I originally titled these: Chocolate Shortbread Cookies with Orange Cream and Chocolate Orange Ganache. Although that is much more descriptive, it was just too dang long. I wanted something to bring to the Los Angeles Food Bloggers Meeting, and this is how these things evolved in my brain:
I should try to make chocolate shortbread cookies, but I want to put something on top. I’ll make them like the Mini Lemon Meringue Tarts, but use orange. And Ganache instead of meringue. Orange ganache. Hope this works.
Chocolate Orange Creamsicle Cookies
For The Chocolate Shortbread:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
For The Orange Cream:
2 tbs orange zest
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup orange juice
5 tbs unsalted butter, cut into cubes
For The Orange Ganache:
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tbs orange zest
1 tablespoon Cointreau or other orange-flavored liqueur
Preheat oven to 325.
Cream the butter and powdered sugar until well combined, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. In separate bowl, whisk the cocoa and flour together until well combined. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture.
Put about 2 tbs of the dough into each well of a muffin tin (spray with butter flavored cooking spray before hand), forming the dough up onto the side to make a cup with a large well in the center.
Chill the dough in the muffin tin for at least an hour.
Bake at 325 for 15 minutes. Allow to cool
Make the orange cream. I love this, it’s based on my lemon curd recipe but the orange is awesome.
Add the orange zest, orange juice, sugar and yolks to a bowl and mix well. Add the orange mixture to a pan over medium/low heat along with the butter.
Whisk until thickened, about 8 minutes. Once the mini tart shells are cooled, spoon in the orange cream.
Place the chocolate and the orange zest in a heat safe bowl. In a separate bowl, heat the cream and the orange-flavored liqueur until hot and steam, but not boiling (microwave is fine but you can also heat on the stove) and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Stir for about 3 minutes or until well combined. If you have never made ganache or chocolate sauce, you may get a bit concerned about half way through. It is completely normal for your sauce to look like chunky chocolate milk for the first few minutes, just keep stirring and it’ll all work out.
Allow the ganche to cool a bit, then add it to the top of the cookies.
I know that Oktoberfest started as the celebration of a royal wedding that would have put the recent William/Kate union to shame. I also know that it is not an actual proper Holiday.
But for those of us completly in love with all things Beer, it might as well be.
Oktoberfest, as in the one that takes place late September to Early October in Munich, is about LOCAL beer. I love all beer, but I have a special affinity for beer brewed close to home. Although this beer isn’t actual German beer, being that I am in California, it is in line with the locavore spirit of Oktoberfest and their rule for never serving any beer at the official Oktoberfest Festival that is not brewed in their own backyard. And that backyard would be the Munich City limits.
For this recipe, which I loved SO much, I used another incredible local craft beer, this one came from Bison Brewing. Honey Basil Beer. It’s local (to those of us in California), it’s organic and the flavors are amazing.
Beer Creme Brulee: Creme Beer-lee
3/4 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup Bison Honey Basil Beer (can sub German style wheat beer)
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar, plus another 1/4 cup for the topping
Preheat the oven to 300.
Put the cream, and beer in a sauce pan over medium heat. Cook just until its bubbly around the edges but not boiling. Remove from heat, cover and allow to cool for about 15 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the egg yolks, and 1/2 cup of sugar. Whisk until frothy, about 3 minutes.
While continuing to whisk, slowly add the cooled cream mixture until well combined.
Put 8 ceramic ramekins in a baking dish, filling the baking dish with about 1 inch of water (don’t get any water in the ramekins).
Pour your custard through a mesh strainer into ramekins.
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake for 40-45 minutes or until the edges are set and the middle is still slightly wobbly.
Remove from oven and allow to cool, at room temp, in the water filled baking dish for 30 minutes. Transfer to a plate and allow to chill and set in the fridge for 4 hours. Right before serving, cover the top of your set custard with an even, thin layer of sugar (about 1/2-1 tsp). Then run a culinary torch over your sugar, slowly, until it melts and turns an amber color.
Notes
Cooking tip: Don’t brulee the sugar until you are ready to serve. After about an hour of sitting, the sugar will start to liquefy again.
Germany is goregous. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to visit this amazing Country a few years ago. I even took a 7 hour train ride across the contry side on a beautiful day in September. And although tourist are flocking to Munich by the millions this month, and no offense to the Capitol City, my favorite place was Idar Oberstein. I like to travel off the beaten path, although the Festival in Munich does sound like a helluva good time.
For this recipe, which I loved SO much, I used another incredible local craft beer, this one came from Bison Brewing. Honey Basil Beer. It’s local (to those of us in California), it’s organic and the flavors are amazing.
I figured out how to pronounce Galette. This was becoming an issue for me. How can I go about baking, and writing about, such an amazing food that I can’t even mention in conversation? So I googled it. I found this lovely little website that has a charming French man (just trust me on the charming part) who so beautifully pronounces the word Gal-Let. You’re gonna press play over and over just to make sure he really said Gal-Let and not Guh-Lay. Or maybe that’s just me.
