Cookish: Something Sweet

My fiancé and I did a cooking class at the New Orleans School of Cooking (www.nosoc.com)--so fun! I thought I would share one of the recipes for you, since we actually do use it at home. Prior to this class, my fiancé had claimed he didn't like pralines. Turns out, he didn't know what they were! Now he knows they are delicious.

Pralines (makes up to 50, depending on size)
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup milk
6 Tbs butter
1 1/2 cups of pecans, roasted
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients and bring to the "soft ball" stage (238-240 degrees--a candy thermometer helps!), stirring constantly. Remove from heat and continue to stir til the mixture thickens, becomes creamy and cloudy. You can actually hear the difference once the sugar starts to recrystallize and your spoon has to scrape through. Spoon onto buttered wax paper, foil, or parchment. Allow to cool and try not to eat them all yourself!

Cookish: Gingersnaps

I'm posting my Christmas cookie recipes late this year, but they are good ones! I am a big fan of gingersnaps, but I've only made gingerbread cookies or chewy molasses spice cookies at home. Well, this year I discovered America's Test Kitchen's gingersnap recipe. Perfection! I love ATK's recipes--they test them meticulously and the results are accordingly excellent, and this was no exception. A quick note: I cut this recipe in half because it says it makes about 80 cookies! But the cookies are small, and they go quickly, and I'm not sure I got 40 out of the 1/2 batch, so I think you'd be fine doing the whole shebang. Also, the dough freezes well and the baked cookies stay fresh for quite a while, so don't fear making a full batch.

Original recipe here: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/6840-gingersnaps?extcode=LN13N2AAA

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2teaspoon salt
• 12tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2tablespoons ground ginger
• 1teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4teaspoon pepper
• pinch cayenne
• 1 1/4cups packed (8 3/4 ounces) dark brown sugar
• 1/4cup molasses
• 2tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger
• 1large egg plus 1 large yolk
• 1/2cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. 
   
   1. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Heat butter in 10-inch skillet over medium heat until melted. Lower heat to medium-low and continue to cook, swirling pan frequently, until foaming subsides and butter is just beginning to brown, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer butter to large bowl and whisk in ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and cayenne. Cool slightly, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar, molasses, and fresh ginger to butter mixture and whisk to combine. Add egg and yolk and whisk to combine. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined. Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
   2. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 300 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place granulated sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate. Divide dough into heaping teaspoon portions; roll dough into 1-inch balls. Working in batches of 10, roll balls in sugar to coat. Evenly space dough balls on prepared baking sheets, 20 dough balls per sheet.
   3. Place 1 sheet on upper rack and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, transfer partially baked top sheet to lower rack, rotating 180 degrees, and place second sheet of dough balls on upper rack. Continue to bake until cookies on lower tray just begin to darken around edges, 10 to 12 minutes longer. Remove lower sheet of cookies and shift upper sheet to lower rack and continue to bake until cookies begin to darken around edges, 15 to 17 minutes. Slide baked cookies, still on parchment, to wire rack and cool completely before serving. Cool baking sheets slightly and repeat step 2 with remaining dough balls.
   TO MAKE AHEAD: Dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 1 month. Let dough stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before shaping. Let frozen dough thaw overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding with recipe. Cooled cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 weeks in airtight container.

Cookish:Something Sweet

A friend's birthday is this weekend, so of course I had to make a sweet treat. She's a chocolate-PB fan so I needed to make something along those lines. I went with this recipe from Rachael Ray: http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/dessert-recipes/chocolate-peanut-butter-fudge-crunch
It's in no way healthy, but it was a big hit! I've rewritten it slightly below, because I made it with chocolate chips, so I measured them in cups, not ounces (I don't have a food scale).

