Butterscotch Shortbread

Butterscotch Shortbread - made October 15, 2011 from Shortbread by Jann Johnson (book #169)

I love shortbread.  It's got the whole butter thing going on and good shortbread is worth every (astronomical) calorie.  When you make shortbread, be sure to use fresh butter - it doesn't have to come straight from the dairy farm but don't use butter that's been sitting in your refrigerator for weeks either.  Butter is such a key component of shortbread that its flavor will definitely come through so use the good (fresh) stuff.  When spreading the shortbread dough, you also want to take care to spread it as evenly as possible.  Shortbread isn't just about taste; it's also about texture.  If your shortbread is uneven, the thinnest part will bake faster and may be of a perfect texture while the thickest part may be underbaked and be cakey rather than have the melting-soft-crisp texture of good shortbread.

My favorite shortbread is from Regan Daley's In the Sweet Kitchen but I wanted to try this recipe as well and see how it stacks up.  Similar to the Butter Toffee Crunch Shortbread recipe, it uses rice flour which adds to the tender texture of shortbread.  Although it didn't call for it, I also added chopped up butterscotch chips to give it an additional butterscotch flavor which is what I enjoy from Regan Daley's recipe.

Despite the addition, this didn't measure up to my favorite shortbread recipe.  It was good but I preferred the other one.  The most common problem with most shortbreads is too much butter and this fell into that category.  I baked it for even longer than the recipe directed since I knew another common problem - and a mistake I've made more often than not - is not baking shortbread long enough and not getting the crisp texture.  Because of the high amount of butter relative to the flour, I don't think baking this even longer would've solved the texture issue.  It's just meant to be a softer and chewier shortbread because of all the butter.  The brown sugar flavor was good and I'm glad I added the butterscotch chips but if you want to try a great shortbread recipe, try the Butter Toffee Crunch Shortbread recipe first.

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons rice flour
¾ cup butter, softened
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 275°F. Lightly butter 8” round pan, preferably one with a removable bottom. In a small bowl, whisk the flours together; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, with an electric mixer on low speed or a wooden spoon, beat the butter until light in color, about 1 minute. Gradually mix in the brown sugar and salt. Add the vanilla and continue beating until mixture is well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Gradually mix in the flours until just combined. The dough will be soft.
3. Press the dough evenly into the pan and smooth the surface of the dough. Use a fork to score the dough around the outer edge.
4. Bake in the center of the oven for about 55 minutes or until pale golden. Place the pan on a rack and let the shortbread cool completely. Transfer the shortbread from the pan to a cutting board. With a sharp, thin knife, cut into 16 wedges.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

Triple Chocolate Cookies - made October 15, 2011 from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

It's not just the light that makes this look lighter - it really was that pale

I only made this a double chocolate cookie since I omitted the third chocolate which was supposed to be the white chocolate chunks.  I didn't have enough on hand to really add anything significant to the dough.  I would almost consider this a 1 1/2 chocolate cookie instead since there's actually not that much chocolate in the dough itself, only 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder.  It's chocolate but not really chocolaty, if you know what I mean.  It was still good and baked up moist with a chewy texture in the middle and crisp edges like a good chocolate chip cookie but I don't think that I would consider this a super chocolaty cookie that the name implies.  It was more sweet than chocolate.  Be sure you use a dark chocolate cocoa to at least get some of the chocolate flavor.  The grocery store and generic brands won't cut it.  You can also try increasing the cocoa powder by 2 tablespoons and cutting back on the flour by the same amount to get a darker chocolate flavor.

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½ inch pieces

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons tightly packed light brown sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg, at room temperature

½ cup ½” chunks white chocolate

½ cup ½” chunks bittersweet chocolate

1.   Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda into a medium bowl and set aside.

2.   Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer, cream the butter on medium speed until pale yellow, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Add the sugar, brown sugar, salt and vanilla.  Cream on medium speed until it is smooth and lump free, about 1 minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and paddle.

3.   Add the egg and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, or until fully incorporated.  Do not overbeat.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.

4.   On low speed, add the flour mixture.  Beat until all the dry ingredients are incorporated, 15 to 30 seconds.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the white and bittersweet chocolate chunks and mix until they are just incorporated.  If using a hand mixer, use a wooden spoon to stir them in.

