Monthly Archives: October 2011

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Recipe: Chocolate Cupcakes with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

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Happy Halloween (and, happy Nevada Day, Nevadans)!

I hope everyone had a fun, spooky-scary weekend. Maybe you dressed up and hit the party circuit, maybe you handed out candy or just ate it by the handful, maybe you just lounged around and watched scary movies (guilty!)…whatever you did, I hope it was fun and festive.

I hope there were sweet treats involved and trickery of the good-natured variety.

Until next year ghoulfiends!

(bahaha, I’m totally cracking up about that one!)

One-Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

from Martha Stewart

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3.4 cup warm water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temp.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 24 cupcake wells (2 tins) with paper liners or grease well.

In a medium bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt). Set aside.

In a large measuring cup whisk together buttermilk, water, eggs, oil, and vanilla, to combine. Pour wet mixture into dry and fold until just incorporated. Fill cupcake liners 2/3 full and bake in the center of the oven for 16-20 minutes (mine were perfect after 17 minutes). Remove from oven and cool on rack completely before frosting.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting

This frosting is pretty soft. I chilled it and then stirred vigorously before frosting. 

1, 8ounce bar cream cheese at room temperature

4 tablespoons room temperature, unsalted butter

1/4 cup pure pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of salt

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Using a mixer beat cream cheese and butter until creamy. Add pumpkin, vanilla and bourbon and mix to combine. Beat in spices and then gradually add powdered sugar until completely incorporated. Beat on high until light and fluffy. Refrigerate, covered, if not using immediately.

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Recipe: Little Banana Cream Pies

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I don’t know about you, but Banana Cream Pie speaks diner fare to me. The kind of diner fare that you share with a milk-shake or that cocoa that comes out of a machine, best enjoyed after consuming a monster of a cheeseburger or something smothered in gravy…or chili and cheese.

Diner heaven.

Anyway, my house isn’t a diner (dang!), I didn’t enjoy these post burger eating, but I did share one with my husband every night for the last 4 nights.

And every night, it was pretty much diner heaven, sans greasy spoons and gut-busting gravy lakes. It was more of a couch-eating, Project Runway-followed-by-The-Daily-Show, hot-tea, then a nap (also known as bedtime), kind of deal. All of which is almost as good as diner heaven…if not even better.

Better how? Better, because there’s salted caramel all up on top of this and, get ready for this, browned butter in that vanilla pudding.

Yeah, man.

Browned butter + vanilla bean + bananas + salty caramel + pie = better than diner heaven.

Believe it.

Little Banana Cream Pies

You could make this in a regular ol’ 9inch pie tin instead of little tart pans. If you go the tart pan route, this makes enough pudding for 4 little pies plus an extra cup for you to eat…which you will totally want to do.

For the shells:

1/2 recipe of Martha Stewart’s pate brisee (I always make this dough for my pies, you can use whatever recipe you like).

Preheat oven to 375F.

Roll out chilled pie dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out rounds of dough about 1inch larger than tart pans (I used an inverted cereal bowl) and place dough rounds into pans. Place squares of parchment larger than tart pans onto top of dough and fill with pie weights (I use dried beans or rice). Blind bake shells in center of the oven for about 15 minutes until shells are completely baked and golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a cooling rack.

For the pudding:

adapted from an earlier banana cream tart recipe, which was adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours. If you have an immersion blender, use it for this. I love my immersion blender…LOVE IT. Otherwise, you can pulse the finished pudding in a food processor or regular blender at the end.

2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeded

6 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons of butter

In a small skillet heat butter over medium-low until milk solids turn golden brown and fragrant. Be sure to watch this so it doesn’t go from browned to burned. Scrape browned butter into a small ramekin and set aside.

In a medium, heavy bottomed saucepan heat milk with vanilla bean seeds and pod, until it just begins to bubble around the edges. Cover and turn of the heat. Allow vanilla to steep in the milk for 15 minutes.

Remove vanilla pod (I rinse mine well and add it to my jar of homemade vanilla extract {vanilla beans + vodka + time}) and bring the vanilla milk to a low boil.

