Ultimate Chocolate Brownies

Ultimate Chocolate Brownies - made January 22, 2010 from The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMosca and Mindy Fox

One of my favorite bumper sticker-type sayings is "I'd give up chocolate but I'm no quitter." Darn right. Quitting is for the weak :). Or those trying to lose weight and eat healthier. Aka people I should emulate but don't. I got this baking book from my friend Terri for Christmas and, as always, I had to try out the brownie recipe in it.

This recipe had relatively little chocolate compared to the amount of butter so I wondered how chocolatey it actually would be. The directions said to bake it for only 20 minutes but at 20 minutes, there was still raw batter on the toothpick I inserted close to the center so I left it in for a total of 30 minutes. You can tell from the picture that it's still pretty fudgy. This is a straightforward, basic fudgy brownie. After the chocolate and butter have melted, mixing it up took less time than for the oven to preheat. I made this Friday before work and had it out of the oven and cooling before I even took my 8 am conference call. How's that for quick and efficient? If you're ever pressed for time and want to make a quick batch of brownies, this one's pretty good to make.

My friend Kendra asked if I had a brownie recipe made with cocoa and I thought I did but in checking around, most of them are either made with unsweetened or semisweet chocolate and some also added cocoa and some didn't but I don't have a recipe I use regularly that's just cocoa. I think it's because most of those recipes tend to be for cakey brownies while I prefer mine dense and fudgy. As I've said before, if I wanted cakey brownies, I'd make a chocolate cake. However, if you're ever inclined to do a substition, for every 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate that a recipe calls for, you can substitute 3 tablespoons of cocoa and 1 tablespoon of shortening. I've never tried it since I'm never without unsweetened chocolate (seriously.....never) but that's what my baking books say.

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for the pan
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ cups sugar
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 heaping cup semisweet chocolate chip

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and line the bottom with parchment.
2. Bring about 2 inches of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Put the butter and the unsweetened chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set it over (but not touching) the simmering water. Stir the mixture frequently with a rubber spatula until it is completely melted and combined. Remove the pan from the heat but keep the bowl over the water to keep the mixture warm.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar and vanilla. In another bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Pour the warm chocolate mixture over the egg mixture and whisk together. With a rubber spatula, quickly fold in the flour mixture. Fold in the chocolate chips and immediately pour the mixture into the prepared baking pan, spreading it evenly.
4. Bake for 10 minutes. Then rotate the pan and bake until the brownies are shiny and cracked on top, 10 minutes more. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let it cool completely. Then cut into 1 ½-inch squares.
5. Keep the brownies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days or frozen, well wrapped, for up to 1 month.

The Best One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies

The Best One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies - made January 19, 2010 from Sticky, Messy, Chewy, Gooey

I'll have to rename this recipe because, once again, I went off the reservation with the add-ins - I used milk chocolate chips instead of semisweet and Heath Bar toffee bits instead of pecans. But everything else for the cookie dough I kept the same. This is just another variation on the standard chocolate chip cookie. The dough is nice to work with, not too sticky or soft although you do freeze the dough first before baking. But I do that anyway as standard procedure. The cookies did spread so they didn't stay thick but the taste was pretty good. Ten minutes out of the oven and the edges are crisp, the middle is chewy and the chocolate chips are melty. The toffee bits add a nice little crunch too. Even when these cookies are cool, the edges still retain some of the crispness.

2 cups pecan halves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 ¼ cups bleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Place the pecans on a large baking sheet and toast in the oven until they are warm and fragrant, 6 to 9 minutes. Transfer to a plate and let cool completely.
2. Place the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl, and microwave uncovered on high for 1 minute. Remove from the microwave and stir until completely melted. Using a large wooden spoon, stir both sugars into the melted butter. When combined, add the salt, vanilla and eggs. Stir until smooth. Stir the flour, baking soda and baking powder into the batter just until incorporated and a soft dough forms. Carefully fold in the chocolate chunks and cooled toasted pecans.
3. Use a 2-ounce self-releasing ice-cream scoop or a ¼ cup measuring cup to measure out the cookie dough. Place the cookie dough balls on a baking sheet and refrigerate until firm, 45 to 60 minutes. Towards the end of the chilling time, return the oven to 350˚F.
4. Place the chilled dough balls on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. (I find 9 cookies per sheet to be about right to allow for a little spreading and for the cookies to bake evenly.)
5. Bake until the cookies are crisp and golden around the edges but still a little soft in the centers without being gooey, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and let cool slightly. Using a large metal spatula, transfer the cookies from the baking sheets to the wire racks and let cool to room temperature.
6. Stored in self-sealing plastic bags, these cookies will keep for 2 days at room temperature. They can also be frozen for up to 2 weeks. You can prepare the cookie dough balls and, after they are chilled, store the unbaked cookies in the freezer for up to 1 month. The cookies can be baked straight from the freezer but will take a few minutes longer.

