Cream Puffs

Cream puff aka profiteroles have been on my to do list for a while. Actually ever since James sent me the table of ratios for different types of doughs from Michael Ruhlman's book "Ratio". I didn't even know how to pronounce "pate au choux" ... not sure I do now. But I know how to make it! After two batches of cream puffs based on two different recipes and two batches of pastry cream in less than a week I can confidently say cream puffs are my new favorite thing to make.

Pate au choux is a light pastry dough used to make not only cream puffs but also eclairs, croquembouches, beignets, gougeres, etc. According to its history on Wikipedia, the pastry was invented in 1540 by a chef of the Medici family, shortly after they all fled Florence. The name came much later, in the 18th century, when a patissier by the name Avice invented the Choux Buns and the name of the dough became pate au choux because the buns resembled little cabbages - choux in French. They really look like miniature cabbage heads, don't they?

The first recipe (let's call it Recipe A) came form Brown Eyed Baker's fantastic tutorial:

Pate Au Choux

2 large eggs + 1 large egg white (1/2 C eggs)
5 Tbs unsalted butter
2 Tbs milk
6 Tbs water
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C flour, sifted

The second recipe (Recipe B) comes from Michael Ruhlman's ratio approach:

Ratio Pate Au Choix

1/2 C butter
1 C water + milk
1 C eggs (3 large, ~5 medium eggs)
1/2 C flour, sifted
1 Tbs sugar
pinch of salt

The process of making the pastry is soooo simple. Heat butter, milk, water, sugar, and salt in a pan over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted the mix starts to bubble. Take off the heat and immediately add the flour, stirring briskly, until a paste is formed. Return to low heat and stir until the batter is glossy and easily separates from the sides. Take off the heat, stir briskly to cool a bit. Then slowly pour in the eggs while stirring until smooth. The batter will be sticky, but thick. To make the puffs, transfer the batter to a pastry bag with a plane tip and pipe 1 to 1 1/2 inch mounds on a wax-paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 15 min @ 415F + 8 min @ 375F. Then turn off the oven, crack open the door and let the puffs cool in the oven. More detailed instructions can be found here.

Now, for the comparison. The two recipes actually had very different ratios of ingredients. The first recipe was 1:1:5/8:1 of liquid:egg:butter:flour, so almost 1:1:1:1. Michael Rulman advocates a very different ratio - 1:2:2:1, so the batter has a lot more egg and butter. In the end however, I was surprised at how similar the batters looked. They had almost the same consistency with B being sweeter and just a bit more runny and unable to hold height when piped. The baking results however were quite different. The puffs from Recipe A held their shape pretty well, puffed a bit but not too much and at the end of the baking were quite sturdy. The puffs from Recipe B puffed up like little balloons and even some of them merged together. They became huge! But at the end of the baking they were still quite moist and some of them collapsed as soon as they were out of the oven. Meh. I personally prefer the first batter though I would increase the sugar to 1 Tbs next time. Ruhlman's ratio works but it the result was not all that satisfying.

Now for the filling:

Pastry Cream

2 C whole milk
1/2 C sugar, divided
5 yolks
3 Tbs corn starch
2 Tbs unsalted butter

Additional for chocolate pastry cream:
3 Tbs cocoa
2 oz quality semi-sweet chocolate

Again, for more elaborate instructions check out Brown Eyed Baker's tutorial. Here is my brief summary: beat yolks + 2 Tbs sugar; add corn startch and beat until mixed well; heat milk + 6 Tbs sugar until boiling; over low heat add the yolk mixture to the milk in a thin stream while stirring well and keep stirring until the mix thickens and begins to bubble; take it off the heat and stir in the butter. For chocolate pastry cream, add the cocoa to the yolk-starch mix and add the chocolate with the butter at the end. Straining the cream is not a bad idea, because there are always lumps. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Honestly, I don't know what cocaine tastes like but I can imagine it tastes like pastry cream. This stuff is so tasty it can be addictive. I am adding pastry cream to the list of foods I love, love, love, right next to Thai yellow curry, Monica's lasagna, James's risotto and the 9-grain bagels at Bentley's, among other things.

To finish thinks off, I recommend leaving the puffs uncovered overnight (to dry them even further) and the pastry cream in the fridge also overnight (to thicken and cool). Make little holes on the sides of the puffs and pipe the cream in, slowly and gently so that the cream doesn't come out squirting from the side. Eat as soon as possible - the longer they sit the soggier they get. Cream puffs week is over.

Dobos Torte

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

I sure hope that starting the Monday morning with a piece of cake is a good sign for the week. It must be, especially if the cake is fantastically delicious like this one turned out. I am craving a second piece now... The Dobos Torte is a 5 to 12 layer sponge cake filled with chocolate buttercream and topped with wedges of caramel. From the Darling Baker's site: "It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely."