In a small bowl whisk together cornstarch, half of the sugar, and the salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl beat egg yolks with remaining sugar until thick and it gains some volume. Beat in the heavy cream. Beat in the cornstarch mixture until completely combined. Slowly begin to beat in the hot vanilla milk, to temper. Once all of the milk it incorporated scrape the custard back into the saucepan and heat over medium-low, whisking constantly until the custard thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Remove pan from heat (at this point you can press the mixture through a sieve if you’d like) and using your immersion blender, blend in the browned butter. Continue to blend for another 30-60 seconds, this makes the pudding have a lighter texture. Either use/eat immediately or chill, covered with plastic touching the surface.

To assemble:

1-2 bananas, sliced

3/4 cup whipped cream

1/4 cup salted caramel sauce (at the end of the link)

Spoon a thin layer of pudding on the bottom of each tart shell, arrange sliced bananas in a single layer and top with more pudding, spreading the pudding to the edges of the shells. Spoon whipped cream over the top, all the way to the edges of the shells. Drizzle with caramel sauce. Serve immediately or cover with plastic and chill.

 

 

 

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Recipe: Pumpkin Semifreddo

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The weather is definitely cooling down around here, but that doesn’t mean I am done with wanting frozen treats. Sometimes cool and creamy is just what you need despite the season.

It’s true life, that’s all.

It’s been sad times since my ice cream maker broke in the great move to the midwest, but for this dessert you don’t even need that old machine. Just some mad whisking skills (use a mixer or hand blender, unless you just have guns of steel), a bit of folding, and some freezer time. This semifreddo is made up of pumpkin, egg yolks, whipped cream, gingersnap crumbs, and salted caramel sauce.

There’s not one thing in it that I don’t love.

It’s a total win.

Pumpkin Semifreddo

adapted from Tartlette

I added molasses and upped/changed the spice a bit in this recipe. I also layered in that caramel sauce and those gingersnap crumbs I mentioned for texture and goodness. 

1 cup  heavy cream

3 tablespoons mild honey

1 tablespoon molasses

2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons water

3 large egg yolks

3/4 cup pure pumpkin puree

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 cup gingersnap crumbs

1/4 cup salted caramel sauce

Using a whisk and those guns of steel, or an electric mixer, beat cream in a bowl until it holds soft peaks. Refrigerate.

Separate eggs and place yolks in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Save whites for another use.

Stir together pumpkin and spices in a small bowl, set aside.

In a small sauce pan mix together honey, molasses, sugar, and water. Bring syrup to a boil over medium heat until a candy thermometer reads 238F.

Whip egg yolks to break up and slowly add hot syrup while mixer is running on medium. Whip fast enough to make sure the eggs do not scramble, but try not to go so fast that the syrup does not incorporate. Once syrup is completely incorporated into yolks, whip on high until yolks are cool and airy.

Add 1/3 of the cold, whipped cream to the egg yolk mixture to lighten. Fold in pumpkin and spices, plus remaining whipped cream. Sprinkle the bottom of a prepared loaf pan with gingersnap crumbs (line with plastic wrap if you want to turn it out, if simply scooping you can skip that step), scrape half of the semifreddo base into the pan, and smooth the top. Sprinkle with more cookie crumbs and drizzle in about 1/4 cup salted caramel sauce, top with remaining semifreddo base and smooth, sprinkle with more crumbs. Cover the top of the semifreddo with plastic and then a layer of foil and place in freezer for at least 3 hours to set. Scoop or turn out and slice. Serve cold.

Gingersnap Cookies

adapted from Procrastobaker  

I kept the gram measurements here and used a scale, since I didn’t want to mess up the recipe. I also used all butter as I did not have lard or shortening, and upped those spices! 

210 grams all purpose flour

140 grams granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger

1 tablespoon honey

1 egg

3 ounces of unsalted butter

Melt butter in the microwave and set aside, whisk in honey, and grated ginger, set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and dry spices. Mix melted butter mixture and egg into the dry ingredients until combined well. The dough will be soft and slightly greasy. Chill dough for 30 minutes before rolling.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line two baking pans with parchment or silicone baking mats.

Scoop dough and roll into about 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet spaced about 1 inch apart (cookies will spread). Make a small indentation in the center of each dough ball and bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 13-15 minutes. Cool cookies slightly on sheets before transferring to cooling racks. Cookies will crisp up as they cool. If they are still too soft in the center, bake for an additional minute or two.