Apple Brown Sugar (Gal-Let) Galettes
For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1/4 cup ice cold water
For The FIlling:
4 cups granny smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced
2 tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tbs melted butter.
Make the crust:
In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the butter (ice cold and cut into cubes) and process until combined. Add the remaining flour and process until combined. Move dough to a bowl and add the water with a wooden spoon (don’t add the water with the food processor or your dough will turn into a cracker). If your dough is too dry, or two wet, add a bit of water or flour to achieve the right consistency.
Form the dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.
Once your apples and peeled, cored and sliced, add to a bowl with the lemon juice and toss to combine. Add the brown sugar and butter and toss to combine. Let stand at room temp for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 400.
Once your dough is chilled, roll out to an even thickness. Cut out 6 inch circles. Use whatever you have that is round and six inches, I used a small plastic bowl. This recipe will make 6-8 mini Galettes.
Arrange the apples in tight circle in the middle of your dough, leaving a one inch boarder around the edges.
Fold the edges over the filling, leaving the center open.
Brush the remaining brown sugar/butter mixture that your apples were sitting in all over the Galettes and the exposed crust.
Bake at 400 for 28-35 minutes or until golden brown.
I wrote another article for Honest Cooking. I wrote about this deep dish pie, because I love it so much. The crust is the best part, and making it deep dish adds more of the good stuff, oh, and the filling too. Also, deep dish pies are really impressive. They stand on their own, outside of a pie pan and look like a baked-goods force to be reckoned with. Next time you make a pie from scratch, forget the pie pan and reach for your spring form pan.
Once your pie dough is completed, chilled and ready to go, roll out one disk (about half of the total recipe) so that it will sit in your spring form pan with about a 1 inch overhang. Fold in half, then in half again to form a triangle. Gently move to the pan with the point of the triangle in the dead center.
Unfold and smooth any rips or tears with your fingers. Set in the fridge to chill until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 375.
In a separate bowl, add the flour, cornstarch, salt, and sugar, then whisk to combine.
Add the peaches and raspberries and toss to coat.
Add the fruit to the spring form pan that is now lined with pie dough. Roll out your remaining dough and place it on the top of the pie, using the same method to move as you did with your bottom dough layer. Using your fingers, squeeze the top and bottom layers of the crust together around the edge of the pan. Make a few slits in the top of the pie dough to release steam. If you want to cut out a shape, as shown below, do so prior to moving your dough.
Bake at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until the top is a golden brown.
Somehow, in the course of my very rushed Deep Dish photo shoot, my peach slices went missing.
I’m not entirely sure who’s belly they ended up in, but either way, a pretty healthy snack.
I couldn’t possible eat everything I make for this blog. As much as I love to bake, I love to give it away just as much. When I’m invited to someones house, I come bearing a tray of baked goods, requested or not. These cakes needed to leave my house as soon as I had the first bite. I had to find someone to take them off my hands and save me from eating a dozen Mango Rum Cakes with Lemon Butter cream. I made 6 in mini bundt cake pans and 8 in cupcake form. Dangerous.
This is how these cakes grew as an idea in my head:
I want to make a rum cake.
But, how do I make it different?
I have a gorgeous mango, I should use that.
And the frosting?
OOOOhhh…lemons!
Lemon buttercream. Mango, rum, lemon! It’ll be like a one of those umbrella drinks pool side at a resort.
OK, who do I give these to? I will eat them ALL if they stay in my house. The Movies and Bingo group.
I know a group of senior ladies that meet a few days a week to watch movies and play bingo. I dropped them off to them, as I did with the Caramel Cake I made a few weeks ago. Elena, at 68 years old is one of the younger, spunkier ladies. She took one look at these mini cakes and said, "Rum cake? Next time put my rum on the side and make it a double!"
Mini Mango Rum Cakes With Lemon Buttercream Frosting
For the Rum Cake:
1 stick of butter, softened
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup rum
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup of mango, diced
For the Lemon Buttercream:
2 sticks of butter, softened
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup of whole milk
2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the vanilla and beat some more. In a sperate bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, mix well. In another bowl, add the rum and the oil. Starting and ending with the dry ingredients, add both the dry and wet ingredients to the stand mixer, a bit at a time, alternating between the two until all is combined in one bowl. Add the mango and stir until just combined.
Add your batter to either mini bundt cake pans (spray with butter flavored cooking spray), or muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. Fill 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 18-25 minutes (depends on the size of your pan) or until top springs back when touched.
Allow to cool completely.
Combine all the ingredients for the lemon butter cream in a stand mixer. Mix on low speed until mostly combined, the raise to high speed and whip until light and fluffy.
I have a mild obsession with pie dough. Once I started to make (and modify) Cook’s Illustrated’s Foolproof Pie Dough in 2007, I realized that it is not only about a million times better than store bought crust, it takes about 8 minutes of active time. There is no downside. If you have never made pie dough, do it. Seriously, seriously, DO IT. If you are going to go through all of the trouble to make a pie, don’t even think about debasing it with a store bought crust.
