A Really Good Brownie

A Really Good Brownie - made July 4, 2012 from 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor by Elinor Klivans

This is the actual title of the recipe in Elinor Klivans' book (which I borrowed from the library) and I think it's a deceptively modest one.  I would rename it A Really, Really Excellent Brownie instead.  Because it was.  I was a little skeptical on using shortening in it as I'm not a big fan of shortening in baked goods.  Butter gives better flavor.  But I'm glad I stuck to the recipe as directed because it worked.  As advertised in her preface to the recipe, this brownie was rich and fudgy with a nice dark chocolate flavor from the unsweetened chocolate.  Last weekend, when I went to Vegas for the World Pastry Championship, I was staying at my sister's so I made this for one of my nieces who had asked for Nutella Crunch Brownies.  I tried out this new brownie recipe and just added the nutella crunch topping to meet her request.  It worked really well as the crunchy topping was a sweet contrast to the dark chocolate richness of the brownie itself.  I preferred this one "dressed up" with the topping for that complementary taste and texture. It'd be fine plain as well but go for the extra decadence and make the topping too.  Don't overbake this or you won't get the fudgy texture.

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

½ cup (8 tablespoons) vegetable shortening

5 ounces unsweetened chocolate

4 large eggs

¼ teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1.     Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325°F.    Line a 9 x 9” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Melt the butter, shortening, and unsweetened chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over hot, not simmering, water.  Stir until melted and smooth.  Let cool for 5 minutes.

3.     Put the eggs and salt in the large bowl of an electric mixer and mix at medium speed for about 30 seconds until the eggs just begin to look fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat for 1 minute until the mixture thickens and the color lightens.  Decrease the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla until thoroughly combined.  Add the flour, mixing just until incorporated.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

4.     Bake for about 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging to it.  Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Linked to Sweet Treats Thursday
 

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

Crock Pot Mac and Cheese - made July 4, 2012 from Feeding My Temple blog

I adapted this recipe from Feeding My Temple's blog, mostly to adjust to the ingredients on hand in my pantry.  I didn't have enough evaporated milk called for in her recipe so I increased the amount of regular whole milk.  I also have an issue with most of the stuff I make in a crock pot ending up too liquidy or soupy so I added an extra ounce of macaroni shells just to be on the safe side.  Lastly, I had some basil parmesan meatballs to use so I chopped those up and threw them into the crock pot during the last 30 minutes of slow cooking just for added protein.

This turned out pretty well and is super easy to throw together.  I might add a bit more cheddar cheese next time and use diced ham instead of the meatballs as the meatballs competed a bit in flavor with the mac and cheese but overall, it's the perfect dish for someone who's as cooking-impaired as I am.  It didn't get soupy and made a nice creamy texture for the sauce.  It's a bit high in calories and I tend to want to consume large amounts of creamy pasta but I portioned the dish out into small portions so each meal would be in line with a reasonable intake.  Which means it made enough portions to feed me for a couple of weeks.

8 (or 9) ounces macaroni shells
2 teaspoons olive oil
5 ounces evaporated milk
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tablespoons butter, melted

1. Cook the macaroni according package directions. Drain and rinse well. 
2. Generously butter (or spray with non stick cooking spray) the sides and bottom of a 3 1/2- to 4-quart slow cooker.
3. Combine all ingredients and add cooked macaroni shells.  Cook on low for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Linked to Whatcha Whipped Up Wednesday
  

2012 World Pastry Championship

Although I still have 4-5 more recipes from last week to put up, I'm inserting this post now as I just got back from a mini vacation - I went to the 2012 World Pastry Championship in Las Vegas, NV.  It's been on my bucket list for over 10 years to watch the competition in person and I finally, finally was able to go.  It's held every other year and when it's not the World Pastry Championship, it's the National Pastry Championship for the US teams.  But this year was the world competition and the teams competing were from Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Netherlands, China and USA.  This is the Olympics of the pastry world.  And there certainly were some Olympian chefs there.

