Pumpkin Bars

Well Halloween is almost upon us and my world is surrounded by all things pumpkin.  Literally.  Scott counted 68 gourd-related items strewn haphazardly about the house.

Anyways, I was looking for something pumpkin-y to make for Bible Study this past Thursday and decided to try a new recipe, (to me at least) it's been around and comes from the highest possible source: Mary Gieser.  I added a bit of sugar to the frosting and increased the cream cheese, but aside from that, it's all Mary.

Three really nice things about this recipe: it makes a ton, filling a half sheet/jelly roll pan; it uses an entire can of pumpkin; and third, you can make it the day ahead of time with no discernible difference, perfect for a Halloween party.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Bars
4 eggs
1 & 2/3's cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
1 (15 oz) can of plain pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven 350 degrees.  Spray a metal half sheet pan (or jelly roll pan) with Pam.  In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, sugar and pumpkin until it's well mixed.  In a separate small bowl, combine the dry ingredients and then add them to the wet.  Mix thoroughly.  Spread the batter evenly into the pan.  Bake for 25-30 min, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Cool the bars completely.

As the bars bake, make the Frosting:
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups powdered sugar

In a medium bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer until smooth.  Slowly add in the remaining ingredients and beat until fluffy.  Use it to frost the bars when they're cool.

These are delicious, delicate with a strong flavor of pumpkin.  Closer to a cake then a cookie, but you can still pick it up with your hand.  Try them!

My Latest Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie

So I'll admit it, I am not a monogamous chocolate chip cookie baker.  I bounce around from recipe to recipe, trying different ingredients and techniques in search of the holy grail: the perfect cookie.  A cookie that is rounded and moist in the middle, doesn't spread too much while baking, uses really good chocolate and stands up well to travel.

I've settled into a committed relationship with an adaption of Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip cookie, out of his Ad Hoc cookbook.  Chef and Owner of The French Laundry in Napa Valley, Bouchon in New York and Vegas and a few other notable places, this guy obviously knows his stuff.(This being the understatement of the year.)  I, however do not have time to chop up a 55% chocolate bar and a 70-72% chocolate bar, SIFT THE CRUMBS out to keep the cookie looking "clean", and other such nonsense.  So here is my version.  I hope you enjoy.

2 & 1/3 cups flour, plus 1 TB.
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 lb. unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. good vanilla

6 oz. semi sweet Ghiradeli chocolate chips

6 oz. 60% chocolate Ghiradeli chocolate chips (to taste, sometimes I add more, eyeball it)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Combine the first three dry ingredients in a small bowl.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle beat the butter on medium spead until smooth but not creamed.  Add the sugars and mix, don't beat too much air into it.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the egss, one at a time, beating until mixed.  Add the vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients and mix on low until combined. Add the chocolate chips.  

Using a small ice cream scoop (2 TB size) scoop balls of dough onto a wax paper covered rimmed baking sheet.  Fill the sheet with balls and then stick it in the freezer until they are frozen fairly solid.  Dump them all in a zip lock bag to store in the freezer, or bake them from frozen form on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 375 degrees for five minutes, one sheet at a time, then rotate the cookie sheet and bake another 4 & 1/2 or 5 minutes.  

Gale Gand's Chocoblock Chocolate Cake with Warm Macademia Nut Caramel

Yup, you read that right. In fact, take a second and re-read the title of this heartdroppingly FABULOUS dessert. Are you salivating yet? Now go buy yourself some topshelf cocoa powder and make this cake for your loved ones! If you want to see a better picture of it, cut into cute little rounds, check out the cover of her cook book, Just A Bite.

So nine years ago, on a momentous and gorgeous evening in July downtown Chicago, Scott joined me for a work dinner at the unbelievable restaurant, Tru, where Gale was/is the pastry chef and partner. It was our first "date," of sorts, and we both had nervous tingles and sparks that were difficult to suppress in front of my two male clients that sat with us. I can remember not wanting the evening to end, and we headed out into the night together after a mindblowing meal, not to return home until close to 4 in the morning. As Nate, one of Scott's four roommates and a close friend said, "I don't know what exactly is going on here, but I highly condone it."

Six months later we were engaged. Eight years later we have two kids and I am still obessessed with Gale Gand. She is my favorite pastry chef, and after meeting her twice at two cooking classes, I can attest that she is a lovely person as well.

