Cups and Cakes

I broke down and made the Samoas Cupcakes (these uns ri' chere >>) a couple of weeks ago, thinking that if I made them miniature sized (so they weren't so rich) and skipped the caramel filling to save time that they wouldn't be quite so scary.

FOUR hours later I ate my words. Literally. They were incredibly tasty morsels, but not worth all that work. In fact, I thought the Brown Sugar Butter Cupcakes on their own were completely perfect. So did Dana who ate four of them before I realized what she was sneaking away with. They were so good plain that I almost felt bad that I put all that stuff on top of them. Once they were covered with chocolate and coconut frosting you couldn't taste how good the cupcakes were anymore.

I'm including the recipe for the ganache because that part was easy and they look really gorgeous dipped in shimmery chocolate, but I imagine they'd be equally at home with a nice buttercream.

This recipe made almost four dozen cutesy miniature cupcakes, so I think that regular sized they'd probably make a dozen and a half or so.

Brown Sugar Butter Cupcakes

3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 and 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
-Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes.
-Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each.
-In a seperate bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl.
-Measure out milk and vanilla and mix together.
-Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter mixture and beat to combine.
-Add about one third of the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until just combined.
-Repeat as above, alternating the flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.
-Scoop into cupcake papers about 2/3 to 3/4 full.
-Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. (Adjust time to about 12-15 minutes for miniature cupcakes.)
-Cool on wire racks.

Chocolate Ganache

1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips like Ghirardelli
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

-Put chocolate chips in a heat proof bowl.
-In a small saucepan heat cream gently until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, then pour cream over the chocolate.
-Let sit for 1 minute and then stir until combined.
-Add vanilla and stir until combined.
-Let cool slightly.
-Dip tops of cupcakes into warm ganache and turn as you pull up, swirling the chocolate back onto the cupcake to avoid drips. Let the ganache cool on the cupcakes.
-If the ganache becomes too hard to dip, put the bowl of ganache over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring until it becomes warm and smooth again.
-If you'd like a more "frosting" like consistency, you can let the ganache cool to room temperature and spread it on the cupcakes.

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If you want the rest of the Samoas Cupcakes recipe (my hat is off to you, my friend), want to send me random comments or are just bored you can e-mail me at: joelnbots at gmail dot com.

Apple Cider Syrup

Oh my goodness, this stuff is fabulous. I made french toast the other morning for Valentine's Day and this made it taste like heaven. It was easy and we had everything I needed to make it in the cupboard and fridge. It will make your house smell fantastic while it's reducing...like Christmas and fresh baked cinnamon rolls and cozy holidays where you're snowed in with the people you like best.

If you want to make it in advance you can just let it cool down after cooking and pour it in a jar or glass syrup dispenser, store it in the fridge and then reheat it when you want to use it. It's best when it's warm and the butter in the syrup will solidify and needs to be heated back up and stirred in.

I just had a thought. This would be amazing on ice cream...OOOooh!

Apple Cider Syrup

1 cup apple cider or apple juice
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter

-In a medium saucepan whisk together the apple cider or juice, the brown sugar, cloves and cinnamon.
-Bring the mixture just to a boil over medium heat, then lower the heat and simmer until thickened and reduced to about one cup, about 8 to 10 minutes.
-Stir in the butter until melted. Serve warm.

Challah!

I found out during my Valentine's day preparations that no one in Salt Lake City (or at least not where I live) makes loaves of Challah, and I needed it to make a french toast recipe. So I did a little searching and found a Challah recipe that turned out so beautiful and was so easy that I couldn't believe I hadn't tried my hand out at making this bread earlier!

If you've never had Challah (pronounced "holla") it's a rich Jewish bread made with egg and braided into a long loaf. It's absolutely stunning when you take it out of the oven.

Now, I don't own a stand mixer (but anyone that wants to buy me a KitchenAid is welcome to do so!) so I do it by hand and it wasn't too hard at all. But if you do own a stand mixer I imagine it would do your wrists some good without all that stirring. The instructions are very thorough, and you may feel a little daunted looking them over, but the recipe really is easy and the instructions help you come out with the perfect bread. It's only about 30 minutes of active work time. The results are completely worth it!

This recipe makes two big loaves, one to keep and one to eat now or share with a friend. We even made a tiny loaf for Dana to have all to herself. If you're going to use it for french toast like we did, leave it out overnight wrapped in a dishtowel so it gets a little stale, which is best for french toast.