Salted Caramel Sauce

adapted from The Perfect Scoop

 

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 teaspoons sea salt

In a measuring cup measure out cream and add vanilla, set aside.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan heat sugar and water over medium-high until sugar is melted and turns dark golden brown in color (the darkest you can get it before burning is best). Remove from heat and quickly whisk in butter and half of cream until combined and smooth. The mixture will steam and bubble furiously, use a oven mitt or towel to wrap your stirring hand. If there are still lumps, heat gently until smooth. Add remaining cream and salt and stir until smooth.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Surprise Alfajores!

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I am not great with surprises.

I tend to ruin them, for others and for myself…I just can’t handle it!

I’m just a total surprise ruiner.

So, when one of my best friend’s boyfriend wanted to coordinate a birthday surprise visit for her (so sweet!), it took a tremendous amount of effort for me not to blow it.

It was a tough couple months, friends.

Real tough.

So, Sunday morning, full to the brim with excited anticipation, I hopped on a plane bound for New York, took a quick car ride into New Jersey and surprised my dear friend.

There were tears and hugs and it was SO joyous!

waiting for the train/antique seltzer bottles/fresh mint tea/lambertville, NJ

rainy day in NYC/kimchi stew a Momofuku Noodle bar/corn cookie/rainy NYC

I spent 3 days traipsing around New Jersey, NYC, and a little sliver of Pennsylvania with my sweet friend. We chatted, shared many pots of tea, drank, ate, antiqued, and caught up to our hearts content. We took many an Instagram photo, shared cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar (awesome sauce for realz yo!), noodles and steamed buns with my brother-in-law at Momofuku Noodle Bar,  laughed and joked it up. It was a whirlwind of a trip and one I will not soon forget!

I didn’t want to arrive empty handed, so the day before I left I made these Alfajores for her. It’s a bit of a sentimental treat since we shared some the last time I visited her when she was living in New York City. I packed up the sweet little sandwiches and carried them on the plane with me.

The cookies traveled so well! The dulce de leche softened the originally crisp cookies, which made for the perfect cookie sandwich–tender, yielding cookie and rich dulce de leche in every bite!

Alfajores

Adapted from Technicolor Kitchen

These cookies come together with little effort if you use canned dulce de leche (which, I did). Just a little dough mixing, rolling, cutting, and baking are involved. You can either pipe on the prepared dulce de leche or spread it onto the cooled cookies. Either way, the people you share them with will be impressed and will definitely appreciate your effort in making them a home-baked treat.

1 1/4 cup cornstarch

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

1/2  cup (4oz) unsalted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon vanilla (or 2 tablespoons cognac, I didn’t have any)

prepared dulce de leche

confectioner’s sugar for dusting

Whisk together cornstarch, flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add yolks one at a time, scraping between each. Add vanilla or cognac, mix well.

With the mixer on low, mix in cornstarch mixture until just combined.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Turn out dough onto a clean surface dusted lightly with flour and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness. If dough is too wet, chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes or more. Using a 2 inch round or fluted cutter cut out circles of dough and transfer to silicone or parchment lined baking sheets. Re-roll scraps and cut additional cookies. At this point I chilled the cut cookies on baking sheets for 10 minutes in the freezer. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden on the bottoms. Do not brown, cookies should be pale but cooked through. Cool completely on a cooling rack before filling with dulce de leche and dusting with confectioner’s sugar. Makes about 24 sandwich cookies.

 

 

 

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Recipe: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I LOVE chocolate chip cookies.

Sean love, love, loves them too.

We’re just a pair of chocolate-chip-cookie-sauruses.

That’s a chocolate chip cookie eating dinosaur…it’s a true thing.

In my brain…

Anyway…can you believe I have not, in recent memory, posted a chocolate chip cookie on this blog?

What the heck, dude?!

I only make them ALL THE TIME!

But, we just gobble them up and don’t even share.

Well, we share with our whale cookie jar…but no one else.

Not with neighbors, not coworkers, not even you.

So rude, right?!

Well, I’m sorry.

Really, truly.

I made some to share for once! It’s a recipe I’ve never made, and…it’s our new favorite!

You might be thinking, whole wheat?

Really right now?

Really, Cindy?!

Yes, friends, for realies.