American-Style Pork Ribs

American-Style Pork Ribs - made January 18, 2010 from Modern Classics Book 1 by Donna Hay

Three dishes in one day, not counting the cookie dough I made today and will be baking tomorrow night - stay tuned. This was the easiest of the three. I only used 2 1/2 lbs of ribs instead of the 5 lbs the recipe called for since I couldn't imagine eating 5 lbs of ribs but I did make the full recipe of the sauce. I made the sauce first thing this morning and let the ribs marinate in it for about 8 hours. The recipe says to bake the ribs for 40 minutes but at 40 minutes, they still seemed pretty tough. My mom makes ribs that come out fork tender and I know she said she bakes them for a long time. I ended up baking these for about 2 hours. They're still not as tender as I could've wished but the sauce was really delicious. Next time I may try making these in a crock pot with boneless ribs and let them get tender that way.

I used my mom's trick of lining the roasting pan with foil. When you bake the ribs on the wire rack in the pan, some of the marinade/basting sauce drips into the pan and caramelizes then burns, especially when it's in the oven for 2 hours. But with the foil lining, all you have to do is peel it off and throw it away. Minimal scrubbing needed for the roasting pan. I basted this every 10-15 minutes. I probably could've left the ribs in the oven longer than 2 hours to tenderize them even more but I'd run out of marinade to keep basting with and I didn't want them to dry out.

5 lbs American pork ribs
2/3 cup tomato puree
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
1 ½ teaspoons smoky paprika
2 cloves garlic, crushed

1. Cut the lengths of ribs in half. Combine the tomato puree, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, chili powder, paprika and garlic in a large non-metallic bowl. Add the ribs and coat well with marinade. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.
2. Preheat the oven to 400˚F. Place the ribs on wire racks in two baking trays, reserving the marinade. Bake the ribs for 40 minutes, or until well browned, brushing frequently with the marinade. Serve with crispy roast potatoes and a green salad.

Serves 4

Cake Donuts

Cake Donuts - made January 18, 2010 from Bread for Breakfast

I hardly ever make doughnuts. I have nothing against them and they're generally not hard to make but they usually call for more time than I normally have. But Hildy was talking about doughnuts on Facebook yesterday and I had today off so suddenly I wanted a doughnut and had the time to make them. I never actually drive to go get doughnuts - while I'll eat them when they're in front of me, I don't love them enough to make an effort to go somewhere to get them. The first time I ever had a Krispy Kreme doughnut was when I walked by one in a Las Vegas casino and decided to see what all the fuss was about. Beyond that I never actually go to my neighborhood Krispy Kreme for a doughnut.

My earliest childhood memory of doughnut making was my mom taking the tube can of Pillsbury biscuits, cutting out the center with a small circular cookie cutter and deep frying the biscuit dough. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and you had instant doughnuts. My taste buds have matured (and become snobbier) since then but as a kid, I remember them being pretty good.

I've had this recipe typed up for awhile. What I do with my 200+ baking books is go through them, mark which ones I want to try and type them up in a Word doc so I have a soft copy that I can add pictures to as well as my notes of when I made the recipe, what I thought of it and what I would do differently next time. Whenever I have some time and when I'm in the mood, I type up all the recipes I want to try. I have file folders with the names of the recipe books and as soon as I try a recipe, I insert a picture that I took of the finished product into the recipe itself then file the Word doc in the file folder with the name of the cookbook I got it from. For the recipes I've typed up but haven't made yet, I file in a folder labeled (rightly enough) "Still Need to Make". That file folder has dozens of recipes and I can type them up faster than I can make them. Whenever I'm in the mood to bake and want to try something new, I check that file folder first to see what's appealing. So I was glad to finally get a chance to make this recipe since I typed it up several years ago and it's just been sitting in that folder.

