Labels: the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 C). Butter and flour an 8-inch pan.
2. Melt the butter and chocolate over low heat in a small, heavy saucepan, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in salt, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla. Cool until just warm.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs lightly. Whisk in the chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour and nuts.
4. Pour the batter in the baking pan and bake for 30 minutes, until the top is shiny (you can check whether it's done with a skewer, but crumbs should easily cling to the skewer. Try not to overbake). Cool on a baking rack.

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Combine the oatmeal and buttermilk in a large bowl. Let stand for 20 minutes.
2. In a smaller bowl, combine the sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla and whisk until combined. Add to the oatmeal mixture.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Add to the oatmeal mixture and whisk until just combined.
4. Heat a lightly greased pan or griddle over medium heat. Drop batter in 1/4 cup portions and cook until bubbles form on the surface, then flip and cook on the other side for a bit longer. Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200 F (90 C) oven.

1. Combine the yogurt, sour cream, brown sugar and vanilla and stir until combined. Taste for sweetness, adding more brown sugar if necessary.
2. Add the banana and serve immediately.
   

Nutella topping
1/4 cup Nutella spread
3 tablespoons boiling water

1. In a medium bowl, combine the Nutella with the water. Whisk quickly until smooth-- the chocolate will seize and will initially look kind of lumpy, but it will smooth out with whisking.
2. Enjoy!

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Combine the cooled melted butter with the white and brown sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand or hand mixer. Mix at low speed.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat at low speed until combined. Scrape down the bowl and add the flour mixture. Beat together at low speed only until just combined. Stir in the nuts and chocolate chips.
5. Drop the dough in one-tablespoon portions onto the baking sheet, leaving a bit of space around each cookie. Bake for 15 minutes.
6. Remove to a cooling rack and serve warm and gooey.

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

Labels: the chocolatey, the savory and salty, the sweet, travel

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Pour the ingredients into a blender and pulse for 20-30 seconds.
2. Top with whipped cream and if you want to go seriously classic, a maraschino cherry.

Chocolate syrup
I really like this chocolate syrup because it is not too sweet, but is still really chocolatey. I find commercial chocolate syrup too sugary. You can also use a tablespoon of this in a cup of hot milk to make quick hot chocolate.

Ingredients
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk until the sugar has dissolved and bring to a slight simmer.
2. Add the cocoa and salt and whisk until smooth. Simmer lightly for about 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature. Keep in the refrigerator.
   

Links:
Domestic Goddess: Sugar High Friday
Wikipedia: Horlicks
Crispy Waffle: Vanilla bean ice cream
Crispy Waffle: Super chocolatey ice cream
Kopps Frozen Custard

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

• Too much butterfat will taste like, well, butterfat. Some Italian machines, like Simac, Nemox, etc. will churn a super fatty mixture into basically, butter. So a good balance of milk and cream is necessary.
• Custard ice cream bases are soooo much smoother. I do like Philadelphia-style (which basically means eggless ice cream) for a basic vanilla, but in most cases, I prefer a custard that starts with egg yolks. This makes the mixture really smooth, as it is an emulsion you are starting with.
• Sugar does more than just make it sweet. Sugar also helps improve texture-- it prevents the mixture from getting too icy, and lowers the freezing point. If you are like me and are curious about food science, you can get your fill about ice cream science here. Because I live in Holland, I have access to this weird form of sugar called white basterd sugar (yes, it really is called basterd sugar, although spelled differently than, I don't know, Fat Bastard). I guess we can call this Sweet Basterd. So this Sweet Basterd is a sugar that is basically the texture of brown sugar, but white. Because it partially contains inverted sugar syrup, it makes for a 'chewier' ice cream, and this type of sweetener behaves a bit like corn syrup-- it depresses the freezing point even further. (Yes, food science again! I have to experiment with white basterd sugar for other goods that need 'chew', such as brownies. More on this later!)