Here to date, is my favorite recipe, the only change being a few grinds of sea salt into the caramel sauce.

For the Cake:
3 cups sugar
2 & 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 & 1/8 cups cocoa powder, preferably Dutch (Valhrona is pretty much the best, Penzey's is great too)
2 & 1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 & 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 & 1/2 tsp. table salt
3 large eggs
1 & 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 TB. pure vanilla extract (Niesen-Massey is awesome, you can buy a massive bottle of it for cheap here.)
1 & 1/2 cups very hot water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease a half sheet pan (also called a jelly roll pan) and line the bottom with parchement or wax paper.

In your mixing bowl, add together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend briefly.

In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla. Add them to the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 5 minutes. GRADUALLY trickle the hot water in, mixing at low speed, just until combined. The batter will be very thin.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, (a few crumbs are fine) and the center feels firm to the touch, 25-35 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan, then chill it, covered, until you are ready to cut it. I made this a day (or even two!) before I cut and used it. Totally fine. Great make-ahead dessert.


For the Caramel:
1 & 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/8 tsp. sea salt
1/2 cup (or a bit more) salted macadamia nuts, roasted in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, then roughly chopped
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut, toasted in the same manner as the nuts

Pour the sugar into the center of a deep saucepan. Carefully pour 1/3 cup water around the edges of the pan, trying not to splash any sugar on the wells. Don't stir it, just make a cross twice with your index finger to wet the sugar evenly. Over high heat, bring sugar and water to a full boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, until mixture is medium caramel in color, about 5-10 minutes. Don't walk away, this happens very quickly and I've burned the sugar too dark of brown more then once. Take it off the heat as soon it starts to turn a rich gold and smells toasted.

Next use a wooden spoon to slowly and carefully stir in the cream, the mixture will bubble and may splatter so head's up! Stir in the nuts and coconut and set aside until cool. This sauce can also be refrigerated, covered, until ready to use. Reheat over low heat until softened, or in a microwave.

When you are ready to serve, cut rounds (or squares if you don't care about being fancy and don't want waste) of the chilled cake with a 2 inch biscuit cutter. Place one or two cakes on a plate and drizzle liberally with caramel sauce. It's up to you if you want to sandwich some Haagen Daz vanilla ice cream in there too.

This one cake fed many people, beginning with a dinner at our house with a dear high school friend. Next it fed 11 women who came over for drinks to kick off our Bible Study one cozy Tuesday night. Then, frozen after I cut it and defrosted, six adults consumed it at a lakehouse in Indiana. Finally, the previously frozen leftovers were served to my inlaws and Scott for dessert last Sunday. Heralded by rave reviews at every serving, this is a very durable, delicious cake.

I don't kid around about my desserts. Make this now. Keep it in your arsenal folks.

Love and great respect back to Gale, thanks for writing in my cookbook five years ago. :)

M&M Cookies

It's 95 degrees out and the mosquitoes attack at first sight of human flesh. There's no going outside this morning, now what shall we do during Charlotte's morning nap?

I know! Let's make M&M cookies and bring them to Daddy's office. It was perfect, Sam laboriously put 200 M&M's into a batch of sugar cookies, only consuming 15 along the way. It was a great way to spend the morning.

M&M Cookies
3 & 1/2 cups flour
1 TB. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. table salt
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 large eggs
1 TB. light corn syrup
2 1/2 tsp. vanilla

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and soda, and salt. In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter. Add in sugar, eggs, corn syrup and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients until well blended. Chill one hour. (We only chilled ours 30 min, and you can see how much they spread. I imagine they'd stay more compact if the dough was truly chilled.)

Preheat oven 375. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into balls about the size of a large walnut. Press flat lightly and push in as many M&M's as possible, the more the better. We used the dark chocolate ones and they were scrumptious. I'd do only six cookies per sheet, bake one sheet at a time on the top rack and rotate it once during baking. These took about 8-10 min or so.

The In-Law's-are-Coming Cake

What do you do when you spontaneously invite your beloved in-law's over for an impromptu supper, realizing all you have in the house are chili and cornbread muffins and your mom-in-law's birthday is days away?

You make this cake. Well, first you put on this soundtrack while you bake, because you'll feel very, how-you-say, french while you throw this fabulous and simple cake together with ingredients you probably have on hand. And pour yourself a glass of wine. Wine helps too.

