Chocolate Chip Cookie Crusted Cake

Occasionally, I foolishly agree to do things that I know I shouldn’t.  I know that it’s going to cause me stress and make me temporarily insane(r).  But I do it anyway because I also know that the end, my insanity will result in someone else’s joy.

Such is the case for this birthday cake.  The office manager in Tug’s school, Arthurina, sent me a message asking if I did birthday cakes.  The school’s administrative aide, Sheila, had a birthday coming up and they were going to be celebrating at the office.  Since I’ve returned to work, I’ve been saying “no” to cakes as they can be time consuming and I refuse to use frozen cake.  I probably should have said “no” to this one.  But since I didn’t . . .

Brioche and Preserves

This morning I got up early to get the mini ganache-filled peanut butter brioche loaves shaped, proofed and baked before it got too hot.  I shaped and filled them using the same method as the chocolate-filled chocolate brioche, just spreading a thin layer of ganache over two-thirds of the dough.  While it was tempting to slather on the ganache, I knew it would just ooze out and make a mess once the dough was rolled up.

Chocolate-Filled Chocolate Brioche

This could also be called “the bread that almost wasn’t”.  I measured out all of the ingredients to make it on Tuesday evening.  Then I read about this chocolate and cherry filled brioche that Katie at Making Michael Pollan Proud made.  I began wavering.  I started rationalizing with myself.  The internal chatter went something like this:

Chocolate Banana Bread

Since sourdough bread was the primary topic of yesterday, I thought I'd wait until today to share the recipe for the chocolate banana bread I made while waiting for the sourdough to rise.  It was an experiment to test a recipe for my dad.  

Doesn't look like banana bread, does it? 
The flecks on top are pieces of the ground nuts.

Dad loves nuts, but he can't chew them.  I wanted to see what the results would be of adding finely ground nuts to my favorite (chocolate)  banana bread recipe.  I'm looking to include the flavor of the nuts without the large pieces I would normally use for myself.  It needs a little more work.  I think maybe swapping out some of the butter with some corresponding nut oil may help boost the flavor.  I'll have to neglect some more bananas to test this again.

Decadent breakfast:  a thick slice of bread with mascarpone and blood orange marmalade.

Chocolate Banana Bread

Adapted from Cindy Mushet’s Chocolate-Banana Marble Bread in The Art and Soul of Baking

3 medium-sized, super ripe bananas

1/4 cup buttermilk, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp baking powder

Pinch salt

1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup finely chopped or ground pecans, walnuts or almonds - optional  (I used pecans and almonds)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Spray a large (9” x 5” x 3”) loaf pan with cooking spray and coat with butter.  Line with parchment to go up one inch over the long sides – these will be “handles” to remove the bread from the pan. 

Peel the bananas and process them in a food processor until smooth.  (You can also just mash them if you don’t want to wash the food processor.)  Measure out one cup of the puree.  Discard the rest or freeze it and save it for another use.  Combine the banana puree with the buttermilk and vanilla.  Set aside.

Sift together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cocoa.  Set aside.  (If you're not into the chocolate/banana combination, swap the cocoa powder for an equal amount of cake flour.)

Cream the butter and sugar on medium-high speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until very light and fluffy, three to five minutes.  Stop and scrape down the bowl and paddle periodically.  Reduce the speed to medium and slowly begin adding the beaten egg, drizzling in no more than one tablespoon at a time.  If the mixture starts to look curdled, stop adding the egg and beaten until smooth before adding any more.  Stop and scrape about half way through.  When all of the egg has been incorporated, add the ground nuts and mix until thoroughly combined.  Scrape the bowl and paddle.  

Reduce the mixer speed to low and add one third of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the banana/buttermilk mixture.  Repeat and end with the last third of flour.  Mix just until the dry ingredients are incorporated, finishing by hand with a spatula if necessary. 

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Rap the pan on the counter a couple of times to even out the batter and release air bubbles.  Bake for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove to a rack to cool completely in the pan.  When the bread has cooled, remove from the pan and peel off the parchment paper. 

This bread is really moist, so refrigeration is recommended.  It also freezes beautifully if well wrapped.  Thaw in the refrigerator and then bring to room temperature before serving.