I must admit I procrastinated on this one. Big time. It is August in Southern California and in my 1940's house with no central air-conditioning August is the month you give the oven a break. It has been so hot and with the wild fires raging just miles away, my enthusiasm to make a cake kept waning as the days of August kept slipping away. Also, I must admit, I found the recipe a bit intimidating. With all the measurements in grams and the equipment list as long as the Torah, my kitchen felt ill prepared for the challenge. But in the end, it all turned out well to my utter surprise, nothing was too hard to handle, the sponge was great and the cake is amazingly delicious. Maybe I'll go home for lunch and have another piece...

I only made half the recipe and cut the layers in rectangular shapes to simplify things. However below I am including the full recipe. The elements can be made separately and then assembled. Store the layers in the fridge between layers of parchment paper.

Dobos Torte

For the layers:
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/3 C powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C + 2 TBS sifted cake flour
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. Beat the yolks with 2/3 C of sugar and the vanilla until the mixture is pale yellow and thin ribbons form when the beaters are lifted. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then gradually add the remaining sugar. Gently fold the whites into the yolk mixture, not stirring completely. Sift in the flour and salt, a tablespoon at a time and incorporate very gently. None of that vigorous stirring here - you need to be very gentle. If you do not have cake flour do not despair - mix 3 Tbs corn starch and 13 Tbs regular flour and sift to combine.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. For the rectangular layers I spread the batter all over the sheet, not quite reaching the edges. I you want circular layers, then trace the circles (bottom of a spring-form pan) on the reverse side of the parchment paper and then spread 3/4 C of the batter very thinly to just fill the circle. Bake at 400F for 4 minutes. Once you start smelling the sweet aroma of the baked cake, the layer is ready. Repeat to make the rest of the layers - you need at least 6 of them. Cool very well. Once the layers are cooled, you can peel the parchment paper (carefully!) and trim them to the desired size and shape (I used a pair of scissors though they pinched the dough a bit at the edges).

For the buttercream:
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 C sugar
4 oz bakers or dark chocolate, chopped
1C + 2 Tbs unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Beat the eggs and the sugar in a bowl until well mixed. Place the mix in a double-boiler or improvise one with a bowl nested in a pot and cook the mixture over water at a rolling boil for a few minutes until the mixture is hot to the touch, stirring constantly. Once hot, take the egg mix off the burner and stir in the chopped chocolate until it is all melted. Let cool. Beat the butter in the chocolate mix piece y piece and finish off on high until the mix is smooth and no butter lumps are visible. Refrigerate to thicken.

For the caramel:
1 C sugar
12 Tbs water
8 tsp lemon juice
1 tablespoon neutral oil

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and oil it lightly. Place the best-looking layer on top (the layer better be at room temperature) and cut as desired - sections or strips or whatever. In a small pan combine the sugar, water and lemon juice. Heat at low until the sugar is melted and then crank up the heat and bring the syrup to boil. It will foam - that's ok, just make sure the heat is not so high that the syrup will boil out. Occasionally turn the heat down and check the state of the syrup. Eventually it will turn thick and brown. At that point pour it over the cut-up layer, using a spatula to distribute it evenly all over. You must be pretty quick because the caramel will start setting quite fast. Do not spread the caramel over the edges of the cake layer because that will make removal difficult. Let the caramel set and then peel the pieces off the paper.

Assembly: This should be pretty obvious. Layer-cream-layer-cream and so on till you run out of layers, frost the sides with the remaining cream, arrange the caramel pieces on top. Optionally, decorate the sides with chopped hazelnuts (I put some hazelnuts between the layers as well).

I would love to make this cake again! It looks very sophisticated but in the end it was not all that difficult to make. Next time I would probably skip on the caramel on top. I thought it really was not worth the trouble - it looks interesting but my caramel pieces were the dentist's nightmare and not really edible. The butter-cream was a bit on the soft side but maybe I did not cook the eggs enough. Anyways it was so delicious I licked the bowl twice. And finally, the hazelnuts were a great addition, on the sides and the top. If you would like to put them between the layers then they must be really finely ground - mine were a bit too chinky. All in all, a fantastic cake. Thank you, Daring Bakers!

Fig Bounty

A few weeks ago I was taking my car from the work parking lot when I noticed a large fig tree overhanging the lot, heavy with unripe figs. I thought how fabulous it would be when the figs started getting ripe. The roots of the tree were on the other side of the fence so the tree technically belonged to the house next door. So am I allowed to pick the figs or not, I wondered. My friend Jane was kind to inform me (after I had already done the deed) that according to an ancient Greek law, the fruit overhanging your property belong to you; besides, no one else (except the squirrels) were making use of them and these luscious, juicy black Mission figs were just falling to the ground. So I proceeded to harvest them quite regularly over the past two weeks.

After the first bowl of figs appeared in my fridge I realized I could not possibly eat them all. What to do with a boatload of figs? They are such delicate fruit with very subtle flavor, the best thing is to just pop them in your mouth, close your eyes and sink into heaven. They are best fresh and there are very few things that you can cook with figs. I browsed by cookbooks, I surfed the net, I was restless until I lined up 4 (yes, four!) recipes which I wanted to try.