Simple Vanilla Bean Cake with Brown Butter Glaze
1 & 1/2 cups cake flour
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. table salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla bean paste (ok, maybe you don't have this in your pantry, but you SHOULD. Williams Sonoma has it.)
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray an 8 inch cake pan with Pam. Whisk together the cake flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Beat the butter and sugar together in a mixer until creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and vanilla bean paste. Gently add in about a third of the dry ingredients, then half the milk, repeat, ending with the dry ingredients. Mix only just until combined, if you over beat it'll be a heavy, tough cake. Bake about 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Invert onto a plate and cool slightly.

Brown Butter Glaze
1/4 cup butter
1 & 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 tsp. salt, more to taste
2 TBs. whole milk
the juice from half a lemon

Whisk together all the ingredients except the butter in a small bowl. Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Watching closely, increase heat until butter is bubbling and suddenly turns brown, it happens quickly so don't take your eyes off it. Lift pan off the heat, swirl the butter until the brown is even, and pour melted butter evenly into the other ingredients. Whisk until smooth and pour over warm cake.

Many thanks to my lovely Aunt Cindy for passing this recipe on, I increased the salt and lemon juice to my own taste and added the vanilla bean paste. it's a favorite of hers and she's never led me astray.

Tunnel of Fudge chocolate cake

I made this cake yesterday for some family and thought it turned out great, despite the fact that I mostly baked the tunnel right out of it...I was nervous about under-doing it. Shouldn't have been, I'd eat this thing raw. Ohhhh delicious, especially with the cream cheese glaze on top. Ignore the sad attempt at a picture, I was running out of time.

Tunnel of Fudge Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup boiling water
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, broken in a few pieces (I like Valhrona)

2 cups flour
2 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup good quality cocoa powder, dutch processed
1 tsp. table salt

2 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (Just call me Ina)
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 TB. good vanilla
5 large eggs, room temp

1 recipe cream cheese glaze

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position. Preheat to 350 degrees. Spray a 12 cup bundt can well with Pam.

Whisk the boiling water and chocolate together in a small bowl until melted and smooth. Let cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, powdered sugar, cocoa and salt together.

In a mixer, beat on medium the butter, white and brown sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 3-6 min. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the chocolate mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low and add the flour mixture. Beat slowly JUST until incorporated.

Scrape batter into prepared bundt pan and smooth the top. Give it a tap on the counter to settle it. Bake cake until edges pull away from the sides of the pan and the top feels springy. (That never happened in my case.) Check it at 40 min, may take 45 minutes. Don't try to use a toothpick, if you are doing it right, the center will still be wet, just like an underdone cake.

Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then flip it over. Cool it completely before adding a glaze.


Cream Cheese Glaze
1 & 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 TB. cream cheese, softened
3 TB. milk
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp. table salt

Combine ingredients together in a small bowl, beat until smooth. Drizzle it over the cooled cake. Let it set for 25 minutes before serving.

I'm sure this cake will keep really well, you could easily make it a day or two in advance and refrigerate.
Recipe based off of Cook's Illustrated

Pretty Darn Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 20 really large cookies

I tore a form of this recipe out of the April Martha Stewart Living Magazine and finally had a chance to make them on Sunday. These are awesome. A fun alternative to your normal Tollhouse. I've tweaked it in a few spots, here's what worked for me.

2 & 3/4 cups flour
1 & 1/4 tsp. table salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
One package ghiradelli chocolate chips

In a small bowl, mix together the first four dry ingredients, set aside. Beat butter and sugars on medium low until well mixed, scraping down bowl as needed. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Add flour mixture, beat on low until just combined. Add chocolate chips.

Using an ice cream scoop (holding about 3 TBS.), drop dough on a rimmed baking sheet. Place sheet in freezer for about 20 min, or until frozen hard. At this point you can dump them all into a ziplock bag and keep it in the freezer until you're ready to bake 3 or 10 or all of them.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Put a sheet of parchment paper on each cookie sheet, this is key. Drop six cookie dough balls on each sheet, spacing them out well. If cookie sheets are on the top/bottom racks of your oven, rotate them halfway through baking. Bake until golden brown on the edges but soft in the middle. I started checking at 11 minutes, took another couple minutes. Call it 12-15 minutes. Slide the parchment paper onto your counter and let the cookies cool completely before serving. You can then reuse the cookie sheets to do another batch right away, and no washing your sheets or a wire rack! You seriously need to go buy parchment paper right now.