The dough itself was easy to put together this morning. I did the substitions the recipe said were acceptable and used half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour as well as half brown sugar and half granulated sugar. The recipe calls for chilling the dough for a couple of hours so it won't absorb too much oil when fried. I actually chilled it for longer than that because I was doing other stuff when the 2 hours were up. In any case, I found this dough really soft to work with. It wasn't even possible to knead it without adding too much flour, something the recipe cautions against. Given how soft the dough was, I didn't even bother with a rolling pin but floured a cutting board, grabbed a chunk of the dough and flattened it out with floured palms. I floured two round cookie cutters and cut out the doughnuts and doughnut holes. Because the dough was so soft, it was hard to unstick the cut out dough from the cookie cutter and still retain its round shape.

While I was dealing with the dough, I had the oil heating up in a large pot. When you fry doughnuts or anything similar, the temperature of your oil is critical. Too hot and it'll burn the outside while leaving the inside raw. Not hot enough and your doughnut (or whatever) will absorb too much oil while it's frying and take too long to cook. Also, be aware that the temperature of your oil will change - the more you add to be fried, the lower the temp goes. Don't add too many without waiting for the oil to heat back up. Don't overcrowd the doughnuts and it's best to add several at once so they get done around the same time and you don't have to worry about which one has been in the longest and needs to come out first. Just because your frying pan is big doesn't mean you have to cover every inch with something to be fried.
As an aside, while I was frying the doughnuts, I couldn't help thinking of the book "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Almanzo came in from doing his chores and his mother was frying doughnuts. She'd twist them, drop them in the hot oil (or fat/lard) and they'd rise to the top, turning over to cook on both sides without her "wasting time" turning them. I'd always found that fascinating and always pictured it in my mind's eye. Almanzo's mother didn't hold with the new-fangled concept of a round doughnut that didn't turn itself.

Anyway, back to these doughnuts. I made the cinnamon sugar for them, put it in a ziploc bag (since I didn't have a lunch bag) and dropped the newly fried doughnuts into the bag to shake and give them the cinnamon sugar coating. I have mixed feelings about the end results of this recipe. Because the dough was so fragile and difficult to work with, the fried doughnuts also didn't have much substance to them. I'm used to cake doughnuts being like the ones you buy in the store like the Entemann's brand - these were not as dense or cakey as those. They also weren't light like yeasted doughnuts but some cross inbetween. The cinnamon sugar coating was a mistake because it totally overwhelmed the doughnuts and you just got crunch with cinnamon sugar. I also tried a doughnut hole without the coating and it was better. The outer part was crunchy which was good. The inner part was somewhat cakey although the outer layer of the inner part (just beneath the crunchy exterior), while not greasy, looked like it had absorbed some oil. The flavor actually wasn't bad but these doughnuts tasted better cool or room temperature rather than warm. Not sure I'd make these again. If I had to eat something fried, I'd rather have zeppoles.

3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour (can be half whole wheat flour)
1 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon vanilla powder
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or cardamom
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 large whole egg plus 2 egg yolks
1 cup sugar (can be half light brown sugar, which is especially good if you are making whole wheat donuts)
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/3 cup sour cream
1 cup cultured buttermilk
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
About 1 quart vegetable oil, for deep frying