5.   Roll dough into a log about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long on a sheet of parchment paper.  Fold the parchment over, creating a sausage.  Chill for at least 1 hour.  Dough can be chilled, tightly wrapped, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

6.   When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350⁰F.  Remove dough from parchment and, using a serrated knife, slice 1/3” rounds off the log.  Place the cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

7.   Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the cookies look dry and feel firm, turning the sheet front to back halfway through the baking.  Remove the sheet from the oven and carefully slide the parchment directly onto a work surface.  Wait at least 5 minutes before serving or 20 minutes before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature.

Curried Meatballs with Rice Pilaf

Curried Meatballs with Rice Pilaf - from my cousin Christine, October 8, 2011

No, you didn't come to the wrong blog by mistake, this really is a non-dessert recipe.  I haven't "cooked" in awhile and this doesn't change my dry spell because this is actually a dish my cousin Christine made for me and one of my nieces when we got together.  Christine knows how limited my cooking skills are so every once in awhile she helps me out by providing real food for my dinner :).  She's also nice enough to include the recipe, probably in hopes that I'd make it myself since they're usually so simple even I could cook them.  So far I haven't but hey, there's always someday, lol.

In the meantime, I'll post the recipe so you all can enjoy the dish like I did.  Thanks Christine!

¼ cup vegetable oil
2 small onions, chopped fine
1 cup long-grain white rice
2 cups water
1 pound ground chicken
½ cup panko (Japanese-style bread crumbs)
¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon curry powder
Salt and pepper
½ cup dried apricots, chopped
¾ cup slivered almonds, toasted

1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add half of onions and cook until softened, about 4 minutes. Add rice and cook until mostly opaque, about 4 minutes. Add water and bring to a boil, lower heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, combine chicken, remaining onion, panko, 2 tablespoons cilantro, curry powder, 1 teaspoon salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper in large bowl. Knead mixture with hands until well mixed. Shape into 1-inch meatballs.
3. Heat remaining oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add meatballs and cook until browned on all sides, about 6 minutes. Cover and cook through, 4 to 6 additional minutes. Transfer to platter.
4. Add apricots, ½ cup almonds, and remaining cilantro to rice and stir until thoroughly incorporated. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with remaining almonds. Serve with meatballs.

Snickerdoodles and Cookie Baking 101

Snickerdoodles - from The Magnolia Bakery by Jennifer Appel and Allysa Torey

This is another blog post I've been meaning to write for awhile.  The greatest enjoyment I get from writing my blog is being able to share the recipes I've tried, how they turned out, what I think of them and what, if anything, I would suggest to make them better.  It absolutely makes my day when someone tries a recipe I've blogged about and enjoyed it for themselves.  It also absolutely distresses me when someone tells me they tried something but "it didn't turn out" like mine.  For the longest time, I just didn't get it.  I posted the exact same recipe I followed, I talked about what I did and, depending on the recipe, what mistakes I made that people shouldn't do so they can avoid the problems I had with something and make theirs better than mine.

In trying to do an autopsy, so to speak, on my friends' and relatives' baking mishaps, I started to ask more detailed questions to get to the root causes of the problems: what ingredients did you use?  How long did you bake it?  What did it look like when you took it out of the oven?  What did your batter or dough look like?  What pan did you use? Did you preheat the oven? The varying answers I got made something really clear to me: it's not just about the recipe, it's also about the technique.  I've blogged before about some simple baking tips so I won't repeat those here.  But I will add further to the list  and, for this post, in the context of cookie making.

Some weeks ago, my friend Karen was baking batch after batch of cookies but was dissatisfied with her results as they weren't coming out the way she wanted them too.  In making chocolate chip cookies, the different recipes she tried either weren't spreading like she wanted or they were too dry.  The dryness was easy to remedy as I discovered she was baking them until the middles were done.  Oh no.  For chocolate chip cookies and anything of their texture, bake until the edges are done and the middles are just barely not doughy-looking anymore.  They might puff during baking but you want the middles to sink when they cool.  That'll give them their chewy and moist texture.  If you bake until the middles are done, the cookies will be dry.  So that solved the problem of the chocolate chip cookie.  In Karen's own words, "oh the middles are supposed to sink!"  Yep, that's right.

