Pesto with Shrimp Pasta

Pesto - made May 10, 2011 from The Professional Chef, 7th edition, from the Culinary Institute of America (book #104)

My first basil harvest

Last month, I had noted that I planted some basil along with a few tomato plants so I can make my own tomato sauce and pesto sauce.  It hardly seems possible but in just a few short weeks, my largest tomato plant has already got a few tomatoes growing and I snipped my first basil harvest yesterday.  I never thought I'd like gardening and I still don't consider myself a "gardener" but I have to admit there is something satisfying about nurturing plant life and literally reaping the fruits (and even veggies) of your labor.  I also planted some strawberry plants and sweet corn seedlings and so far they seem to be flourishing.  You can't imagine how exciting it is that I haven't killed any of them yet.

The basil plants are growing taller and, like most novice gardeners, I ended up planting them too close to each other so once they start growing, I could look like I've got a basil jungle growing.  Fortunately, they're growing tall as opposed to wide so as long as I stay on top of the growth, I think it'll be fine.  Not to mention it gives me an excuse to make small batches of pesto on a regular basis.  Plus I love the smell of basil.

The first tomatoes have started to grow

For my first harvest, I turned to one of my few cooking behemoth books, The Professional Chef, from the Culinary Institute of America.  Don't ask me why I invested in such a huge book that I've never used and am not likely to use that often unless I turn into a cook (doubtful).  Maybe because I went to the CIA and ate some of these recipes made by the chefs on the hot side.  Maybe because this was back in the day when I just kept buying cookbooks.  In any case, it's coming in handy now for a quick and basic pesto recipe.

Pesto is pretty easy to put together when you have a food processor.  I used chicken broth in place of half the olive oil just to cut the fat and calories slightly and it seemed to work okay. I used the sauce with some pasta and shrimp and it was probably one of the easiest things I've actually cooked.  I'm starting to see why people get into this gardening stuff.  Growing the basil was fun and harvesting, aka snipping off the leaves, was easy.  I've also learned you can make the pesto and freeze for future use so you don't have to eat it all at once.  Now that's going to come in really handy.

2 ounces/60 grams basil leaves

3 tablespoons/45 ml toasted pine nuts

¼ ounce/7 grams garlic paste

¼ ounce/7 grams salt, as needed

2 to 4 fluid ounces/60 to 120 ml olive oil (I used half olive oil, half chicken broth)

2 ounces/60 grams grated Parmesan cheese

1.      Rinse the basil well, dry thoroughly and chop coarsely.  Transfer to a food processor or mortar and pestle.  Grind the basil, pine nuts, garlic and salt together, adding oil gradually, to form a thick paste of a saucelike consistency.

2.      Adjust the seasoning with salt and add the Parmesan cheese as close to serving time as possible.

My grandmother plus revisiting another kind of bibingka

Bibingkang Galapong - made May 9, 2011 from Memories from a Philippine Kitchen by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan (book #103)

Nanay

I've been thinking of family and my heritage lately.  Partly because of Mother's Day and wanting to make something (puto) to note my mom's hometown in the Philippines.  And partly because Mother's Day this year, May 8, was also the death anniversary of my paternal grandmother, Nanay Berta.  Although the Filipino word for grandmother is "Lola", we all called my grandmother Nanay, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and more "greats" alike.  My paternal grandfather (Tatay Andres) and my maternal grandmother (Lola Valerie) died before I was born and my maternal grandfather (Lolo Miller) died when I was a teenager.  So Nanay was the dominant grandparent figure in my life.  Even if she hadn't been, I suspect she would've made a strong impression anyway as she was always a force to be reckoned with.  Orphaned at age 7, she dropped out of school to go to work and, regardless of having only a second grade education, she went on to successfully build her own business and raised, fed, clothed and educated 9 children to adulthood.  She was widowed young so she was a single parent much of her life as well.  She embodied a strong work ethic and was never afraid to speak her mind, including cussing out anyone she thought should be cussed out.  That may be one of the things I miss most about her - life with Nanay always had some color in it.  Nanay passed away on May 8, 2004 at the age of 94 so she's been gone for 7 years now.  But she was a strong matriarch and, to those of us who were lucky enough to grow up with her and still remember her, she was such a vibrant presence that she literally lives on in each of us, in our lives and in our memories.