This wasn't in the competition but was a sample plated dessert from one of the sponsor booths

Check out the link so you can see what the competition is about - each team has 13 hours, spread over 2 days, to come up with a set of plated desserts to be judged on Day 1 then a sugar showpiece, a chocolate showpiece and petits gateaux for Day 2.  And trust me, this is no easy feat. These chefs are amazing, every single one of them.  I am no expert but during culinary school, I did enough sugar work and chocolate work to know how hard it is and the kind of skill you have to have to even make it to this competition. It takes years of experience and practice.  Some teams practiced for the 13-hour competition with as many as 30 or more 13-hour practice runs of their own for a year and a half.  Imagine that kind of dedication in addition to doing your day job.

Day 1 was mostly a lot of prep for Day 2 although they did complete the plated desserts in time for judging.  It was fascinating to watch the chefs in action.  No movements were wasted, it wasn't the flurry and drama you sometimes see on Food Network (ahem, Chopped, Cupcake Wars, etc); instead everything was streamlined efficiency.  As soon as one task was done, they began another.  They were also judged on how they worked and it was impressive to see sponge cakes being made (often the base for the plated desserts) swiftly, wrapped up, station cleaned, then pastry cream - make, wrap, put away, clean - then mousses and fillings.  Each member of the team had their own jobs to do and they were focused.

One of the plates of petits gateaux we were (very briefly) allowed to photograph

There are various teams of judges and various elements of the competition being judged.  Not just the finished products in terms of taste and appearance but also the way they did their work.  The taste judging is done "blind" with each team getting assigned a number.  The judges don't know which team's products they're judging and their backs are to the team kitchens when they sample the desserts.

Each team must produce

• 1 sugar showpiece
• 1 chocolate showpiece
• 1 sugar/chocolate amenity presentation piece for displaying bonbons on buffet table
• 14 identical plated desserts
• 3 different types of chocolate bonbons
• 3 identical entremets
• 3 identical entremets glace
• 3 different types of petits gateaux

The highlight of the competition is always the showpieces at the end.  Each team has to create one showpiece made of sugar and one of chocolate.  This year's theme was astrology and it was interesting to see how each team interpreted that for their showpieces.  There are very strict rules in terms of the type of shapes they can use and what equipment is permissible or not.  They also must transport their showpieces from their stations to the display table.  Many a heart has been broken when a showpiece shatters.  The pictures below do NOT do these showpieces any justice.  They're much more impressive in person.  Apologies that my camera didn't always take the clearest pictures.  The lighting was poor in some places and it was difficult to get a clean shot of the displays with so many people around.  You can't exactly ask a judge blocking the display table to step aside during their judging so you could take a good picture.  Bear in mind, each showpiece is made out of entirely chocolate or entirely sugar, nothing else, rendering them even more incredible.

Team Japan: chocolate showpiece on the left, sugar showpiece on the right

Team Mexico

Team South Korea

South Korea was heartbreaking because in transporting their chocolate showpiece, half of it fell off.  They could only put the other half out for judging. Then shortly after the judging began, the sugar showpiece toppled and this was all they were left with:

Team South Korea's shattered showpieces

Team Netherlands

Team China: sugar dragon and chocolate dragon

Sadly, Team China's chocolate dragon later shattered as well

Team USA had a "cock fight" between the chocolate rooster and the sugar rooster

 As a spectator, I could only get close enough to the teams on the ends to really see what they were working on.  Team Japan was on one end but they had a large contingent of supporters so it was hard to get really close.  Team USA had the most supporters because of the competition's home-country location so it was also hard to squeeze in on that end but I got lucky a couple of times and managed to get up close.  I saw that sugar rooster "come to life" before my eyes and it was nothing short of amazing.  On Day 1, I could see all the elements being put together but since I didn't know what they were building, it was hard to picture it.  But once it did all come together, literally before my eyes, it was beyond mind-boggling that what you see above is all made out of sugar.  Sugar, water and some food coloring.  Astonishing.  Hats off to all the chefs in the competition.