Lemon Cheesecake...possibly the best dessert of all time

Ok, listen up people, this is worth paying attention to, despite the size of the recipe.

This dessert will blow your mind. You would pay $50 for this cheesecake, it is so good. I made it for my husband's family last year for easter, for a shower, then again this year for my family at Easter and each time it turned out pretty darn AWESOME.

So, I thought I'd share. The recipe comes from Cook's Illustrated, the home of so many fantastic things, but I tweaked it in a few spots. You can make the curd days in advance, and the crust the day before if you don't mind it being slightly less crisp. I also prepared the lemon sugar the day before too, right after grinding up the animal cookies into crumbs, avoiding washing the food processor more then once. The cheesecake itself comes together in like 15 minutes, so if you do the prep the day before it won't take much time, aside from baking time, cooling time, and then chilling in the fridge.

All that being said, here goes:
Cookie Crumb Crust
6 oz. Nabisco Barnum's Animal Crackers
4 TB. sugar
4 TB. butter, melted

Filling
1 & 1/4 cups sugar
1 TB. grated lemon zest
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 & 1/2 lbs. cream cheese (3 eight oz. packages), softened to room temperature
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. good vanilla extract
1/4 heaping tsp. table salt
1/2 cup heavy cream

Lemon Curd
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB unsalted butter, diced and then kept cold
1 TB. heavy cream
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. table salt

For the Crust: Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and preheat to 325 degrees. In food processor, grind cookies to fine crumbs, add sugar and pulse to incorporate. Add warm melted butter in a slow, steady stream while pulsing; pulse until mixture is evenly moistened and resembles wet sand. Transfer mixture to a 9 inch springform pan. Using the bottom of a cup, press firmly and evenly into pan bottom, keeping sides as clean as possible. Bake until fragrant and golden brown, 15-18 minutes. Cool about 30 minutes. When cool, wrap the outside of the pan with two 18 inch square pieces of tin foil. Set springform pan in a large roasting pan.

For the Filling: While the crust is cooling, process 1/4 cup sugar and the lemon zest in food processor until sugar is yellow and zest is broken down, about 15 seconds, scraping down bowl as needed. Add the remaining 1 cup of sugar and pulse until incorporated. Transfer lemon sugar to small bowl. At this point it can be refrigerated until you need it.

In a standing mixer, beat cream cheese until soft and broken up. Add lemon sugar in a slow, steady stream, increase speed to medium and continue to beat until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes, scraping bowl down as necessary. Reduce speed to medium low and add eggs 2 at a time, beat until incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl again as needed. Add lemon juice, vanilla and salt and mix until just incorporated, about 10 seconds. Add heavy cream and do the the same thing, just until mixed in. Give batter a final scrape, stir with spatula and pour into prepared springform pan.

Set the roasting pan with cheesecake in it on your oven rack, fill a tea pot with hot tap water and then pour it into the roasting pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake. Bake until center jiggles slightly, sides just start to puff, surface is no longer shiny and an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the cheesecake reads 150 degrees, about 55-60 minutes.

Turn off the oven and prop open the door. Allow cake to cool in it's waterbath for 60 minutes. Transfer the springform pan to a rack and cool to room temperature, about two hours. Run a sharp paring knife around the sides of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Leave the sides of the pan on to store it.

For the Lemon Curd: While cheesecake bakes, or days in advance, heat the lemon juice in a small saucepan over medium heat until hot but not boiling. whisk eggs and yolk in a bowl, gradually add sugar. Whisking constantly, SLOWLY pour hot lemon juice into eggs, dribbles at a time. The key is not to do this too fast, or you will overcook the eggs, ending up with delicious lemony scrambled eggs. Then return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture registers 170 degrees on an instant read thermometer and is thick enough to cling to the spoon, about 3 minutes. IMMEDIATELY remove pan from heat and stir in cold butter until incorporated, then stir in cream, vanilla and salt. Place in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until needed.

To finish the cake: When cheesecake is cool, scrape lemon curd onto it while still in the springform pan, spreading curd evenly. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. To serve, remove sides of springform pan and cut cake into wedges. Serves 12-16 people.

