And Eating It Too

This post is actually about something I ate, but didn't make. My mom found a cake recipe she wanted try in the latest issue of Epicurious.



She rarely has the time or ability (what with me hogging the oven) to bake anything, so she leapt at the chance and made the cake while I worked one night. She and my dad even waited to cut it until after I got home so that I could take pictures, awww.



This cake was delicious; the glaze was sweet and tart at the same time, and the cake was moist all over and a little salty in contrast to the glaze. The blueberry sauce on top was warm, sweet, and sticky, and an excellent addition to the cake.



Lemon Glaze

1 1/2 cups packed powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons or more fresh lemon juice

Combine powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in a small bowl. Stir with a spoon until smooth and paste-like, adding more lemon juice by 1/2 teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to spread. Set aside.


Lemon Cornmeal Cake
Makes 8 to 10 servings

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon finely-grated lemon peel
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan with at least 2-inch-high sides; line bottom with parchment.

Combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; whisk to blend. Whisk buttermilk, eggs, lemon peel, and vanilla in small bowl. Pour buttermilk mixture and melted butter into flour mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold liquids into flour mixture until just blended (do not stir). Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.

Bake cake until tester inserted in the center comes out clean and cake pulls away from the sides of the pan, about 30 minutes.

Immediately run a knife around the sides of the cake. Invert the cake onto a rack or plate; while the cake is still hot, drop glaze by tablespoonfuls and spread to within 1/2 inch of the edge.


Crushed-Blueberry Sauce
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed (13 to 14 ounces), divided
2/3 cup packed golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon finely-grated lemon peel
Pinch of salt

Combine 1 1/2 cups blueberries and all remaining ingredients in medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to simmer, about 7 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until berries are very soft and liquid is syrupy, stirring often, about 7 minutes.

Remove from heat and add remaining blueberries. Using back of spoon, gently press fresh blueberries against side of pan until lightly crushed.

Something About the Kitchen Sink

I've been a Girl Scout for 14 years, and recently have been promoted to being a leader. We have meetings once a month, on the first Wednesday and the person supplying snacks is in constant rotation. The one consistent thing about our meetings is that I almost always bake something.



This month, I made cookies because...just about everyone loves cookies. The recipe I settled on was found in a cookie book I got for my birthday last year.



The recipe here is a little different from the one found in the book: I added vanilla, cinnamon, coconut, and peanuts. Those can all be taken out if you'd like, but I recommend keeping the cinnamon, just because it really helps bring out the milk chocolate. Plus, I made a half recipe because 5 dozen cookies is a lot. When cooked for 12 minutes, these cookies were chewy on the inside and crunchy on the outside - perfect.



Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Makes about 5 dozen cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnnamon
1 cup unsalted butter,
softened
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
3 cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (optional)
1 cup peanuts, chopped or whole (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, peanut butter, vanilla, and granulated and brown sugars until light and creamy, about three minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. On low speed, graduallly add flour mixture, beating until blended.

With a wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chips and coconut.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 11 to 15 minutes or until light golden.

Having Your Cake

After a particularly heavy and delicious dinner, my father customarily asks, "What's for dessert?" often referencing an imaginary double-decker fudge cake that our imaginary maid has slaved over all day.



The recipe for this cake is simple enough, considering I used a box mix for the actual cake.
Since ease and speed were the goals of this whole operation, I used the recipe for chocolate frosting on the back of our Hershey's Cocoa container. If you are interested in making the cake as well, there's also a recipe for a corresponding cake on the label.



I have to say that the cake was pretty good, but the frosting was spectacular. The consistency was perfectly spreadable, but stiff enough to hold its shape; the balance between sugar and chocolate was ultimately delicious.

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Frosting
Makes about 2 cups

1/2 cup butter or margarine
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a glass container, melt the butter in the microwave. Add cocoa to melted butter.

Alternately add the powdered sugar and milk, beating on medium speed, until spreading consistency is reached.

If needed, add more milk. Stir in vanilla. Frost your cake!

Cupcake Army

The cover of the February edition of Martha Stewart Living featured a bunch of cupcakes with varying shades of fluffy frosting all displayed in the shape of a heart. This was probably done to get ladies (and guys) all pumped up to make cupcakes. Naturally, after seeing the cover, I was all pumped up to make cupcakes.