Tante B's Famous Challah

3 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus
3 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons dry yeast 2 (1/4 ounce) packages dry yeast
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
1/2 to 1 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you want your Challah (I used 3/4 cup for mine and it was just slightly sweet)
2 cups warm water (80-90 degrees)

Glaze
1 egg, beaten
poppy seeds (optional) or sesame seeds (optional)

1. Measure out your sugar and take one tablespoon of the sugar you've measured and combine it in your mixing bowl with the yeast and the warm water. (You know you have the right temperature of warm water when it's the same temperature as the inside of your wrist).

2. Let the yeast mixture sit for 10 minutes or until it's nice and foamy.

3. Now add the rest of the sugar, the salt and the first 3 and 1/2 cups of flour to the yeast.

4. Mix well. If you're using a stand mixer use the bread hook.

6. Add the beaten egg & oil.

7. Slowly start mixing in the remaining 3 and 1/2 cups of flour (you will not need all of it). The dough will become quite thick.

8. When the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl, turn it onto a floured surface and knead for approximately 10 minutes.

9. Add only enough of the remaining flour to make the dough manageable.

10. Knead until dough has acquired a "life of it's own"; it should be smooth and elastic, springing back when pressed lightly with your fingertip.

11. Place the dough in a large oiled bowl, turning once so the dough is oiled on all sides.

12. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and put in a warm place to rise for 2 hours, punching down in 4-5 places every 20 minutes.

13. It helps to write down the time you start so you don't forget when the two hours are up and set a timer for every twenty minutes so you remember to punch down your dough.

14. After 2 hours, turn your dough out onto your work surface.

15. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

16. Prepare your baking sheet(s) lining with parchment paper.

17. Now comes the forming part: Take a large, sharp knife and cut the dough in half.

18. Take one of the halves and cut into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 10-12 inches long. Braid the 3 pieces together pinching the top and bottom pieces together and turning them under. Place on the baking sheet.

19. Repeat the same for the other loaf.

20. Let the challah rise for 1/2 an hour.

21. After the challah has risen, brush with the beaten egg. You may sprinkle on poppy seeds or sesame seeds if you wish.

22. Almost done!

23. Put in the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. (Mine were brown in about 20 minutes and were getting quite dark by this point, so watch your bread in the last 10 minutes of this step in the baking and go to the next step when they're golden.)

24. Turn off the oven and leave the loaves in for another 10 minutes.

25. Remove from oven.

26. Enjoy! You deserve every compliment you get.

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Tip: The only tip I have this time is this: if you want really good bread, use really good flour. I absolutely swear by King Arthur Flour because it's very high quality, unbleached and unbromated and it makes your baked goods shine. I used a half and half mix of their bread flour and all-purpose flour for this recipe. I buy mine at Albertson's where it's on sale for half price right now!

King Arthur also sells lots of other fine baking goods on their website and have loads of great recipes.

Next time I'll post the recipe for the glorious Apple Cider Syrup I made to go with the french toast. It was absolutely sinful! (Oh, and the french toast was the best I'd ever made, bar none.)

A Hunka Hunka Burnin' Love

I made this cake today.>
It took me about 2 hours all in. Dana even helped stir the batter. Awww!

I thought I'd go with a chocolate cream cake...this is 2 previous recipes--
Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake and the cream filling recipe from the Banana Cake--juxtaposed on each other. I think it turned out really well. Or at least the decorating job did, if I do say so myself. I didn't actually get to taste any of it...though I did try some of each component as I was making it and they were all good. :)

I literally had 2 minutes to snap the pictures before we had to run out the door, so that's why the pics are not so great today...we had too many errands to run today and a trip to the swimming pool. Life!

I also find it's hard to get an interesting angle on a decorated cake when you want to get it all in. And I had to lean over it to get the top, which made the pictures dark because I was blocking the light. It was 8 layers if you count the frosting...alternating layers of chocolate cake and cream filling topped with milk chocolate buttercream. (Ooh la la! C'est manifique!) It's a shame that I didn't get a picture of the cake when it was cut. I was going to give Ray the camera to get a shot at work, but I forgot. Oh well...



The point I am trying make here is that experimenting in the kitchen is a great way to teach yourself to be a better cook. Just like sewing (which I also do, but not as much now that we have a wee kiddo who is far too interested in the mechanics of the machine and it's furiously fast needle...) you can take the parts you like and leave out the things you don't and make it your very own.

