Tag Archives: espresso

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Rocky Road Brownies

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Hey!

I’m totes back…and…I made brownies!

I would apologize for the brief hiatus in the last few weeks, but, truth be told…I’m not super sorry about it since I was living life, soaking in some solid family and friend time, and clocking as much niece time as I could. Twelve days ago my newest niece was born and I just can’t resist snuggling new born babes–they’re a wonder, it’s for real. It was an exciting trip home, but I’m glad to be back with my husband, pups, and cooking in my own kitchen.

Anyway, about the brownies! There’s nothing about Rocky Road that I don’t like–chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts–so much texture. These are a rich, fudgy, sticky, gooey, and crunchy. Instead of the standard marshmallow, I switched it up and made these coffee flavored. I tried to bake the marshmallows into the brownies, but that resulted in a soggy, melted, marshmallow mistake.  Since the mallows were homemade I added them at the end of baking, which lets them melt a bit into the brownie, forming an irresistible topping.

Rocky Road Brownies

I adapted my fave brownie recipe for this, you could probably use whatever one you like best with fine results.

Coffee Marshmallows:

adapted from Chuck Hughes

4 teaspoons powdered gelatin

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup strongly brewed coffee or espresso (I used 6 teaspoons instant espresso dissolved in 1/2 cup water)

1 1/2 cups granulatred sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

powdered sugar for dusting

In a small bowl, soften gelatin in 2/3 cup water for about 5 minutes.

Prepare an 8x8inch pan by lining with parchment and spraying lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan combine 1/2 cup espresso with the sugar, heat over medium high to dissolve and bring syrup to a low boil. Cook 1 minute, remove from heat, and stir in gelatin until it is completely dissolved and combined.

Using a hand or stand mixer, beat the syrup until it become light in color, voluminous, and holds a medium-stiff peak. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and dust the top with powdered sugar. Allow to set up several hours before cutting and rolling each piece in powdered sugar. Can be kept in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks.

Brownie:

adapted from Alice Medrich’s Best Cocoa Brownie recipe.

10 Tablespoons unsalted butter

3 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/4 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, cold

1/2 cup flour

Topping:

1/4 cup chopped almonds

10 marshmallows, cut in half

1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F. Prepare an 8×8 pan by greasing and lining with parchment. Set aside.

Fashion a double boiler out of a saucepan and a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Add butter, chocolate, sugar, cocoa, and salt–stir to combine until butter is melted and the mixture feels hot to the touch. Set aside and allow to cool to just warm.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in vanilla, then, add eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each addition. Add flour and combine. Once flour is incorporated, continue to stir vigorously for about 40 strokes. Pour into a prepared 8×8 baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownie comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove the brownie from the oven, top with almonds, marshmallows, and chocolate chips. Return to the oven, turn off heat, and allow the topping to melt onto the brownie top for 3-5 minutes in the still warm oven. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

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Espresso Cream Puffs with Salted Chocolate Caramel

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Pate choux is a versatile kind of pastry. Rich and eggy, it can go savory to sweet and is the perfect foil for filling.

My very first taste of this iconic pastry was in cream puff form. My family is super social and loves a good party. As we know, good food and drink are just as essential for a good party as great guests are. I remember reaching up and sneaking cream puffs from my grandma’s kitchen counter while she prepped for parties. She would make sheet pans full of them, filled with chocolate and vanilla custard. My brother and I would eat them, not so sneakily, at the kitchen table, spinning slowly in the upholstered chairs.  To my kid brain, they were huge–the size of my hand–and so special and perfect.

These cream puffs are not nearly as large–so you can have 2 or 3 instead of 1–and I didn’t make a custard to fill them, which makes the recipe even less daunting. Though choux pastry may seem intimidating–the process is unusual–it really isn’t and having a recipe like this in your repertoire makes for lots of versatility.

Big Kitchen kindly sent me an iSi Mini Cream Whipper–which I used to make the espresso whip for this recipe. I’ve wanted one of these gadgets since I used one in my days slangin’ coffee drinks as a barista. It’s basically like a fancy whipped cream can, a la supermarket dairy cases, but better. You can fill it with your choice of whipping cream and control the sweetness. The whipper can be filled and stored, keeping the cream fresh for over a week, and keeping freshly whipped cream on hand for use as you like. While I love a softly, hand-whipped cream, the ease of use and the fact that it keeps your whipped cream fresh for days is a major bonus….plus, it’s pretty fun to charge the bottle with the tiny N2O chargers. 

**Note: I have to say it, Big Kitchen did provide me with this product to review. Don’t fret though, all opinions on this blog are always my own.

Pate Choux for Cream Puffs

from the perfect scoop.

