Soft Baked Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Soft-Baked Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made February 17, 2010 from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle

Another good chocolate chip cookie recipe from Tish Boyle. This one is exceedingly easy to make, especially since it calls for melting the butter and you mix it by hand in no time. In fact, last night when I made it, it took me longer to drive less than a mile through road construction traffic on my way home than it did for me to mix up this batch of cookie dough when I did finally get home.

I made the dough, portioned it out in generous cookie dough balls and put them to freeze. Once they were frozen (and unlike the sour cream chocolate chip cookie dough, these froze obligingly), I put them in a ziploc freezer bag and baked them off tonight. Like with most chocolate chip cookie recipes, I made them with milk chocolate chips, my chips of choice, and this time I added M&M plain candies. I still had more than a bag leftover from Valentine's Day :).

These came out the way I like chocolate chip cookies - with crisp edges and chewy middles, especially since I underbaked them slightly. This is very similar in taste and texture to the Big Fat Chewy Cookie recipe I blogged about earlier. You can't go wrong with either recipe. Oh and don't be wimpy on the cookie size. As the recipe says, this will make 18 cookies only if you make them big enough.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into ¼-inch pieces
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugars. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, whisking until well blended. Whisk in the vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the dry ingredients until combined. Stir in the chocolate and walnuts. (The dough can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 4 days or frozen for up to a month.)
4. Using a ¼-cup measure or ice cream scoop, drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake, two sheets at a time, for 15 to 18 minutes, until the cookies are just brown around the edges; switch the position of the sheets halfway through baking. The centers of the cookies should be soft and slightly puffy. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets or wire racks.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days. Makes about 18 cookies.

Turtle Squares

Turtle Squares - made February 15, 2010 from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson

Whoever invented the concept of a "turtle", meaning the confection of chocolate, caramel and nuts (not the animal), needs to be saluted, thanked and just generally adored for sheer genius. This is another of those I-love-Lisa-Yockelson's-brownie-recipes sort of recipe. This was not only really easy to make but the brownies were moist and fudgy and the caramel topping was a nice touch to cut the richness of the chocolate with the sweetness of caramel. The only drawback to these brownies are the caramel prevents them from being stacked on top of each other and when you wrap them in plastic, the caramel sticks to the plastic so these don't make good care package brownies. But if you can eat them in person, they're worth the calories and those are the only types of brownies I like to eat.

1 cup unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened, alkalized cocoa
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
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 granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Caramel Nut Topping using chopped walnuts, pecans or macadamia nuts for sprinkling, for applying to the baked cake of brownies

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Film the inside of a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper. In a small mixing bowl, toss the chocolate chips with 1 teaspoon of the sifted mixture.
3. Whisk the melted butter and melted unsweetened chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl until thoroughly blended. Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and whisk until just combined, about 1 minute. Blend in the vanilla extract. Blend in the melted butter and chocolate mixture. Sift over the sifted ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula (or whisk) until the particles of flour are completely absorbed, making sure to scrape along the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl. The batter will be moderately thick. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan. Smooth over the top with a rubber spatula.
5. Bake the sweet for 33 to 38 minutes, or until set. Let the sweet stand in the pan on a cooling rack for 1 ½ hours.
6. Puddle the warm caramel topping on the top of the bar cookie layer, using a small teaspoon, or lightly spread it in patches, using a flexible palette knife. Immediately sprinkle the nuts on the caramel.
7. Let the caramel set for 45 minutes to 1 hour. Cut the entire cake into four quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares, using a small, sharp knife. Remove the turtle squares from the baking pan, using a small, offset metal spatula.

Caramel Nut Topping

25 vanilla-flavored caramels (about 8.2 ounces)
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon light (table) cream
Pinch of salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup whole roasted peanuts

1. Place the caramels, milk, cream and salt in a small, heavy saucepan (preferably enameled cast iron). Set over moderately low heat to moderate heat and cook for 10 to 13 minutes, until the caramels melt down, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. At first, it appears as if the candy won’t ever dissolve into a creamy, smooth and flowing mixture but it will.
2. When the caramels begin to melt, stir the mixture continuously until completely smooth. Simmer the mixture for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until lightly bubbly, then stir in the vanilla extract. Immediately and quickly spread, spoon or thickly drizzle the topping over the thoroughly baked and cooled sweet.
3. Sprinkle the chopped, roasted nuts to the caramel-covered surface as soon as the topping is applied and still warm.