I didn't stay for the awards dinner and I'm still waiting for the website to be updated but I believe I heard Team USA won!  Based on showpieces alone, I would've gone with either Team Japan or Team USA so I'm glad one of my top 2 favorites took the championship.

ETA: just found out Team USA won first place for the degustation award and 2nd place overall in the championship.  Team Japan won first place overall and Team Netherlands won third place.  Congratulations to all the talented chefs from all of the teams.  Every recognition was well deserved.  Here's the press release from the French Pastry School

Banana Caramel Brownies

Banana Caramel Brownies - made July 4, 2012 from 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor by Elinor Klivans

I don't know that I would really call these brownies since they don't have chocolate in them; they should technically be called blondies.  But they do have the "fudgy" texture of a good brownie.  The batter was a bit thin which made me suspect the caramel would sink to the bottom and I was right.  The batter wasn't stiff enough to hold the weight of the caramel during baking.  I think that's partly because the salted caramel I used was heavy in the first place, even when warmed up to make it easier to swirl into the batter.  In hindsight, I should've thinned it a little with some heavy cream.  Nevertheless, this was a good banana blondie, a bit more dense ("fudgy") than a banana cake but pretty tasty.  Next time though, I would use a regular caramel instead of the salted caramel; I think that would be more complementary to the taste of the banana.

1 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) soft unsalted butter

1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups sliced and mashed bananas (about 3)

2 large eggs

¾ cup caramel (I used the Salted Caramel from Trader Joe’s)

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans (optional, I left them out)

1.     Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325°F.    Line a 9 x 9” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

3.     Put the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed for 15 seconds.  Add the brown sugar and vanilla until the mixture is creamed thoroughly, about 1 minute.  Mix in the mashed bananas.  Add the eggs, blending until they are incorporated.  Slowly add the flour mixture and mix just until it is incorporated and the batter is smooth.  Stir in ¼ cup of the caramel filling until it is blended with the batter.

4.     Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Drizzle the remaining ½ cup caramel filling over the top.  Draw a thin metal spatula gently through the batter to swirl in the caramel, leaving swirls of caramel on top.  Sprinkle the pecans evenly, trying to drop them wherever caramel is showing through.

5.     Bake for about 50 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack.

   

Orange Dreamsicle Cookies

Orange Dreamsicle Cookies - made dough June 23, 2012, baked June 30, 2012 from My Happy Place blog

Thank you all for the prayers and support for Zoe's family - they're much appreciated.  Similar to Zoe's outlook in her battle with cancer, we all look for the good in any situation that makes us stronger and appreciate what we have.  She was a living testament to that mindset and always thought of others.  One of the pieces of good I've received was to find out from a person who commented on my previous post about an organization called CookiesforKidsCancer.org.  I'd never heard of them before but I'm glad to have heard of them now and plan to order from them for any occasion I can think of for friends and family and to donate to them.  Thank you, Debbie D, for letting me know about them.

I'm still posting the blog posts I wrote prior to Zoe's passing so they're not going to have the same tone as what I'm feeling at the moment - bear with me.

I like oranges.  I like cookies.  So I don't know why I don't make orange cookies that often or even try recipes for them.  Let me rectify that. I saw this from one (or more) of the link parties I participate in and had to pin it.  Then I had to make it because I'm also obsessing about trying the recipes I pin.  So glad I tried this one as it was quite good.  Like a tasty, moist sugar cookie but with an orange flavor.  The white chocolate complements the orange nicely.  While I'm not a big advocate of white chocolate chips, they worked really well in this recipe.