First came the fig tart. I was responsible for buying food for the Friday social hour at work. If I make a pie just for the sake of making a pie, the poor pie will spend a month in my fridge. But if I bring it to Happy Hour, there will be 15 volunteers to take care of it. Muahahaha. The recipe came from Epicurious. Just read the name and you will be seduced: Fresh Fig Tart with Rosemary Cornmeal Crust and Lemon Mascarpone Cream. Oh, doesn't it just sound delicious?

Mascarpone-Fig Tart

For the crust:
1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
1 Tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 1/2 Tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary
3+ Tbs ice water

For the filling:
1/4 C plain yogurt
1 C mascarpone cheese (8 oz)
1/4 C sugar
1 1/2 tsp finely grated fresh lemon zest

1 1/2 lb fresh figs

This is made just like your regular tart. Mix flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and butter, and rub between your hands until the mixture turns into pea-sized crumbs. Add the rosemary and start adding the water one Tbs at a time, until the dough can be collected into a ball. Don't knead. Press the dough into a pie pad and line the walls and sides with a thin even layer. This recipe produced a bit too much dough for my pie pan so I used the leftovers to line a little ramekin for a mini-tart. Poke the dough with a fork and line with foil...or don't - opinions are split on whether you should do that. Bake at 350F for ~25 minutes, until the rim of the tart starts getting golden. Cool well on a rack.

Make the filling: beat the mascarpone cheese, yogurt, sugar and zest together in a bowl for ~30 seconds until fluffy. To assemble, pour the filling into the cold crust, arrange the figs on top. The picture here shows the figs sliced, but I cut them into wedges and it worked just as fine. I didn't brush them with glaze either, but got no complaints.

The tart was fantastic! Everyone loved it and I got thanks for it even 4 days later. So it must have been good. Or people were just really impressed that I baked something. What I really loved about this recipe is how versatile the element are. I'd never thought of putting herbs in the pie dough, for example. I was not a big fan of this particular crust recipe (and will make sure I post my favorite crust recipe at some other point) but including rosemary, basil or thyme in the crust, especially for a quiche or a savory pie would sure be fabulous. Also the filling was to die for! I couldn't get enough of it! (By the way, Trader Joe's carries mascarpone cheese, which is like cream cheese but better). It can be paired with any other fruit - Andrea suggested fresh raspberries, I also think peaches, strawberries, blueberry compote would go just fine on top of this filling. Ah, just more ideas for tasty things to bake!

Following the tart, I proceeded to make two types of fig jam and one type of fig preserve. Woah! That was a lot of work, but the results are so delicious, I can't wait for the winter to come so that I can start opening the jars. (Yes, I have a rule that no jams should be eaten if fresh fruit are available.) First I made the Spiced Microwave Fig-Orange Jam by Elise on Simply Recipes. I know, jam in the microwave?!? It worked great but if you want to boil it on the stove in the spirit of tradition, then go for it. Then I made the preserve with whole figs, which turned out very much like the fig preserves my mom used to make. Finally I made the spiked fig jam (spiced, spiked, I hope I don't get them confused in the cupboard). To prepare the figs for jamming, cut off their tails. I found two different suggested methods on washing the figs - pour hot water on them or wash them with cold water and baking soda. I used the former for the jams and the latter for the preserve.

Spiced Microwave Fig Jam

2 C (well packed) diced fresh figs
1/2 C seeded, peeled orange, diced
2 C sugar
the zest of 1 lemon
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cloves (which I forgot to pull out at the end... or ground)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 8oz jars & 1 4oz jar

Combine all the ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl, stir and let sit for ~30 min. Place in the microwave and set on high for 20 minutes. As soon as the mixture starts boiling (after 6-7 minutes), stop and stir. Keep stirring every 2-3 minutes and keep an eye on it so it does not boil over. It is ready when it has boiled down to 2/3 of its original volume. You can also check for done-ness using the wrinkle test shown here. Don't just rely on the thickness on the jam because it will thicken as it cools.

While the jam is making (and this is true for jam and preserve recipes), sterilize your jars in a large pot with boiling water. Just let them simmer. They should be well covered with water. Sterilize the lids and bands as well. Once the jam is done, pour it into the hot jars (use a towel or oven mitts), wipe the mouth clean with a paper towel, place the lid on top and screw on the band as tight as you can. Place the jars in a pot of hot water (yes, you can use the same pot of hot water) and bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Maybe this double sterilization is an overkill - sterilize the jars and then boil the jam too - but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Pull the hot jars out of the water and let them cool on a towel (don't place the hot jars on the cold counter-top - they might crack!). Count the pops.

I liked the jam. The spices were very light. On first taste they still seemed to overpower the figs a bit, but things improved when the jam cooled The orange was hardly noticeable. The consistency was fantastic - the vigorous boiling the the microwave made for a very smooth jam.