To make muffins, scoop batter into paper or foil lined cupcake tins and bake 20 minutes.  The recipe will make 18 – 20 muffins. 

Me vs Macarons: 0, 1 and 2

As in 0 wins, 1 tie, and 2 losses.  Can you guess where today’s attempt falls?

I’ve been planning this attempt at macarons almost before I finished the last one.  Never before have I been so observant of environmental humidity levels!  As predictions for today’s were around 47% I spent yesterday preparing my ingredients for round three, this time using the Cook’s Illustrated (Holiday Baking 2008) recipe for “Homemade French-Style Macaroons”.  This is the same recipe I used for my first attempt/failure, but I attributed said failure to being a complete novice at macarons.  I am now inclined to change my opinion about that. 

Apparently the laws of physics in the Cook’s Illustrated test kitchens are vastly different than those in mine.  According to this recipe, the egg whites can be whipped into stiff peaks (with the addition of some granulated sugar and cream of tartar) within three minutes.  That’s never happened in my kitchen.  Ever.  I’m usually looking at 7 – 10 minutes.  Today I had enough time to sweep and mop the kitchen floor while my egg whites were beating. 

I knew when I was only half-way through folding in the dry ingredients that this batter was going to be seriously thick.  The recipe does say “until a thick batter forms” but this was ridiculous.  It was more like dough than batter.  There was no way I was going to get the macarons I wanted out of that “batter”. 

At this point I made the decision to abandon the idea of this batter/dough becoming macarons.  It was not going to be worth having to wash the piping bag.  Instead I dug out a small cookie scoop and went to town.  The resulting cookies were tasty, but definitely not macarons. These are more reminiscent of the hazelnut baci d’alessio cookies I tried a few years ago.

Ordinarily, I don’t share recipes of my failures but I’m going to make an exception this time.  Be mindful that if you’re looking for the perfect macaron recipe, you should keep looking.   However, if you’re looking for a recipe for a tasty, gluten-free chocolate almond cookie, I’m your girl.  

Gluten-Free Chocolate Almond Cookies

Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Homemade French-Style Macaroons

6-1/4 oz confectioners’ sugar

1/2 oz natural cocoa powder

7-1/2 oz almond flour (also called almond meal)

Pinch salt

2-3/4 oz egg whites

2-1/2 tsp granulated sugar

2-1/2 tsp powdered egg whites

Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa powder together.  (Don’t wash the sifter yet; you’ll need it again.)  In the bowl of a food processor, pulse half of the almond flour with half of the confectioners’ sugar and cocoa mixture about 20 times.  Pour into a large bowl and repeat with the remaining almond flour and sugar/cocoa mixture.  Add the pinch of salt.  Set aside.

Pour the egg whites into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.  Whisk on medium speed for 2 – 3 minutes until the whites are frothy.  Meanwhile, combine the granulated sugar and powdered egg whites.  Increase the speed to medium high and whisk until soft peaks are just beginning to form, anywhere from 3 – 5 minutes.  Gradually add the sugar/powdered egg white mixture and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and sift in about a third of the dry ingredients.  Fold in with a rubber spatula until almost incorporated before sifting in another third of the dry ingredients.  Continue until all of the dry ingredients have been folded in.  Fold quickly and gently, but don’t be obsessive about not deflating the egg whites.

Scoop the cookies on to the parchment lined baking sheets with a small to medium cookie scoop.  (The one I used made 32 cookies.) 

Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Let the cookies sit, uncovered for 20 – 30 minutes while the oven heats up.  Bake the cookies one try at a time for 20 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet halfway through.  Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the sheet for 2 – 3 minutes before peeling them off of the parchment.  Place on a rack to cool completely.  Once cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two days or refrigerated up to five.  Allow cookies to come to room temperature before eating.

The Nontraditional Valentine

Since Tug is not a big fan of things sweet, it can be rather challenging finding a food-related Valentine’s Day gift.  (He doesn’t have such difficulties.  This morning I was greeted with a gift bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups, three Lindt chocolate bars – chocolate chile, dark chocolate sea salt and white chocolate coconut – and a bag of Lindt white chocolate truffles.)  There are the rare occasions when he’ll nibble on a small piece of dark chocolate, or eat a cookie or two, but they are indeed rare occasions.  I had thought about making brownies and cutting them into hearts, but he may have eaten one, two if I was lucky.  Instead, I made him something I know he really likes:  bread.  The man is an absolute carbohydrate junkie when it comes to bread.  