I started writing for Honest Cooking this week. My first article is about the science behind pie dough. How the exact same ingredients can give you such different results and how I pledge my baking allegiance to Foolproof pie dough. For that article I wrote about the Cooks Illustrated version. For this post, I will give you my slight variation on that recipe.
3 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs sugar
10 tbs butter (1 stick, plus 2 tbs), cut into cubes
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Step one: Combine 2 cups of flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor, pulse a few times until its combined. Add the butter and the shortening and process until it forms a ball around the blade, about 2 minutes.
Step two: Add the remaining flour and process until well incorporated, about 1 minute.
Step Three: Move to a bowl and add the water and the vodka, combine with a spatula or wooden spoon.
Combining the liquid in the food process will destroy the effects of the vodka, and your hands may warm the fats too much. The dough will be very moist, but if it is too moist to stay together, add a little more flour.
Step Four: Split into two equal sized portions and form into disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, about two hours. Because this dough is so soft, it is very important for the pie dough to be very cold and very firm. Step five: On a very well floured surface, place one of the disks, add flour to the top of the disk as well.
Roll out into an even thickness. Marble rolling pins are very cold and don’t disrupt the fat inside the dough, making them an excellent choice for rolling pie dough. When you place your dough in the fridge to chill, add your marble rolling pin as well, allowing it to chill.
Step six: This recipe is very soft and will fall apart while being rolled. Although some people like to use the rolling pin to assist with moving the dough from rolling surface to pie pan, it tends to fall apart too easily with this method. The easiest way is to fold the dough circle in half, then in half again, forming a triangle.
Place the point of the triangle in the center of the pie plate and unfold the dough.
Trim the dough, leaving a half-inch overhang past the edge of the pie pan. Form a fluted edge around the top of the pie crust.
Baking: If you want to bake this before it’s filled, prick several holes in the bottom with a fork. Line the inside with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake at 375.
This crust can also be filled and baked immediately, whichever your recipe calls for.
I’m in a book club. I know, such a grown up, right? When I was on my way to my very first Book Club meeting my husband asked, "So what REALLY goes on there? There has to be some type of illicit element? You can’t really just be sittin' around talking about a book, can you?" Other than the calorie content in my version of Minny’s Caramel Cake: Cupcake Edition, noting illicit at all. Just a bunch of girls sittin' around chatting.
When I finished the book, I made a full size version of Minny’s Caramel Cake. For the cupcakes, I made some alterations. I wanted a frosting that could be piped on, so I added some powdered sugar. AMAZING. I really liked this version of the caramel frosting. I also substituted buttermilk for heavy cream, just because I felt like it.
Minny’s Caramel Cake: Cupcake Edition
1 cup of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 tbs molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup whole milk
3 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Caramel Frosting:
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup of cream
3 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
Pre heat oven to 350.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, brown sugar and white sugar, beat on high until well creamed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the molasses and vanilla and mix until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the buttermilk, oil and milk and mix until well combined. In a seperate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined. Add the flour mixture to the batter and stir until just incorporated. Add to muffin tins (lined with cupcake papers) filling each about 2/3 of the way full (about 1/4 cup).
Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the top springs back.
To make the frosting, combine the brown sugar and cream in a pot. Stir over medium high heat until it starts to boil. Allow to boil, without stirring (this is the hard part for me) until the temperature reaches about 210 (about 7-10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the butter and the vanilla. Allow to cool until thickened. Add to a stand mixer, along with the powdered sugar and beat on high until well combined. This frosting will continue to harden and thicken until cooled.
These cupcakes are now for sale to the highest bidder, 4 dozen of them. You pick the beer (or no beer is fine too) and I will deliver them anywhere within Los Angeles County, or you can pick them up. Why? Because, you see, there is this woman, a brave food writer, a mom, who is now a grieving widow.
Do I know her? No, just through her posts and writings. But I know her girls, in a way. I was one of her girls once. I was once a little girl, who’s dad died suddenly. I was a girl with a grieving mom who couldn’t get out of bed. I was a girl who’s big sister taught her to make cereal on the kitchen floor because we wanted mom to sleep, because she didn’t do that too often anymore. I was a girl who didn’t go to the father daughter dance. I was a girl who walked down the isle on her wedding day alone. But Jen, if you read this, I want you to know that I am also a girl who is OK, I grew up to be happy, married a good man, have a little girl of my own and so did that sister who taught me to make breakfast early in the morning on a linoleum floor. Your girls will be OK too. They will cry, they will laugh, they will grieve and they will be OK.
Me and Daddy:
The last thing you should have to worry about when the love of your life dies, when you are parenting grieving children, is money. Here is a bit about what Jen and her family are facing right now, financially:
Written by her friend Shauna:
“As you can imagine, Jennie is overwhelmed not only by her grief, and the sudden responsibility of raising two children by herself, but she is also struggling with this financially. She just learned that she cannot collect widow’s benefits from Social Security because she earns too much money each year. The health insurance for her and her kids runs out in December and she just learned that the total she will have to pay [for health insurance] will be even more than her mortgage. It’s possible she’ll have to pay off the entire mortgage in one lump sum because the apartment was in his name alone.