Another thing I wanted to say while I'm rambling on here is that anyone and everyone can feel free to leave comments...someone pointed out a glaring error (!) I had made on my brownie recipe the other night and I'm so greatful! (Thanks Cheri!) I love to get feedback and comments and anything else you might feel like sharing. It makes me feel that all this tomfoolery is worth it in the end.

Pea-Nut, Peanut Butter!

I thought these Peanut Butter Cup Tarts looked so darn cute I had no choice but to make some. Besides that, my mini muffin tin doesn't get out much and I felt bad for it being stuffed in with all my well used cookie sheets. They look like a lot of work, but I cannot even begin to tell you how easy they are.

A big bag of miniature Reese's Peanut Butter Cups will be more than enough for the recipe, so you'll have a couple to munch on while you're waiting for them to cool. Trust me...that wait to get them out of the pan is LOOOONG.

Peanut Butter Cup Tart Cookies

36 miniature Reese's Peanut Butter cups, unwrapped
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
-Cream peanut butter, butter and sugars until fluffy.
-Add egg and vanilla and beat well.
-Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well.
-Roll into 1 inch balls (or use a small cookie scoop) and place in miniature muffin tins.
-Bake 8-10 minutes or until they just start to brown.
-When tin is removed from oven immediately press 1 peanut butter cup into the center of each hot cookie.
-Allow cookies to cool completely before removing from tin.

Makes 36 cookies

Rolo Cookies

I'm on a candy-cookie jones this week. I wonder if it has something to do with Valentine's Day being right around the corner?

I posted this recipe quite some time ago with another recipe for "Better Than Sex Brownies", so I thought I'd bump them back up to the top on their own. (Plus now I have a lovely picture of them!) They are definitely worth repeating! The cookies have a rich brownie flavor, coated in sparkly sugar and a Rolo is tucked inside for a spiffy surprise.

I find it amusing that so many people wonder how I got the Rolo in there... :)

Rolo Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 and 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
40 Rolo candies, unwrapped

-Put Rolos in the freezer until you're ready to assemble the cookies.
-Cream butter and sugars until fluffy.
-Beat in vanilla. Then beat in eggs one at a time.
-In a seperate bowl mix together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.
-Pour into butter mixture and mix well. (The dough is very stiff)
-Refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
-Pour 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl.
-Roll the dough into walnut size balls (or use a cookie scoop) and push a frozen Rolo in the middle. Wrap the dough around the top of the Rolo until completely covered, then roll the ball in sugar.
-Place on ungreased cookie sheets 2 inches apart.
-Bake for 10 minutes.
-Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 minutes, then remove to cool on racks.

Makes 40 cookies.

Brownies Du Jour

I know that people are devoted to their chewy, fudgy, deep, dark, buttery evil brownies like nothing else in the world. So I found a recipe that everyone swore was the best. Ray says they're amazing. How can anything with over a pound of chocolate in it be bad? They're best cold, straight out of the fridge, in my opinion. Mmmmm...sinful.

This recipe has been seriously scaled down and revised from a giant bakery batch size, but if you have a half sheet pan (12x18x1 inch deep) and you need lots of brownies, just double the recipe. (If you do choose to go this route you will probably need to put another pan or foil under the brownie pan to catch brownie batter spillover and avoid an oven fire or smoked brownies.) I've never made them with the optional walnuts, but I bet those are good, too. You can also make an Oreo version which is fabulous!

Outrageous Brownies
(adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 and 1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate*
3 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup all purpose flour, plus 2 and 1/2 tablespoons for the chocolate chips
1/2 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips (whatever your preference is)
1 and 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
-or- 1 (8 ounce) bag of mini Oreos for the Oreo version (also optional)

-Line a 9x13 baking pan with foil that overhangs the ends (this will make your brownies easier to remove and cut). Butter and flour the foil in the pan and set aside.
-Melt together the butter, the 1 and 1/3 cups semi- sweet chocolate chips and the unsweetened chocolate* in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water, stirring until smooth.
-Remove when melted and allow to cool slightly.
-In a large mixing bowl stir together (do not beat) the eggs, vanilla and sugar.
-Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.
-In the meantime preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
-In a seperate bowl mix together 2/3 cup flour, baking powder and salt.
-Add to the cooled chocolate mixture and mix until just blended.
-In a bowl toss the remaining cup of chocolate chips (and nuts or oreos, if using) and the 2 and 1/2 tablespoons of flour until well floured. This will keep the chips from sinking to the bottom of the batter while baking.
-Add the flour and chips mixture to the brownie batter and mix until just combined.
-Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread out. Smooth the top.
-Bake for 15 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough.
-Bake for another 13 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. (It's okay if it comes out with a few crumbs or a little chocolatey/buttery, but not sticky with batter). Don't overbake!
-Allow to cool completely and cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold. (These can be baked and refrigerated up to a week in advance.)
-When ready to cut, lift the brownies out of the pan using the overhanging foil as handles, peel the foil away from the sides, then cut into squares.
-These cut easier when cold out of the fridge, using a sharp knife dipped in hot water and cleaned between cuts.