1 cup water
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
1 cup all-purpose flour
4 large, room temperature eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon milk

Preheat oven to 425 and line baking sheet with parchment or silicone baking mat.

Heat sugar, water, salt and butter in a small saucepan, stirring until butter melts. Remove from heat and pour all flour into pan at once and stir vigorously until the dough pulls away from the pan and is smooth.

Allow dough to cool for about 2 minutes before briskly beating in eggs, one at a time, until smooth and shiny. Don’t fret if the mixture appears broken and does not absorb the eggs at first–keep mixing, it will happen. You should have a sticky, well-combined dough.

Either pipe or drop small (walnut) sized rounds onto baking sheet, spacing evenly (about 1 inch apart). Mix remaining yolk with milk and brush tops of cream puffs. Bake for 30 minutes or until puffed and browned. Turn off oven and leave for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

Cool cream puffs completely before filling.

Salted Chocolate Caramel Sauce

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chips or chopped

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

big pinch of sea salt

In a small saucepan heat sugar with water to dissolve. Do  not stir through this process–swirl the pan if you must. Cook the sugar syrup until it becomes a dark golden caramel. Remove from heat and add the heavy cream, stirring with a  oven-mitted or towel wrapped hand–it will bubble and steam furiously. Continue to stir until combined well and smooth. Add the chocolate, stir until combined. Finally, stir in the butter and salt. Use warm. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week. Reheat in the microwave in 20 second bursts after refrigerating.

Espresso Whipped Cream

As mentioned, I used a cream whipper for this, but totally feel free to whip it up any way you like. 

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream

2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1-2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

Measure out the cream and whisk in the espresso to dissolve. Whip the cream however you desire–whisk, jar, beaters, mixer, or cream whipper.

To assemble: cut or tear cream puffs in half–reserving tops. Fill with cream, top and refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve. Serve with Salted Chocolate Caramel.

 

 

 

 

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Recipe: Espresso + Toasted Almond Semifreddo

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I really love coffee.

When I was a small child, I would relish visits to my grandparents house…not only for the blackberry picking expeditions and days tromping through the woods surrounding their Sierra foothills home, but, because for breakfast there were often waffles with strawberries and cream AND a mug of sugary milk with a splash of coffee.

That creamy-sweet, slightly coffee flavored mug of goodness was a serious treat. My mom never made it a practice to allow us to have soda, let alone coffee as kids. The only exception (besides trips to grandma and grandpa’s) was when we would go to Baskin Robbins for a scoop–or if we were really lucky, a double–my brother always got a classic kid-friendly flavor, like bubble gum, but I ALWAYS got jamoca almond fudge. Coffee, almonds, and a fudge swirl. So good.

This semifreddo is reminiscent of those childhood days, when coffee-flavored treats felt so mature to my kid-palate. The texture of the semifreddo is somewhere between an ice cream and a mousse–all without the need for a machine to churn it all. It’s flavored with instant espresso, sweet cream, toasty almonds, and creamy almond butter. It’s great on it’s own, but, serving scoops in a puddle of chocolate sauce makes this dessert a touch fancier… Definitely something my young-self would have been into.

Espresso + Toasted Almond Semifreddo

adapted from Pumpkin Semifreddo

I use instant espresso powder in this recipe for ease and because I really like it in desserts.   If you’re feeling fancy, you could definitely brew a few shots, cool, and fold those into the mixture before folding in the almonds and freezing. 

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tablespoon, plus 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder–divided

3 Tablespoons honey

3 Tablespoons sugar

2 Tablespoons water

3 large egg yolks

2 Tablespoons almond butter

1/2 cup coarsely chopped, toasted almonds

Sprinkle the 1 Tablespoon of espresso powder over the cream in a large bowl to dissolve. Once dissolved, whip the cream to medium peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Make an ice bath in a clean sink basin or a large bowl. In a large, heatproof bowl whisk together the remaining 1 teaspoon espresso powder, honey, sugar, water, and egg yolks. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture thickens and the whisk leaves visible tracks. Remove from heat and continue to whisk over the ice bath until cooled. Fold in the almond butter. Stir in about 1/3 of the prepared whipped cream, then fold in the remaining whipped cream, and lastly fold in the chopped almonds. Scrape the mixture into a container, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze for at least 4 hours to set.

Spiced Chocolate Sauce

adapted from The Perfect Scoop

I only made a small quantity of sauce, this is 1/4 of the original recipe. 

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup good quality cocoa powder

1 ounce dark chocolate, chopped or chips

1/16-1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a small saucepan combine water, honey, and cocoa powder, bring to a low boil, remove from heat and stir in the chocolate, spices, and vanilla. Can be used warm or room temperature.