Freshly baked, the squares keep for 2 days

Lemon Yogurt Poppy Seed Muffins

Lemon Yogurt Poppy Seed Muffins - made February 15, 2010 from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman

I'm currently reading the Corinna Chapman series by Kerry Greenwood. Corinna is a baker and she has a 15-year-old apprentice, Jason, who's a recovering heroin addict who'd been living on the streets until Corinna took him under her wing and gave him a chance. Jason had a talent for baking and an aptitude for making muffins that were better than Corinna's. They used the same recipe, same methods, same ovens yet Jason's muffins were always better than hers. Based on my own muffin experiences, I'm more like Corinna than I am like Jason.

In case you can't tell from the picture, which looks like a bunch of misshapen flat tops, those are actually lemon poppyseed muffins. Or rather, muffins gone awry. I just can't get the hang of muffins. I know all the tricks "by the book" such as stirring as little as possible, putting into an oven that's a higher temperature so you get that spring of the muffin top, etc. When I used to live and work in San Francisco, there was one place downtown that had the best muffins - the tops were brown and crunchy and the rest of the muffin was moist and flavorful. A Jason type probably made those. Once again, let me repeat: I'm not a Jason, I'm a Corinna. That means these were edible but honestly, just okay. I spread the batter amongst only 12 muffin cups which meant they ended up too full. The muffin tops spread all over the muffin tin but never really sprang up, despite the 2 teaspoons of baking powder in the batter. They didn't dome and they didn't brown. Taste-wise, they were only okay. I don't know if it was me or the recipe but based on my previous muffin track record, it might've been me. The only substitution I made was buttermilk instead of yogurt but even that shouldn't have torpedoed the recipe completely. Oh and I only made half the lemon syrup as I knew that would've been more than enough for 12 muffins and I was right.

ETA: I had to edit this entry as a couple of my coworkers who tried the muffins raved about them today while we were at lunch. I almost couldn't believe it. I thought I had totally blown it with these muffins and was a general muffin-baking failure. Just goes to show everyone has different tastes, lol.

Muffin Batter
¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup shortening (or use all butter)
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon, finely minced
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
1 cup plain yogurt
2 ¼ to 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
2 to 4 tablespoons poppy seeds

Lemon syrup
¾ cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 cup sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Arrange oven rack to middle position. Line a large 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners and place pan on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
2. In a mixer bowl, cream butter with shortening until smooth and creamy. Blend in sugar and the eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, zest, lemon extract, and yogurt. Blend well; then fold in flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and poppy seeds.
3. Using a large ice-cream scoop, scoop a generous amount of batter into prepared muffin cups. Make sure you load muffin cups full, but deposit one muffin first as a test – batter should stay in place. If it topples over, that means you should add a bit more flour to remaining batter.
4. Bake until nicely browned around edges and muffins are set, about 28 to 32 minutes.
5. For lemon syrup, simmer water, lemon juice, extract, and sugar over low heat 5 minutes. Cool well.
6. Brush baked poppy seed muffins 2 to 3 times with Lemon Syrup while they are still warm. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.

Italian Cream Cake

Italian Cream Cake - made February 13, 2010 from Fearless Baking by Elinor Klivans

Someone asked me for a recipe for Italian Cream Cake a few weeks ago and I had to admit I'd never really heard of it before, much less made one. But I went searching through my baking books out of curiosity (there's a cake I'd never heard of??) as to what it was. And discovered most of my baking books, not even the ones specializing in cakes, had it listed either. However I did find a recipe for it in 2 of my baking books and both had the same general ingredients. It appears Italian Cream Cake, at least in both these recipes, is made with a combination of butter and shortening with coconut and frosted with a cream cheese frosting. Okay, I can get behind that.

I tried this recipe from Fearless Baking by Elinor Klivans just because I had a higher success rate with her book than with the other one that contained a recipe for Italian Cream Cake as well. The only thing that surprised me in Elinor Klivan's recipe is she calls for margarine. Let me declare my prejudice now: I don't do margarine. While admittedly I have many baking prejudices - against poor nuts in brownies, fruitcake, no-name brand baking ingredients and cheap chocolate - margarine tops the list. I don't buy it, I don't bake or cook with it and I don't eat it. I'm all about butter. Using margarine...I can't even bring myself to think about it much less do it.

So it should come as no surprise that I substituted butter everywhere she calls for margarine. The cake turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. It's actually similar to Mrs. Fields' coconut cake recipe (blogged about earlier) except this one had more of a pound cake texture. Regardless, it was quite good. I tried a piece when it was still lukewarm and I hadn't frosted it yet - so good. It also holds up with the cream cheese frosting although the frosting recipe makes more than enough to thoroughly cover a Bundt cake. So I now know what Italian Cream Cake is but I will confess I don't know the difference between that and a regular coconut cake with cream cheese frosting.

