend and I don't know why I've never baked from it.

But the good thing about my baking challenge to bake at least one recipe from every cookbook I own is it forces me to do just that and rediscover cookbooks I've long taken for granted as part of my bookshelf decor.  There seem to be a lot of good recipes in this as I flipped through it last night looking for something that'll use up the bulk of the buttermilk I had left in the fridge.  At 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, this cake fit the bill.  However, although it's literally called a layer cake, I made it in a 9 x 13" pan instead of two 9" round cake pans.  Mostly because squares of cake from a 9 x 13 pan are much easier to package and distribute amongst different care packages and goodie bags than slices of a 2-layer cake.

Both cake and frosting were easy to make but I must say the recipe didn't make very much frosting.  It's just the right amount for icing the top of the 9 x 13 cake but if you make this as a 2-layer cake, you might want to 1 1/2 times or double the frosting recipe or else you might run out of frosting to do both the top and the sides of the cake.  And I say that as someone who doesn't like a lot of frosting on my cake.  This is a good basic chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It's got the light cakey texture we associate with box cake mixes but infinitely better flavor than a box mix.  Use a dark cocoa (not Hersheys please but something a little more upscale) since the chocolate flavor comes from the cocoa - the darker, the better.  Overall, I liked this cake as it was moist and had a good, deep chocolate flavor.

Cake

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup packed light or dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 ½ cups buttermilk

Glossy Dark Chocolate Frosting

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly

1.    Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Butter the bottom and sides of two 9-inch cake pans.  Line the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper cut to fit; butter the paper and set aside.  Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt onto a sheet of wax paper; set aside.

2.    In a bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, cream the butter with the white and brown sugars until light.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition.  Add the vanilla.

3.    Lower the speed to slow and add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix just until blended, no longer.  Divide the batter between the prepared pans; smooth the tops.

4.    Bake until the cakes shrink slightly away from the sides of the pans and a toothpick inserted in the centers emerges clean, usually 25 to 30 minutes.

5.    Cool the cakes in the pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Carefully loosen the cakes from the pans with the tip of a knife and invert onto the racks; carefully peel off the paper.  Turn right side up and cool to room temperature.

6.   In a bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter with the confectioners’ sugar until very light.  Add the vanilla and melted chocolate and beat until shiny and smooth.

7.    Place 1 cake layer on a serving platter; spread with a small amount of the frosting.  Top with the other layer; frost the sides and then the top, swirling the icing.  Let the cake stand for at least 30 minutes before cutting.  Serve at room temperature.