He was pretty happy with the focaccia I made last month, so that’s what I chose to make him for Valentine’s Day.  Baked in a heart-shaped pan of course.  And I made dinner.

focaccia baked in Wilton's (retired) puffed heart pan

Since I had all of those peanut butter cups though, I decided to make this recipe from Katie at Making Michael Pollan Proud.  When I first read it I nearly drooled on my keyboard.  For the most part I followed the recipe.  You know I have a problem in that regard.  What I did differently was use seven peanut butter cups (because I neurotically don’t like even numbers) and since I only had old-fashioned oats instead of rolled oats, I measured out one cup and gave them a buzz in the food processor then mixed them in with the other dry ingredients.  I find old-fashioned oats are just a little bit too toothsome in cookies.  The final thing I did differently was after mixing in the dry ingredients I switched to the dough hook attachment to mix in the chocolate chips and chopped peanut butter cups.  It worked like a charm to mix them in without crushing them.

After baking and cooling them, I boxed up almost all of them for Tug to take to work tomorrow.  These are so good that I have to get them out of the house.  Katie suggested that they freeze well so she freezes them to keep from eating them.  I have a feeling I would eat these frozen!

I couldn't resist pressing the last few scoops of dough into one of my
heart-shape cookie cutters.  Yes, I am a dork when it comes to Valentine's Day!

Sour Dough and Sour Oranges

Since finishing my sourdough starter last week for the Tea & Cookies Cooking Challenge, it’s been hanging out the refrigerator.  Waiting.  Beyond the fact that I was busy with the caramels for the Icing Smiles Magic of a Smile gala, the starter develops more flavor and tang as it ages.  But it seemed like it was about time to start doing something with it since I have so much. 

The two recipes I chose to start with, Extra-Tangy Sourdough Bread and Sourdough Chocolate Cake, both required about a cup of “fed” starter.  To feed the starter, I measured out one-half cup of refrigerated starter for each recipe then added one-half cup of flour and one-quarter cup of tepid water, stirred them up and let them sit until doubled in size. 

In between this, I had finally made the decision that it was time to harvest the oranges off of the dwarf tree in the living room.  Some of the branches looked like they could break at any moment.  If these were sweet oranges that could be eaten out of hand, I may have left them on the tree and just used them as I wanted/needed them.  However, that’s not the case.  I’ve tried the oranges a couple of times in the last two months trying to gauge their ripeness.  Both times it was like eating lemons instead of oranges.  Through some Internet research, I think I’ve finally identified these as calamondin oranges.  They will never be sweet.  This does put some limitations on what I can do with them. 

So I’ll turn to the never-fail solution for citrus:  marmalade.  To be finished tomorrow.

In the meantime, my starters being ready, I mixed up the first steps of the bread as it needed to sit at room temp for four hours before going in the refrigerator overnight.  The chocolate cake also needed some fermentation time for the starter with some flour and milk, so that part was mixed and set aside.  Until about 10:00 p.m. when I finally had time to get back to it.

As this was a recipe I’ve not made before, I chose to make cupcakes instead of cake.  Cupcakes just seem to be easier to share than a cake with a piece missing.  I’d like to say I stayed true to the recipe, but that’s not the case.  This was one of the strangest batters I’ve ever worked with.  The addition of the sourdough starter made it gave the batter a texture that was most unappealing in its raw form.  It left me wondering what the baked version would be like.  I also had to consider that instead of using all vegetable oil, the majority of the fat I used was butter.  This may have had an effect on the final texture as well.  When I checked them during baking, I was concerned I had overfilled the cups, but fortunately they came out with perfect high domes without overflowing.  They’re not iced yet, but the one I tried seemed a little dry and not nearly chocolaty enough.  I’m wondering if the recipe would be better as written (imagine that!) with all vegetable oil and in cake form, but not enough that I’ll try it.