Sour Cream Lemon Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Bad picture, great cake, if I do say so myself. Got the recipe from one of those famous, trusted women who has the magical "Martha" touch, along with an amazing heart for others. Thank you Mary!

Sour Cream Cake

1 (18.25 oz) package white cake mix (I KNOW!!!! Never would have guessed eating this cake...don't judge.)
2 large eggs
1 (8 oz.) container sour cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Beat all ingredients on low speed in an electric mixer, 30 seconds or until moistened. Beat at medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into 2, well greased, 9 inch rounds. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans for 10 min.

Wrap layers in plastic and freeze 2 hours or up to 1 month, if desired.

At this point, I made a batch of Ina Garten's Lemon Curd and used that as filling between layers.

Cream Cheese Frosting
(Makes about 5 cups)
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
1 (2 lb) package powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
salt to taste

I'm sorry it took me so long to get you the recipe Katie P, great memories from that birthday party!

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Well hello there! I have been basically non-existent on the blog this summer, busy with my two year old who has been coloring walls and carpet with dry erase markers and yesterday discovered what happened when he emptied an entire tub of Aquaphor onto himself, his walls, comforter and most of his toys.

Everything glistened wetly in the morning light. Yuck.

Anyways, I've made these cupcakes five times this summer. They travel GREAT, freeze well and are still good three days after they've been made. I like 'em cold, my aunt likes them at room temp, you can't really do these wrong.

Black Bottom Cupcakes, makes 20 large cupcakes

Sift together in a large bowl:

1 & 1/2 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa (the richer and darker the better, Penzey's or Valrhona are great)

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

Mix in an electric mixer:

1 cup cold water

1/3 cup oil

1 TB. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

Add dry ingredients slowly to wet in the mixer, mix on medium until blended. Line a muffin tin with liners. Fill cups about 1/3 full with chocolate batter. Put 1 TB. of filling (beat together 8 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 egg then add 1 cup ghiradelli chocolate chips) on top in the middle. Bake at 350 for 20 min. Let cool in the pan about 15 min.

Gale Gand's Cocoa Krispy Treats...for Mary

This was a dessert I made probably five times in two months over the Christmas season last year.  Super easy, better for you then regular Rice Krispy Treats (protein from peanut butter, ahem.) and just plain delicious.

Gale Gand's Chocolate Krispies (From her Chocolate and Vanilla Cookbook)

4 cups cocoa krispies

1/2 cup light Karo corn syrup

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

4 oz. chocolate chips, melted (optional if you're lazy like me)

Boil the sugar and syrup together until sugar is melted completely.  Remove from heat, stir in peanut butter.  Add cocoa krispies and combine well.  Press into a greased 9x13 pan and drizzle the melted chocolate over top.  

Unfortunately, they don't freeze well, that's about the only bummer.

Christmas Eve's Dessert

I have to tell you about this trifle.  It was to die for and the only thing bad about it was the fact that it didn't keep for more then one day.  My little helper and I made this mind blowingly good chocolate pudding (seriously, just LOOK at those pictures on her blog), homemade whipped vanilla cream and Kathleen Tate's devils food chocolate cake.  

Sam didn't enjoy it at all.  Really.

The Upside Down Apple Cake that No One Got to Eat

Sigh.

Heavy sigh.  There is a story here my friends, a story of the past three weeks or so, but I am too tired to tell it.  Suffice to say it involved the stomach flu for all three of us, the computer crashing...$170 later, then being in the shop for five days, job issues and stress for Scott and continued uncertainty.  One thing I know though, besides the fact that God is good, is that this cake blew my mind.  

I pulled it out of the oven, along with homemade parmesan rosemary crackers, just an hour and a half before four of our friends were supposed to come out from the city for a cozy Saturday night dinner that I'd spent two days making.  At 4:15 pm I threw up, 12 hours after Sam had the flu.  We called off the dinner and most of it went into the freezer in the garage.  So sad.

This cake was too yummy not to share.

Rebekah's Glorious Upside Down Apple Cake

2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 eggs

1 & 1/2 cups sugar

1 tsp. good vanilla extract

1 cup heavy cream

4 TB. salted butter, melted

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup brown sugar

juice of one lemon

Beat the eggs with the 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes or so.  Stir together the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl.  Add it carefully to the egg mixture, then add the heavy cream and mix just until it comes together.