White basterd sugar-- it looks a bit like shave ice, and it feels exactly like traditional brown sugar.

With these things to remember, I've been working on the perfect custard (for me, at least). I'm not there yet, but I have been able to develop my go-to chocolate ice cream recipe. This is way over the top on the chocolate, but without being too fatty; I use more milk than cream in this recipe. Try it if you want total chocolate flavor without it being too sweet.

I have been making ice cream and then letting it sit in the freezer for 2 hours before we eat it. I think it hardens up too much (our freezer is 15 degrees centigrade) past that point, but 2 hours in, the texture is that perfect chewy, a bit melty, gelato-y texture. (In the picture above, it had been in the freezer for 4-5 hours, so you can see that it has gotten more of that American style hard-scoop texture. But it was still good!)

Super Chocolatey Ice Cream
makes approximately 1 quart

Ingredients
1-3/4 cups whole milk
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa, such as Droste
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1/2 cup white basterd sugar (if you don't have access to this, substitute 1/3 cup white granulated sugar)
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons vodka (optional)

1. Combine the eggs and the sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer. Beat on medium-high speed until the mixture is lightened in color, and thickened, about 3 minutes.
2. In a heavy saucepan, bring the milk and salt to a simmer, whisk in the cocoa and simmer until the cocoa is dissolved.
3. Add the milk mixture to the egg mixture slowly, in a steady stream, whisking the whole time -- this tempers the eggs and keeps them from curdling. Place the milk/egg mixture back in the saucepan.
4. Over low heat, stir the mixture constantly, until it reaches 180 degrees F. Pour through a strainer into a clean bowl.
5. Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream just barely to a boil in a saucepan and pour it over the chocolate. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until the mixture is totally smooth, with no chocolate pieces.
6. Pour the ganache into the custard. Refrigerate until cold, then freeze in an ice cream maker according to instructions.

Links:
Slate: Which machines whip up the best ice cream?
Crispy Waffle: When life hands you vanilla, make ice cream
UG Dairy Science and Technology: Structure of Ice Cream

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut out 2 parchment rounds that will fit in the bottoms of your two 8-inch cake pans. Grease the pans with butter. Place the parchment rounds in the bottoms of the pans, and grease them. Dust the pans with flour and tap out the excess.
2. Mix the cocoa and espresso powder and pour the boiling water and mix until smooth. When it's cooled to room temperature, add the vanilla.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
4. Beat butter in electric mixer set to medium-high speed about 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar and beat until the mixture is fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating one minute after each addition. Scrape down the bowl.
5. With mixer on the lowest speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture, followed immediately by 1/3 of the cocoa mixture; mix until the ingredients are almost incorporated into the batter. Repeat process twice more. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another 30 seconds.
6. Pour the batter evenly divided into the cake pans. Bake for 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs clinging to it. Cool in the pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Run knife to loosen cake from pans and invert cakes, peeling off parchment paper. Turn the cakes right side up and cool entirely. Prepare the frosting.

Vanilla bean buttercream:
2 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 pieces

1. Bring a pan of water to a simmer. Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla bean contents and salt in bowl of standing mixer and set over the simmering water. Whisk constantly to keep the eggs from curdling. Continue whisking until the mixture is foamy and is 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
2. Set the bowl in the stand mixer and beat with a whisk attachment on medium-high speed until the mixture is light and airy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, and add butter one piece at a time until each piece is incorporated. (Keep adding the butter, even if it starts looking curdled; it'll correct itself once all the butter is added.)
3. Frost the inside layer of the cake. You can freeze the rest of the buttercream for another recipe. (To thaw, set at room temperature until softened.)
4. Use a paper doily or cut paper into shapes for dusting powdered sugar on the top of the cake.