Makes about 16 brownies, depending on how big you cut them.

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Tips!

*Unsweetened Chocolate: If you don't have any of this in your pantry, you can use unsweetened cocoa powder. 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder plus 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil equals one ounce of unsweetened chocolate. This recipe will use 9 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons vegetable oil. Just add them to the recipe and follow along as usual. Easy peasy!

*Make sure that your brownie batter is completely cooled to room temperature when you add your chocolate chips at the end, or the chips will melt and ruin the brownies.

*For some reason butter works better than anything when you grease your pans for brownies. I've never had a problem removing them when I grease with butter, unlike when I use cooking spray. I suspect it's the propellant in the spray. Using butter is like magic--they come right off the foil.

Muffins Are Just Ugly Cupcakes.

I don't know what it is about coconut and cupcakes that makes everyone crazy but these are simply the most divine cupcakes anywhere. The cream cheese frosting, the coconut, the almost obscene amount of butter...heavenly!

Coconut Cupcakes
(adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook)

1 and 1/2 cups butter, room temperature (3 sticks)
2 cups sugar
5 extra large eggs (or 6 large) brought to room temperature*
1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
1 bag (14 ounces) of sweetened shredded coconut, divided
Cream Cheese Icing (recipe follows)

-Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
-Grease the top of two 12 cup cupcake tins (this will help you remove your cupcakes after they bake, otherwise it'll be messy!) and line with 24 paper cupcake liners.
-In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
-Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each.
-Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.
-In a seperate bowl stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
-In three parts alternate adding the flour and buttermilk to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just blended. Don't overmix!
-Fold in 3 cups of the coconut. Set aside the rest to top the cupcakes with later.
-Fill each cupcake cup to the top with batter. (Using an ice cream scoop makes this really fast and easy.)
-Bake for 25-35 minutes until the tops begin to brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
-Remove from oven and let cool in the tins for 15 minutes. You will probably need to cut the cupcakes apart to seperate them since they'll rise over the top of the pan and spread--do this while they're in the pan.
-Remove cupcakes and cool completely on cooling racks.
-Frost generously with cream cheese icing and sprinkle with remaining coconut (press down lightly to keep coconut from falling off).

Makes 24 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Icing

8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup butter, room temperature (1 and 1/2 sticks)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups powdered sugar

-Make sure your cream cheese and butter are at room temperature to avoid lumps in your frosting.
-Put the cream cheese, butter and extracts in a mixing bowl. Blend together until creamy.
-Blend in the powdered sugar until smooth and fluffy.

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Tips!

* Bringing your eggs to room temperature before using them in a recipe will give your baked goods greater volume (read: light and fluffy!). An easy way to bring them to room temperature quickly is to submerge your eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.

*An easy way to bring your cream cheese and butter to room temperature for the icing is to put them in the mixing bowl when you start to make your cupcakes and set them somewhere out of the way. By the time the cupcakes are baked and you're ready to make your icing, the butter and cream cheese should be ready to mix. I put the extracts in the bowl at the same time so all I need to do is mix them up and add the powdered sugar.

* If you are using imitation vanilla extract as opposed to pure vanilla extract you will need to use twice as much in your recipe because it's not as strong as pure vanilla. The difference is that imitation vanilla is just vanilla flavored alcohol, while pure vanilla extract is alcohol that has had real vanilla beans soaking in it, so it's much stronger in flavor. It may cost more, but the flavor is much more intense and real than the imitation vanilla. You'll notice when you bake that you can smell vanilla everywhere when you use it. It's wonderful!

You can make your own vanilla extract if you have a bottle of vodka and a dozen vanilla beans laying around (put the beans in the vodka and let them marinate for a month) but I can't imagine a situation where I'd have either one of these ingredients in my pantry on a regular day...*hic!*

P.S. Don't drink vanilla extract (or orange or peppermint) no matter how good it smells. It's yucky.