Fluffy Yellow Sheet Cake

Fluffy Yellow Sheet Cake - made September 21, 2013 from One Bowl Baking by Yvonne Ruperti

This was the 3rd dessert I packaged up and brought to Florida with me to pass out to my coworkers there.  Normally I wouldn't bring a frosted cake across the country with me as cakes don't hold up as well as brownies for traveling and are easily smushed en route.  But I had already made 2 kinds of brownies and wanted something non-chocolate to bring that also made enough to fill multiple treat bags.

Cakes also don't remain as fresh as brownies for very long (at least, not to my picky taste buds) so what I did as soon as I had baked and frosted this is package it all up (2 squares of frosted cake to a package, wrapped in plastic wrap) and place them in freezer bags to reside in the freezer until the day I left.  When I pack for my travels and am bringing baked goods, I pack my carry-on luggage the night before and on top, put in empty amazon shipping boxes.  That way I know how much room I have and I put the wrapped brownies and cake directly into the empty boxes right before I leave.  The baked goods go directly from the freezer to my carry-on, I zip it up and I'm off to the airport.

They'll slowly thaw on the flight but by the time I hand them out the next day, they still retain some freshness.  I counsel the recipients of the treat bags that if they're not going to eat them right away, to put them in the freezer (never the fridge) to maintain their freshness. I'm possibly the only one who's that picky about it though as no one seems to notice if they're a day or two away from the oven or freezer. But since I tend to consume everything I post within hours, if not minutes, of when they come out of the oven, my taste buds are pretty jaded.

The taste of the cake was good although it wasn't quite as fluffy as I would have liked.  You can tell by looking at the air pockets in the cake that I certainly beat the batter enough for the cake to rise so it's possible I should've baked it a minute or two longer so it wouldn't be as dense and would be a little lighter.  And that was with me actually baking the cake for a few minutes longer than my underbaking instincts told me to because I know I usually underbake cakes and I was trying to break that bad habit. Apparently I still need a little more work in that area.

16 tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups (10.5 ounces) granulated sugar

¾ teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 ¼ cups (300 ml) whole milk, room temperature

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ¾ cups (11 ounces) cake flour

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1.       Place an oven rack in the middle position.  Preheat oven to 350⁰F.  Line a 9 x 13” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.       In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar and salt until creamy.

3.       Whisk in the eggs and egg yolks, one at a time, until each is incorporated.

4.       Whisk in the milk and vanilla.

5.       Add the flour and baking powder to the bowl, then whisk gently until combined.

6.       Pour the batter into the pan and bake until golden, just firm, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

7.       Set the pan on a wire rack and let the cake cool completely before frosting.

Restaurant Review: Satomi Sushi

Satomi Sushi - lunch on September 29, 2013

Let's start off with a caveat that I don't eat sushi so the review for this restaurant, despite its name, doesn't include the sushi because I've never tried it.  I've gone here before with my family and my nieces have had it and say it's good but that's the closest opinion I can offer. They do have a number of sushi offerings though if you check out their menu and I know I've seen some fascinating, artfully created sushi plates come out so if you are a sushi fan, it might be worth looking into.  They do have a 4-star rating on yelp from 1080 reviews so they seem to have quite a following.

Satomi Sushi is in a somewhat weird location in a small strip mall with a few other Asian restaurants and random small storefronts.  The stores aren't really retail stores but places that offer services.  I can't remember which ones since I don't go there that often but it's like for tax services or massages or nails. It's not the type of strip mall you drive to just to walk around (which would take about 3 minutes if you're a slow walker).  When you come here, you're pretty much coming for a specific purpose, like Satomi Sushi.  Or tax consulting.

The interior

The inside is rather small so I wouldn't recommend this for a group larger than 8 unless you try to make arrangements with the restaurant ahead of time for a large party.  You're greeted as you walk in and the wait staff is pretty friendly.  We got there right when it opened so it was still fairly empty but it filled up quickly.  There wasn't a line out the door or anything but by the time we left, most of the tables were full.

Miso soup

The meal starts off with the standard bowl of miso soup that is commonly served in most Japanese restaurants.  My dad ordered the tempura with udon (bowl of noodle soup) and the tempura came out first, prettily arranged in a clever bamboo (?) server.  I think that'd be fun to serve lumpia in too.

Tempura

Udon

My mom got the bento box and you can choose from several different combinations for the bento.  She got the chicken teriyaki and tempura which also came with salad, rice and sushi.