Along a similar line comes the Spiked Fig Jam. I love adding alcohol to food - it imparts fantastic flavors even if a small quantity is used.

Spiked Fig Jam

1 lemon
4 1/2 C fresh figs, chopped and loosely packed
2 C sugar
1/3 C brandy or Cognac
2 Tbs lemon juice (from the same lemon)
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

3 8 oz. jars

Peel the lemon (thinly, with a potato peeler) and chop the rind into matchsticks. Combine all ingredients in a pot and let them sit for ~1 hour. Bring to boil over medium heat. Turn heat to low and simmer for ~30 minutes, stirring frequently and mashing the fruit. After the 30-minute mark, start checking for done-ness. Again, the jam will thicken when it cools. When the test comes out positive, turn off the heat and pour the jam into sterilized jars. Put on lids, screw on bands and boil the jars for ~10 minutes to finish off sterilization.

This jam turned out sooooooo incredibly good. I barely had the will power to leave some for James to try. I could have easily polished it off.

Finally, the fig preserve. I've always been befuddled by the differences between preserves, jams, marmalades and such. I am learning my way around them as I am making them - while jams are basically purees, preserves keep the fruit whole submerged in a sugar syrup. This old-fashioned fig preserve reminds me of the one my Mom used to make. It takes a long time to boil down so arm yourself with patience.

Fig Preserve

4 C whole figs
2 C sugar
3 lemon slices, seeded
1 C water
pinch of salt

2 8oz jars and 1 4 oz jar

Combine all ingredients in a pot, stir well and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally for at least one hour. Continue simmering until the syrup passes the wrinkle test. Pour into sterilized jars, cap, screw the bands on and boil for 10 minutes.

Phew, that was a huge adventure! So much jammin' my head started spinning. And as if that wasn't enough I had another bowl of figs left. In a final act of desperation I decided to dry them in the oven. It took two nights with the oven turned on the lowest setting, probably 100F, to get most of the moisture out, to get the figs all dry and shriveled. All right, that's enough. I'm done.

And if that was not enough for you, here are a few more fig ideas:
Pizza with Figs, Prosciutto, Gorgonzola, Balsamic, and Arugula
Candied Fig, Hazelnut and Orange Cheesecake with Port Sauce
Warm Black Mission Fig, Walnut Crunch, and Blue Cheese Tartlets
Fresh Figs with Goat Cheese and Peppered Honey
Fig-Sesame Jam

Birthday Brownies

For some reason or another I have always had home-made birthday cakes. I remember the checkered cake I always begged my Mom for when I was little, and the sponge cakes my Grandma used to make, decorated with red and yellow raspberries like strings of Christmas lights in June. But at the point when one pack of candles is no longer enough to mark my age, birthday cakes have lost their charm and birthday celebrations have become more like an avoidance there of. Instead of a celebration, I try to do something fun and memorable. I had planned to run a marathon this year but with the stress of the last three months my training fell off track big time. BIG time! In place of marathoning, I managed to convince several of my friends to go chasing bears (literately and figuratively) in the Sierra Nevadas over a 36-mile hike. And to fuel the hike I lugged a pack of brownies in place of a cake. Yeah!

You might hate me for saying this, but in my opinion as far as deserts go brownies are usually just too much - too sweet, too choclatey, too sticky. But these ones I like. They have more of a cake consistency and don't feel like a cubic inch of a heart attack. I would like to make them with chopped dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips next time. And unless it is agains your religious convictions, do add the walnuts! The recipe is from King Arthur (and can be found on the back of their flour packs). Yep, that's right, King Arthur made brownies.

Best Brownies Ever

1/2 C unsalted butter
1 C sugar
2 large eggs
1/2+ C Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 C chocolate chips
1/2 C walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 F and lightly grease an 8x8 inch pan. Place butter in microwave safe bowl and melt in the microwave (watch it - 20 seconds are usually enough). Add the sugar, stir and return to microwave for for another 20 seconds, stir and keep heating and stirring until the mixture is hot and glossy but not bubbling. In another bowl mix the next six ingredients (eggs through cocoa) and add the hot butter while stirring. Add the flour and stir till smooth. Fold in the chocolate chips and the walnuts. Pour in the pan and bake for ~30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool well before cutting. If you can.

Biscotti, Revisited

Sometimes the stars somehow align and I come across several recipes for one and the same thing within a couple of days. It must be bound to happen, I think then, and turn on the oven. Such was the story of these two biscotti recipes. I came across the chocolate biscotti on David Lebovitz's blog and then I came across the Twice-baked Cookies in Ursila Ferrigno's book La Dolce Vita (absolutely fantastic book by the way). Or maybe it happened the other way around. Anyways, biscotti were in the star.