In thinking of Nanay and remembering those times with her, I had a hankering to re-visit some of the desserts from my childhood.  Perhaps more to recapture memories of simpler times and carefree days than for the actual desserts themselves.  Or maybe just to honor the heritage I came from and remember my familial roots that helped shape who I am today.

Earlier this year, I had first posted a recipe for the sticky kind of bibingka, a Filipino cake, and alluded to a more cakey version that's spread with melted butter and sprinkled with granulated sugar once it's baked.  My mom always made it when I was a kid, in a round foil pan lined with banana leaves.  The cake itself wasn't very sweet but that butter & sugar combo on top of warm cake was hard to beat for a kid with my sweet tooth.  Unfortunately I couldn't find that original recipe.  I vaguely remember it had Bisquick, milk, sugar and eggs but beyond that, nothing struck a chord.  It's been years since I've made it myself and I drew a complete blank on the recipe. My mom didn't know where it was as she hadn't made it in years either and I searched fruitlessly for it amongst her recipe clippings in an old recipe box she had at home.  But nada. So I turned to this cookbook of Philippine recipes that a friend had given me for my birthday a few years ago to see if I could resurrect something similar.

Place foil cake pans on a baking sheet in the oven

Their recipe has cheese and an optional salted duck egg incorporated into it as is traditional.  I don't believe in duck eggs or cheese in my cakes so I've left those out.  On the advice of my mom, instead of processing the galapong (short grain rice) as instructed in the recipe, I skipped that step and used sweet rice flour (mochiko) instead.  I did adjust the amount of rice flour though since it's meant to be more concentrated and was drier than galapong.  I decreased the amount to a little over 1 cup, perhaps 1 cup and 2 tablespoons of mochiko.  The batter was a bit stiff so I also increased the milk by 2 tablespoons. I only got 3 cakes out of this rather than 4.  Be sure to use banana leaves to line the pans as that's part of the taste and tradition.  You can find banana leaves in sheets or rounds at any Asian grocery store.

Brush the warm cake with butter and sprinkle with sugar

After the first 10 minutes, I also decreased the oven temp to 400 degrees.  The tops were browning but the middles weren't done on the inside and I didn't want the tops to burn.  I took them out after 20 minutes but I think they were just slightly underdone.  They were moist but a bit dense.  I think next time around, I would add a little more milk and bake an extra 5 minutes.  Overall, it was still pretty good though, despite my taking some liberties with the original recipe.  For those who don't have much of a sweet tooth, this cake isn't particularly sweet but has good flavor.  But I do have a sweet tooth so even after all these years, my favorite part is still the melted butter and crunchy sugar on top of the warm cake.

Galapong (rice batter)

1 ¾ cups short-grain rice

Bibingka

Softened unsalted butter for the pie shells

Four 6-inch banana leaf rounds to line the pans

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup plus 4 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups galapong (I substituted 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sweet rice flour)

4 eggs, separated

¾ cup coconut milk

¼ cup whole milk (if substituting the sweet rice flour for the galapong, increase milk by another 2 tablespoons)

1 salted duck egg, quartered (optional)

½ cup grated Gouda cheese

½ cup crumbled feta cheese

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for brushing

½ cup freshly grated coconut

1.      For the galapong, rinse the rice under cold running water, drain, and place in a medium bowl with cold water to cover.  Refrigerate overnight.  Drain and rinse again, then drain in a colander for 30 minutes.  Transfer to a food processor and process until the mixture is finely ground, about 1 minute, scraping up the sides of the processor as needed.  Work through a coarse sieve.  Return the solids that did not go through the sieve to the food processor and process again, then work again through the sieve.  You should have about 1 ½ cups galapong.

2.      For the bibingka, preheat the oven to 450⁰F.  Brush the four 6-inch pie or tart shells with softened butter and line with banana leaf rounds.