Ingredients

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 sticks (8 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon butter

1 16 ounce jar  creamy peanut butter*

3 cups crispy rice cereal

3 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions

1. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Use the microwave to melt half of the chocolate and 1 tablespoon butter. Remove from the microwave; stir in 1 cup peanut butter, then 2 cups rice cereal. Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan; refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes.
2. In the microwave, melt the remaining 2 sticks butter. Remove from the microwave and stir in the remaining peanut butter and the confectioners' sugar. Pour half of the peanut butter mixture over the cereal layer. Top with the remaining 1 cup cereal.
3. In a small bowl, microwave the remaining chocolate at medium power until melted, 1 1/2 minutes. Stir into the remaining peanut butter mixture. Spread evenly on the cereal-topped peanut butter layer; refrigerate until set, about 45 minutes. Cut into small pieces.

*The jar I bought was actually 16.3 oz. I used it all, minus a spoonful I ate straight from the jar.

Cookish: What's for dessert?

I generally make my own desserts on my birthday, because it gives  me an excuse to try something new. This year, I made two treats.

The first was a chocolate and coconut pie by Martha Stewart: http://www.styleathome.com/food-and-entertaining/recipes/recipe-martha-stewart-s-crisp-coconut-and-chocolate-pie/a/34855

It was good, but I had a couple issues. 1. The coconut in the food processor never formed a ball for me. 2. I used (not great quality) chocolate chips for the chocolate, because that was what I had, and I think that was a mistake.

The second were these salted Pretzel-marshmallow bars, which just sounded so crazy I had to try them: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/salted-pretzel-marshmallow-bars-recipe/index.html

They were amazing. Highly recommended if you like salty and sweet and blondies. Yum!

Cookish: Something Sweet

Summer means berries, and I made two tasty berry desserts lately that I would like to share with you.

First my new favorite blueberry muffin recipe, from Joy the Baker: http://joythebaker.com/2009/07/browned-butter-blueberry-muffins/

The only changes I  made were using skim milk instead of whole milk and using only 1  1/2 cups of berries. They are awesome! She also has a new variation I haven't tried yet: http://joythebaker.com/2012/06/lemon-blueberry-poppy-seed-muffins/

The next one is a berry pound cake from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/06/triple-berry-summer-buttermilk-bundt/

I used blueberries & blackberries, because that is what I had, and divided the batter between a 6-cup bundt and a loaf pan, because I don't have a 10-cup bundt pan. I used frozen berries and made my own buttermilk (1 tbs vinegar to 1 cup millk; let it sit for 5-10 minutes, and you're good to go). It was delicious and pretty.

You can't go wrong with either recipe!

Cookish: What's for dessert?

Almond & Jam Tart-mmmm. http://www.chow.com/recipes/11931-italian-jam-crostata

This recipe is from chow.com and it works really well. It basically produces a giant shortbead cookie with jam and almonds. It reminds me of the Pepperidge farm cookies wih the jam in the middle.

I used plain ol' Smuckers strawberry for this--nothing fancy, though if you had fancy I am sure it would be even better. I did  use a little more than the 1/3 cup they suggest, just to get a nice even layer. It doesn't look like much, but the flavor definitely comes through. enjoy!

Cookish: Something Sweet

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Life has been very busy. But I have a special treat for you. Do you (like me) love Girl Scout cookies? Of course you do. And are Samoas your favorite? Of course they are; you have good taste. Do yourself a favor and make these: http://bakingbites.com/2009/02/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas-bars/

It's really pretty simple and the result is delicious! (I know, I made them last night.) They recommended dipping the bottoms in chocolate as well as drizzling on top, which is probably the better way to do it, but I'm lazy. I just did the drizzle--delish!

Cookish: What's for dessert?

Oh yes, these happened. I call these SugarBomb Cupcakes. These are the Chocolate, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, Toasted Marshmallow Cupcakes from Joy the Baker. Her photos are much better than mine--go check them out. Also, I had an issue with the frosting. You'll see that hers stays in a nice swirl. Mine started in a swirl, but quickly collapsed. Once you toast them, they form a crust on top, so they don't drip anymore, but it was impossible to frost them and get them in the oven before the swirl collapsed. I'm not sure why. I don't have an electric stand mixer, so I put the whisk attachment on my hand mixer, and it took much longer than 5 minutes, and maybe I should have beaten it even more. The whisk is definitely smaller than the one on a stand mixer, so maybe it didn't incorporate the air as quickly? They were still delicious, but I wanted them to look like Joy's! And they are a LOT of sugar. Next time, I think I will do the cupcakes with the frosting and leave out the cookie dough. And beat the frosting longer, maybe with the regular hand mixer beaters and not the whisk attachment. The cupcakes are awesomely decadent and impressive, though. Highly recommended!