But bear in mind this doesn't hold true for all cookies because it really depends on what type of cookie you're making.  Once Karen had conquered the chocolate chip cookie issue, she moved on to Snickerdoodles and was trying this recipe from Magnolia Bakery, a cookbook I have and a recipe I've also tried before.  They weren't turning out like she had made them before at a friend's place: the cookies weren't spreading and they were coming out either too dry or too underdone.  I couldn't diagnose the issue virtually so I went over to her house to watch her in action.  The best way to help someone is to have them do it themselves and observe what's happening.

As near as I can tell, Karen was doing everything right: all her ingredients were at room temperature when she started, she mixed correctly according to the recipe, and she had chilled the dough before baking it.  Yet something was still off.  The only thing I corrected in her mixing of the dough was to teach her the dip and sweep method in measuring the flour.  You never want to tamp the flour down in the measuring cup.  You'll end up with too much flour, too stiff of a dough and dry cookies.  Karen didn't make this mistake but in general, you also want to add the dry ingredients in 2-3 parts, not all at once, so that you can incorporate the dry ingredients well into the dough or batter and let the dough "come together".

We ended up taking out the cookies on the slight side of underdone to try and avoid the other cause of dryness besides too much flour: overbaking.  The cookies were fine when we took them out of the oven but we left them on the hot cookie sheet while we focused on another batch of dough.  I had forgotten one basic rule of cookie making: cookies will continue to bake on a hot cookie sheet even after they're out of the oven.  Subsequently, the first batch we had left on the cookie sheet baked up a little more than I would've recommended.  Easy remedy to that is to leave them on the cookie sheet for only a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. 

The basic nature of a snickerdoodle is they tend to be more cakey and not have a chewy-dense-moist texture like a chocolate chip cookie.  It's not to say they're automatically more dry than a chocolate chip cookie but you do have to factor in the type of cookie you're making as well in order to gauge its success.  We ended up with a batch Karen was happy with and she was assured her cookie making skills were fine :).

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

6 tablespoons sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons cinnamon for sprinkling

1.    In a small bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

2.    In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat well.  Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

3.    Preheat oven to 350˚F.

4.    Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion.  (I recommend leaving extra room between these cookies because they spread more than most.)  Sprinkle generously with the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake for 12-14 minutes.

5.    Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut and Caramel Blondies

Coconut and Caramel Blondies - made October 6, 2011 from Chocolatier Magazine, July 1999 issue

It's fall, it was rainy last week and I'm ready for some "comfort baking".  And it seems like so are a lot of people as I see many cute Halloween treats popping up as well as the autumn flavors of pumpkin and apple.  I'll be getting to those too but one of my favorite flavors year round as well as reminding me of fall is actually caramel.  Maybe it's the color or the association with caramel apples which I also associate with Halloween and holidays.  I don't know why because to be honest, I've had maybe one caramel apple in my life.  I love apples and I love caramel but not together.  Except maybe in a caramel apple pie and that's only when the apples are tart enough to offset the sweetness from the caramel.  Otherwise my teeth just ache thinking about it.  In any case, when I made these coconut blondies and topped them with a layer of melted caramel, while it was dark and gloomy outside, that just made me feel like I was really ushering in my favorite season of the year.

It didn't hurt either that these were awesome blondies.  I normally don't like blondies as much as brownies as there are some that are too sweet or they dry out easily.  But I liked these because the coconut really gave them a nice texture and helped to keep the texture both moist and chewy.  The caramel layer on top was decadence itself.  Cut these pieces small as they can be rich.

Blondie batter

1 cup bleached all-purpose flour

¼ cup cake flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups sweetened flaked coconut

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Caramel topping

16 vanilla-flavored caramels (5.2 ounces total weight)

2 tablespoons light cream

Pinch freshly grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1.     Make the blondies: Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Coat the inside of an 8” square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  The pan should be thoroughly coated, as the blondie batter tends to stick.  Set aside.

2.     Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon onto a sheet of waxed paper.

3.     Blend together the melted butter and dark brown sugar in a medium bowl.  Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

4.     Stir in the sifted mixture, blending until all the particles of flour are absorbed.  Stir in all the coconut and walnuts.  The batter will be thick and slightly glossy.