And more than anything, Mikey wanted Jennie to continue living her dream of being a food writer. And he wanted to make sure his kids were taken care of well. That’s why he worked as hard as he did."
Here is a link to Jen Perillo’s website and a bit about her story:
Click on the BWOB badge on my home page (right side) and just give a few bucks
Cupcake auction rules:
Claim your prize wtihin 6 months
Give 1 week advanced notice for order
Enjoy your warm fuzzy feeling that goes along with charitable giving
Auction ends September 5th at high noon
Perfect for an upcoming party!
On to my original post about these cupcakes:
I love beer. I love cupcakes. It’s only natural that I put these too together. If you don’t like beer, this recipe can be made without and I have to say that brown sugar buttercream is amazing. SO amazing that I even called my sister to tell her about how much I love it and how I want to make a huge vat of it and swim around in it. If you want to make this without the beer, just use 1/2 cup of really hot water, add the brown sugar and stir until dissolved, then follow the rest of the recipe.
Chocolate Cake with Beer Brown Sugar Buttercream
For the Cupcakes:
1 stick of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup milk
1/2 coffee
1/2 cup oil
For the Frosting:
1 cup of ale or blonde style beer
1 cup of brown sugar
3 sticks of butter softened
1 tsp salt
2 cup powdered sugar
Preheat the oven to 350.
In the bowl of stand mixer, combine the butter and sugar, and cream until combine. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each egg. Add the vanilla and mix again. In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. in another bowl, combine the milk, coffee and the oil. With the mixer on low, add the dry and wet ingredients a bit at a time alternating between the two. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers and fill each one with about 3/4 of the way full (about 1/4 a cup of batter).
Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when touched. Allow to cool completely before frosting.
To make the frosting, put the beer in a sauce pan over high heat and allow to boil until reduced by half. I used a Firestone Pale Ale, microbrews are great for this recipe but IPA’s may be too hoppy and "light/lite" beers won’t have enough flavor. While the beer is still very hot, add the brown sugar and stir until completely dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature. Again, for the non beer version, just add the brown sugar to 1/2 cup of super hot water and stir until dissolved. Microwave it if you need to.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter, salt and powdered sugar until combined. Add the beer/sugar mixture and mix slowly until mostly combined, then turn the mixer on high and then whip until the frosting is fluffy and well combined.
Pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes.
I prefer these at room temperature, but they are still pretty great chilled.
There is a distinct possibility that I am the only person I know that has a problem with left over pie dough. I make pies much more than the average girl, and I always make my crust from scratch. You should too. Really. The only problem is that I always have hunks of dough left over, but I’m never short.
This recipe is meant for those left over scraps that you always have after making pie. You sit there, looking at a heap of dough that you "slaved" over. You feel a brief twinge of guilt about throwing it in the trash, but with a lack of use for 1/2 cup of pie dough, that’s were it ends up.
Look how economical and thrifty we are.
A use for leftover pie dough and a cute portable snack.
Perfect for little hands. Or big ones.
Chocolate Pie Sticks
Use leftover pie dough
If you don’t have it and want to just make these for the fun of it, here is my pie dough recipe:
Pie Dough:
1 cups of all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
3 1/2 tbs butter, cut into cubes
2 1/2 tbs shortening
2 tbs vodka
1 tbs cold water
Chocolate chips (not sure how many you’ll need because that depends on how much leftover dough you have)
1 egg
sugar (about 2 tbs?)
If you have your leftover pie dough ready, skip this next paragraph.
If you are making dough:
Break out that food processor and add the flour, salt and sugar and give it a quick pulse until it’s combined.
Add the cubes of butter and the shortening and pulse until combined, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Move the dough to a bowl and add the vodka and water with a spatula. Your dough will be very moist, but you can add a bit of flour if it is too moist to hold together. Then shape the dough into a disk, cover in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours. If you need to, this can be made up to three days in advance, just store the plastic wrapped disks in a large zip lock bag.
Once you have your dough ready:
Roll out the dough, just like for a pie, and cut into strips about 1 inch wide and six inches long.
Brush each strip with water, and fill with a row of chocolate chips
Cover each chipped strip with another strip and seal the edges.
Poke holes in the top to let the steam out.
Brush with a lightly beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar.
Put on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper (or sprayed with butter cooking spray)
Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until goldeny brown.
Look how cute Tater is with her pie stick. Yes, I give my kid pie. And fruits and vegetables and chicken. And pie and cupcakes.
I missed National S’mores day. I had no idea that August 10th was a day that the national is obligated to celebrate this childhood campfire treat until half way through the day when my Mini S’mores Cheesecakes were featured on Yummly. The saddest part of all of this: I HAD a s’mores post ready to go. SO, as my way of making up for my egregous sweet treats error, I am making this entire week National S’mores Week and posting my S’mOREO bars.