Cookish: Party Time

Desserts at my cousin's bridal shower

I threw a bridal shower for my cousin J. We were going for finger food, so cake balls seemed like the perfect dessert. This was my first time making them, and they were a huge hit!

I got the recipe from Bakerella. It's a box of cake mix and a tub of frosting and some coating. Ooh, tough, right? ;) I used red velvet cake + cream cheese frosting + white coating and chocolate cake + chocolate frosting + chocolate coating. I purchased CandiQuick candy coating to coat the cake balls. It worked okay, but here's the thing: it's not less expensive than chocolate chips, you'll need more than one package, it's not that easy to work with, and it doesn't taste that good. SO, when I ran out of coating, I melted some white chocolate chips with some vegetable oil (per package directions). Worked like a charm. Easier to work with and hardened up just fine.

These are so easy. Do yourself a favor and make some!

UnCookish: Eating Out

Next food place review: Blue Dot Donuts. Blue Dot is located on Canal St in Mid-City in New Orleans. I have been to Blue Dot twice now, and I have not been disappointed. My overall favorite may be the red velvet doughnut, which is only available sometimes, but is supremely delicious. I have also had the Dulce de Leche, which was good, but was really too rich for my taste. I've had the chocolate frosted cake doughnut topped with coconut, which is supremely tasty, as well as the chocolate-frosted cake doughnut with sprinkles, which was very good, though I prefer the chocolate-frosted yeast doughnut with sprinkles. I just prefer yeast doughnuts to cake. I had two others today, which were really awesome. First the PB&J doughnut. See below for close-up. Mmmmm. You need some milk with this one. I also had a chocolate-frosted buttermilk doughnut, which was great. (That's the one on the bottom left in the top picture.) Blue Dot is owned by some NOPD officers--how awesome is that? It has not been open long, but has been getting great coverage, both locally and with upcoming features in Martha Stewart magazine and on the Food Network. The doughnuts really are great. You can also get a doughnut ice-cream sandwich--I haven't had one yet, but they sound awesome. I usually go by after yoga at Balance Yoga & Wellness, which is right nearby. I recommend going to yoga there (the Anusara class is great--Laura is phenomenal), and then stopping by Blue Dot for a chocolate milk (the ultimate after-workout drink) and a doughnut. That's the way to start your day off right!

Cookish: What's for dessert?

This recipe is slightly adapted from SmittenKitchen. If you do not currently read that blog, please do. Deb is fantastic, and I completely trust her recipes.

Deb's recipe is for a 9-in tart pan. I adapted it for my 11-in tart. I did not increase the filling, so mine is not as full as hers, but I liked the filling-crust ratio.

Crust:

42 gingersnap cookies, coarsely broken
1/3 cup salted butter, melted

Filling:
1 10-oz bag, plus 1/4 cup, Nestle dark chocolate chips
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 large egg yolks
1 large egg
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbs all purpose flour
1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
Pinch of salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

For crust:Preheat oven to 325°F. Finely grind gingersnap cookies in processor. Add melted butter and process until moistened. Press crumb mixture firmly onto bottom and up sides of 11-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom.Use a measuring cup or glass to help press in the crust. Place pan on rimmed baking sheet.

For filling:
Combine chocolate and heavy whipping cream in heavy medium saucepan. Whisk over low heat until chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat. Whisk egg yolks, egg, sugar, flour,and spices in medium bowl to blend. Very gradually whisk chocolate mixture into egg mixture until smooth and blended. Pour chocolate filling into crust.