3.      Sift together the flour, ¼ cup sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.  Whisk in the galapong and make a well in the center.  With a whisk, beat the egg yolks, coconut milk and milk in a separate bowl.  Pour into the well and with a rubber spatula, mix slowly until smooth.

4.      In the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Fold the whites into the galapong mixture.

5.      Divide the mixture among the lined pans.  If you’re using the duck eggs, nestle a quarter into the middle of each cake.  Sprinkle each cake with 2 tablespoons of the Gouda followed by 2 tablespoons of the feta, and finally 1 teaspoon of the sugar.

6.      Set the cakes on the top rack of the oven and bake until firm and set and lightly browned on top, about 20 minutes (after the first 10 minutes, I decreased the oven temp to 400 degrees).  If the bibingka are set but not browned, preheat the broiler and broil them about 6 inches from the heat source, watching carefully, until bubbly and lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

7.       Brush the bibingka with the melted butter while still warm.  Unmold each bibingka onto a serving plate.  Serve with the grated coconut.

Puto - a steamed Filipino vanilla cake

Puto - made May 7, 2011 from an old family recipe

My mom is from a small town in the Philippines that's known for its puto, a steamed white cake best eaten warm with melted butter and a sprinkle of fresh coconut on top.  I remember when I was a kid in the Philippines, whenever we visited my mom's side of the family, we always had "Puto Binan" which was the town's local specialty.  The cakes were flat and in a rough rectangular or oblong shape, wrapped in banana leaves to keep fresh.  There are many varieties of puto and the mark of a good puto is its fluffiness.  You get the texture from steaming the cake rather than baking it.  Steamed "baked" goods are common in parts of the world where the majority of home kitchens don't have ovens, as is the case in the Philippines.  It's also common for puto to contain rice flour instead of wheat flour since rice is a staple there rather than wheat.

Best eaten warm with butter & coconut

Ironically, this recipe is made with Bisquick so I don't know if I can call it really authentic.  But this is one of the recipes from my childhood so I'm sticking with it here. My mom used to make this when I was a kid and in honor of Mother's Day, I thought I would use the old family recipe and bring it over to my parents' house. Despite Bisquick as the main ingredient, this doesn't taste like fluffy pancakes like you'd expect from using Bisquick.  Instead, it really is a vanilla cake.  The directions are sparse but it's still an easy thing to put together.  Make sure you steam them thoroughly - if the puto is underdone, it'll be heavy and too moist.  Because you're steaming them, it's harder to overcook puto but don't leave them in there too long or they'll be tough.

Puto doesn't have a long shelf life so they're best eaten the day they're made.  If you have any left over, wrap in plastic and store in an airtight container.  When you reheat them, it's better to re-steam them.  If you're going to microwave them, cover with a wet paper towel and microwave for only a few seconds at a time until they're warm enough.  Don't leave in too long or the texture will toughen up and/or dry out.

2 cups Bisquick

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.      Mix all ingredients together and spoon into small greased ramekins.  Puto will rise so only fill the ramekins 2/3 full.

2.      Steam for 10 to 15 minutes in a steamer or until done, depending on the size of your ramekins (toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean). 

Cashew Macadamia Crunch

Cashew Macadamia Crunch - made May 6, 2011 from Hershey's Classic Recipes from Publications International (book #102)

Yet another Hershey Book from Publications International.  I must've gone through a phase of picking up these types of books whenever I saw them in the bargain aisle at Barnes & Noble.  They generally have a certain number of the exact same recipes as well as the same type of recipes but I can never resist the yummy-looking pictures that accompany most of the recipes.  These people know how to market to people like me.

Instead of the usual brownies, cookies and cakes that go into these books though, I decided to try this easy candy recipe.  I've been wanting toffee ever since I went to the SF Chocolate Salon and (cough) gorged myself on chocolate samples.  I've made my own toffee before but have had mixed results.  Sometimes I overcook it and it's too hard and other times I undercook it and it's sticky-chewy instead of having the easy snap of good toffee.  Buttercrunch is a little easier than toffee.  Some people might use them synonymously but I consider buttercrunch the easy version of toffee.  You don't have to work with candy thermometers or worry about the sugar crystallizing as it caramelizes or it going grainy.

