Nothing Bundt Cakes - red velvet cake

Red Velvet Bundt Cake from Nothing Bundt Cakes - July 12, 2010

With my sweet tooth, it should come as no surprise that I like trying out different bakeries. I've already admitted I've done a foodie trip to New York City for exactly that purpose. I also try out local places, of course. Today's experiment was Nothing Bundt Cakes in Los Gatos. One of my coworkers, Rhuwena, ordered the red velvet cake for my birthday to serve in our boss' staff meeting this afternoon. It's no secret that I HATE being the center of birthday attention. It's just not my thing. I'm more of a quiet introvert and I celebrate my birthday pretty low key. I'm not a "HEY! It's my birthday!!!" kind of person. So I was half-mortified when they all broke into song at the beginning of staff today. Thankfully, I control the staff agenda so I got us moving right along to the scheduled topic, lol.

I also cut and passed out slices of this cake. One bite and I was hooked. OMG, this is an awesome red velvet cake. Perfect texture, moist without being gummy, flavorful with the perfect addition of the chocolate chips. I told Rhuwena I forgave her as soon as I took a bite of this cake. The picture above is all that's left of the cake today. Saving one piece for lunch tomorrow and chowing down on the other piece for dessert tonight.

http://www.nothingbundtcakes.com/index.php - I will have to visit them in person in Los Gatos and see what else to try :).

One of our VPs had a birthday celebration last week and trusty Rhuwena ordered a couple of cakes for his birthday (thankfully my cake celebration was way more low key than his, ha), also from Nothing Bundt Cakes - carrot cake and chocolate chocolate chip. I tried the carrot cake first and it was good. Then I had a piece of the chocolate chocolate chip and it was great. While I'm fond of carrot cake, the chocolate chocolate chip won hands down. It was moist and had a good chocolate flavor without being in your face or overwhelming about it. Seriously, I really must go visit this place before too long. After another slew of workouts to offset the calories, of course.

Here's a pic of the two cakes - the carrot cake is on top and the chocolate is on the bottom:

Chicken Parmesan aka Dinner in a Bag

Chicken Parmesan - made July 11, 2010 from Food Network and Giada DeLaurentis via my cousin Christine

I met my cousin Christine and her son for dinner last Friday and Christine's parting gift to me was "Dinner in a Bag" - or maybe even a purse since it looks like one but is actually an insulated bag. Christine knows my penchant for non-cooking and is determined to get me to cook successfully. So she had the inspired idea of prepping a simple recipe for me to make. Simple because she already did the leg work of making the marinara sauce and all I had to do was put it together. Should be simple, right?? Ha! You don't know me :). Although I do have to crack up that she thought of it and my mom had a good laugh when I told her about it. She knows my non-cooking skills well and has been trying to get me to cook for years. Christine included the frozen ziploc of marinara sauce, the package of chicken breasts, the herbs needed (which I never have since I don't cook) and the recipe.


True to her word, the recipe was pretty simple. I pounded the chicken breasts a bit first since I do have actual experience that that works to make the chicken tender. I chopped up the herbs and combined with the olive oil which thankfully I did have from past cooking attempts. Fried the chicken (note to self: really need a splatter screen if I intend to keep cooking in the future) after brushing it with the herb-oil mixture. I don't have a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven so I simply fried the chicken until the outside was brown then laid them in a Le Creuset rectangular baking dish, covered with the marinara sauce and sprinkled the Parmesan cheese on top. The recipe calls for mozarella as well and I thought I had some in the freezer but it turns out I only had the Parmesan. Oops. But I'm sure it'll still taste good! Here's the pre-bake shot:


At first I covered the dish with foil so the cheese wouldn't burn since it's going into a 500 degree oven. I never bake at 500 degrees so I didn't even know until today that my oven does go to 500. I forget how long I had this in the oven but it was until at least the cheese had somewhat melted. I took the foil cover off and let it sit in the oven for longer after I turned it off. Here's the post-bake shot:

Then, because my cooking skills do extend to boiling water, I boiled some whole wheat fettuccine noodles to make a bed for the chicken parmesan. I actually haven't tasted this yet as I'm writing this because the funny thing about me is when I cook, I cook for the next day or days. I've never actually gotten into the habit of cooking then eating (I know, I know, I'm strange). I ate dinner (leftovers from a Pho lunch with my parents after church) then cooked this. So it's too late and I'm too full to eat it now but this is lunch tomorrow - thanks Christine! I'm sure it's delicious.

Here's the link to Giada's recipe on foodnetwork: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/chicken-parmesan-recipe/index.html

Miss Milton's Lovely Fudge Pie

Miss Milton's Lovely Fudge Pie - made July 10, 2010 from Sweet Serendipity by Stephen Bruce

Back in 2007, I went to New York City with a friend on a foodie trip. She went for the restaurants and I went for the bakeries and desserts. I was delighted to go visit bakeries I'd only heard about and drooled over. It wasn't my first trip to Manhattan and it won't be my last even though my staying power in the Big Apple is usually 3 days (tops). It was on that trip that I sampled Magnolia Bakery (brownies to die for), Buttercup Bake Shop (red velvet cake!), Bruce's Bakery (meh, no standouts), Billy's (banana cake with cream cheese frosting - YUM), Dylan's Candy Store (I was actually indifferent to candy), the Shake Shack (best burgers ever), and a few other places I can't remember at the moment. But I do remember having lunch at Serendipity and having their frrrrrozen hot chocolate (also yummy). Part of the fun of the trip is I either already had or later bought the cookbooks from the places I went to. The Sweet Serendipity cookbook was one of them.

No, I don't have the wrong picture up there even though the title is for a fudge pie and those look like brownies. That's because I had already packed my pie tins and they're somewhere in one of the multiple boxes in my garage labeled "Baking Pans". I don't know which one. So I used a 8" square baking pan instead. Once the "pie" had cooled, I just cut them into squares. So technically I guess this isn't a pie but more like a soft brownie. It has a very nice chocolate flavor and definitely a soft texture without being too mushy or gooey - as long as you don't overbake it. The original recipe calls for serving it with raspberry coulis but I didn't have any raspberries and I didn't bake this to serve it at a dinner but rather to try the recipe and kill time because I woke up too early on a Saturday and needed something to do. It's very easy to put together and bake so it wasn't a bad way to kill some time.

Note: although I usually try to dry up a plain chocolate recipe with some kind of add-ins like caramel or chopped up candy, the batter for this is pretty liquidy and I didn't think any add-ins would hold up well, i.e. they'd just sink to the bottom and be too jarring in the pie. So I left it plain and was glad I did. You can use this as a base for ice cream - works well with a warm pie and cold ice cream.

Unsalted butter for the pan
¼ cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold
4 ounces (4 squares) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream
Confectioners’ sugar, to garnish

For the coulis:
1 pound fresh or frozen raspberries (if frozen, thaw completely)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 tablespoons sugar

1. To make the pie: preheat your oven to 325˚F. Butter an 8-inch round pie pan and line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a double boiler over hot water, carefully melt the butter and chocolate, stirring to mix. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla and sour cream together. Add the melted chocolate and mix completely. Fold in the flour mixture and stir only until the batter is uniformly brown.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, just until the batter is set and no longer jiggles when touched. Do not overbake; it should be moist and slightly gooey.
4. While the pie bakes, make the coulis: puree the berries and pass through a sieve. (If you are using fresh berries, you may wish to reserve a few to use as a garnish when serving.) Mix the cornstarch with a little cold water until smooth. Place the berry puree, the cornstarch, and the sugar in a saucepan and heat to simmer. Cool 1 minute, then cool. Chill before using.
5. After removing the piece from oven, allow it to cool completely in the pan. Carefully turn it out of the pan, remove the parchment paper, and dust lightly with confectioners’ sugar. Serve warm or room temperature with raspberry coulis.

Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies

Mom's Peanut Butter Cookies - made July 8, 2010 from Caprial's Desserts by Caprial Pence

Need to catch up my blog - between work and deliberately being out of the house while it's up for sale, I haven't been able to do a lot of baking. When I am home, it seems like people still come and go to look at the place and of course, you have to let them have at it even though it's clearly beyond the posted hours on the listing (have to suck it up since the important thing is to sell the place).

The "Mom" referred to in this recipe isn't my mom. I assume it's Caprial Pence's mom since this is from her cookbook. I still have a couple of bags of peanut butter chips to use up and some peanut butter hence why I seem to be making the same things. I have multiple recipes for peanut butter cookies and now seems like a good time to try a few of them. This is your standard peanut butter cookie, the butter version, which will make it taste like a peanut butter version of a chocolate chip cookie. The traditional peanut butter cookie has shortening in it and will be drier and more crisp in terms of texture. I prefer the chewy so I go with recipes with butter in them. This was a good cookie, pretty standard in terms of peanut butter cookies. It wasn't a total standout but my taste buds are pretty jaded. If you want a fast, easy recipe for peanut butter cookies, you probably can't go wrong with this one.

1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup good-quality peanut butter
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Grease a sheet pan well and set aside.
2. Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs and vanilla extract, then add the peanut butter and mix well. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed until all of the ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth.
3. Using a tablespoon or a small ice cream scoop, form the dough in ½” balls and place on the prepared pan. Flatten them with a fork. Bake just until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack or paper towels and let cool completely.

Butter Toffee Crunch Shortbread

Butter Toffee Crunch Shortbread - first made March 11, 2002 from In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley

If you like butter, butterscotch and toffee, this is the shortbread for you. And even if you don't, try this anyway - you won't be sorry. Sometimes a good shortbread is hard to make. If you underbake it, it's too chewy and doesn't have the "snap" in the texture. If you overbake it, it's too hard or crisp and the butter can taste burnt. Follow the instructions exactly, even if it "looks" done. Trust me. The times I've not done this shortbread correctly is when I've taken it out too soon. With my oven, I tend to take this out at 55-65 minutes, depending on how it looks and whether it's brown all over.

I chop the butterscotch chips into smaller pieces, sometimes in halves, sometimes in thirds, as much as I'm able to with that little chip. It's a pain and somewhat time consuming but I like to have the chips roughly the same size as the toffee bits. For the toffee bits, I use the Heath Bar toffee bits that come in a bag, sans the chocolate covering. For shortbread, I like the pure butter and toffee taste without the chocolate. The rich taste of the butter stands on its own. Make sure your butter is fresh. Also, as the recipe says, cut into pieces while it's still warm. Otherwise it won't cut cleanly when it's cool and will break unevenly instead.

Nothing smells as good as this shortbread in the oven. If you ever want to perfume your house before company comes over, time this recipe to bake an hour or so before your guests arrive. Even once they're baked, they're very fragrant and mouth-watering. I discovered this recipe years ago and don't make it often enough because I could eat more than I should of it. I'm planning to make it this week, barring any late nights at work, as I seem to have a plethora of butterscotch chips I need to use up.