Bake chocolate tart until filling puffs slightly at edges and center is softly set, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack. Cool tart in pan 20 minutes. Gently remove tart pan sides and cool tart completely.

Cut tart into thin wedges and serve. Delish!

Cookish: Something Sweet

Yum Yum Yum. This is a delightful St. Patrick's Day cupcake. Recipe courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. Find it here. A few notes on the recipe:

• I added some green food dye to the frosting--festive! It's a pale green, which I am not sure shows up so well in the picture, but you can dye it as much as you want, and for any occasion.
• As Deb warns, the frosting recipe does not make that much frosting, but it does make enough (barely). If you are a frosting fan, you'll want to double it, or at least make 1.5 x's as much
• Do not taste the batter before the cupcakes are cooked--it tastes very strongly of Guinness, but once they bake, that is no longer the case--they are simply delicious.
• I used 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate and 1 tsp of Jack Daniels for the ganache, which makes for a very powerful filling. Everyone enjoyed it, but I might try semisweet chocolate and maybe a little more whiskey next time.
• Everyone raved about these, so make sure you make enough for your crowd!

Cookish: Something Sweet

Chocolate Pudding
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 60% Cacao Ghiradelli chocolate baking bar (4 oz), chopped into small pieces
½ teaspoon espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons Hershey's Special Dark cocoa
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolks
½ cup half-and-half

1 1/4 cups half-and half, mixed with 1 1/4 cups skim milk

Microwave butter and chocolate in bowl on 50-percent power, stirring occasionally, until melted, about 4 minutes. Stir together espresso powder and vanilla extract in small ramekin. In a large saucepan, whisk cocoa, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in yolks and 1/2 cup half-and-half until fully incorporated, making sure to scrape corners of saucepan. Whisk in milk and half-and-half mixture.

Place saucepan over medium heat and whisk constantly until mixture starts to thicken, about 4 minutes. Whisk in melted chocolate mixture and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until bubbles appear over entire surface, 2 to 4 minutes longer. It will be considerably thicker at this point. Remove from heat, and whisk in vanilla mixture.

Pour pudding through fine-mesh strainer into bowl. Place plastic wrap against surface of pudding, and place in refrigerator to cool, at least 4 hours.

If you've never made homemade pudding, I urge you to try this. ALso, I recommend eating a serving before chilling--it is insanely good warm.

Cookish: Something Sweet

My new favorite brownies are Katharine Hepburn's brownies from the Al Dente blog: http://www.aldenteblog.com/2009/07/brownie-bakeoff-katherine-hepburn-brownies.html.

I leave out the nuts, though, and tend to underbake. Yum!

Kate's Famous Brownies

Ingredients:
2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate
1/4 pound butter
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter over very low heat in a heavy saucepan.

3. Remove from heat and stir in sugar.

4. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

5. Quickly stir in walnuts, flour and salt.

6. Spread the batter in a well-greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Remove the pan to a rack to cool.

Yield: 12 brownies

Cookish: Something Sweet

So, I usually bake from scratch, but I have found one mix which even you mix-haters will appreciate:http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/brownie-mix/?pkey=cfodbakdst

Is this mix kind of ridiculously expensive? Yes, yes, it is. However, it is also ridiculously delicious. The brownies are incredible and they stay great-tasting for quite a while. Add it to your wishlist and maybe some overly generous person will buy it for you.

Cookish: Fixing a screw-up

So, a few days ago, I made some Amish Friendship Bread, but it didn't turn out quite right. It just didn't taste the same and it was rather dry. So, what to do? I didn't want to just throw it away, but it wasn't all that tasty.