Spread as evenly as you can over the chocolate chips

Case in point, this recipe couldn't be easier.  I just came back from a brief trip yesterday and didn't really need to "bake" but I was meeting friends today and you know I can't go empty-handed.  Yet I was tired from a cross-country flight and not enough sleep so I wasn't up to full-on baking.  This recipe came to my rescue as it literally couldn't have been easier to make.  You spread the chocolate chips in an even layer in the pan, boil the crunch mixture until golden brown, spread over the chocolate chips and cool.  When you boil the buttercrunch, keep stirring it so it browns evenly and the nuts don't burn.  You only want to cook it until it's a nice golden brown, about the color of Almond Roca.  Spread it over the chocolate chip layer and let it cool to lukewarm then put in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.  Cut or break it up into irregular pieces.  Although the recipe specifies milk chocolate, you can use any type of chocolate.  I prefer milk chocolate so that's what I used.  You can also substitute in whichever nuts you like but I'm a fan of both cashews and macadamia nuts so I stuck to the recipe as is.

I really, really liked this recipe.  Not only was it super easy to make on several hours' sleep, but it tasted good too.  It had the perfect crunch without being hard on the teeth.  I also like how it looks "homey", as in clearly homemade - this could become my new go-to candy to include in Christmas foodie gifts. I broke this up into irregular-sized pieces, piled the pieces into cupcake liners, wrapped each cupcake paper in plastic wrap and included them in goodie bags.

2 cups (11.5-ounce package) milk chocolate chips

¾ cup coarsely chopped salted or unsalted cashews

¾ cup coarsely chopped salted or unsalted macadamia nuts

½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened

½ cup sugar

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1.      Line 9-inch square pan with foil, extending foil over edges of pan.  Butter foil (I sprayed lightly with nonstick cooking spray.)  Cover bottom of prepared pan with chocolate chips in an even layer.

2.      Combine cashews, macadamia nuts, butter, sugar and corn syrup in large heavy skillet; cover over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved.  Increase heat to medium; cook, stirring constantly until mixture begins to cling together and turns golden brown.

3.      Pour mixture over chocolate chips in pan, spreading evenly.  Cool.  Refrigerate until chocolate is firm.  Remove from pan; peel off foil.  Break into pieces.  Store, tightly covered in cool, dry place.

Makes about 1 ½ pounds of candy

Caramel-Layered Brownies

Caramel-Layered Brownies - made April 30, 2011 from Favorite Brand Name Best-Loved Chocolate Recipes from Publications International (book #101)

It wasn't until I started this baking challenge that I realized how many books I have from the same author(s) or publishers.  The ones from Publications International tend to contain recipes likely sponsored by food companies' test kitchens since they always list the specific brand name ingredients to use.  I've omitted the brand names from the recipes so you should feel free to use the ones you prefer and already know works well (although, of course, the higher the quality, the better your results will be).  This is a recipe book that will likely appeal to less experienced bakers and/or those who like a lot of pictures with their recipes.  It's certainly induced me to try specific recipes over others when I see pictures of how good they look.

Caramel and chocolate is usually a crowd pleaser combination so I chose that to add to the bake sale goods.  I left out the nuts (of course) and the only issue I had with this recipe is that there wasn't enough of the batter on top to completely cover the caramel layer.  The recipe says to hold back 1 cup and I held back more than that since I knew I wanted to cover the entire caramel layer.  Didn't quite work out that way, partly because as the batter cools, it stiffens up so it's not as easy to spread thinly over the caramel layer.  So I sprinkled some chocolate chips over the top as well to try and cover up some of the caramel.