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup rice flour or substitute cornstarch if rice flour is unavailable
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups (¾lb) fresh unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons fruit sugar or superfine sugar
6 tablespoons tightly packed light brown sugar
¾ cup miniature butterscotch chips
¾ cup English toffee pieces (available in the baking sections of most supermarkets)

Additional unsalted butter for greasing the pan

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13-inch metal baking pan. Line the bottom and up the two long sides with a piece of parchment paper. Leave about a 1-inch overhang over the sides to make removing the cooled shortbread easier. Sift the all-purpose flour and rice flours together with the salt and set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, beat the butter until very smooth. Gradually add the sugars and cream the mixture until it is very light and fluffy. If using a mixer, transfer the creamed butter-sugar mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture, about ½ cup at a time, fully incorporating each addition before adding the next. Use your fingers to knead the final portion of dry ingredients into the dough, keeping your palms off the dough as much as possible, so the warmth doesn’t turn the butter oily. When the last of the flour is fully blended, add the butterscotch and toffee bits and knead them into the dough until they are evenly distributed.
3. Press the dough firmly into the prepared pan and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth the surface. Prick the dough all over with a fork and set the pan in the center of the oven. Bake the shortbread for about 45 minutes, then prick the dough again to release any trapped air. Return the pan to the oven for another 15 or 30 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown, and the center feels just firm to the touch.
4. The shortbread will set to a very firm biscuit as it cools, so it must be cut while it is still warm. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 7 or 8 minutes, then run a sharp paring knife around the outside of the dough to loosen the edges. Make two long cuts in the shortbread, dividing it evenly into three rectangles, each cut beginning and ending at a short side of the pan. Cutting from long side to long side, cut the rectangles into about ¾-inch wide fingers, wiping the knife on a clean towel between each cut, as it gets sticky and can pull and tear the cooling shortbread.
5. Leave the fingers to cool completely in the pan, then re-cut and transfer them to airtight tins. This shortbread can be frozen before or after it is baked. Freeze the dough pressed into the prepared pan, well wrapped with plastic and aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, without disturbing the wrapping, and bake directly from the refrigerator. The baking time may have to be increased by a few minutes to compensate for the chilled dough. Freeze the cooled fingers in airtight bags or containers, layering between sheets of waxed or parchment paper and wrapping the whole tin or container with aluminum foil. Thaw the entire package, without removing the wrapping, at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies - made June 20, 2010 from Monster Cookies by Helen Witty

I'm cleaning out my cupboards (and drawers) of ingredients in preparation for my upcoming move so I'm intent on using up my ingredients. Hence you may be seeing a lot of recipes involving peanut butter, oatmeal and/or chocolate chips.

This one is from a cookbook my cousin Bernadette gave me years ago for its chocolate chip cookie recipe. I tried this peanut butter recipe for the first time and got good results. It's a nice, basic peanut butter cookie recipe. I don't know that it's a real standout amongst all my other peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipes but it's pretty good. If you underbake it, it's very soft and moist. If you bake it just right, the edges are a bit crisp and the middles are more cakey. I like to underbake it even though it makes for a more fragile cookie. I had a bag of combined peanut butter and milk chocolate chips so that's what I used. It worked pretty well. I didn't have any orange juice on hand so I made these with water but someday I'd like to try the orange juice version and see what the difference is.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup chunk-style peanut butter
½ cup (packed) light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 tablespoons orange juice or water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 to 1 ½ cups (6 to 9 ounces) semisweet chocolate pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F, with an oven rack in the center position. Lightly grease one or two baking sheets if making small cookies. For the larger sizes, cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and grease it lightly. (You’ll need extra sheets of lightly greased foil for subsequent batches.)
2. In a mixing bowl (using a wooden spoon) or in the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the peanut butter until the mixture is soft. Beat in the brown sugar, then the granulated sugar, beating after each addition until the mixture is light. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then beat in the orange juice or water and vanilla.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, then stir in the chocolate pieces.
4. To make 9-inch maximonsters: Divide the dough into four equal portions. Using a 7-inch pot lid or round baking pan as a pattern, mark with a fingertip a circle onto the greased surface of each foil-covered baking sheet. (If you have only one baking sheet, form the dough for subsequent cookies on sheets of greased foil, then slip each in turn onto the cooled sheet after baking.) Heap each portion in the center of the ring marked on the foil. With your hand or a rubber spatula, pat the dough for each cookie out into a neat circle inside the marking. Bake the cookies one at a time. If you want to bake fewer than four maximonsters, measure out 1 cup of dough for each one (shaping them as above) and form smaller cookies out of the rest (steps 5 and 6). Bake each maximonster in the preheated oven for about 15 to 16 minutes, or until it is golden brown and the center is just firm. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes, then slide the foil, with the cookie, onto a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make 6-inch monsters: Measure the dough for each cookie in a 1/3 cup measure, with the top leveled. Place three portions of dough on each foil-covered baking sheet, spacing the cookies well apart. Flatten each mound just under a 4-inch diameter with your hand or a rubber spatula. Bake for about 14 minutes or until done as described for maximonsters in step 4. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes, then slide the foil, with the cookies, onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6. To make 2 ½” cookies: drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the greased baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, and flatten the mounds slightly with your hand or a rubber spatula. Bake the cookies for about 14 minutes, or until done as described for maximonsters in step 4. Cool the cookies on the sheet briefly, then lift them with a spatula onto a wire rack to cool completely.
7. When the cookies have cooled, wrap or bag them, or place them in a tightly covered container, and store at room temperature for a few days. Refrigerate or freeze them for longer storage.