Bento Box with Chicken Teriyaki, Tempura and Sushi

My "safety order" at a Japanese restaurant is teriyaki, either beef or chicken.  I know, I know, true lovers of Japanese food are cringing. But whaddaya gonna do - I am what I am.  I got the beef teriyaki this time and I've ordered it before and it was good then but on this particular visit, they overcooked the beef and some of it was tough.  There were even a few pieces they included that were charred beyond tasty consumption.

Beef Teriyaki

I don't know if the kitchen was just off on this particular day but the service was slow.  Our server was very nice and I know it wasn't her fault but the food took a long time in coming, long enough for my order to burn at any rate. I always give some leeway on slow service if the restaurant is packed but we had arrived early enough to be the third table seated so I don't know what the reason was.  My dad's order of tempura with udon arrived separately and the tempura came out first but by the time the udon came out, we had almost finished eating so he took most of it to go.  I wouldn't let one bad dish or one instance of slow service turn me off from the place but this last visit was disappointing.

Orange chunks - the standard "dessert"

Oh and price point for Satomi Sushi is in the mid range.  Like almost all Japanese restaurants I've gone to, they're higher than the average Asian restaurant.  While you can find entrees and lunch specials for less than $10 at a typical Thai, Vietnamese or Chinese restaurant, Japanese restaurants invariably charge more, especially if they specialize in sushi.  My theory is they can't/don't want to charge low prices for sushi (you get what you pay for and would you really risk eating cheap sushi?) and therefore they keep the non-sushi items at the higher price points as well or else no one would ever order the sushi. That's my theory anyway.

Nutella-Frosted, Caramel-Topped Brownies

Fudgy Brownies - made September 21, 2013 from One Bowl Baking by Yvonne Ruperti

This was the second brownie I took on my Florida trip to pass out to my coworkers.  I started with the standard fudgy brownie recipe from Yvonne Ruperti's book, One Bowl Baking, and dressed it up a trifle. I've made so many brownies over my baking lifetime that I'm not sure I'm capable of making a plain brownie and leaving it alone.

Once I took it out of the oven, I dropped small dollops of nutella over the top and spread it carefully.  The heat from the just-baked brownie will warm up your nutella so spreading is easy but if your nutella is too thick to spoon out properly, just warm it up briefly in the microwave. You don't want the frosting layer to be too thick though, even if you're a rabid Nutella fan, as it's easy to make these too rich.

Then, just because I can't leave well enough alone, I also chopped up Milky Way Caramels and sprinkled them over the nutella frosting.  Many people complain they can't buy Halloween candy too early or they'll eat them all before October.  I have a different problem.  All of the Milky Way Caramels and Midnight Milky Ways I've bought to pass out on Halloween are all going into what I've been baking lately.  I need to replenish my candy supply before the big night.  But, c'mon, look at that picture! If you want to lick your screen, go ahead.  I won't tell.  Since I was giving these away, I only had the barest sliver to make sure they tasted okay.  I passed them out to my Florida coworkers and got a few thank you emails, an "OMG, those brownies!"instant message and some in-person thank yous so I think they liked them.

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate

12 tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus more for greasing the pan

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups (10 ½ ounces) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large eggs

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (5 2/3 ounces) all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 ½ cups (6 ounces) walnuts, chopped, divided, optional (I left them out)
Nutella, amount varies depending on how thick you want the frosting layer to be
1/2 to 3/4 cup Milky Way Caramels, cut into large dice

1. Place an oven rack in the middle position.  Preheat the oven to 350⁰F.  Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. In a large heatproof bowl, heat the bittersweet chocolate, unsweetened chocolate, butter and salt until just melted, stirring occasionally.
3. Whisk in the sugar and vanilla.  Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until completely combined and the mixture is glossy.
4. Stir in the flour, cocoa and 1 cup of the walnuts until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle the remaining ½ cup of walnuts over the top.
6. Bake until just firm and a toothpick inserted into the center has moist, fudgy crumbs, about 25 minutes.
7. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool.  Cut into squares.

Restaurant Review: Bonefish Grill

Bonefish Grill, Ft Lauderdale, FL - dinner on September 25, 2013

My boss took his direct reports out for a team dinner during my first of two back to back trips to Florida a couple of weeks ago. It was the second time we'd gone to Bonefish Grill on one of my visits but prior to that, I had never heard of it before.  According to their website, they have locations across the United States so they're quite the chain but they're not in California, hence my unfamiliarity.