Caramels for a Cause

Back in November, I signed up as a volunteer with an organization called Icing Smiles.  In a nutshell, Icing Smiles is a non-profit organization that coordinates local volunteer bakers with families of terminally and critically ill children to provide an amazing celebratory cake (or other treat) at no charge to the family.  It offers the opportunity for the family to create a positive memorable occasion.  Thus far, I’ve not been called on to provide a cake and, while it would be a privilege to provide this service for a family, I truly hope that for the sake of children and families that there’s never a need. 

But in the meantime, there are needs elsewhere and despite being an organization composed primarily of volunteers, there are still expenses to be met.  This Saturday, Icing Smiles will be hosting its first fundraising event, the Magic of a Smile Gala.  The gala is in Maryland, where the organization is headquartered, which precludes my attendance.  To help the cause, options were offered of purchasing tickets to the gala, making a cash donation, or providing sweets for the dessert buffet.  I went with the latter.    

They were seeking donations of items that could be easily shipped:  homemade marshmallows, brownie bites, macaroons (I think they’re actually looking for macarons), cake pops, meringues, chocolate pretzels or sandwich cookies, candy or candy bark.  I seriously considered marshmallows because I’ve not yet made homemade marshmallows and they’re on my “to accomplish” list, but humidity can be a problem anytime you’re dealing with egg whites.  Instead I chose to make caramels.

this was one large mold until I took the scissors to it

As you may have read in some of my previous posts, I’m a big fan of making caramels.  The fanaticism wanes when it comes time to cut them, however.  I’ve searched online for caramel cutters, and all that I’ve found are apparently very expensive given that one must call to obtain a price.  As they say, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.”  Instead of an incredibly expensive caramel cutter, after some gnashing of teeth, I opted for a moderately expensive silicone mold.



chocolate caramels waiting to be boxed



My thought process was that I could just pour the caramel over the mold, spread it into the cavities, let it set and pop out perfectly shaped caramels.  I found this process was much easier in theory than in practicality.  Trying to pour the screaming hot caramel from a six-quart, heavy copper-clad pan cleanly into the tiny cavities of the mold is a challenge I’ve not yet mastered.  The molded caramels had rough edges that needed to be trimmed off, but that was much easier than trying to cut through a one-half inch thick slab of caramel. 

I thought little hearts
would be super cute
for the chocolate
caramels, but way too
time consuming

The production schedule I had set for myself had to be slightly altered due to illness.  (At least once a year Tug brings home cooties from school and shares them with me.)  For a few days I didn’t have ambition to do much more than make the short journey from the bed to the sofa.  Even if I did have ambition, I couldn’t prepare food for others while coughing, sniffling and sneezing.  I managed to get everything finished up this afternoon and even made it on time to get them shipped out this evening to arrive by Friday. 



goat milk caramels with coarse sea salt



I nearly fainted when the clerk told me how much the shipping cost was.  It was totally outrageous, but I had made a promise.  So I paid it.  When I got home, I told Tug the next time I have the brilliant idea to donate something I’ve made, he should gently, but firmly place his hands on my shoulders, look me squarely in the eye, and say, “Love, just write a check.”



Chocolate Caramels

Yield:  depends on how big you cut your caramels

1 tablespoon butter *

1 cup evaporated milk

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup water

2 cups light corn syrup

2 cups sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

6 ounces bittersweet (60%) chocolate pieces

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Lightly spray a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with cooking spray and line bottom and sides of the pan with parchment.  Rub the parchment with the one tablespoon of butter, paying particular attention to the corners.  You can also melt the butter and brush it on the parchment.*

 In a small heavy saucepan, combine the evaporated milk, heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk.  

Pour the water and corn syrup into a large (5 or 6 quart), heavy saucepan.  Pour the sugar into the center, avoiding contact with the sides of the pan.  Add the salt.  Let sit for 15 – 20 minutes, then bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and cook until the sugar is dissolved, about 6 to 8 minutes.  Stir as little as possible.  If necessary, brush down the sides of pan with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan.  Stop stirring, insert a candy thermometer, reduce the heat to medium and let come to a boil.  Cook, without stirring, until temperature reaches 260°F (hard-ball stage).  This may take anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes, depending on your pan, stove and altitude.

Meanwhile, place the milk/cream mixture over low heat and stir until warm.  Keep warm but do not boil.