Twice-baked Cookies 280g/10oz plain white flour 140g/5oz caster sugar 2 eggs 1 egg yolk 1tsp vanilla extract 115g/4oz blanched slivered almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients except the almonds and mix well by hand. Add the almonds and mix until evenly distributed. Collect into a ball and divide in 2 or 4 balls. Shape each ball into a cigar shape and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and slice each "cigar" into 1-inch slices. Place sideways on the baking sheet and return to the oven for another 10-15 minutes, until golden.

Chocolate Biscotti 2 cups flour 3/4 C top-quality cocoa powder 1 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 3 large eggs, at room temperature 1 C sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp almond extract 1 C almonds, toasted and very coarsely-chopped 3/4 C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the eggs, vanilla, sugar and almond extract. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking soda. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips and almonds until evenly distributed. Shape dough in 2 long logs and bake for 25 minutes. Again slice logs into 1-inch slices and return to oven for another 10 minutes.

These turned out so different! Like night and day! The chocolate biscotti were very crisp and airy and also very, very hard! The plain ones were softer and a bit chewy, even. We had made some coffee ricotta to go with the plain ones but it really wasn't necessary, they were great by themselves. The chocolate ones were fantastic with coffee and hot chocolate but a little dangerous on their own. I wonder how many different biscotti recipes are there? These weren't just different flavors from the ones I made back in December, they were completely different cookies - different texture, crumb. All great but so different. I think Ursula Ferrigno's ones are my favorite so far!

Great minds think a hike

A bit cheesy,but I like it - the title comes from a bumper sticker for a local outdoors store. It is March in southern Arizona. This is the time when the rest of the Northern hemisphere is barely starting to thaw, tulips and hyacinths are popping their heads, trees are blooming and people are happy to see the Sun for the first time this year. In Arizona however, this is the time to pull out the sunscreen, hats and shorts, and head for a hike before it gets too hot to be outside.

I had not gone hiking in a loooong time and was wondering what food to bring. Apple slices, cheese, treats for the dog... granola bars? Then it dawned on me that it couldn't be that hard to make some granola bars and stuff them will all the goodness I want. I used Heidi Swanson's recipe to get the basic proportions and here is what I came up with:

Homemade Granola Bars

1 Tsp coconut oil (or butter)
1 C chopped pecans
1 C dried cranberries
2/3 C unsweetened coconut
2 Tbs flax seeds
1 1/2 C rolled oats
1 1/2 C unsweetened crispy rice cereal
1 C brown rice syrup
1/4 C brown sugar
1/2 Tsp salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Notes on ingredients: You can substitute the 2 C pecans+cranberries with anything that suits your fancy. Just nuts or just dried fruit will work well too. The coconut is very subtle so don't worry too much about the flavor clash. I used a generic crispy rice cereal, but next time I may try this with the Kashi 7 grain cereal or a crispy brown rice cereal. I used brown rice syrup because I wanted to try it - it has very strong caramel/molasses flavor and the consistency of honey. I bet honey can be substituted for the syrup just fine.

Heat the oven to 350F and toast the nuts and coconut for 5-7 minutes until the coconut is golden brown, stirring a couple of times along the way. Mix the oats, nuts, fruit, and cereal in a big bowl and toss together. In a small pan, combine the brown rice syrup, sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Bring to low boil over medium heat, and let it bubble ~4 minutes until it thickens a bit, stirring constantly. Pour the syrup over the dry mixture and stir until thoroughly covered. Spread in a greased (with coconut oil or butter, or covered with parchment paper) pan and press well - a 9x13 pan gives decent thickness bars. Refridgerate for a few hours and then cut into whatever shapes and sizes you like. The brown rice syrup is liquid at room temperature so the bars will start to fall apart if it's too hot, though this doesn't make them less tasty. Wrap them individually in small pieces of parchment paper to avoid them sticking together (sticky wrap doesn't work).

The recipe made so many bars we had enough of two hikes two weekends in a row! The result was ~15 miles of hiking, suntan, lots of wildflowers seen, three tired hikers and one exhausted dog. Amen.

(Mexican Wedding Cookies) x 2

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, I was sipping a beautiful dark ale and lounging over at Maggie and Aleks' house, when Maggie asked me if I plan on baking Christmas cookies. I wasn't planning. In fact, I have never baked Christmas cookies. But after Maggie enumerated all the fancy cookies she had baked last year (I must admit I helped with the eating...) I gave the idea a more serious thought. Six batches of cookies later - biscotti, nut-bars, chocolate cutouts and all - I am completely cookied out! Of them all, I think the two batches of Mexican Wedding cookies were my favorite! They were not all too sweet and their texture was so fragile, they melted in your mouth, one batch was cheered by cranberries, the other batch nutty with pecans, both of them to die for!

The first recipe came from Epicurious.com's collection of 25 Days of Christmas in cookies - Pistachio and Cherry Mexican Wedding Cakes. These looked snow covered and wintry. I wanted to make something without nuts so I skipped the pistachios and substituted cranberries for the cherries. The red and white combination made them even more festive!