1. In a medium bowl, stir together the all-purpose and cake flours, baking powder, vanilla powder, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt
2. In the workbowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer, cream the egg, yolks, and sugar on low speed until thick and lemon colored, about 1 minute. Add the melted butter and sour cream and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 separate additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla extract. The dough will be very soft. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours. This chilling before frying prevents the dough from absorbing too much oil while the donuts cook.
3. Using a large rubber spatula or a plastic dough card, scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead a few times, like for biscuit dough, just until it holds together, and keeping it as soft as possible. With a rolling pin, quickly roll out the dough to a thickness of ½ inch (the donuts will puff during frying). Do not add too much flour or over-handle at this point or the donuts will be tough. Using a 2 ¾” donut cutter or two smooth-edged biscuit cutters, one large and one small (to make the hole) dipped in flour, cut out the donuts.
4. In a deep heavy 4-quart Dutch oven, wok or portable electric deep-fat fryer, pour the vegetable oil to a depth of 2 inches. Using a deep-fry thermometer, heat to 375°F (I do this while I am rolling and cutting out the donuts so that the dough does not warm up). Place a clean brown paper bag or a few layers of paper towels on a baking sheet at the side of the stove for draining the donuts. Carefully test the oil by dropping in a leftover scrap of dough; the oil is hot enough when it puffs immediately. Carefully slide 2 or 3 pieces of dough (don’t forget the holes) off a metal pancake turner into the hot oil. It is important not to crowd them. Turn a few times with a large slotted metal spoon when the donut rises to the surface; cook until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side (1 minute for the holes). Remove with the slotted spoon to drain, and cool to room temperature.

Chocolate Glaze

Enough for 21 cake donuts

1 ½ ounces (1 ½ squares) unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of powdered espresso powder or instant coffee granules
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon boiling water

1. In the top of a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter over simmering water
2. In a small bowl, place the confectioners’ sugar and coffee. Pour in the melted chocolate and vanilla. Using a whisk, beat well until smooth. Adjust the consistency of the glaze by adding boiling water a few drops at a time, just enough to keep the glaze spreadable.
3. Using a small metal spatula, spread the glaze on the top of each donut, letting some run down the sides. Let stand until cool and the glaze harden.

Cinnamon Sugar

Enough for 1 bunch of cake donuts

1 cup granulated sugar
2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon, or to taste

1. Place the sugar and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process for 15 seconds.
2. Pour the cinnamon-sugar into a clean brown paper bag (a lunch sack is great). Drain the fried donuts for 1 minute, and then, while still warm, place one at a time while still warm in the paper bag and gently shake to coat with the mixture. Remove from the bag and cool.

Lemon and Parmesan Risotto

Lemon and Parmesan Risotto - made January 18, 2010 from Modern Classics Book 1 by Donna Hay

I love risotto (Asian --> rice = 'nuff said). I love it even more that it's relatively simple to make and even I can make good risotto. I got this recipe from Patricia, a friend of mine from eBay who introduced me to Donna Hay's cookbooks. I haven't made a lot from her books but the directions are pretty easy and there aren't a lot of ingredients to most of them, once again bringing this into my realm of possibility to make.

With this recipe, I find patience is the key. You have to add the chicken stock (I used Trader Joe's chicken broth) a cup at a time and wait until the rice absorbs most of it before adding the next cup. Don't cheat this step as the rice needs time to cook and absorb the liquid and you want to dry it out enough before adding the next cup or you'll end up with either rice porridge instead of risotto or clumpy risotto. This is a perfect dish to make when you're multi-tasking. Add the cup of broth, give it a few stirs and keep doing whatever else you need to do. Check it regularly and you'll know when to add the next cup of broth. I usually wait until the risotto is about the consistency I'd want to eat it before I add more broth.

I only used half an onion for this batch since I'm not overly fond of onions (although I will eat them in the risotto since they end up being the same consistency and texture as the rice) and added chunks of chicken breasts for protein. I added the raw chicken at the step when you stir the rice into the butter-olive oil-onion mixture and let it cook a bit with the rice before adding the first cup of chicken broth. The recipe says it serves 4 but that means pretty generous servings for 4 people. I'd estimate 6-8 servings is closer to reality.