When the sugar mixture reaches 260°F, stir in the warm milk mixture and the pieces of butter.   This will drop the temperature.  When the temperature comes back up to 230°F, add the chocolate pieces.  Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until the thermometer reaches 244°F (firm ball stage), 30 to 60 minutes.  Stir in the vanilla.  Immediately pour the caramel into the prepared pan without scraping the pot.  (Scrape the pot into a separate container if you’d like.)  Allow to rest, uncovered, at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours without disturbing.  

Unmold caramel by lifting the parchment paper out of the pan.  Place the caramel slab on a cutting board and cut into pieces with a very sharp, heavy knife.  If necessary, rub the knife with butter or spray with cooking spray.*  Wrap the caramels with waxed paper squares, twisting ends to seal, or place in individual candy cups.  The caramels will stick together if not individually wrapped.

*These steps are not necessary if you are using silicone molds.  Additionally, the caramels in molds will not take as long to set.



Crazy from the Heat

Today is turning out to be one of the hottest days yet.  Right now the temperature with heat index is hovering at 110 degrees.  I'm not a fan of hot, humid weather.  My initial plans for the day included stopping by the garden center and running a few other errands.  Those plans have since changed and I have stepped outside only as absolutely necessary to take the dogs out and retrieve my sun tea.  In my geeky curiosity, I decided to take its temperature:  110 degrees.

So how did I spend my air conditioned morning indoors?  By turning on my oven.  Now what kind of sense does that make?!  None whatsoever, not even to me.  But I have some newspaper articles I want to send to my dad, and I apparently feel the need to send him cookies every time I need to mail him something.

The cookie of choice today was chocolate chip.  The only chips I had left in the pantry were Ghirardelli Double Chocolate (60%) so I went ahead and used the recipe on the package.  It's worth pointing out that the recipe on the package is titled Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, however, the recipe on their website under this title is totally different.  The recipe I used was what they list as Ghirardelli Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I did make a couple of changes though.  And instead of just printing the recipe, I thought I would do a pictorial this time.

I started with my dry ingredients.  I used 2 cups of all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup of natural cocoa powder, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt.  I whisked this together and added 2 cups of the chocolate chips. 

Next I combined 3/4 cup packed brown sugar, 3/4 cup granulated sugar and two sticks of softened, unsalted butter.  Well, mostly softened since I hadn't planned ahead to take it out of the refrigerator last night.  It just took a little longer to cream with the sugars.

Lastly, I needed 2 eggs (also quasi-room temperature) and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract.  I cracked the eggs into the measuring cup I used for the flour since I was going to have to wash it anyway.

The original recipe includes optional nuts, but since Dad can't chew them I left them out.

Once everything was ready to go, I turned the oven on to 375 degrees, plugged in the mixer and got started by creaming the butter and sugars on medium high speed. 

As I said, my butter was still slightly chilled, so the creaming process took a little longer than it normally would, probably a full 7 minutes with stopping and scraping a couple of times (I'm really big on scraping.)

Lower the speed to medium, and add the eggs one at a time.  Mix after each egg until the batter no longer looks curdled.  I actually ended up adding a white, a yolk and then the remaining whole egg just because that's how it came out of the cup.

Then add the dry ingredients and chips on low speed.  At this point the mixer will sound like it's driving down a bumpy road.  Mix only until the dry ingredients are combined.  Any strays can be worked in with a spatula or wooden spoon.

At this point, the cookie dough smells amazing.  I almost ate some raw.  Almost.  I have a thing about eating raw egg products.

 I used the biggest cookie scoop I have to portion these.  I knew with using all butter and no shortening the cookies would spread a lot, so I left plenty of room.

(Normally I am completely anti-shortening, but it does have its place in cookies.)

Bake for 9 - 11 minutes.  I split the difference and baked them 10 minutes for chewier cookies.  Remove immediately to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Let the pan cool a bit (or use two pans) and repeat until all the dough is used.  Since I had most of the counter space taken up with cooling racks and other appliances, the utensil drawer made a handy spot to let the cookie sheet cool. 

The recipe says it makes about 4 dozen, but with the size I made them I ended up with about 3 dozen.  And that last sheet of cookies had some seriously large cookies.  I think perhaps I'll keep those for myself.