I had a Girl Scout meeting coming up, so I decided to make basic yellow butter cupcakes and top them off with the peanut butter frosting that was featured in the cupcake article. The original recipe called for a dollop of grape jelly on top, but I decided to use a different method. I picked out one large, pretty frosting tip and piped it onto the cupcakes. Then I added various things I found in the cabinet - basically, Reese's Pieces and giant milk chocolate chips. I even brought chopped nuts to the meeting as an option.



Overall, these were some pretty good cupcakes. The actual cake part was tender, springy, and buttery. The frosting, however, had a very unique taste. I was skeptical to begin with about the combination of cream cheese and peanut butter. The result was good, but it took a little getting used to. A lot of the girls who ate them loved it, but it took me a while to realize the depth of the flavor.



Yellow Butter Cupcakes
Makes 3 dozen regular-sized cupcakes

3 cup cake flour, sifted
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups (9 ounces) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
5 large eggs, plus 3 large yolks, room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

Whisk flours, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix buttermilk and vanilla with butter mixture. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients, and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl, and divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes.


Peanut Butter Frosting
Makes about 1 1/2 cups

6 ounces cream cheese
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural!)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup heavy cream

Beat cream cheese and confectioners' sugar with a mixer on medium speed. Add salt, then peanut butter, then vanilla.

In another bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form, then fold into peanut butter mixture. Use immediately, or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

Not Enough Time For Martha

When I received my Holiday edition of Martha in the mail, I saw this glorious dessert that I definitely wanted to serve for Christmas: the Chocolate-Coconut Charlotte. It was everything I'd ever wanted in a holiday dessert - a combination of flavors and custards with crispy, homemade chocolate ladyfingers encircling the delicious layers, and just too much work on top of my French Onion soup and Prime Rib Roast. My usual reaction is to take on the stress until I've gone so insane that I could not possibly enjoy either the creation or the demolition of the masterpiece. I didn't make the damn thing.



The Holiday edition of Cooking Light came next in the mail, and lo and behold, there was my simplified Christmas dessert. The recipe calls for ten 4-ounce individual ramekins; we had six, so we improvised. For some reason, I didn't even think of how this would affect the bake time, which resulted in the cakes being much less gooey on the inside than desired.



But we prevailed, and everyone managed to eat just about half of their little cake. It was then that everyone wanted to know how they would take it home without stealing my ramekins. And I was at a loss. I think we popped them out of the container and wrapped them in saran wrap or something. Anyway, these were quick and easy. When cooked properly, they are a little bit crispy on top and hot and gooey on the inside. The sprinkling of powdered sugar makes them look elegant and simple. Just be sure to assemble them at least four hours ahead, as they need to sit in the refrigerator for that long.



Hot Chocolate Fudge Cakes
Makes 10 individual servings, somehow (we only had 6, which greatly affected the cook time)

3.4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
5 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup egg substitute
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 (2.6-ounce) bar dark (71% cocoa) chocolate (such as Valrhona Le Noir Amer), finely chopped
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Sift together flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt.

Place butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 1 minute. Add granulated and brown sugars, beating until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg substitute and vanilla, beating until well blended. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture; fold in chocolate. Divide batter evenly among 10 (4-ounce) ramekins; arrange ramekins on a jelly-roll pan. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but no more than 2 days.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Let ramekins stand at room temperature 10 minutes. Uncover and bake at 350° for 21 minutes or until cakes are puffy and slightly crusty on top. Sprinkle evenly with powdered sugar; serve immediately.

A Baker that Doesn't Bake

My no-bake cookies are pretty awesome. I owe this mostly to the use of peanut butter and old-fashioned oats, as opposed to just cocoa and quick-cooking oats. The PB adds some depth and variety to the flavor and the old-fashioned oats help with thickening the mixture up.



I made these for my cookie boxes for Christmas, and they were well-received. This is a good throwdown cookie recipe, as they only take a few minutes to make and a couple of hours to harden.



Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies
Makes 3 dozen cookies

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 2/3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 teaspoon vanilla exttract

In a medium sauce pan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa powder. Bright to a boil and cook for about 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla until completely combined. Add more oats if cookies seem runny.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool until hardened.

Fudge Again, with Stuff on Top

My usual recipe for fudge contains half semi-sweet and half milk chocolate, so this was sort of an experiment. I was very lucky because this occurred as part of the Cookie Box Baking Extravaganza, and it turned out great! I actually prefer this recipe to my regular one now because the marshmallow swirl is very attractive and it seems to stay moister (and thus, fresher) longer.