Normally when I make recipes from another blog, I only link up to their blog post so you have to go there to get the recipe because I believe in credit (and web traffic) going to where credit is due.  But then I started getting paranoid about the other blogs going down, their blog owners no longer doing a blog and something happening to that recipe on their blog.  Disastrous if it's a recipe I really like.  What if I never get access to it again??  So I am going to be including the recipes on my own blog, with my modifications if I make any - just in case.  But please do visit the original blogs that they came from; you never know what gems you might discover on your own.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 white chocolate bar, chopped (I used white chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, vanilla, orange zest and orange juice.
4. Stir in all dry ingredients slowly until just combined.
5. Add in white chocolate chunks/chips.
6. Drop by tablespoonful onto prepared baking sheet.
7. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Note: if you're not baking right away, don't preheat the oven, scoop the dough into dough balls, chill until firm then put in freezer bags and store in the freezer until you're ready to bake.

Toffee Butter Cookies

Chocolate Toffee Butter Cookies - made dough June 8, 2012, baked at various times from Cook's Country Chocolate Desserts

I had written this blog post earlier and it seems a bit frivolous to me now.  Because it's with a heavy heart that I write that my friend Maria's daughter, Zoe, who I had made the Naked Twix bars for in my previous post, passed away last night.  Rest in peace, Zoe, and be with God and His angels - you're one of them now and always have been.

Original post: Last Christmas, my cousin Christine gave me the magazine booklet this recipe came from.  She also went one step better and actually made one of the recipes from it as part of my present - gotta love that.  So I already know these cookies are good but I had to make them for myself.  These are perfect make-ahead cookies since they're essentially slice-n-bake.  Just make the dough ahead of time, roll into logs, wrap logs in wax paper, put in freezer bags and freeze until you're ready to bake them.  You'll notice my cookies don't have the chocolate part of the title in them.  That's because I left off the last step of melting chocolate and drizzling them over the cookies.  I included the original directions below but feel free to skip the chocolate as well.  I left it off mostly because, with hotter summer temps, it's hard to keep the chocolate from melting after it's drizzled over the cookie and sets plus I actually preferred the toffee flavor without it.

This is one of those cookies where I puzzled over the baking time.  When I followed the directions and only bake them for 10-12 minutes, the edges get a little crisp but not much and the middle is soft.  Which is okay but not what I look for in a thinly sliced slice-n-bake cookie.  I prefer a bit more crunch throughout the whole cookie.  I accidentally discovered that if you bake them long enough (without burning them of course), the whole cookie crisps up and becomes exactly the crispy texture I was looking for.  I say accidentally because I was baking a batch to take to Zoe's party and after I had checked on them, I turned the oven off but left the sheet in the oven as I decided the cookies needed one more minute.  Then I went off to do something else and yup, totally forgot about the cookies until 10 minutes later.  Fortunately since the oven was already turned off, the cookies didn't burn.  But they did come out more brown than I had intended.  I let them cool and tried one later.  Success!  The extra baking time was perfect to get them crunchy without being dry.  So, depending on your texture preference, try baking them a little longer if you want the crunch.  I also think it would be better to add toasted pecans to the cookie dough itself for a bit more crunch and taste to cut the sweetness of the toffee.  However, if you leave off the pecans and bake until the cookies are crunchy, the taste and texture are similar to Biscoff cookies.  It doesn't have the spice taste of a Biscoff cookie but the brown sugar and toffee flavors are great substitutes.

2 1/3 cups (11 2/3 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Heath Toffee Bits (without chocolate coating)
1 ½ cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted and chopped fine (you can add some directly to the dough if you wish)

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. In stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low, add to flour mixture in 2 additions, and mix until incorporated. Stir in toffee bits. Divide dough in half and roll each piece into log about 9 inches long and 1 ½ inches in diameter. Flatten logs into 2 ½”-wide rectangles. Wrap rectangles in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 ½ hours.
2. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Using chef’s knife, cut dough into ¼”-thick slices; transfer slices to parchment-lined sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until just browned around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. (For a more crunchy texture, bake 15-20 minutes.)  Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets. Use remaining dough to make second batch of cookies.
4. Transfer baked cookies to wire rack set in baking sheet. Heat chocolate chips in heatproof bowl set over pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted. Add oil to chocolate and mix until smooth. Dip part of each cookie into melted chocolate or drizzle chocolate over cookies with soup spoon. Sprinkle pecans over chocolate-coated cookies. Allow chocolate to set about 1 hour before serving cookies.