Yep, S’mOREO bars. That would be S’mores and Oreos together in one beautiful dessert. These little guys single handedly necessitated TWO spin classes this week. You think Oreo’s are hard to resist, see what happens when they procreate with S’mores.
S’mOREO Bars
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp espresso powder
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 Oreo cookies, chopped
9 graham crackers
5 tbs butter (melted)
1 tbs brown sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows
Preheat the oven to 350
In a bowl (I like to use a Kitchen Aid stand mixer), combine the butter and sugar and mix until combined. Add the vanilla and the eggs and mix on high until well combined. Add the oil and mix. In a separate bowl, add the flour, espresso powder, salt and baking powder, whisk until well combined.
*Pause*
Two things that need to be said about that previous step.
1. Why the heck do I have to get out ANOTHER bowl, that I will just have to clean when I have so much else to do, why can’t I just throw it all in the mixer!? Geesh!
A: Flour gets tough really quick, think of it like cement. To make the best tasking baked goods you want to mix the flour with the wet ingredients as little as possible, but make sure they are well combined. Whats the best way to do this? Make sure the wet ingredients are well mixed, and the dry ingredients are well mixed with each other, before combining the two.
2. I HATE coffee! Why do you ALWAYS ask me to put it in my chocolate desserts? I wanna leave it out!
A: Coffee intensifies the flavor of chocolate, so you taste a much richer, more intense chocolate while the flavor of the coffee is hidden. I have a sister who HATES coffee, but always keeps a jar of espresso powder in the cupboard and adds a tsp or so of the crystals to any recipe involving chocolate (called for or not). Good baking rule. She’s wise, and you should follow her lead. If you don’t drink coffee, keep a jar of instant coffee powder in your cupboard for the next time you make a chocolate cake that calls for coffee and just mix it with the appropriate amount of hot water.
*Resume*
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until just combined.
Add the Oreo’s and stir until just combined.
In a food processor, add the graham crackers and pulse until only fine crumbs remain. Add the brown sugar (this gives a nice caramel flavor) and the melted butter and process until combined, it will look like wet sand.
In a greased 9×13 baking pan, add the graham crackers to the bottom and press into the pan. Packing it down will ensure that the crust will be firm and not fall apart once your bars are cut. Pour the chocolate batter on top of that, making an even layer, top with a layer of mini marshmallows.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the marshmallow are golden brown. For an added carmpfirey-er taste, run a kitchen torch over the top.
S’mores are great, right? Evoking memories of summer, campfires and near misses with open flames. Those little treats have been popping up in Blog Land all summer. I even had my little fling with a s’mores makeover. Caramel apples are the new s’mores. Really. I swear. As fall gets closer, and apples pop up more and more in stores, farmers markets and bloggers imaginations, the memories of school carnivals and Halloween parties will throw this sugary fruit treat into the baker makeover spot light. Here is my jump start on caramel apple makeover, falls new, hot, must have.
Caramel Apple Pie
Pie Dough:
3 cups of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs sugar
10 tbs butter (1 stick, plus 2 tbs), cut into cubes
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Apple Filling:
5 cups of granny smith apples, peeled, cored and cut into thin slices
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbs flour
1 tbs cinnamon
1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
2 tbs apple sauce
Caramel Filling:
1 cups brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup of cream
1 tbs butter
1 tbs corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Crust assembly:
1/4 cup melted butter
2 tbs granulated sugar
I’ve done this before and I’m about to do it again. Pie dough lecture. After my years of pie dough research, I feel confident that this recipe is near perfect. I love it. If you are thinking about skipping this step and going with store bought, Stop. Right. There. The food processor method makes your active time about 8 minutes. That’s it. For an investment of only 8 minutes you can make the Worlds Most Amazing Pie Crust and when people ask, "Did you make the crust yourself??" You can sigh, wipe your brow and say, "It was a lot of work, but, yes. I just believe that it is worth all the hard work." They’ll never know.
First, food processors are great at getting the job done as quickly as possible, and as previously mentioned on this blog, the more you mess with dough the tougher it becomes. So break out that food processor and add 2 cups of the flour, salt and sugar and give it a quick pulse until it’s combined.
Add the cubes of butter and the shortening and pulse until combined, about 1 1/2 minutes. A mixture of butter and shortening gives great texture and great flavor.
Add the remaining flour and process until it’s all combined. Move dough to a large bowl, then add the water and the vodka and knead gently until its all combined. Vodka makes your crust flaky. It cooks off completely, unlike water, so you have a great flakiness that will hold up to whatever you put inside of it. Your dough will be very moist, but you can add a bit of flour if it is too moist to hold together. Then split into two evenly sized disks and wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours. If you need to, this can be made up to three days in advance, just store the plastic wrapped disks in a large zip lock bag.
Preheat your oven to 375.
In a large bowl, combine the apples, lemon juice and salt, toss to coat. Let stand at room temp for about 30 minutes, drain. Add the sugar, flour, cinnamon, apple sauce and nutmeg and toss to coat.
In a pot over medium heat, add the brown sugar, corn syrup and cream. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and allow to boil, untouched, until it reaches 225. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla, stir to combine and allow to cool.