Links:
SHF 27: Chocolate by Brand
Wikipedia: Droste effect

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Melt 4 tablespoons of the butter and stir in the cocoa and espresso powder until it forms a smooth paste. Let sit for 15 minutes to cool.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, salt, remaining butter and chocolate paste. Mix on high speed until fluffy, about 1 minute, scraping down sides when necessary. Add yolks and vanilla and mix at medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of the bowl.
3. Run mixer at low and add flour in three additions, making sure mixture is combined before adding next addition, and scraping down bowl between additions.
4. Turn dough onto counter and divide into 3 four-inch disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out dough disk to 1/8-inch thick between cling wrap (on the bottom) and a sheet of parchment paper (on the top). (Alternatively, you can roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper, but I find this impossible to keep from sliding around on the counter top.) Turn the rolled-out dough over, so the parchment paper is on the bottom and the cling wrap is on the top. Peel off the cling wrap and cut the dough into shapes using cookie cutters. If you want to add walnuts (as I've done-- it's an easy way to decorate the cookie), place on the cookies before baking.
6. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper for 8-10 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Make sure not to overbake-- do not let the cookies become too dark on the edges. Cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. When cool you can glaze or decorate with melted white chocolate.

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Whisk the egg white in a small bowl until frothy. Lift out 1 tablespoon of the egg white and transfer to the egg yolk. Add vanilla to the egg yolk and whisk until combined. (Set aside the remaining egg white in the fridge-- you will use it later to 'seal' the crust.)
2. Combine the walnuts and powdered sugar in a food processor and grind until well-combined. Add the flour and salt and process until combined. Add the cold butter until it resembles coarse bread crumbs.
3. Add the egg yolk mixture to the food processor and run until the dough forms a ball.
4. Remove and shape into a 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, lightly flour two large sheets of cling wrap. Set the dough disk on one sheet, then cover with the other. Roll out dough with a rolling pin into a 13-inch sheet. Set on a baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes.
6. Remove dough from freezer and peel off top layer of cling wrap. Overturn into a greased 9-inch tart pan. This dough is really forgiving, so just pat it into the pan and use the scraps that hang over the edges to make sure the crust is solid without holes or patches. Refrigerate crust in tart pan for 30 minutes.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place refrigerated tart pan on a baking sheet. Set a piece of foil in the crust and place pie weights in it, distributing evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and pie weights and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
8. Remove the tart shell from the oven and cool the whole thing, baking sheet and all on a cooling rack. Brush the inside of the tart shell with the reserved egg white from earlier.

For the cajeta and walnut filling:

1. You should have approximately 1-1/2 cups of cajeta. Either let it sit at room temperature for a half hour or so, or heat it in the microwave for about 30 seconds to soften it a bit. Add the 1 cup of toasted walnuts.
2. Pour the filling into the cooled tart shell, spreading evenly.

For the chocolate ganache:

1. Whisk the egg yolk with the one tablespoon of cream. Set aside.
2. Place the milk and 1/4-cup cream in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer.
3. Remove from heat and add the chocolate and butter. Cover for 2 minutes. Use a spatula to stir the contents until you have a smooth chocolate mixture.
4. Stir in the egg yolk mixture until smooth.
5. Pour the mixture over the caramel filling in the tart shell, covering the whole thing.
6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and bake for 25 minutes until the filling is still shiny and a bit wobbly.
7. Arrange the salted toasted walnut halves around the perimeter of the tart.
8. Cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes, then refrigerate, uncovered, for 3 hours.

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Have rack in the center of the oven.
2. Butter a 2-quart souffle dish with the 1 tablespoon butter. Make sure the butter covers every surface. Sprinkle the 1 tablespoon sugar over the entire inner surface and rim of the dish. Place the dish in the refrigerator while you prepare everything else.
3. Melt the chocolate with the 4 tablespoons butter in a double boiler over low heat. Remove from heat and add the Grand Marnier, salt and vanilla. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool to just warm.
4. In a standing mixer, beat the egg yolks with the sugar at medium speed for about 3-4 minutes, until pale yellow and a bit thick. Stir into the chocolate mixture.
5. Clean out the mixer bowl (really well) and beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and beat on high until it forms stiff, but not dry peaks.
6. Stir one-fourth of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the rest. Then transfer to the prepared souffle dish.
7. Bake until the souffle has risen and the center is moist but set, about 25 to 28 minutes. (You can check this by inserting a wooden skewer in the side at a 45 degree angle, and it should come out not wet, but with moist chocolate clinging to it.
8. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the top if you like, and serve immediately.