These are so super delightful. The whole wheat gives these cookies texture, body, density, and a lovely nuttiness that is simply addicting.

It’s chewy, buttery, nutty, salty-sweet, chocolate-chip cookie heaven.

Make these and they might just be your new favorite too.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies have been floating around the internets for some time now. They originally come from the book Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours by Kim Boyce with Amy Scattergood. I first heard the praises of these cookies from the blog Sweet Amandine. I have to admit that I forgot to sprinkle some sea salt over the top…it’s just mixed into the dough. Next time I wil; try to remember because I am sure that it would add the perfect crunchy texture. I also swapped out 1 cup of the whole wheat for regular ol’ all-purpose. Next time I’ll go big and do all whole wheat, maybe even whole wheat pastry flour!

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

8 ounces cold butter, cut into cubes

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup good quality chocolate chips (I like Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet chips), or chopped bar chocolate

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, soda, and salt. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat together cold butter and sugar on low speed until just blended (about 2 minutes). Scrape down sides of the bowl, add eggs 1 at a time until just incorporated, scraping bowl as needed. Mix in vanilla. Add in flour mixture and mix until nearly combined before adding chips and nuts (if using). Mix until just combined, if there are some streaks of flour left, just finish mixing by hand.

I used a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scooper and spaced the cookies 1 inch apart on silicone lined baking sheets. Cookies can be baked immediately in a 350F oven for 12-14 minutes. I actually chilled the dough for about 12 hours before baking (I made the dough before I went to bed and baked the cookies in the morning).

 

 

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Tea Time: Apple Cider Steeped Tea

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There are a lot of things I love about this time of the year in the northern hemisphere.

The cool weather, the sound of crisp leaves under foot, long walks (where I don’t end up sweating bullets!), the clothes, the smells, the baking and cooking, and possibly one of my very favorite things…warm drinks.

Like tea and hot apple cider.

I love them!

When I saw this brilliant idea on The Kitchn via the October issue of Martha Stewart magazine, I knew it would become an instant fall-time favorite. It combines two of the best hot beverages I can imagine and the results are simply perfection.

I have been drinking this nearly everyday and have tried it with both a spiced black tea (like this one) and a green jasmine. I love the sweetly spiced flavor and aroma that the black tea imparts, while the green tea makes for a light and floral scented cup. You could use any tea you fancy, I’d love to try it with a chai or orange tea. I also think that you could add a little shot of bourbon or rum for a twist on hot toddy!

It’s warming and seasonal and seriously good.

Apple Cider Steeped Tea

I like a ratio of 1 part apple cider, 1 part hot water, to 1 tea bag. You could use just apple cider for this and it will be even more apple-y and delicious. 

for one cup:

3 ounces apple cider (unfiltered, local stuff if you can get it)

3 ounces hot water

1 tea bag of your choice

Heat apple cider in a small pot on the stove or in a heatproof glass measurer in the microwave. Add hot cider, water, and tea bag to a mug and steep for 3-5 minutes. Cozy up and drink!

 

 

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Recipe…Method? Black Beans

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Are you a dried bean evangelist?

No?

Me neither.

I usually just go the canned route. I don’t usually think that far ahead.

This week though, I totally did. I was at the store doing some grocery shopping and decided to go for the dried beans.

I was just feeling ambitious is all, and guess what?

It really wasn’t all that technical.

Plus, those dried black beans were so tiny and dainty…I couldn’t resist!

I mean, soak some beans in cold water over night and throw ‘em in a pan with some other tasty goods, simmer, and done.

After the soaking those beans were a little more plump, shiny, and oh-so-pretty.

Yeah, I said it, black beans = pretty.

There’s really not a lot of hands-on happening here, just time and a little bit of forethought.

Who knew?

Lots of people I’m sure, but not me.

Now, I do though, and I feel all fancy-pants about it.

Learnin’ stuff everyday…

So, put on your fancy-pants one of these days and try it out.

Water, beans, salt, garlic, onion, a little cilantro, and jalapeno turn into a delicious, bean studded elixer and you’ll wonder why you never attempted this whole dried bean thing before.

You won’t regret it, I promise! ‘Cause when those humble, dried beans are bubbling away you’ll know some kind of magic is happening in that pot.

Simple Black Beans

So, this isn’t really a recipe, just a basic method on how to cook up some dried black beans.