The frosting was probably unnecessary but still good

As the brownie baked, the batter on top spread out over the caramel so that was good.  The caramel only leaked through in a few spots.  It was a little hard to tell when this was done just relying on the toothpick test since some of the caramel also clings to the toothpick and makes it seem like raw batter.  So you might want to time this one.  I took it out when it was still a little underdone so separating it from the foil lining in the pan after it had cooled was a little difficult.  But not impossible since it was easy enough to peel the foil off if you up-end the brownie (which is one of the reasons why I always line my baking pans with foil when I use them).  The brownie turned out well but the caramel did make it a little sweet.  You won't taste the chocolate much on its own since the caramel layer blends in with everything.  It's not quite as distinct a layer as the recipe book picture makes it look.  Still a pretty good brownie if you have a good sweet tooth and want something chewy/fudgy.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups chopped nuts (optional)

14 ounces caramels

1/3 cup evaporated milk

1.     Heat the oven to 350⁰F.  Lightly grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan.

2.     In the top half of a double boiler, over hot water, melt chocolate and butter, stirring constantly until melted.

3.     Stir sugar into melted chocolate mixture.  Mix in eggs and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in flour.  Remove 1 cup of batter; set aside.  Spread remaining batter into prepared pan.  Sprinkle with chips and 1 cup of the nuts, if using.

4.     Melt caramels and milk over low heat, stirring constantly, until completely melted and smooth.  Spoon over chips and nuts, spreading to edges of pan.  Gently spread reserved batter over caramel mixture.  Sprinkle with remaining ½ cup nuts, if using.

5.     Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with fudgy crumbs.  Do not overbake.  Cool in pan, cut into squares.

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

Mexican Chocolate Brownies - made April 29, 2011 from The Ultimate Brownie Book by Bruce Weinstein (book #100)

This is the brownie I originally made both to mark Cinco de Mayo and for the spring fair bake sale I'd volunteered to donate baked goods to.  I'm sorry to say I did not like these brownies.  The texture was fine and I don't think it was the recipe but the Mexican chocolate.  I used Ibarra Mexican chocolate which the recipe specifically recommended.  According to Bruce Weinstein, "Mexican chocolate is actually a combination of chocolate, ground cocoa nibs, and cinnamon".  The ingredients list on the package of Ibarra Mexican Chocolate lists: sugar, cocoa liquor, vegetable fat, soy lecithin, and cinnamon flavor.  Hmm.  That might explain it.  I don't know if I would've liked it better if I had gone with a more high end Mexican chocolate, such as the one from Taza.  I've had the chocolate and cinnamon combination before and liked it so I was really disappointed that I didn't like this one.  I tried to salvage the brownies by adding a layer of dulce de leche over it then topping that with a layer of fudge frosting.  I don't think it really worked though.

However, if you want to make these brownies and have a better experience, I recommend substituting a high end bittersweet chocolate for the Ibarra Mexican chocolate and adding a teaspoon of cinnamon.   There was nothing wrong with the texture - it was just the flavor I couldn't get into.

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter

9 ¾ ounces Mexican chocolate, such as 3 rounds of Ibarra, chopped (I recommend either Taza Mexican chocolate or try a high end bittersweet chocolate plus 1 teaspoon of cinnamon)

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1.     Position the rack in the lower third of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Butter and flour a 9 x 13-inch baking pan; set it aside.

2.     In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined.  Set aside.

3.     Place the butter and both kinds of chocolate in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water.  Stir constantly until half the butter and chocolate is melted.  Remove the top of the double boiler then continue stirring, away from the heat, until the butter and chocolate are completely melted.  Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

4.     Beat the brown sugar into the melted chocolate with a whisk or with an electric mixer at medium speed; continue beating until the mixture is smooth and silky, about 7 minutes by hand or 4 minutes with a mixer.  Beat in the eggs one at a time, allowing each to be thoroughly incorporated before adding the next.  After beating in the third egg for 1 minute, stir in the vanilla.

5.     With a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture just until combined.  Do not beat.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, spreading it gently to the corners.

6.     Bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.  Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Pecan Polvorones with Dulce de Leche

Pecan Polvorones - made May 2, 2011 from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Cinco de Mayo is coming up and at first I went with a Mexican Chocolate Brownie recipe to mark the occasion.  I haven't put the recipe up yet because, as it turns out, I didn't like it.  But I will put it up shortly since it is part of my baking odyssey and my baking challenge and I can't put up just the recipes that turned out.  Not all of them are going to be successful nor will I like all of them.  But that still left me short for a Cinco de Mayo cookie.  And in flipping through the myriad of baking cookbooks I have, I discovered there aren't many "international" recipes amongst them.