In a separate small bowl, melt 4 TB. butter, 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1 cup brown sugar together. Divide the mixture into the bottom of two well greased 8 inch round pans.  Peel and slice about 4 cups of apples (I used Empire), squeeze the lemon juice over them and mix with your hands.  Lay the apples down on top of the brown sugar in a circle pattern.  Pour batter over top of apples.

Bake 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Turn oven temperature down to 325 and bake another 15-20 minutes or until cake is done.  Cool cake for 5 minutes in the pan, then gently turn out.

Worth-the-Hassle, Wow-Your-Friends, German Chocolate Cake

This, my friends, is a serious cake for people who are serious about their desserts.   Fortunately enough, it is not seriously hard to make, just requiring one extra step beyond a normal scratch cake.  I and my entire family can vouch that it is worth your time.

Mindblowingly Good German Chocolate Cake (From Kathleen King's must-have cookbook, Tate's Bake Shop) yields either two 10 inch layers or three 9 inch layers

4 oz. Baker's German Sweet Chocolate

1/2 cup canned cream of coconut (Coco Lopez is the brand)

2 cups flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup salted butter, softened to room temp

1 1/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs, separated

2 tsp. good vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour three 9 inch rounds or two 10 inch rounds.  Microwave chopped chocolate and cream of coconut until melted and smooth, about a minute or two.  Stir well to combine.  Set aside to cool.

Mix together flour, salt and baking soda in a small bowl, set aside.

In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often.  Beat in the vanilla.  Stir in melted chocolate mixture and mix until combined.

Add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk to the chocolate mixture, ending with the dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to a soft peak.  Do this right before you are ready to use them.  Fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the cake mixture.  Fold in the remaining egg whites.

Divide the batter among the prepared pans.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides and the center feels springy to the touch.

Cool for 10 minutes in the pan and turn it out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.  Spread the frosting evenly between layers, the sides do not get iced.

German Chocolate Cake Frosting 

1 cup butter

2 cups evaporated milk (About a can and a half)

6 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups shredded sweetened coconut

1 cup pecans (I buy the salted and toasted ones from Trader Joe's)

In a small saucepan stir together the butter, milk, egg yolks and sugar.  Cook the ingredients over low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and is golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Add vanilla.  Remove from heat.  Cool it completely.  Taste for salt and add a bit if you need to.

Stir in pecans and coconut.

If you make this icing in advance, store it in a plastic container with a lid and bring it to room temp before icing the cake.

What would you do with 150 individually wrapped Snickerdoodles?

My little friend Eva is running for 8th grade class president.  Sam and I thought we'd aid her efforts with a blatantly devious plan to bribe the junior highers with food.  We'll know later today if it worked.  

Snickerdoodles (adapted from Gale Gand's recipe)

For the topping: 3 TB sugar & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon or your own cinnamon sugar, to taste

3 1/2 cups flour

1 TB. baking powder

2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

2 eggs

1 TB. light corn syrup

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

To make cookie dough, stir together the dry ingredients.  In a mixing bowl with the paddle attachment, cream the butter.  Add the sugar and continue to mix, adding the eggs one at a time and blending well.  Add corn syrup and vanilla.  Gently mix in the dry ingredients and mix until well blended.  Chill the dough for 1 hour.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll balls of dough into the size of a walnut and then roll them in cinnamon sugar a few times until well coated.  Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and bake for 8-9 minutes, rotating tray halfway through baking.  

You can also form the balls, roll them in cinnamon sugar and place on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze until hard.  Then place all the balls in a ziplock bag and keep in the freezer, baking them normally, just out of the freezer as you need them.

Blueberry Nectarine Cobbler

It is high season for juicy nectarines, peaches and berries, what better way to put them to use then in a warm cobbler, fresh out of the oven with Hagaan Daz vanilla ice cream on top?  Not many, in my opinion.

Blueberry Nectarine Cobbler

8 large, ripe nectarines, peeled and sliced

2 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup cinnamon sugar

2 TB. water

1/4 tsp. almond extract, optional

1 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

6 TB. unsalted butter, cold

Arrange nectarine slices in the bottom of a 9X13 glass pan.  Top with blueberries.  Pour cinnamon sugar, water and almond extract over top, mix well with clean hands.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar and salt.  Cut in cold butter with pastry blender until well blended.  Sprinkle evenly over fruit.  Bake in preheated 350 oven for about 50 minutes.  Serve warm or room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

May substitute peaches, raspberries or even pears in the fall.  Serves 8 to 10 people.