Cranberry Mexican Wedding Cakes

1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 C powdered sugar plus more for coating
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 C dried cranberries, chopped
2 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
(Makes ~40 cookies)

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter and powder sugar until fluffy. Add the other ingredients in the order listed but don't overmix. The dough will be crumbly. Shape the cookies into ovals by squeezing a Tbs of dough in the palm of your hand. Place cookies on a parchment-paper-covered baking sheet. These do not expand during baking and can be pretty close to each other. Bake for 16 minutes, until the bottoms are very slightly browned. Cool for a bit and roll in powdered sugar while still warm.

Alright, they were not the prettiest of cookies, but they were tasty! A couple of days later, when these were all devoured and given away, James came back from visiting his family and treated me to one of his Mom's cookies. I begged for the recipe.

James' Mom's Mexican Wedding in Wisconsin Cookies

1 C butter (2 sticks), softened
6 Tbs powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 C sifted all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped very fine
(Makes ~60 cookies)

Mix all ingredients into a dough same as above, form into a ball and chill four a couple hours. Roll the dough into 1" balls (or crescents) and place on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes at 375 F. Let them cool slightly, then roll them in powdered sugar.

Do they really eat these at Mexican weddings? I have never been to a Mexican wedding (I bet it is a lot of fun) - maybe they do, maybe they don't. Turns out the name of the cookies is not necessarily connected to our Southern neighbor. Buttery cookies, containing finely ground nuts and rolled in powdered sugar appear all over the world - Russian Tea Cakes, Danish Almond Cookies, Spain's polvornes and Finnish Butter Strips. Still other names for the same cookies are Nut Butter Balls, Almond Crescents, Napoleon Hats or Melting Moments (I like this last one). It seems like the cookie is old, but the name is new. The first mentions of Mexican Wedding cookies appear in the 1950's. Some sources suggest that then, at the cusp of the Cold War, calling them Russian Tea Cakes would have been a bit inappropriate (and possibly a poor marketing pitch) so a new, politically correct name was invented. Some recipes from the 50's and 60's can be found here (note that many of these recipes ask for margarine; do substitute with butter for goodness sake). Whichever name you choose to call them by, these are some tasty cookies!

Biscoctus Biscotti

In all honesty, i had somehow managed to go through most of my life without discovering biscotti. I even managed to live for a month in Italy without having a single one. Granted, it was June and I was distracted by gelato, Baci chocolates and good-looking Italian men. And until a few weeks ago I had no clue they belonged to an extensive class of "double-baked" cookies. So when I was flipping through the cookie section of The Baker's Dozen Cookbook (my new favorite desert book!) and came across the biscotti recipe I immediately decided I had to make them. Two batches later, I am hooked. They are great and easy to make. The double-baking makes them last forever though that doesn't make much sense around here because they seem to disappear within days...

According to Wikipedia, the word "biscotti" (pronounced [bis-COT-tea]) in Italian is the plural form of biscotto, which applies to any type of biscuit, and originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-baked": it defined biscuits baked twice in the oven, so they could be stored for long periods of time, which was particularly useful during journeys and wars. Through Middle French, the word was imported into the English language as "biscuit". Frequently the term "biscotti" is taken to refer to a specific type of hard almond-flavoured biscuits traditionally served with vin santo, probably originating from the town of Prato and therefore still known as "biscotti of Prato". In general, biscotti is more a method of preparation, rather than a specific recipe, as pointed out by Laura Schenone from Jellypress.com in her history of biscotti. She also points out the fact that biscotti are usually first baked at high temperature and then on low temperature - probably a consequence of how wood-burning ovens work.

While keeping their hardiness, biscotti today seem to be very different from their ancient predecessors. They are buttery, usually studded with nuts and sometimes covered in chocolate. We are so spoiled, I don't think we would have them any other way.

Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti

2 +1/2 C flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C butter (1 stick)
1 1/4 C sugar
2 large eggs
2/3 C hazelnuts, roasted, chopped
1/3 C quality semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300F. Sift flour with baking powder and salt, and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until combined (1 minute) - do not overbeat, you don't want to incorporate too much air. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the flour and blend until almost combined, add the nuts and chocolate and mix well. I thought that 2.5 C of flour were a little too much so go easy on the flour at the end, you do not want crumbly dough. Divide the dough in half. Wrap each half in a plastic wrap or parchment paper and roll into a long log, about 14 inches long. Place the two logs about 4 inches apart on a big baking sheet, lined with lightly oiled parchment paper. Bake, turning the sheet around halfway, for 1.5 hours. Remove from the oven and let just cool slightly. Slice carefully into 1/2-inch thick slices using a serrated knife. Return the cookies to the baking sheet, laying the flat and return to the oven for ~10 minutes, until golden. The oven can be turned off before placing the cookies inside. Cool and story in a tin box.