Roll out one of your pie dough disks in a circle large enough to fit into your greased pie pan with a bit of over hang. Add the circle to the pie pan and press into shape. Pour the caramel on the bottom, then the apples on top of that. Roll out the remaining pie dough circle. I like to cut out cute shapes with a cookie cutter and layer them on top, adhering with melted butter. You can do this, or you can make a top crust a round circle with slits cut in the top. brush the top with the remaining melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Allow the pie to rest before serving, the caramel needs time to thicken or your will be serving apple pie soup.
Blondie’s used to baffle me. Why would you take a lovely chocolaty brownie and take OUT the chocolate? Isn’t that the good part? I just saw blondie’s as chocolate-less brownies, and really, that didn’t sound like much fun. Then I had a blondie awakening of sorts. If a brownie is a vessel for chocolate consumption than blondie’s can be a vessel for…caramel? Peanut butter? Maple? Blueberries? Bacon? Well, I guess just about anything. I am officially on board.
Maple Bacon Blondie’s
1 cup butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
2 eggs
¼ cup oil
2 tbs honey
2 cups flour
Topping:
6 strips of bacon
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup of cream
3 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans
¼ tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a 9×13 glass baking dish.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the vanilla and salt, mix until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing on high for at least two minutes until well combined and mixture is light and fluffy. Add the oil and honey and mix well. Add the flour, mixing on low until just combined. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is a golden brown, edges are a dark brown and pulling away from the pan. Allow to cool. Place 6 strips of bacon on a wire rack over a baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes or until bacon is cooked, darkened and crisp.
In a pot over high heat, add the brown sugar and the cream. Stir until the sugar has melted and the mixture starts to boil. Using a candy thermometer, allow to mixture to boil undisturbed until the temperature reaches 210, about 7-10 minutes. Add the 3 tbs of butter and the vanilla and stir until combined. Allow to cool (20 minutes). Pour the maple sauce over the Blondie’s. Chop the bacon and place in a small bowl, add the pecans and salt and mix. Sprinkle the bacon pecan mixture over the maple sauce. Refrigerate until maple has cooled and set.
I just finished The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. Great. Now what I am going to struggle to stay awake to read at 1am when I know I should be sleeping because Tater is a 6am girl? There is always this vague grief that goes along with finishing a book that has attached itself to you. You start to watch the pages on the right side thin. At first you’re excited that you are so close to knowing whats gonna happen, and then you resist it, knowing you aren’t ready to let go. You read the last page slowly, savoring the last minutes you will ever spend with the characters and then you just sit, one hand on the cover. Smooth it with your hand, think about what the characters will likely do next, briefly wish for a sequel, and then…bake a cake.
In the book, Minny is a sass mouth southern maid that can bake her way out of just about any situation her impetuous tongue can put her in. I love her. In the movie, Hollywood cast her with Octavia Spencer, my brain cast her with Gabourey Sidibe.
I thought a lot about what kind of cake Minny would make for that caramel cake of hers. Definitely not a white cake. Not just for the obvious double entendre, but because it calls for dissposing of the egg yolks. Minny would never do that. She would never NOT use something as lovely and perfect as an egg yolk. She would have used whole eggs, butter, oil, cream and molssas. I also saw this as a cake that would stand on its own, with a mild caramel flavor, even without the lovely caramel icing.
Here is my version of the world famous cake:
Minny’s Caramel Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 tbs molasses
1 cup heavy cream (or buttermilk)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup whole milk
3 cups of flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Caramel Frosting:
2 cups brown sugar, packed
1 cup of cream
3 tbs butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pre heat oven to 350.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter, brown sugar and white sugar and cream until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Add the molasses and mix until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add the cream, oil and milk and mix until well combined. add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix until just incorporated. Add evenly between two greased and floured 8 inch round cake pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick come out clean. Allow to cool.
To make the lovely frosting, and I really think that I want to take a bath in this stuff, combine the brown sugar and cream in a pot. Stir over medium high heat until it starts to boil. Allow to boil, without stirring (this is the hard part for me) until the temperature reaches about 210 (about 7-10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the butter and the vanilla. Allow to cool until thickened. Pour half the caramel over the first layer, stack the second layer on top and then pour the rest over that.
Yum. I want to make cupcake versions of this soon.
On of my favorite smells in the entire world is red wine reducing on the stove. It reminds of bistros in Paris and lazy winter evenings. Mr. Fits and I spent our anniversary in Paris a few years ago. We ended up at a small cafe in the Bastille District eating Steak Frites and sharing a bottle of wine. We finished the meal by sharing a dense piece of chocolate cake. As we sat on the side walk patio, watching the night go by, chatting and laughing, I remember feeling so grateful that this was the man that I got to spend my life with. These brownies remind me of that night, the wine, the chocolate and the love of my life.
Red wine is a great addition to baked goods and the alcohol cooks off completely so you have nothing to worry about while serving these to under aged guests.