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

Yeah I know, terrible terrible title! But I couldn't help myself. So I apologize anyway. Sorry!

Having found cupcake wrappers at the British expat store (of course it took me a while because they call it 'muffin cases', how un-American of them!) I've been psyched to start working on cupcakes again. This baking frenzy was spurred a few weeks ago when I was asked, by a fellow Seattlelite, which cupcake at Cupcake Royale was my favorite. As always when I'm talking with Seattlelites, I had to apologetically confess that actually, no, I didn't eat cupcakes at Cupcake Royale anymore because the level of sweetness makes me incredibly sick. I am always met with a totally incredulous look, and I always feel bad about this admission because let me tell ya, Seattlelites love themselves some Cupcake Royale. The problem is that in Seattle, Cupcake Royale is the only game in town; I think there needs to be some friendly competition in that space!

That said, I actually like their cake part of the cupcake quite a bit: it's got that crispy top 'lip' that is special about cupcakes as opposed to regular cakes. The part that I can't deal with is the frosting: it is truly, stickily, sickeningly sweet. I found out that it is what is known as 'American buttercream' or for those who are sticklers about accuracy, an American butter frosting (since it doesn't involve the creaming of eggs and butter that a classic buttercream has). An American buttercream consists of butter, flavoring such as vanilla or chocolate or whatever, and copious amounts of powdered sugar to give it a creamy consistency and sweet taste. Too sweet, in my opinion. But, I know there are people out there who like it, and who've grown up on American cakes and frostings. I actually have a beautiful mother who loves to bake, so we grew up either eating her cakes, or cakes she bought at Filipino bakeries. The taste in Filipino desserts is far less sweet than the typical American dessert, so preference is basically, (literally) a matter of taste.

I made a batch of yellow cupcakes and gave them two different frosting treatments: a chocolate American buttercream, and a classic chocolate Swiss meringue buttercream. I prefer eating the meringue buttercream because you can more easily control the sugar, as the texture is not dependent on the amount of sugar used, as it is in an American buttercream. But honestly, the butter + powdered sugar method is incredibly easy and worth doing if you don't have the time to do a classic buttercream (and don't mind copious amounts of powdered sugar.)

The cake I made is a favorite: you'll find it's the easiest recipe there is (I based it on a recipe from Cooks Illustrated), and it's great especially for a meringue buttercream because the icing gives you a use for the egg whites you would otherwise discard. Also, if you fill the cups up enough you will get that crispy 'lip' on the edges of the cupcakes. Delish!

Vanilla Cupcakes
makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large egg, room temperature
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the oven rack in the middle position. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake wrappers.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar until light colored and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the egg, egg yolks and vanilla and beat at medium speed until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Add the sour cream and beat until incorporated.
6. Add the flour mixture and beat until just incorporated.
7. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
8. Remove and cool to room temperature on a rack, about 45 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the frosting of your choice.

1. In a stand mixer, beat butter until smooth and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
2. Add chocolate and stir until just combined with a rubber spatula.
3. Add milk, vanilla and sugar. Beat at medium speed until just combined. (be careful not to overbeat).
4. Frost the cupcakes with an offset spatula.

Cupcakes with chocolate American buttercream

Buttercream 2: Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
This buttercream is definitely more of a pain in the neck to make, but it has its advantages over the easy recipe above: it has a super creamy texture that you can't achieve with confectioners' sugar, it can be adjusted for sweetness while still maintaining its creamy texture, and it doesn't get crusty like a confectioners' sugar icing. Also, it actually uses less butter because it gets a lot of volume from the egg whites. All in all, I think, worth the trouble.