These were marvelous! Crisp but not too hard. They can be eaten as it is or dipped in tea, coffee or hot chocolate. Oh, I love the combination of chocolate and hazelnut, it makes me think of Nutella. Just smelling these is heaven! The variations offered include pistachio-raisin (2/3 C pistachios + 1/3 C raisins in place of the chocolate and hazelnut), pine nut-orange (1/3 C tasted pine nuts + 1/3 C candied orange), and the classic almond anise biscotti (1 C almonds + 1 tsp anise). What other flavors can be made? Any ideas?

Cupcakes: The Ultimate Edition

Over the last six months I have taken up ultimate frisbee and I am loving it! Great exercise, exciting game and awesome people. Today was the end of the fall season and my team - Vodka Rain (don't ask) finished 3rd ... or 4th... Does it matter? I loved my team! I was happy to meet all these guys and be on the team - everyone was so much fun and at the same time we were actually really good! Here is our team picture. Again, don't ask.


My contribution to the team? Scoring half a dozen points and cupcakes. I am still to figure out where exactly I need to be and my forehands still wobble and flip, but I damn well know how to bake a proper batch of chocolate cupcakes! Even better - chocolate-mint cupcakes, which I took to the game tonight. These are so delicious and so infallably good I must have made them a dozen times! The recipe for the cupcakes, again from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the Cake (I love this book!) can be found here: Basic Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes. The frosting is simple buttercream which I have discussed in great detail here. To the buttercream I added a 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract and ~1/2 C crushed candy canes. The decorating style (described in the book in connection with the Tiramisu Cupcakes, yum too!) is simple, yet very pretty and I use it as often as possible: with a small knife cut out a cone from the top of the cupcake; put a dollop of frosting and press the cap back on; finally put a smudge of frosting on top of the cap. I sprinkled them with more crushed candy-canes (used a total of 4 candy canes) and red sugar. Very pretty! And Christmassy too! Enjoy!

In Honor of Federico

This post started a long time ago. September 29th to be more precise. I made alfajores and we went to see Federico Aubele and had a great time. I wore a pair of heels in the hopes I will get to dance some tango but instead ended up bear foot, heels in hand. There was a guy in front of the theater begging for money with a sign "why lie, it's for booze" and we bumped into Federico on the corner and I told him how much I loved the show. Then, I woke up the next day to find that my car had been broken into and shortly after left for Chile where I ran into an avalanche of alfajores and never came back to finish this adventure into South American cuisine. Until now. Here is the original post and below it is the continuation.

"I had never gone to a concert to just see the opening act. Until last night that is, when I joined a few friends to see Federico Aubele. I love his music, especially the tango inspired, melancholic pieces on "Grand Hotel Buenos Aires". They were fabulous live! I so much want to go back to dancing tango, I miss it so much! But, anyways, this blog is not about music or dancing but about food - in honor of the concert I decided to cook something from Argentina. After exhaustive exploration of Argentinian cuisine I zeroed in on Alfajores, a type of shortbread cookies with many variations which nevertheless seems like a favorite. I chose a recipe which uses corn starch from Pin In the City:"

Alfajores de maizena (Argentinean Alfajores)(~25 cookies)

3/4 C flour
1 1/4 C corn starch
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 stick butter (1/4 C)
3/8 C sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp cognac/whiskey/rum
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest from 1/2 lemon
For decoration:
dulce de leche
toasted coconut
chocolate

Deep down these are really shortbread cookies, but more than half of the flour has been substituted with corn starch, and they have fancied themselves up with some liquor and lemon zest. The texture was slightly different than the usual shortbread cookie... maybe a little finer, more fragile. Prepare them the same way as described here. Chill the dough for a bit and then roll out as thin as possible. I found the dough hard to roll out so mine didn't turn out all that thin but I saw lots of cookies of similar "thickness" on the webs so I couldn't have done all that poorly. Cut out circles or other shapes (I used a 1.5 inch brandy glass) and arrange on a wax-paper-lined baking sheet, giving them some space. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F. They should be white not golden and the bottoms should be slightly brown. Do not overbake or they will end up too hard. Cool. Sandwich them with 1 tsp dulce de leche and powder them with sugar, roll edgewise in shredded toasted coconut. Or glaze with melted chocolate... or both. Why not.

Now, Argentinean Alfajores are complex... almost sophisticated. The cookie is crumbly, stuck together by the dulce de leche, and the flavors of caramel, coconut, lemon and rum merge beautifully. Ah.

But then come the Chilean Alfajores. At first I was a little disappointed, but then I realized they are a completely different beast. Chilean Alfajores have one goal in their lives - delivering a shot of dulce de leche directly to your blood stream! And while they look similar and have the same filling, this is where the similarities end. Here is the recipe from the Chilean dulce de leche can:

Alfajores de Chile(25-30 cookies)

5 egg yolks
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C corn starch
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbs orange juice
1 can dulce de leche
powder sugar for dusting

These are just bare bones wafers! Not even sugar in the cookies! Mix the first five ingredient and knead into a very soft dough. Cut in two and roll out as thin as possible on a floured surface. Be careful because the dough has a very high stickiness factor! Unlike the dough for the cookies above, this one was very malleable and rolled out nicely. You want saltine cracker thickness. Again, cut, place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet and bake 5-7 minutes at 300F. The cookies will be hard and very slightly golden but mostly white. Cool and sandwich with the dulce de leche. Dust with powder sugar. Eat.