The solution? Bread pudding. The bread is already cinnamon-y and sugar-y--a great start. Of course, you can make bread pudding with any bread, preferably a little stale. French bread, challah, brioche--take your pick. I had about a loaf and a half of friendship bread, which I cut into large cubes. I tossed these cubes in 1/2 stick of melted butter and placed the cubes in a 9-in. square baking dish. In a bowl, I mixed 4 eggs with a scant 3/4 cup of sugar and a hearty sprinkle of cinnamon--keep in mind that the bread already had sugar and cinnamon in it, so if you are using regular bread, you may want to increase the quantity of both. I also added 2 tsp of vanilla, but I'd up this to a tablespoon next time. Add a pinch of salt. Heat up some milk--I used 3 cups, but it made too much liquid, so I think I'd just heat 2 cups next time. Add the warm milk to the eggs and pour the mixture over the bread cubes. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar and bake in a 375-degree oven. Begin checking after 25 minutes, but it will probably take 30 to 40 minutes to set up.

It was quite yummy! Next time I might bake it in a bigger dish for a better crunchy top to squishy middle ratio. Mmm-mmm, good.

Cookish: What's for Dessert?

Spring Berry Crisp


I wish I had a picture of this for you, but I baked it at my parents' house for Easter and did not bring my camera. Mia culpa.


This was a thrown-together experiment, so there are caveats you should heed at the end.


Berry Mixture

1 pint fresh strawberries (frozen would work, but fresh were available and on sale, so why not?)
1 bag frozen blackberries (or berries of your choice)
3 tbs sugar
3 tbs flour (I might use cornstarch nxt time)
Pinch salt

Topping
1 stick butter (salted), softened
½ c oats
½ c flour
Pinch salt
¼ c white sugar
¼ c brown sugar


I used a 9 1/2 in pie plate to make this in. I tossed in the frozen blackberries, cut the strawberries into quarters and threw them in, sprinkled over the other ingredients and sprinkled them on top. I tasted my strawberries and they were pretty sweet. If yours aren't, you may want some more sugar. Toss, toss, spread evenly in dish. Mix together the topping ingredients into a crumbly mixture and sprinkle on top. I wasn't sure of the temperature, so I baked at 350 for about 20-25 minutes,determined that was not hot enough, and raised it to 400 for 10 more minutes. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.


Notice that there is not a lot of sugar in this. The crumble has a good amount of salt flavor and the sweet-savory balance is nice. This is perfect served with vanilla ice cream. I have made a strawberry-rhubarb crumble in the past that had quite a bit more sugar in it, but it was a little too sweet for my taste. You could go as high as 1/2 c of each white and brown sugar in the topping if you like a little more sweetness.


I was also unsure that the flour was enough of a thickening agent; it was still a little runny, so I might do cornstarch next time. It was delicious, though.

Cookish Blog: Smitten Kitchen

http://www.smittenkitchen.com/


What do you do when life hands you lemons, but you don't want lemonade? A friend's in-laws sent her and her husband a styrofoam cooler of lemons from their tree in AZ. That's a lot of lemons, and said friend is not that into lemons. So, I ended up with a bag of lemons. What to do? I turned to my favorite food blog, Smitten Kitchen, and Deb came to the rescue.


1. Whole Lemon Tart: This tart uses a whole lemon. Peel, pith, and all (except the seeds). This creates a powerful lemon flavor with a backslap of bitterness. This is not a bad thing, as far as I'm concerned, but you should be warned. Deb has a great tart crust recipe as well, which I multiplied by 1.5 to fit my 11-in tart pan, since the original recipe is for a 9-in tart. I don't roll out the crust, just push it in to the tart pan. This provides a nice, thick crust. I did not increase the filling for the tart, so the crust-to-filling ratio was very nice, in my opinion.


2. Lemon Pound Cake: This is an Ina Garten recipe, and made two lovely loaves; one was a gift for a friend's birthday, and the other...well, I had to taste-test it, right? This uses up a lot of lemon, so it was just the right recipe. The resulting cake is moist and packs quite a lemon punch. Next time, I think I would use a toothpick or skewer to poke some holes in the cake to help it soak up the lemon syrup. It didn't quite drain all the way through the cake, so it wasn't as evenly distributed as it could be. Tasty, though.


Smitten Kitchen has great recipes and awesome pictures. Check it out!