Linked  to Sweet Treats Thursday

"Naked" Twix brownie bars for a Sweet 16

Grandma Lilly's Brownies - made June 30, 2012, recipe adapted into homemade Twix bars from A Country Baking Treasury by Lisa Yockelson

Last weekend, I went to a Sweet 16 party of a remarkable young woman named Zoe.  Zoe is the daughter of Maria, one of my oldest friends from high school (ahem, that "old" refers to the age of our friendship, not my or my friend's age - just sayin').  Despite her young age, Zoe has shone the remarkable fortitude and courage of people more than twice, three and four times her age.  You see, last year, Zoe was diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer and in the past 10 months, she has gone through more than most of us can conceive of in our lifetime.  Even more importantly, she has gone through it all with grace, courage and faith - the kind that you don't know you're capable of until you have to come up with the inner fortitude to take what's thrown at you, even when it's a one-two punch with Life's brass knuckles.

It hasn't been easy and her challenging journey isn't over yet but in true awe-inspiring fashion, she met a recent bleak medical prognosis determined to "spend the summer happy, not sad".  Part of that happiness was celebrating her Sweet 16 milestone and that we did.  When I asked Maria what I could bring to the party (because you know I'm incapable of showing up anywhere empty-handed - it's just not Filipino), I was glad to hear Zoe's favorite candy was Twix bars.  Because when I had first made homemade Twix brownie bars, I had sent a care package of them to Maria and her family and it sounded like they went over well.  So I went back to that confection to bring to the party.

Top row: Naked Twix Bars

Middle row, left: Toffee Cookies (later blog post coming shortly)

Bottom row, right: Buttery Toffee Cookies

I did mix it up a bit though and while I used the same shortbread base and same recipe for the caramel layer, I tried out this new brownie recipe.  The original recipe is enough for a 9 x 13 pan but I was only making an 8-inch pan so I cut the ingredients in half.  Taste-wise and texture-wise, I liked this brownie recipe better than the one I used earlier.  However, it made a thicker brownie than the other recipe so it made for bigger "Twix" bars.  Not that that's necessarily a bad thing but enrobing in melted chocolate was a bit more problematic as not all of the rectangular pieces wanted to behave and remain upright while being enrobed.  It didn't help that it was warm in my kitchen, almost too warm to work successfully with chocolate.  I ended up enrobing only a few pieces to chill and set in the fridge and let the others remain naked.  Not just because the chocolate was a pain to work with in warm weather but also because I was running late for church and ran out of time to enrobe them all.

The enrobed version

I ended up bringing both enrobed and "naked" versions to the party along with two kinds of butter toffee cookies. A friend captured the shot at one of the dessert tables.  But that was before Zoe's dad, Randy, snuck the plate of enrobed Twix bars to tuck away for later.  That plate was for Zoe and her immediate family so it was a good call on his part, especially when the cookie platter emptied out minutes later.  It was a great party and all I can wish for a special 16-year-old are prayers that she wins this battle and celebrates many more birthdays ahead.

One of the dessert tables

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into chunks

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.      Line an 8-inch pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cookie spray.  Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Make the shortbread layer and bake for 20 minutes until golden.

2.    For the brownies: melt the butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan over very low heat; stir well and set aside to cool.

3.    Whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. 

4.     Pour the melted chocolate-butter mixture into a large mixing bowl.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Blend in the sugar and vanilla.  Stir in the sifted mixture, mixing just until the particles of flour have been absorbed. 