Cabernet Cherry Brownies
¾ cup fresh bing cherries, pitted and chopped
1 cup red wine
¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
8 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tbs instant coffee powder
4 large eggs
3 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375.
In a pot over medium/high heat, bring the cherries and the wine to a simmer, stiring occasionally. Allow to reduce by half, the cherries and wine will amount to a little less than one cup combined.
Combine the butter, chocolate and coffee powder in a microwave safe bowl. If you hate coffee, don’t be affriad of this ingredient. Coffee, in small doses, is widely known in the baking world to intensify the flavor of chocolate without leaving any of it’s own flavor behind. Microwave on high for 20 seconds, stir and repeat until melted and combined.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar, at high speed for 5 minutes. I recently learned that beating the eggs and sugar together is what gives brownies that beautiful crust on top. Reduce speed to low, and add the chocolate mixture then beat until combined. Slowly add flour and beat until combined, but don’t over mix. Stir in chocolate chips and reduced wine. Pour the batter into a greased 9×13 glass baking dish. Bake until the edges start to pull away from the pan and the center is no longer wobbly, about 35 minutes.
Here’s a little something you should know about me. I have a head full of statistics. I hear one and it sticks. Mr. Fit’s teases me about the fact the a rare week goes by that I don’t reference one. Including the fact that 36% of all statistics listed online are outdated or inaccurate. So take that for what it’s worth.
Here is one that’s more useful. California produces 86% of the nations strawberries. More fascinating than that is the fact that California also grows more than HALF the nations total produce. Seriously, HALF of the fruits and vegetables that are grown in the U.S. come from just one little state (ok, so it’s not that little, but STILL!).
We’re not all palm trees and reality TV, there is some amazing food here. Nothing is better than local produce, especially strawberries. If you have the opportunity to visit our great state, skip Beverly Hills and Hollywood Blvd and head straight for a farmers market, we get to have them year round.
Here is another fun fact about strawberries (have I lost you yet? is this stuff interesting only to me??) They are one of the few fruits that will NOT continue to ripen after being picked. If you pick a green strawberry, it will never turn red. Once they are taken from the vine they become a ticking clock towards rotten fruit so use them quick. Or freeze them fast.
Chocolate is always a welcome twist on a classic. I love a great homemade shortcake and adding chocolate is great surprise. This is just my biscuit recipe, modified to add chocolate.
Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
Shortcakes:
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 stick (8 tbs) butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup of carbonated water
1/4 cup cold brewed coffee (can use coffee made with instant coffee powder)
Strawberries:
2 1/2 cups of chopped strawberries
1/2 cup of powdered sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
ChantillyCream:
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 -1/2 cup powdered sugar (depending on your desired level of sweetness)
1/2 tsp real vanilla extract
Instructions
In a food processor combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar and pulse until combined. Add the butter and process until it is all incorporated and it resembles coarse meal. Add the milk, water and coffee and process until combined.
These are more like drop biscuits than roll ’em out and cut ’em variety. Take about 1/3 of a cup of the dough and form a disk, about one inch high, with your hand place it on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
Put your shortcakes in the fridge and allow to chill for 20 minutes while you preheat your oven to 350. Bake for about 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool.
In a bowl, combine your strawberries, powdered sugar and lemon juice. mix until combine and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
Chantillycream sounds super fancy, but in reality it’s just whipped cream that you make with powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. It has a slightly different taste and texture that goes well with this recipe. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cream, powdered sugar (between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup depending on how sweet you like it) and vanilla extract. Beat on high for 3-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form.
Once your shortcakes have cooled, cut in half the long way and fill with the Chantilly cream and strawberries.
Clearly, I like things in miniature form. Not only are they just plain adorable, it provides some much needed portion control. If I have a pie, just sittin in the fridge, I have a strong temptation to constantly cut off a sliver if I’m in the vicinity. If I just have these small versions, I’m less tempted and I’ve tricked my brain into thinking I had much more than I actually did. I just ate a WHOLE pie! Well, a pie the size of a cupcake, but still. Plus, how great are these for dinner parties?
10 tbs butter (1 stick, plus 2 tbs), cut into cubes
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Peach Filling:
4 1/2 cups of diced peaches
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs honey
1/4 cup lemon juice
Sour Cream Filling:
2/3 cup Sour Cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
I seems to make a lot of pie dough. I love it, and after years of research and practice, I am loyal to the homemade version and it’s vast superiority over the store bought stuff. If you plan ahead, it really doesn’t take much time at all.
First, food processors are great at getting the job done as quickly as possible, and as previously mentioned on this blog, the more you mess with dough the tougher it becomes. So break out that food processor and add 2 cups of the flour, salt and sugar and give it a quick pulse until it’s combined.
Add the cubes of butter and the shortening and pulse until combined, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Add the remaining flour and process until it’s all combined. Move to a bowl, add your water and vodka with a spatula. Your dough will be very moist, but you can add a bit of flour if it is too moist to hold together. Then split into two evenly sized disks and wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours. If you need to, this can be made up to three days in advance, just store the plastic wrapped disks in a large zip lock bag.