Fortunately, the Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies were so good that I couldn't resist trying another recipe from Alice Medrich's book before I had to return it to the library.  And she does have more variety of an international bent in her book (I also want to try her alfajores recipe).  This time around, I chose polvorones, which, according to Alice, are "exquisitely tender Spanish or Latin American shortbread cookies".  Filipinos have something similar called polvoron.  Looking at the recipe, the base ingredients are also similar to Mexican Wedding Cookies except this is the thumbprint version.  In keeping with the Spanish/Latin American theme, I skipped the muscovado filling and went with dulce de leche instead.

Make sure you toast the pecans first as that brings out their best flavor.  Cool completely before putting in the food processor.  I don't normally use my food processor to make cookie dough but it was pretty easy to put together per the recipe instructions.  The dough was very easy to work with, not too sticky and it was easy to shape.  Make the balls small since these cookies are best when they're bite size.  Once I shaped them into small balls, I poked the handle end of a wooden spoon in the center to make the holes and widened them slightly.  I froze the cookie dough balls with the indentations first before baking a taste test batch.  The cookies spread only very slightly and the "holes" widened and flattened out a bit.  I didn't want them too flat since I did want the indentations to be deep enough to hold the filling so I took the baking pan out halfway through baking and pressed the handle of the wooden spoon again to flatten the indentations a bit more.  If you make the holes deep enough in the first place, you shouldn't have to do that step.

I really liked these cookies - they had the same tender texture as Mexican Wedding Cakes but were sturdy enough to hold their shape.  I loved it paired with the dulce de leche filling as the sweetness of the dulce de leche was a perfect contrast to the nutty flavor and tender crumb of the cookie.  Alice Medrich also suggests you can fill these with nutella. While this wouldn't be practical in a care package, this is a pretty cookie to serve at an afternoon tea or a dessert buffet.

1 ½ cups (5.25 ounces) pecans

1/3 cup (2.33 ounces) sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 large egg yolk (optional)

2 cups (9 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

Filling

2/3 cup (4.625 ounces) firmly packed dark muscovado sugar

1/3 cup heavy cream

Scant 1/8 teaspoon salt

1.      Pulse the nuts in a food processor until most are finely ground and the largest pieces are about ¼ inch.  Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

2.      Wipe the processor bowl with a paper towel to remove excess oil from the nuts.  Add the sugar and salt and process until fine and powdery.  Add the butter, vanilla and egg yolk, if using, and pulse until the mixture is smooth.  Add the flour and pulse until the dough starts to clump together.  Add the nuts and pulse just until combined.  Transfer the dough to a bowl and knead it by hand briefly to make sure it is evenly mixed.

3.      Shape the dough into 1-inch balls (0.5 ounce each) and place them slightly apart on a plate or tray big enough to hold all the balls yet small enough to fit in your refrigerator.  Press the handle of a wooden spoon dipped in flour (or your finger) into each ball to form a depression.  Cover and chill the cookies for at least 2 hours, and preferably overnight.

4.      Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

5.      Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and place them 1 inch apart on the lined or ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, until the cookies are lightly colored on top and light golden brown on the bottom.  Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.  Cool cookies completely.

6.      To make the filling: while the cookies are cooling, combine the muscovado sugar with the cream and salt in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved.  Boil gently for about 2 minutes without stirring.  Cool the sauce briefly.

7.      Spoon a little filling into the depression in each cookie.  Allow the filling to cool completely.  May be stored in airtight container for at least a week.

Chocolate Caramel Oat Brownies

Chocolate Caramel Oat Brownies - made April 29, 2011 from Mrs. Fields' Great American Desserts by Debbi Fields (book #99)

This is the baking book that gave me my favorite coconut cake recipe so it's already worth its price to me.  This recipe is more for a bar cookie than a brownie since it's comprised of a bottom oat layer, a middle layer of pecans, chocolate chips and caramel and a top crumb layer of the same oat mixture as the bottom layer.  I baked it for a few minutes longer than the 15 minutes called for in the recipe because at 15 minutes, although the edges were golden brown, parts of the middle still looked a bit pale.  As long as you cover the caramel completely with the oat crumb topping, it doesn't hurt to bake it a bit longer.  It's important to cover the caramel completely or any that bubbles through the top crust will have a tendency to boil over and become chewy hard when the bar cookie cools.  Keep it covered and the caramel stays soft and creamy.