Cake
5 large eggs, separated
2 cups granulated sugar
¼ pound (1 stick) soft margarine (not reduced-fat)
8 tablespoons (½ cup) soft vegetable shortening such as Crisco
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk (nonfat is fine)
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup coarsely chopped pecans
2 cups shredded sweetened coconut

Cream Cheese Frosting
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons (¾ stick) softened margarine (not reduced-fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups powdered sugar

1 ½ cups shredded sweetened coconut for sprinkling over the frosting

1. Mix the cake: Position an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter the bottom, sides and center tube of a 9 ½- or 10-inch fixed-bottom tube pan with at least 3 ¾”-high sides. Line the bottom with parchment or wax paper and butter the paper.
2. Have the egg whites ready in a clean, large bowl.
3. Put the granulated sugar, margarine, and vegetable shortening in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until lightened in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the mixture from the sides of the bowl and any that becomes caught in the beaters as needed throughout the mixing process. Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Stir in the vanilla to incorporate it. Put the buttermilk in a small bowl, add the baking soda and stir them together gently just to dissolve the baking soda. Decrease the speed to low, and in 5 additions (3 flour, 2 buttermilk), add the flour and buttermilk, alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Let each addition of buttermilk and flour incorporate before adding another. The batter may look curdled after the buttermilk additions. Scrape the sides of the bowl again after the last addition of flour. The batter will look smooth. Use a large spoon to stir in the pecans and coconut. Set the batter aside and immediately whip the egg whites.
4. Use an electric mixer with clean, dry beaters to beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until they look white, shiny and smooth. As the egg whites become firm, the movements of the beaters begin to form lines in them. If you stop the mixer and lift up the beaters, the whites should cling to the beaters rather than drip off them. Pour about half the whipped egg whites over the reserved batter and use a rubber spatula to fold the egg whites into the batter by digging down to the bottom of the bowl with the rubber spatula and bringing the 2 mixtures up and over each other to combine them. This lightens the batter slightly, but it is not necessary to fold every bit of egg white in at this point. Pour over the remaining egg whites and fold them into the batter until thoroughly incorporated and no white streaks remain. Use the rubber spatula to scrape all of the batter into the prepared pan. Smooth the top.
5. Bake the cake: Bake for about 1 hour, just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The top of the cake will be firm and golden brown. Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes. Use a small sharp knife to loosen the cake from the sides and the center tube of the pan. Hold a serving plate on top of the cake in the pan and invert the cake onto the plate. Carefully remove and discard the paper lining the cake bottom. Place a wire rack on the bottom of the cake and invert the cake onto it. The cake is now right side up. Cool the cake thoroughly on the wire rack before frosting it, about 2 hours.
6. Make the frosting: Put the cream cheese, margarine, and vanilla in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 1 minute until the mixture is smooth and the margarine and cream cheese are combined thoroughly. Decrease the speed to low and add the powdered sugar in 2 additions. Continue beating until the powdered sugar is incorporated and the frosting is smooth.

Lemon Ripple Crunch Cake - Take 2

Remember the Quasimodo lemon cake? I had to make it again with the modifications I wrote originally to see if I can make one that didn't look like Mt. Vesuvius erupting lemon lava. I used only 2/3 of the filling, swirled it more, baked it a little longer and let the cake cool almost entirely in the pan. It still sank in the middle near the center tube and you can see the filling sank to the bottom but at least this one was fairly presentable. Tasted good too and I really like the crunch topping. I may have to adapt that to future cakes.

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies - made February 5, 2010 from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle

I can never resist trying out a new recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I have 2 that I like to use but I regularly try out new ones "just in case" I stumble upon a really fantastic one. This one is different than most CCC recipes I've tried in that it uses sour cream. I was a little skeptical but the Red Velvet Cookies use sour cream so I figured that was a good sign. Wrong. I made the cookie dough, portioned it into dough balls and put them in the freezer. That's when I got the first inkling that these might not turn out the way I wanted. The cookie dough was soft and never actually froze. I kept them in the freezer for several days but when I baked them, they still weren't frozen. They were just really cold little dough balls. Sure enough, they spread upon being baked, about as much as if I hadn't frozen them at all and some ran into each other. These came out cakey and if you haven't been following my blog, let me say again that I don't like cakey chocolate chip cookies or cakey brownies. If I wanted cakey, I'd make a cake. Taste-wise, they were your standard chocolate chip cookie-tasting cookies but the texture is what makes them only "okay" in my book. I like my cookies to have crisp edges and chewy middles and be thick, not spread-in-the-oven-too-much thin.