Ingredients
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar
2 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 sticks (3/4 cups) butter
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted in a double boiler and cooled to room temperature

1. Combine the sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar and water in the stainless steel bowl of an electric mixer (i.e. your KitchenAid bowl). Bring a large pan of water to simmer, making sure that the water is a the same height as the egg whites in your stainless bowl. Set the bowl in the pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. Be really careful not to curdle the egg whites-- simply remove the bowl from the heat for a bit if it feels like that's happening. Also, you'll know when it's getting close to 160 degrees; the mixture will be getting ultra foamy, like the top of a latte. (A really good latte that is-- one of those kinds where it has a leaf-pattern on top, you know what I'm talking about.)
2. Remove the bowl to your stand mixer and beat on high speed for 3-5 minutes, until the mixture holds glossy, marshmallowy peaks. Remove the meringue to another bowl.
3. In the standing mixer, beat half the butter and one-third of the meringue until well combined. Continue to add the remaining two-thirds of the meringue a dollop at a time. The mixture may look scarily curdled at this point; adding the remaining butter a tablespoon at a time will smooth things out. (Basically, just keep adding a bit of butter at a time until the curdling corrects itself.)
4. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the melted chocolate until well-combined.
5. Frost the cupcakes using an offset spatula.

Cupcakes with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Combine the melted butter and cooking oil.
4. Beat the butter/oil and sugars at low speed in an electric mixer until combined. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla until combined. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined, at low speed.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts until just combined.
6. Drop the dough by the tablespoon on the cookie sheet, leaving about 2-inches space between the dough. Flatten the doughballs slightly in the center with your fingertips or the back of the tablespoon.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are golden brown at the center, medium brown at the edges. Remove from the oven and cool on the cookie sheets, transferring to a wire rack once cooled.

Flat and chewy (and chocolatey)

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet

Because Valentine's Day puts chocolate on everyone's mind (and because Food TV shoves Chocolate Obsession Week at us this time of year), here's my recipe for Little Outrageous Brownies. I call them Little Outrageous Brownies because I had to adjust Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) recipe for Outrageous Brownies. No wonder she's gained weight-- who makes a 13 x 18 sheet pan of brownies?! So given most people's appetites, I've been working to get this recipe down to a normal-sized 8 x 8 inch pan.

This is my favorite brownie recipe so far (and believe me, I've tried a lot!). This one finally gives you that nice crackly top that you usually only get with commercial brownie mix because it has a healthy dose of baking powder-- something that is often missing from homemade brownie recipes. This also calls for a bit of instant espresso, which does wonders for bringing out the taste of the chocolate. The great thing about brownies, including these ones, is that you don't really need a super-high-quality chocolate for it (except use some great chocolate for the chips). And I made it even easier than Ina's recipe by replacing the unsweetened chocolate with additional bittersweet. Eet smakkelijke!

Yummy crackly top

Little Outrageous Brownies
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

7 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I like Ghirardelli double chocolate chips)
3/4 cup butter (yes it's a lot, so what)
2/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup all-purpose flour (plus 1 tbsp for tossing nuts and chocolate chips in)
1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup chopped roasted pecans (yeah, it's a pain, but do roast them-- it tastes much better!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and chocolate together over low heat, or over a double-boiler. Cool until just warm. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar and espresso. Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture while whisking. Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into the egg/chocolate mixture until well-blended. Toss the nuts and chocolate chips in the 1 tablespoon of flour (this will keep them from settling to the bottom of the brownies) and add to the chocolate mixture. Scrape out the mixture into a nice little 8 x 8 pan.

Bake for about 24 minutes, just, just until a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a bits of chocolate clinging to it. Let cool, cut into squares and serve with excellent vanilla ice cream. :)

Labels: recipes, the chocolatey, the sweet