I thought this was a really good bar cookie, especially if you like oats and caramel.  I didn't even mind the pecans because it added a little bit of crunch and flavor to complement the creamy sweetness of the caramel.  The chocolate chips also provided a nice chocolaty addition to the bar.  Another good recipe from Mrs. Fields.

Top view

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats, toasted

1 ½ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

½ cup heavy cream

14 ounces caramel squares

1.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, line it with aluminum foil and butter the foil.

2.     In the food processor, pulse the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt together just to combine.  Add the butter, a few pieces at a time, and cut it into the dry ingredients by turning the machine on and off quickly.  Process until the mixture is coarsely textured with small, irregular flakes and bits the size of small peas.

3.     Remove 2 cups of the crumb mixture and set aside.  Press the remaining crumb mixture over the bottom of the baking pan.  Sprinkle the chocolate chips and chopped pecans evenly over the crumb mixture.  Set the pan aside.

4.     In a heavy-bottomed, medium-size saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer over the medium heat.  Add the caramels, turn the heat to low, and melt them, stirring constantly, until smooth.  Pour the caramel sauce over the chips and nuts in the baking pan.  Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture evenly over the top, pressing it down lightly with a metal spatula.

5.     Bake the brownies for about 15 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.  Remove the pan to a wire rack, and while the brownies are still warm, cut around the sides of the pan with a metal spatula to loosen the edges.  Let the brownies cool on the rack to room temperature.

6.     Cut the brownies into 2 by 3-inch pieces.  Arrange on a serving plate, cover the plastic wrap and refrigerate until well chilled, about 3 hours.

7.     Let the brownies stand at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving.

Brownies

Brownies - made April 28, 2011 from Williams Sonoma Dessert (book #98)

I've been asked to contribute to another bake sale this weekend, this time for a spring fair where the proceeds benefit the school a friend's son goes to.  Anything for a good cause and any excuse to bake, that's my motto.  So you know this means the next few posts will be all about bake sale brownies.  I also will bake any kind of brownies that let me add the nutella crunch topping on it so I went with this plain brownie recipe from the Williams Sonoma Dessert cookbook.  This differed from most of my brownie recipe in that it uses cake flour instead of all-purpose flour.

Except for the cake flour, it's a pretty standard brownie recipe and it turned out well.  In fact, I could probably have left the topping off if it weren't for wanting it to look a little more special for the bake sale.  The brownie was fudgy with just the right amount of chocolate and can stand alone as a plain brownie. I took a couple of closeups of the brownie so you can see what I mean when I say "fudgy".  This is what I look for in a good brownie and why I never overbake brownies.  If you overbake, you won't get this fudgy texture.

A good brownie has to be dense and fudgy

½ cup unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup sugar

Pinch of salt
2 large eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cup cake flour, sifted

¾ cup bittersweet chocolate chunks

1.     Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking dish, preferably glass (I used metal and it was fine).

2.     In a saucepan over low heat, combine the butter and chopped unsweetened chocolate.  Heat, stirring often, until melted, about 4 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and salt.  Add the eggs and vanilla and stir until well blended.  Sprinkle the sifted flour over the mixture and stir until just blended.  Stir in the chips, if using.

3.     Pour the batter into the prepared dish and spread evenly.  Bake the brownies until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out almost completely clean, about 30 minutes, or longer if using a metal pan.  Do not overbake.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before cutting.

Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Cookies - made April 28, 2011 from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Growing up, I never ate oatmeal for breakfast.  It just wasn't your typical Asian way to start the day.  Although ironically, my parents now regularly have it for breakfast because of the health benefits of oatmeal (I think they actually like the taste too).  But I think the first time I was introduced to oatmeal, it was in cookie form.  I like a good oatmeal cookie as much as the next person but I haven't yet discovered a "go-to" recipe for oatmeal cookies.  A good oatmeal cookie should be thick and chunky, crisp at the edges, chewy in the middle and generously studded with chocolate chips.  Do not come near me with raisins or nuts for an oatmeal cookie.  My requirements for a good oatmeal cookie are similar to what I look for in a chocolate chip cookie.  But a good oatmeal cookie shouldn't just be a chocolate chip cookie with oatmeal added to it.  There's something whimsically wholesome about an oatmeal cookie and we're tempted to think of it as healthy as long as we conveniently ignore the butter, sugar and flour that also goes into it.  Granted, oats are good for you and they've endured through the ages with "their first known appearance being in combat when the Romans battled England hundreds of years ago....the English and Scots carried saddlebags filled with oatmeal cakes eaten as a quick, nourishing pick-me-up." (Source: press release from May Cookie Co)

We don't quite carbo load with oatcakes just to do hand to hand combat anymore but we do honor the oatmeal cookie properly nowadays.  Saturday, April 30, is National Oatmeal Cookie Day.  (Again, what an awesome country we have in that it has foodie "holidays".)  So, in my continuing quest for an awesome oatmeal cookie recipe, I turned to Alice Medrich's latest cookbook, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies, another book I want to eventually acquire but prudently borrowed from the library instead.  What caught my eye is that the recipe calls for melting the butter.  That immediately made me want to make the cookies with browned butter, similar to what I did with Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Now that recipe has become my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies so I thought I could give Alice Medrich's recipe a boost by doing the same thing.  What I also liked about all the recipes in this book is she gives the weight measurement of the ingredients as well as the more traditional volume measurements.  If you have a food scale, it's better to weigh out your ingredients rather than volume measure them - it's more accurate that way.

Added milk chocolate chips and Hershey kisses

Browned butter smells good and makes everything tastes so much better.  Just mixing this cookie dough together was an alluring experience.  If I was the type of person to eat cookie dough, I could probably have downed half the batch in raw form.  Fortunately, I'm not and it was easy enough to put the bowl of cookie dough in the fridge to cool, unscathed.  Harder to wait overnight to bake the cookies.  The dough became considerably firmer after being chilled overnight so it was a little difficult to scoop into dough balls.  I'd advocate making the dough balls right after you mix the cookie dough and then chilling (not freezing) the dough balls if you want to bake them the next day.  The reason for not freezing them immediately is to let the oats absorb the moisture of the dough first.

Overall, this was a good cookie.  I underbaked them slightly so the edges weren't as crisp as I think they were meant to be but the middle was gooey.  I liked the caramelized taste a lot from the browned butter.  The cinnamon doesn't come out very much, probably because the browned butter is more prominent but I consider this another solidly good recipe from Alice Medrich.

2 cups (6.67 ounces) rolled oats

¼ cup water

1 ¼ cups (5.625 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter

¾ cup (5.25 ounces) packed light brown sugar

½ cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 cup (3.5 ounces) walnuts, chopped (I used milk chocolate chips)

1 cup (5 ounces) raisins (I used milk chocolate chips)

1.      Place the oats in a small bowl and sprinkle with the water. 

2.      Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly with a whisk or fork.

3.      Cut the butter into chunks and melt in a large saucepan over medium heat.  (I browned the butter and let it cool for 10 minutes before adding the other ingredients.)  Remove from the heat and stir in the sugars, vanilla, and salt.  Add the egg and stir briskly.  Stir in the flour mixture just until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.  Stir in the walnuts, raisins and oats.  Let the dough stand for at least 1 but preferably 2 hours or (better still) cover and refrigerate overnight.

4.      Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.

5.      For large cookies, scoop about 2 level tablespoons of dough and place the cookies about 3 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.  For small cookies, scoop 1 level tablespoon of dough.  Bake for 12 to 15 minutes for large cookies, 10 to 12 minutes for small cookies, or until the cookies are golden brown on top.  Rotate the pans from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking.  Cool the cookies completely before storing or stacking.  May be kept in an airtight container for several days.