I brought these to work and left them in the anonymity first in the kitchen of my work floor and the next day (baking off the rest of the dough) on a different floor since I wasn't all that thrilled to be associated with them. However, my coworkers regularly remind me I'm "too picky" and my taste buds are apparently more finicky than theirs. I was stopped in the hallway by 2 different people who really liked the cookies (go figure) and chastised by others for leaving them on a different floor as they didn't find out about them in time to go get some. I still maintain I was doing them a favor but they saw it differently. To a couple of others who did taste them and thought they were delicious, I had to promise them to bring in my "good" chocolate chip cookies so they'd know what I meant by a good one.



Sour Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup sour cream
1 cup raisins
1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
12 ounces bittersweet bar chocolate, chopped into ¼-inch or smaller pieces

1. Position two racks near the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter, sugars and vanilla extract at medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the sour cream, mixing until blended. At low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the raisins, nuts and chopped chocolate.
4. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart. Bake, two sheets at a time, 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown; switch the position of the sheets halfway through baking so that the cookies brown evenly. Transfer the cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature up to a week. Makes about 58 cookies.

Essence of Chocolate Squares

Essence of Chocolate Squares - made February 7, 2010 from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson

I posted on my friend Kendra's blog (www.kitchenreport.wordpress.com) that Baking by Flavor was one of my favorite baking books. This recipe is only one of the reasons why. Stare at that picture for a second. See how moist the brownie part looks? Then topped with luscious fudge frosting. Not only that but the frosting is almost of equal height as the brownie! How could that not completely seduce you into a chocolate coma? This is a two-brownie recipe - meaning with most brownies I make, no matter how well they turn out, I'm fine having one piece and giving the rest away. With this one, I'm likely to eat 2 pieces before letting the rest go.

The only drawback is these don't make good care package brownies because the frosting gets all mashed up. But no matter - you should make it yourself :). Once you take the brownies out of the oven, make the frosting and spread it over the warm brownie. You don't want to frost it like you do a regular cake because the frosting will start to melt (that's the point). Instead, drop it in large dollops over the brownie and cover the top quickly. There's plenty of frosting for cover. Then let it sit. Some of the butter might separate out because the frosting will get too warm over the cake. That's okay. Blot it with a paper towel and let it cool completely. Then workout like a fiend before you consume a piece. This brownie isn't for the faint of heart or the calorie conscious.

1 ¼ cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons unsweetened, alkalized cocoa
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
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
2 cups vanilla-scented granulated sugar (or use regular granulated sugar - vanilla scented is if you have a piece of vanilla bean and let it steep in the sugar canister for a few days)
1 ½ teaspoons intensified vanilla extract

Dense chocolate frosting for topping the fudge chocolate layer
3 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons unsifted confectioners’ sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ pound (8 tablespoons or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid
2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid.
¼ cup milk
2 tablespoon (light) table cream
1 teaspoon intensified vanilla extract

9 x 9 x 2” baking pan

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Film the inside of the baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. Sift the all-purpose flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
3. Whisk the melted butter and melted unsweetened chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.
4. Whisk the eggs in a large mixing bowl to blend well, about 1 minute, then add the vanilla-scented granulated sugar and whisk slowly for 1 minute, or until just combined. Whisk in the tepid melted chocolate-butter mixture. Blend in the vanilla extract. Sift over the dry ingredients and mix until all particles of flour are absorbed into the batter, using a whisk, wooden spoon or flat wooden paddle.
5. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan. Smooth over the top with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake the cake layer for 35 to 37 minutes or until just set. Cool the cake layer in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes while you make the frosting.
7. Place the confectioners’ sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Whisk the melted butter and melted unsweetened chocolate in a small mixing bowl until thoroughly combined. Add the milk, light cream, and vanilla extract. Using an electric hand mixer, beat the frosting on moderately low speed until creamy and completely combined. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl two to three times to keep the frosting even-textured. Do not beat the frosting on high speed or it will become airy and fluffy instead of creamy and dense.
8. Immediately and carefully, place large dollops of the frosting evenly over the surface of the hot bar cookie base and spread it, using a flexible offset spatula. Spread it smoothly and lightly, to keep the bar cookie layer intact.
9. Let the sweet cool in the pan on a rack for 3 to 4 hours, or until cooled and completely set. The cooling time is especially important in hot, humid or damp weather. Cut the cake into four quarters, then cut each quarter into four squares, using a small, sharp knife. Remove the chocolate squares from the baking pan, using a small, metal offset spatula.

Freshly baked, the squares keep for 4 to 5 days.