We went on a Wednesday night and that turned out to be a good night to go as the appetizers were all $5 each. Most appetizers at full price are almost $10 so it was like a 50% off deal.  Being finance people, we couldn't not take advantage of that, right?  We ended up getting a couple of the Bang Bang Shrimp appetizers to start off with.  I'm normally a little leery of appetizers in a creamy sauce because many of them have mayonnaise (which I hate) but the Bang Bang Shrimp was pretty good.  The breading was light and retained its crispiness even coated in the sauce.  If the sauce did have mayo in it, it wasn't enough for me to taste it and I'm happy to remain in blissful ignorance as to whether it did or not.

Corn Chowder with Lump Crab

This time, since I was in South Florida and again there was "fish" in the title of the restaurant, unlike the Blue Moon Fish burger, I did opt to go with seafood for dinner, starting with a corn chowder with lump crab.  It was good although the soup was, well, soupy.  I think of chowder as something with thicker, more creamy soup like you typically find in baked potato soup.  Still, it was tasty.

Jumbo Sea Scallops and Shrimp in lemon butter sauce with cheddar mashed potatoes

And it's hard to go wrong with scallops and shrimp which is what I ordered for an entree. At Bonefish Grill, you can choose from a variety of sauces and pick your own side.  I liked the combination I got.  Sometimes scallops can be hit or miss - if you undercook it, the texture is too mushy and it smells fishy.  If you overcook it (which is easy to do, ask me how I know), it's pretty rubbery.  Mine were perfectly done.  And I love shrimp so that's never a bad choice for me.  Unless you burn it to charcoal, I will like any and all shrimp dishes I'm served.

Flourless Macadamia Brownie

But really, again, it's all about dessert.  My team knows me well enough that no matter how full any of us are, I'm going to order dessert. We can all have a spoonful (or three) if that's all we have room for but dessert is a must.  The nice thing about going with a group is, if everyone is full, we can still get a dessert or two just for tasting and there's enough of us that it doesn't go to waste. The Flourless Macadamia Brownie was good although I'm never wild about raspberry sauce with my chocolate.  I know it's the common pairing but to me, chocolate should just be left alone.  Or paired with caramel.  But not any rendition of berries.  That's just my personal prejudice.

But the winning dessert of the evening was the Coconut Pie.  I forgot the official name and the website doesn't list its desserts (what?!?) but it's a wedge of coconut pie with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream (I can't remember anymore, I was too focused on the pie) in a caramel rum sauce.  Now you know I love all things coconut and despite not liking rum, I forgave the sauce to get to the pie.  Serious goodness.

Rocky Road Mud Bars

Rocky Road Mud Bars - made September 21, 2013, modified from Chocolate Chocolate by Lisa Yockelson

I mentioned going on a business trip (or 2) earlier.  For my first trip, I flew to our company headquarters to meet with my counterparts at HQ and make the rounds of in-person meetings I needed to have.  Whenever I go to headquarters, I've now made it a practice to bring goodie bags with me to distribute to my coworkers there.  After all, I bake for my local office pretty much every week but only go out to headquarters once a quarter or so.  Fair's fair.  However, I didn't have a lot of time before I went so I only made a couple of different brownies and a sheet cake.  That may sound like a lot but I also have a lot of coworkers so I had to split the bounty across a broad base.

I hadn't made anything from Lisa Yockelson in awhile and, thanks to striking upon using Midnight Milky Ways for anything that calls for marshmallows, like a kid with a new toy, I went searching for something I previously had skipped because of the marshmallow factor.  Rocky Road Mud Bars was an obvious choice. The picture in the book itself is a little deceiving because it looks like she layered the marshmallows on top to feature prominently but the directions have you mixing it into the batter. I decided to do both and re-wrote the directions accordingly.

Anything that has an Oreo cookie crumb crust is a great way to use up Oreos from a package that's been opened for awhile.  You know, where the Oreos haven't gone stale yet and still have some crunch but not the snap they had when the package is first opened.  When you pulverize them into crumbs, add melted butter and spread them in an even layer in the pan, none of that matters.