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce

Chicken Satay with Peanut Dipping Sauce - made by Ellen on June 19, 2010 from Williams Sonoma's Asian cookbook

This is another recipe Ellen made for our picnic. This is the kind of thing I love eating but would never make. One look at the ingredient list would send me running, not to the grocery store, but for the hills. For a non-cook like me, it's just too intimidating. Give me a baking recipe with the same number of ingredients and complexity and I'd take it on without blinking. But real food? Nah. Fortunately there are better cooks out there than me so I don't have to go without :).

1 ½ lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 ½ cups coconut milk
½ cup fish sauce
5 tablespoons chopped palm sugar or brown sugar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves, plus 1 tablespoon chopped stems
1 tablespoons Madras curry powder
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon each peeled and chopped fresh galangal and chopped lemongrass
1 fresh red hot chile, seeded and chopped
1 tablespoon canola oil, plus oil for brushing
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
¼ teaspoon shrimp paste
1 cup unsalted peanuts, toasted and minced

1. Cut the chicken strips 4 inches long by 1 ½ inches wide. In a large bowl, stir together ½ cup of the coconut milk, ¼ cup of the fish sauce, 3 tablespoons of the palm sugar, the cilantro leaves, and the curry powder. Add the chicken strips and stir to coat evenly with the marinade. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or for up to overnight.
2. Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill, or have ready a stove-top grill pan. Place 12-15 wooden skewers, each 9 inches long, in water to cover and let soak for at least 20 minutes.
3. In a mortar, combine the shallot, garlic, galangal, lemongrass, chile and cilantro stems and grind with a pestle, gradually adding 1-2 tablespoons water to form a paste. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the 1 tablespoon oil. Add the shallot-garlic paste and sauté until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in the remaining 1 cup coconut milk and simmer until thickened, 7 – 10 minutes. Add the remaining ¼ cup fish sauce, remaining 2 tablespoons palm sugar, lime juice, shrimp paste and peanuts and cook until the peanut sauce thickens, 5-7 minutes.
4. Drain the skewers and remove the chicken strips from the marinade. Discard the marinade. Weave 3 chicken strips lengthwise onto each skewer. If using a stove-top grill pan, preheat it over high heat. Brush the grill rack or grill pan with oil. Place the skewers on the rack or pan and sear the chicken until golden brown on each side, 4-5 minutes per side. If using a charcoal grill, move the skewers away from the direct flame, cover the grill and cook until the chicken is opaque throughout, about 5 minutes. If using a grill pan, turn off the heat, cover the pan, and let the chicken stand for 5 minutes. Arrange the skewers on a warmed platter and serve the peanut sauce on the side.

Makes 4 servings