20 g (¾ oz) butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 ½ cups (2 ¼ pints) chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups Arborio or other risotto rice
3 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
½ cup finely grated parmesan cheese
20 g (¾ oz) butter, extra
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the butter, oil and onion and cook for 6-8 minutes or until soft and golden. Place the stock in a separate saucepan. Cover and bring to a slow simmer.
2. Add the rice and lemon rind to the onion mixture, stirring over medium heat for 2 minutes or until the rice is translucent.
3. Add the hot stock 1 cup at a time, stirring continuously, until each cup of stock is absorbed and the rice is al dente (around 25-30 minutes). To serve, stir through the parmesan, extra butter, salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Serves 4



 

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Scones

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Scones - made January 17, 2010 from the May 2002 issue of Chocolatier Magazine

Scones are pretty easy to make. I whipped up this batch this morning before church, chilled them and then baked them while I was working out. Most scone recipes call for patting the scone dough into a disk and cutting into wedges. I usually cheat that step and use my mini scone pan. No messing around with the dough and I can make uniform sizes. It also means I bake it for a slightly shorter amount of time since the scone pan makes smaller scones. It was hard to tell when these were done. I tried the toothpick test but I still wasn't sure so I took them out after almost 20 minutes and that seemed to be about right.

These scones turned out cakey which I hadn't quite expected but it makes sense given the amount of baking powder the recipe calls for. It's also not very sweet at all (note there's no sugar in the actual scone dough itself). I didn't have coarse sugar to sprinkle on top but I should have as that's probably where the sweetness would come from to offset the chocolate flavor of the scone. The chocolate chips helped to give it some sweetness though. These are probably best eaten fresh out of the oven as the top was crisp and the scone was cakey rather than flaky. I tried one and it was good but packaged up the rest for the freezer to portion out at a later date. Those I will likely want to heat up before consuming as they'll probably taste better than being chilled or at room temperature.

Scones
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
½ cup heavy cream
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 ounces Lindt bittersweet chocolate, cut into ¼” pieces

Topping
Coarse sugar

1. In bowl of food processor, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Pulse until well blended. Add butter chunks and process for a few seconds, just until butter is size of peas. Transfer mixture to large bowl and stir in sugar.
2. In small bowl, whisk together heavy cream, eggs, and vanilla extract. Pour cream mixture over dry ingredients, add chopped chocolate, and stir to form dough. Knead dough lightly in bowl about 10 times.
3. Scrape dough onto lightly floured work surface and shape into 7 ½” round disc. Transfer round to plate, cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 375˚F. Remove dough from refrigerator and cut round into 8 wedges. Transfer scones to ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle tops with coarse sugar. Bake for 22-25 minutes, until set. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake

Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake - made January 16, 2010 from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy

I think this is the 5th recipe I've tried from this baking book and it's another winner. I have several recipe books published by bakeries and some of them are hit or miss on how good the recipes really are (or not). But I need to look up where The Sweet Melissa Bakery is so I can visit it someday because so far her cookbook has been spectacular. It's rivaling the baking books from Magnolia Bakery and Buttercup Bake Shop in terms of consistently good recipes and, having visited both Magnolia and Buttercup in Manhattan, I love those two bakeries. I may also love the Sweet Melissa Bakery if her recipes keep turning out so well.

While this recipe has "walnut" in the title, your eyes aren't deceiving you that there aren't any walnuts in the picture. There aren't any because I generally don't like nuts in cakes and I specifically don't like walnuts at all. But this was fine without them. The recipe calls for baking the pound cake in a single large loaf pan but I made it in 3 small loaf pans. I like using the smaller sizes because they bake faster and it's nicer to present and give away to several different people as a single small loaf than a large loaf cut into pieces. Just don't forget to adjust the baking time. I baked the small loaf pans in about 40-45 minutes. This one's mostly for my parents, except for the one I had to cut for the taste test. This has a perfectly balanced lemon flavor, is moist without being too dense and has a perfect pound cake texture with a tender crumb. I should know because I ate a second taste test piece just to be sure :).

Lemon Walnut Sour Cream Pound Cake

For the cake
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup vegetable shortening
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup sour cream
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

For the glaze:
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup fresh lemon juice

1. Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter and flour a 1 ½-quart loaf pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, shortening, sugar and zest, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the lemon juice, almond extract, and vanilla and mix to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter in two batches, alternating with the sour cream. Do not overmix. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Gently fold in the walnuts, saving some to sprinkle on top.
4. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes before inverting onto a rack for glazing.
5. For the glaze: In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice and heat to a high simmer. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes, or until reduced by half.
6. Using a pastry brush, brush the hot glaze on the still-warm unmolded cake. Brush again, if desired, after 15 minutes. Let cool before slicing.