5.     Pour and scrape the batter over the hot shortbread crust.

6.     Bake the brownies on the middle-level rack of the oven for 25 minutes (for a very fudgy brownie, bake for 20 minutes).

7.     Cool the brownie cake in the pan on a rack until it reached room temperature, about 2 hours.  Cover with the caramel layer and let set.  Cut into small-ish, thin rectangles.  Enrobe in melted milk chocolate.

Yield: 24 brownies

 

Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Filling

Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes - made June 29, 2012 from Cupcakes! by Elinor Klivans

I'm still channeling my fascination for Cupcake Wars and still kibbitzing over my cupcake corer.  Seriously, I love this thing.  If I was still 5 years old, it'd be the equivalent of a new Barbie.  This time I remembered to buy regular cupcake liners so my cupcakes wouldn't be too big and the corer would work as it's supposed to.  And it did - plunge, twist and lift up.  You're left with a perfect round hole in the cupcake and a little cylinder of cupcake in the corer which you could pop out and sample *cough* over and over again *cough* as many times as you have cupcakes.

Besides pastry cream with vanilla cupcakes, my other safe flavor combination is chocolate with caramel.  So I made these chocolate sour cream cupcakes and filled them with salted caramel before frosting with chocolate buttercream. That was the plan anyway.  After I had filled the first 3 cupcakes, I got concerned that the caramel filling would just seep into the cupcake and make it too moist.  I wasn't giving the cupcakes away until the next morning and I didn't know how the cupcakes would fare overnight.  So for the rest of the cupcakes, I ended up mixing the chocolate buttercream frosting with some of the salted caramel and used that as the filling instead.

I also ended up modifying the buttercream recipe to suit my taste.  The original recipe by Elinor Klivans called for 3 sticks of butter.  While I've used that much butter in 1 recipe without blinking, having that much in a frosting recipe did give me pause.  I don't really care for traditional buttercream because the texture always seems a bit greasy to me. So I cut back on the butter, omitted the heavy cream from the original recipe and came up with my own frosting.  Frosting measurements are never that precise because you have to play with the dry and liquid ingredients to get the flavor and consistency you want and there's no one right answer.  Just be sure you let your butter come to room temperature (but not too soft) and let your melted chocolate cool properly before adding it or it'll melt the butter.

Did I mention these cupcakes were to die for?  They're scrumptious on their own, unfilled and unfrosted with the perfect taste and cakey texture that's fluffy, not too dense or too rich.  If you like the bells and whistles on your cupcake, adding the filling and frosting will send you into orbit.  I also sprinkled fleur de sel over the frosting to top off the sweet-salty combination.

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 ¼ cups sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup sour cream

½ cup water

1.     Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line 18 muffins tins with cupcake liners.

2.     Melt the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, stirring until smooth.

3.     Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

4.     Cream the butter and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until well blended and creamy, about 2 minutes.  Mix in the melted chocolate until incorporated.  Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until blended.  Add the vanilla and beat for 1 minute.  Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain.  Add half of the dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just incorporated.  Add the water.  Add the remaining dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated.  Do not overmix.    

5.     Distribute evenly amongst cupcake liners and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, about 15-20 minutes.  Cool completely before filling and frosting.

Chocolate Frosting

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

2 ½ cups powdered sugar

1 ½ tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.     Melt the chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water.  Stir until smooth and set aside to cool slightly.

2.     Beat the butter until creamy.  Sift the powdered sugar and cocoa together into a large mixing bowl.  Add to the butter and, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat until smoothly blended.  Beat in the melted chocolate.  Add the vanilla, mixing to incorporate.

3.     On medium speed, beat the frosting for at least 3 minutes, until it looks smooth and creamy and the color lightens.