I made one batch for my cookie boxes and another for a cookie exchange at my mom's office. After making the first batch, I noticed that the marshmallow swirl was mostly on the top, so I tried to marbelize a little deeper for the second batch and it turned out a little better. My only advice would be to not be afraid of swirling the marshmallow in; it helps in the long run.



Marshmallow Swirl Fudge
Makes 64 squares

3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk
4 tablespoons butter or margarine, separated
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
2 cups miniature marshmallows

Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil.

In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, melt chips with milk, 2 tablespoons of butter, vanilla, and salt. Remove from heat and stir in nuts before spreading evenly into prepared pan.

Meanwhile, melt marshmallows with 2 tablespoons butter in microwave. Spread marshmallow mixture on top of fudge and marbelized with a butter knife.

Chill for at least two hours, until firm. When ready to cut, turn fudge onto cutting board and peel off foil. Using a sharp, moist knife makes the cutting process easier.

Cookie Crisp with Caffeine

These first caught my eye in Cookies by Jill Snider because they were called Mocha Java Shortbread logs, and I thought that sounded...well, entirely unappetizing. The idea kind of grew on me, though, and I ended up making them for my cookie boxes.



I feel as though I can't give an honest review on these because I didn't actually try one. Before I got a chance, I had them all packed up to give away. I did get some pictures of them and responses from other people, though. One person told me that they reminded them of Cookie Crisp. When I realized that I hadn't had Cookie Crisp since I was seven or eight years old, I knew I couldn't honestly explain the relevance of this comment. I was also told that without the chocolate drizzle to add to the "mocha"
flavor, the coffee was overpowering. All I could recommend is to add the chocolate drizzle. Or, if you're stuck for time like I was, maybe try dipping half of the cookie in chocolate.



Mocha Java Shortbread Logs
Makes 3 dozen cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Semisweet chocolate, melted for decorating

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cornstarch, coffee powder, and chocolate in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture, mixing until thoroughly blended. Using your hands, knead to form a smooth dough.

Shape into small logs, each about 2- by 1/2-inch; place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges. Cool for 5 minutes on a sheet, then transfer to a rack and cool completely.

If drizzling or dipping in chocolate, do so after completely cooled.

In Russia, Minstrels Eat You

Around early November each year, I start to develop these really great ideas for the holidays: I'm going to serve a prime rib roast for dinner, I'm going to make cookie boxes for all of my friends, I'm going to finally make world peace happen. But by the time that finals have chewed me up and spat me out, I am either a) working or b) sleeping.



On the eve of Christmas Eve, I worked the closing shift, and I had the bright idea to bake all of the cookies I had promised everyone. So, I woke up (late, of course), scoured my recipes, and went to the store to get some supplies.



The baking went by with nary a hitch; I only had one incident with marshmallows in the microwave when I made the fudge. The best part of the day was the discovery of these Russian Tea Cakes. They were easy and optionally nut-free; buttery and sweet. They are also quite possibly one of Andrew's new favorite cookies.



Russian Tea Cakes
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspooon salt
1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Blend powdered sugar with softened butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and mix thoroughly. Stir in salt, flour, and nuts.

Form dough into 1-inch balls (or flattened cookies) and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes.

While the cookies are still hot, roll them in powdered sugar, coating completely. Let cool and roll in powdered sugar again.

Melts in Your Mouth and Your Hand

Eating my grandmother's homemade fudge until I got a stomachache was practically a holiday tradition for me when I was a child. I can still vividly remember sneaking the little chocolate pieces out of their cookie tins, where they were neatly stacked between layers of wax paper. Although I'm older, I could probably still take on an entire tin of fudge and have a hard time stopping until my stomach cries "Uncle".



My grandma doesn't really make fudge anymore, but last year she gave me the recipe that she got off of a can of Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk decades ago. It's exceedingly simple and the results are amazing; the fudge is creamy, chewy, and succulent. Variations are endless, and you can even adjust how milk chocolate-y you want it to taste; for more, use more milk chocolate chips and for less, use more semisweet chocolate chips.



Foolproof Chocolate Fudge
Makes 81 one-inch cubes

1 3/4 cups milk chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Dash of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts (or other nuts, toffee bits, miniature M&M's, etc.)

In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt chips with sweetened condensed milk and salt. Stir often; remove from heat and stir in walnuts and vanilla. Spread evenly into wax-paper-lined 9-inch square pan. Chill 2 hours or until firm.

Turn fudge onto cutting board; peel off paper and cut into squares. Store loosely covered at room temperature.