5.     Scrape the batter into the prepared baking pan.  Spread the batter evenly in the pan.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until set.  Let the blondies stand in the pan on a cooling rack while you prepare the topping.

6.     Make the caramel topping: Place the caramels, cream, and nutmeg in a small heavy saucepan (preferably enameled cast iron).  Set over moderately low heat and cook slowly to dissolve the caramels, stirring from time to time.  When the caramels are completely dissolved (in about 8 minutes) and the mixture is smooth, remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract.  The caramel mixture will be thick.

7.     Immediately spoon the warm caramel topping over the surface of the uncut blondies in wide, patchy drizzles.  Cool completely.  With a small, sharp knife, cut the entire “cake” into 4 quarters, then cut each quarter into 4 pieces.  Store the blondies in an airtight container.

Also linked to Everday Sisters blog

Almond Joy Brownies

Dark and Dusky Brownies (original name) - made October 1, 2011 from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

I defaulted to the same baking book again for the 4th brownie I made for last weekend's bake sale.  I didn't have much time and couldn't afford a "bad" recipe so I went with the same book I can always rely on for terrific recipes.  This one was meant to be a plain fudge brownie but had I left it as is, I think it still would've been a standout because of the different chocolates it, it really does make a (chocolate) impression.  I did add chopped up bars of Almond Joys to dress it up a little and it was fine but I think this would also meet your needs if you just want a nice, plain, fudgy-chocolate brownie.  Once again, use the good chocolate because you're definitely going to taste it.

1 cup bleached all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons bleached cake flour

½ cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder (I used Pernigotti from Williams Sonoma)

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

½ pound (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to tepid

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

4 large eggs

2 large eggs yolks

2 cups superfine sugar

2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.  Film the inside of a 10 x 10 x 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Sift the all-purpose flour, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with 1 teaspoons of the sifted mixture.
3. In a medium-size mixing bowl, whisk the melted butter, melted unsweetened chocolate, and melted bittersweet chocolate until smooth.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolks slowly until blended, about 15 seconds.  Add the sugar and whisk until combined, about 30 seconds.  Blend in the vanilla extract and melted butter-chocolate mixture.  Sift the flour mixture over and stir to form a batter, mixing thoroughly until the particles of flour are absorbed, using a whisk or flat wooden paddle.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.  Smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
5. Bake the brownies in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until set.  Let the brownies stand in the pan on a cooling rack for 2 hours.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  With a small, sharp knife, cut the sweet into quarters, then cut each quarter into 4 squares.  Remove the brownies from the baking pan, using a small, offset metal spatula.  Store in an airtight tin.

Bake and serve within 3 days

Toffee Pound Cake

Toffee Pound Cake - made October 1, 2011 from The Complete Book of Baking from Pillsbury (book #168)

This was the only non-brownie I made for the bake sale and that was for any non-chocolate lovers.  I love toffee and baking with toffee or brickle chips.  For people who like a little crunch in their baked goods but don't like nus (like me), toffee is a good alternative.  This cake was a pretty good pound cake with a nice texture that was also moist.  I didn't think it was particular toffee-tasting though.  It was more like a good vanilla pound cake with just a hint of toffee.  To bring out more of a toffee or butterscotch flavor, next time I'd try substituting dark brown sugar for some of the granulated sugar and adding mini butterscotch chips.  I omitted the glaze from the cake since I was packaging these for sale and didn't want a glaze to get too messy when unwrapping each individual slice.

Cake

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups buttermilk

½ cup butter, softened

¼ cup shortening

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

3 eggs

1 (6-oz) package almond brickle baking chips

Glaze

1/3 cup butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 to 3 tablespoons water

1.     Heat the oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube pan.  In large bowl, combine all cake ingredients except brickle chips at low speed until moistened; beat 3 minute at medium speed.  By hand, stir in brickle chips.  Pour batter into greased and floured pan.

2.     Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool upright in pan 10 minutes; invert onto serving plate.  Cool completely.

3.     In medium saucepan, beat 1/3 cup butter until light golden brown; remove from heat.  Blend in powdered sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Add water until glaze is smooth and of drizzling consistency.  Immediately spoon over top of cooled cake, allowing some to run down sides.