Cherries are here!

The French Market was teaming with delectable fruits Saturday, time to make a sour cherry pie!  Smitten Kitchen posted a great recipe for pie crust dough, it is utterly delicious and easy to roll out between two pieces of plastic wrap.  I ended up using all butter and 1/4 cup of sugar in it, froze the second crust and did a crumble topping instead.  The pie didn't last long enough for me to take a picture, Scott finished off the last slice (or I should say, the last QUARTER of the pie) late this afternoon without telling me.

Sniff.

Lemon Cheesecake Tarts

So I made these little lemon cheesecake tarts for my cousin's bridal shower...they turned out pretty well judging by the amount of recipe requests thus far.  I thought I'd save myself some typing and just share it here.  This recipe originated over at Cooking Light, but I adjusted it.

Lemon Cream Cheese Cookie Cups            Yields 2 dozen approximately

Dough

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

cooking spray

Filling

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 large egg

8 oz. block of softened cream cheese

Topping

Homemade lemon curd (I used Ina Garten's from the Food Network's recipe.  Piece of cake)

 or store bought if you don't have time

Tiny mint leaves for garnish

To prepare dough, beat 1/2 cup sugar and butter at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg, beat well.  Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl and add to sugar/butter mixture.  Beat at low speed until well blended.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or freeze for 15 min.  Gently press dough into mini muffin tins coated with cooking spray.  Go as light as you can on the dough, it will puff up and swell as it cooks.  You want just enough dough to cover the muffin cup lightly.

Preheat oven to 350.  To prepare filling, beat 1/2 cup sugar and the next four ingredients in a mixer until smooth.  Spoon 1 TB. of filling into each prepared muffin cup.  Bake at 350 degrees for 23 minutes or until edges are brown and filling is set.  Remove cups from pans immediately, cool on a wire rack.  

At this point, the cookies will store well in the fridge for a couple days.  When you are ready to serve them, top with lemon curd and a mint leaf.

I know it looks complicated.  Believe me, it's worth the hassle.

Possibly the Easiest Cookie Ever

I firmly believe there is an entire population of under-served, unacknowledged macaroon lovers out there.  This mind-blowingly good, incredibly easy recipe is for you.

Chocolate Pecan Macaroons

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

2 cups flaked coconut

1 cup chopped pecans (I buy the roasted, salt ones from Trader Joe's)

1 tsp. almond extract

salt to taste (start with 1/4 tsp and add more if you need to)

In a large, heavy saucepan combine chocolate and condensed milk.  Cook, stirring constantly,for a few minutes until the chocolate melts and mixture is thick, smooth and glossy. 

Remove from heat.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Blend well.  Drop by teaspoonsful onto cookie sheets covered with parchment paper.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven 10 minutes or until bottoms have just set.   

Apple Cake-A Very Good Thing

Happy November! This month makes me joyful...Thanksgiving, our anniversary (5 years already!), Starbucks egg nog lattes, time for neighbors to put away the six foot hairy black spider that clings to the front of their house...ahh, good memories.

Ahem, anyways. Do you find yourself overwhelmed by a wave of apples that you don't know what to do with? Perhaps you inadvertently bought a bushel at the Farmers Market, not knowing that your fruit drawer was ALREADY full of Honey Crisps and Galas? Not that I can relate, but if this is YOU, you need to try this apple cake. It is the quintessential fall dessert, deliciously moist and warm with cinnamon spice, and with only a 1/2 cup of oil, it's not that bad for you.

Apple Cake

1 & 2/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
5 cups chopped, peeled apples (Golden Delicious, Galas, Fuji, MacIntosh all work well)

In a large bowl beat sugar and eggs. Add oil and vanilla. Mix well. In medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add to sugar mixture. Blend well gently, being careful not to overbeat the batter. Stir in apples. Pour into greased 9X13 baking dish. Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 45-50 minutes. Check for doneness at around 45 minutes.

If the 1 & 2/3 cups of sugar in the cake aren't enough for you, then feel free to FROST the cake with the following:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 Tablespoons butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 & 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

Combine cream cheese, butter and vanilla in a small bowl. Beat until well blended. Gradually add confectioners sugar until mixture reaches spreading consistency.

This cake is a great company dessert served unfrosted with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.