You could really do this with any dried bean, in whatever quantity you want. You can also make this even simpler and cut down on the extra ingredients–like, if you happen to be adverse to cilantro or spicy things, you can just skip out on those. You could even add different herbs and dried spices (oregano! cumin!). You could even use stock, but I think water works just fine…those beans have their own flavor. Do what you want.

the night before:

1 cup dried black beans

Place 1 cup of black beans in a large bowl and cover with water. Make sure there are at least 2 inches of water over your beans as they will absorb a lot of it.

get cookin’:

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced

1/2 of a large, yellow onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, smashed

a few sprigs of fresh cilantro

soaked beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

a big pinch of salt, to taste

At this point you can either drain your beans of the soaking liquid (I did) or use it to cook with.

In a medium sauce pot or in a deep, covered pan (I used an enameled, cast-iron braiser) place beans, olive oil, jalapeno, onion, garlic, and cilantro into your pan. Cover completely with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes. At this point, add your salt. Cook an additional 30 minutes to 2+ hours. My beans were tender after about 1 1/2 hours, but it really depends on how old your dried beans are. Start checking the beans for doneness after about 1 hour.

I implore you not to pour off the cooking liquid. It is an elixer of the bean gods. The bean liquid is SO, SO delicious. I left mine in the pan and mashed the beans with the liquid…liked refried beans without the refrying! You could also leave the beans whole, bathed in the cooking liquid…it has a TON of flavor, so don’t waste it!

 

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Recipe: Malted Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

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Sean and I have this ongoing thing where he claims to dislike a food and I step up to crush him.

I make him eat his words.

Quite literally.

Then I laugh maniacally and he rolls his eyes.

It’s part of our thing.

See, not only do I feel an overwhelming sense of victory when I prove his begrudging tastebuds wrong…

We end up liking the same foods.

It’s a total win-win kinda deal.

Anyway, for years now Sean has been hating on pumpkin. I mean, I get his dislike of pumpkin pie (gasp! I know…) I don’t love it either. But, to write off all pumpkin goodness because of a dislike of a single dish, not even okay. There’s pumpkin bread, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin muffins, and cookies!

Oh, my.

So, to bust his hatin’, I decided to make it a point to help him overcome his discriminatory ways.

I saw this recipe on Martha Stewart’s website and knew that if anything would win him over, this would.

Browned butter…hello!

I added some malt to the mix for good measure.

Never can be too safe with those haters…

…and, it paid off!

He took one bite, and for once, kept his eye rolls to himself.

I’m the winner.

Oh, sweet victory!

Huzzah!

Malted Pumpkin Cookies with Browned Butter Frosting

Adapted from Martha Stewart

I halved the recipe, so I used ounce measurements instead of my usual cup measurments.

Makes about 48 cookies.

11 ounces all-purpose flour

4 tablespoons malt powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

3 ounces softened, unsalted butter

9 ounces brown sugar

2 teaspoons fresh, grated ginger

1 large egg, room temperature

6 ounces pumpkin puree (not pie filling)

3 ounces milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F and line 3 baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners.

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, malt powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, dry ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together butter, sugar, and fresh ginger. Add pumpkin puree and combine. Add egg and mix to combine, scraping the bowl as needed. Add milk and vanilla, mix well. Pour all of the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix in short bursts until just combined. If there are some streaks of flour, fold lightly with a rubber spatula.

Prepare a piping bag fitted with a large, round tip and spoon half of the batter into the bag. Pipe rounds of dough onto the prepped sheet pans and repeat. Bake cookies in the center of the oven for 10-12 minutes. The cookies are done when the bottoms are lightly browned and the tops spring back to the touch. Cool for a few minutes on the sheet and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely before frosting.

Browned Butter Frosting

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 tablespoon malt powder

pinch of salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl whisk together sugar, malt powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a small bowl whisk together milk and vanilla.

In a shallow skillet heat butter over medium low until butter solids become golden brown and smell like toffee. Do not walk away as you do this, the butter can go from perfect to burnt in moments. Once browned add to confectioner’s sugar mixture and whisk well, whisk in milk and vanilla. If the frosting is still stiff add small amounts of milk to achieve desired consistency. Can be used as soon as cookies are cooled.