 

Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Cream Pie - made June 24, 2012 from the Culinary Institute of America's Baking & Pastry Arts certification program

I never used to think I would like coconut cream pie, partly because I don't ordinarily like custard-y desserts but mostly because all the coconut cream pies I had seen had mile-high whipped cream topping and I don't do whipped cream, aka flavored air with calories.  Then when I was in culinary school, we made coconut cream pie and once I tasted it, my reaction was "where have you been all my life??"  What helped me get over my unwarranted prejudice is by then I had already gotten hooked on the CIA's pastry cream recipe and this coconut cream pie recipe was very similar in how the pastry cream was made; the main difference was the addition of coconut.  I also tried the pie without whipped cream and I was hooked.

The recipe below is straight from my CIA recipe binder so the directions are sparse and this is enough to make a full-size pie (at least an 8-9" pie).  If you end up with more filling than you need, separate out what you need for the pie before you add the coconut and use the leftover as regular pastry cream.  Or you can do what I did and bake it as mini pies, as many as you have crusts and filling for.

20 ounces milk

2 ounces sugar

1.5 ounces egg (1)

1 ounce egg yolk (2)

5 tablespoons cornstarch

2 ounces sugar

1 ounce butter

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

¾ cup shredded coconut

Unbaked pie crust(s)

1.     Line pie pan(s) with pie dough, prick the bottom, line with parchment paper and beans or pie weights and prebake.  Let cool.

2.     Combine eggs, cornstarch, sugar and a little of the milk to make a paste.

3.     Boil the milk with the sugar, temper the starch and bring back to a boil.

4.     Add butter, vanilla and coconut.

5.     Pour custard into pie pans and put into refrigerator.

6.     When cool, decorate with whipped cream and toasted coconut. (Or if you're like me, leave off the whipped cream.)

  

Banana "Napoleons"

Banana "Napoleons" - made June 23, 2012

I can't claim these as real napoleons since they technically only had 1 layer of puff pastry and napoleons are supposed to have multiple layers.  I originally started out with the intention of creating a napoleon with 3 layers of pastry, 2 layers of pastry cream and 2 layers of bananas.  Alas, I didn't take into account the puff pastry, well, puffing up quite so much.  They literally went airborne and it would've been impractical to try to mush them into 3 layers or else I'd end up with a crumbly mess.  Puff pastry doesn't take kindly to being mushed down.  Instead, I cut one piece through the middle, filled it with pastry cream and bananas and called it a dessert.

This is a simple one to make for those summer days when you'd rather be outside than in the kitchen.  It only requires about 15 minutes of baking time and you can prep the pastry cream ahead of time.  I cheated on the puff pastry by buying the ready-made kind by Pepperidge Farm.  I know, I know, I'm supposed to be more snobby than that but in this rare instance, the store-bought version was just fine, especially since I didn't have the time or materials to make puff pastry from scratch.

After you thaw the puff pastry according to the package directions, slice it with a pizza cutter (for straight cuts) in the size you want to make your dessert.  I sliced one sheet into thirds lengthwise, then each strip into thirds again to make rectangles.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar to taste and bake according to the package directions.  Bake until golden brown then let cool for about 5 minutes before slicing in half and layering with pastry cream and sliced bananas.  Serve immediately.

The advantage of this type of simple dessert is you only have your oven on for a short period of time, as opposed to longer baking times for cakes or pies or multiple cookie sheets, which may be a factor during hot summer months.  You can also make the pastry cream a day ahead and keep it in your refrigerator until you're ready to use it.

Now, another take on the same dessert is, before baking the puff pastry, you slice it in the size you want for each individual dessert, cover all but the edges with pastry cream, layer sliced bananas on top of the pastry cream and bake until the pastry is golden brown.  Because it's weighed down by the pastry cream and bananas, it won't get the same rise so it's a bit more manageable.  The bananas will also roast for more flavor.  Once they're baked, sprinkle the bananas with granulated sugar, brulee them then top with ice cream.  Serve immediately.  I have to confess, I liked the second way better because of the taste of the baked bananas and the puff pastry being easier to eat without crumbling.

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