In a pot over medium heat, combine the peaches, butter, powdered sugar, salt, honey and lemon juice. Stir frequently, allowing to simmer until reduced and thickened. About 15-20 minutes.
In a bowl, combine the sour cream, sugar, egg and vanilla and stir until combined.
Roll out your cold dough on a flowered surface. Cut circles large enough to fit into your muffin tins, with a bit of an over hang. I found that for mine, 4 inch worked the best. My largest biscuit cutter was 3 inches so I used a wine glass as my pie dough cutter.
Spray your muffin tins with butter cooking spray and then place your dough circles inside the wells, making sure there is a tiny bit of overhang.
Poke holes in the bottom of your dough and then fill with about 2 tsp of the sour cream mixture and then two tbs of the peaches mixture.
Cut out top circles for your mini pies using a 3 inch biscuit cutter (or a size appropriate for the muffin tins you are using). I had a cute little tiny cookie cutter in the shape of a star that I used for the top. You can just cut slits in the top if you don’t have a tiny cutter. I have also found that the lid of a chapstick tube (cleaned, of course) makes a great tiny circle cutter in a pinch.
Place your top circles in place and pinch the edges together.
In a small bowl, wisk one egg with a fork. Brush on top of your pies and then sprinkle with sugar.
Place your mini pies in the fridge for 20 minutes to all to chill.
Preheat your oven to 350. Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the tops are a golden brown.
I remember the very first time I had Creme Brulee. A friend of Mr. Fits (a very fancy friend) order it for me while we where all out for dinner at a little restaurant in Pasadena. I was young, in my last year of college, and I was too embarrassed to say that I had no idea what Creme Brulee was. So I waited. Every dessert flanked waiter who came within ten feet of my table was given a thorough visual molesting as I tried to figure out if what he was carrying was, in fact, Creme Brulee. Is that cake-like thing it? Nope. What about that Chocolate thing in that tiny ceramic pot? hmmm, wrong table. And then it was in front of me. I was intimidated. Do I pick off this thick, hard crust on the top? What do I do? I stalled and waited to see what Fancy Friend did with his. Oh..you crack it open by smashing it with the tip of your spoon. I like dessert that involves very subtle violence. I loved it. The fleeting thought did cross my mind that I would love this vanilla custard with the hardened sugar top in a tart shell. Six years later, I did just that.
This week I wrote another article for the Glendale Examiner on the Montrose Farmers Market. It was there that I discovered that apricots are in the last few weeks of their season. I was so drawn to these huge bins of beautiful pale orange fruit they became the center of my recipe. I wasn’t until I was leaving the market that I noticed the lovely Manilla mangos begging to join the party. I obliged.
Apricot Mango Creme Brulee Tart
Tart Crust:
1 1/4 cups of flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick of unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
3-5 tbs ice coldwater
Apricot Mango Filling:
1 cup chopped apricots
1 cup chopped mango
1/4 cup of honey
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
Custard:
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup of sugar
1 1/4 cup of heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp slt
1/4 cup granulated sugar for brulee crust topping
In a food processor, combine the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the cubes of butter and process until combined, about 1-2 minutes. Your dough should resemble course meal. Start with 3 tbs of water, pulse until combined. If the crust doesn’t hold together add more water, a bit at a time, until it does. Dump the dough into a tart pan with a remove-able bottom. Starting with the sides, form the crust inside the pan, trying your best to make it all as even as possible. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a least 3 hours (don’t even think about skipping this step).
Heat your oven to 375.
Once your tart is all chilly cold, remove from the fridge and poke holes in it with a fork.
Place a sheet of parchment paper inside your tart and fill with pie weights. If you don’t have any, dried beans work great. Just don’t forget which beans you’ve used as pie weights and accidentally try to make soup out of them later.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until your tart is a light golden brown.
In a pot over medium heat, combine the apricots, mango and the honey. Sprinkle with the cornstarch and stir. If you hate mangos, or apricots or maybe have an undying love for one or the other, this recipe is easily altered. You need 2 cups of chopped stone fruit, you can use whatever ratio of each that you want or 2 full cups of either. You can even sub in some peaches if you wanna get craaaazy. Cook the fruit, stiring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until it is thick and the fruit is broken down a bit. Add to the bottom of the tart crust.
In a bowl, combine the yolks and 1/2 cup of sugar and whisk until light and frothy. In a pot, combine the cream, salt and vanilla and heat until steamy but not boiling. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. While you whisk the eggs, slowly, slowly add the cream, whisking until combined. If there are any lumps or "eggy bits" in your cream mixture (possibly because you didn’t let your cream cool down) strain the custard through a mesh strainer. Pour into the tart shell on top of the fruit.
Bake at 300 degrees until the edges are set and the middle is still wobbly (it will continue to set as it cools) about 40-45 minutes. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours and keep cold until ready to serve. Just before serving, top the tart with an even layer of granulated sugar. Pass the flame of a kitchen torch slowly and evenly over the tart until it’s liquified and a light amber colored. Serve immediately. The sugar crust will start to break down after about an hour.