The main thing you have to be careful about with the crust is not to dislodge it when you're spreading the brownie batter.  I recommend dropping the batter in even dollops all over the pan so you only have to do minimally spreading to cover the bottom layer completely. As usual with brownies, the key is not to overbake it.  Shortly before they're done (moist crumbs on the toothpick when inserted near the center) is when you want to sprinkle the chopped up Midnight Milky Ways on top so they'll partially melt on top of the hot brownie.  If you've inadvertently baked the brownies longer or to "doneness", just turn the oven off and sprinkle the candy on top to give it even a little melting time without baking the brownie for much longer. I thought these were decent but I could probably have used more Midnight Milky Ways on top and/or also added Milky Way Caramels to really push them into the decadent zone.

Chocolate Cookie Layer

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

1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons chocolate sandwich cookie crumbs (I used Oreos)

Mud Brownie Batter

1 ¼ cups bleached cake flour

¼ cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

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

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to tepid

5 large eggs

2 cups superfine sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup chopped walnuts (I left out)

1/3 cup Midnight Milky Ways, cut into large dice plus another ½ cup for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 325⁰F. Line a 10-inch square baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Mix the cookie layer: Pour the melted butter into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle the chocolate cookie crumbs evenly over the melted butter.  Press down on the crumbs with the underside of an offset metal spatula so that the crumbs absorb the butter.  Bake the cookie layer in the preheated oven for 4 minutes.  Place the baking pan on a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Mix the batter: Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.  In a small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with ½ teaspoon of the sifted mixture.
4. Whisk the melted butter and melted chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl until smooth.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs for 1 minute to blend, add the sugar and whisk for 45 seconds to 1 minute, or until just incorporated.  Blend in the melted butter-chocolate mixture, mixing thoroughly.  Blend in the vanilla extract.  Sift the flour mixture over and slowly stir it in, mixing until the particles of flour are absorbed, using a whisk, wooden spoon or flat wooden paddle.  Blend in the chocolate chips, walnuts (if using) and 1/3 cup Midnight Milky Ways.
5. Spoon the batter in large dollops on the cookie crumb layer.  Carefully spread the batter over the cookie layer, using a flexible palette knife or spatula.
6. Bake the brownies in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until set.  5 minutes before the brownies are done, sprinkle with the ½ cup of Midnight Milky Ways and return to oven to soften. Remove when a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Cool the brownies completely in the pan on a rack. Cut when cool.

Knockoff Swig Sugar Cookies

Knockoff Swig Sugar Cookies - made September 15, 2013 from Vintage Revivals

Normally I would post the actual recipe on my blog, with any modifications I've made and link to the original blog the recipe is from in the recipe title and to the original blog it's from following the date above.  But on Vintage Revivals' site, there's a specific request not to repost her recipe and just to link back to her blog so I am honoring that request.  As with all my blog posts from another site, you can click to the original recipe by clicking on the recipe title above. I just won't be re-posting the recipe on my blog.  Which makes it a little tricky as I did modify her recipe a bit but you'll have to click back and forth between sites to get both the original recipe and my modifications (sorry).

My ingredient modifications

• I added an extra 1/4 cup flour because the dough was too soft, even with 5 1/2 cups flour
• I added 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste because I thought it was unusual for sugar cookies not to have vanilla flavoring (plus I just love vanilla).

My recipe direction modifications
The directions are pretty sparse on the original blog so I'm fleshing them out a little for any novice bakers:

• Cream the butter first until no lumps remain then add the sugars before adding the vegetable oil.  If you just add the first 5 ingredients all at once, I'm afraid of the butter clumping, especially if your butter is cool to start with and also when mixing with oil since it's hard to get those two ingredients to emulsify.  Best to have a butter-sugar mixture first then add in the oil, water and eggs.
• Add the dry ingredients 1 cup of flour at a time then the last half cup.  If your dough is too soft (as mine was), add up to 1/4 cup more flour.  You don't want the dough to be too soft.  It should hold its shape when you form it into golf-ball-sized balls.
• Once you have the dough rolled into balls and press them with the bottom of a glass, freeze the flattened cookies 2-3 hours or overnight before baking. 

I liked these cookies - they were soft and not too sweet.  Plus I like how thick they stayed.  Early in my baking days, I always got easily frustrated when sugar cookies would spread too thin.  Not a problem with these cookies.

Ironically, though, I didn't really care for the frosting.  The sour cream gives it a tang and if the cookies had been sweeter, it would've been great to offset the sweetness.  But because the cookies weren't that sweet, the frosting didn't provide much of a taste contrast.  I think I'd try frosting these with a more traditional vanilla frosting (butter, powdered sugar, milk and vanilla) without the sour cream to make them a little sweeter.