See? I told you. Simple dulce de leche delivery mechanisms. No fuss, no complications.

Either way, the bottom line is that alfajores are fabulous. Amazing. And I feel like dancing tango again. Ah. I think there is one more cookie left.... I'll take what I can get.

Finally! Cupcakes!

A few weeks ago while biking with James, he told me about this great way to make butternut squash puree without the whole peeling and cutting torture - cut the squash in two lengthwise, remove the seeds, place cut-side down in a baking pan and pour in half an inch of water and stick in the oven for 1-2 hours at ~300 F, cool, scoop out the flesh, done. No, I am not kidding, we do actually talk about butternut squash and chocolate and white truffle oil and beans and mushrooms while we bike. Which explains why I end up eating three breakfasts on bike-ride days. Eager to try the idea, I applied it to a fairly big specimen of of the butternut family and now I have two boxes of pumpkin in the fridge. What to do with it? Pumpkin-chocolate chip cupcakes of course! These delicious winter treasures have been made a few times already and they go perfectly well with both a mug of hot chocolate or a mug of tea. The recipe below is tweaked to my liking from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Cinnamon Icing

1 C pumpkin
1/4 C soy milk (+some)
1/3 C canola oil
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 C flour
1/2 C chocolate chips
Icing
1-2 Tbs melted butter (or margarine to keep the vegan)
1 Tbs soy milk
1/2 C powder sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Notes: I prefer using vanilla soy milk - it adds to the vanilla flavor. I also used the home-made pumpkin mush, but canned pumpkin works just as well. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. I wouldn't recommend that you use very dark chocolate because the cake itself is not very sweet and the chocolate makes up for that. I think I will try making these with brown sugar next time.

Heat oven to 350 F. Mix pumpkin, oil, soy milk, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Stir well. In another bowl combine the dry ingredients - baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and flour and stir. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mix carefully stirring with a spoon or fork (not a mixer). The amount of liquid in the batter depends on how watery the pumpkin is so if the batter gets too thick splash some more soy milk in. You want the batter to be thick but not hard to stir. Finally, fold in the chocolate chips. Line a cupcake pan and divide the batter evenly. Bake ... I dunno... ~30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean (which is a little tricky because of the chocolate) or the tops spring back when pressed. Better underbake a little to keep them moist.

To make the icing, stir all the ingredients in a bowl. The icing should be thick and dull looking. If it is glossy, add some more powder sugar. Keep at room temperature. Drizzle generously over the cupcakes after they have cooled (use left-overs on ice cream). Or if you'd rather skip the icing, sift some powder sugar and cinnamon on them... or, whatever, just eat them like they are.

Giving Thanks

I give thanks for the pumpkins (technically butternut squash), for the chocolate, for the beans. I give thanks for all the delicious food on my table and for the food that is burnt, overcooked, undersalted and the lessons learned along the way. I give thanks for having a roof over my head, a soft bed, a spacious kitchen. I give thanks to my housemates who bear with me and wash some of my dishes. I give thanks for having wonderful friends whom I love very much. I give thanks to whoever needs to be thanked that my family is well. I give thanks to the American people for finally coming to their senses and voting for change. And I give thanks to the Universe for us all being here.

Bean and Squash Mole from Denis Cotter's Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me via 101 Cookbooks

3 C butternut squash, cut in cubes
3 C cooked beans
28 oz can diced tomatoes
5-6 big kale leaves, cut in strips
3-4 Tbs butter
some olive oil
4+ jalapeno peppers, chopped
1 1/2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2-4 Tbs paprika
2 oz almonds, roasted and finely ground
3.2 oz chocolate bar, 70% cocoa

Heat oven to 350 F. Toss the squash with some olive oil and spread in a 9x13 baking pan. Bake ~20-30 minutes, unill it starts caramelizing but is still firm. In the mean time melt butter in a large pan and saute onions and jalapenos for ~15 minutes until onions star caramelizing. Add paprika and garlic and stir until fragrant. Add tomatoes. Bring to boil and let it simmer down for ~10 minutes, depending on how liquidy the tomatoes are - you do not want a dry dish! Add beans, chocolate and almonds and stir over low heat until chocolate is melted. Turn heat off, set aside and steam the kale. To assemble, pour the bean mixture in a 9x13 pan or a large casserole dish, spread the squash pieces and kale evenly over the top and stir everything lightly. This way the colors are preserved and the dish is so much more beautiful instead of turning it into a brown mush. Cover with foil and put in the oven at ~200 F until heated throughout. Serves 8 as a generous side-dish.

Notes: I used brown Tepary beans from Native Seeds and they worked wonderfully - the flavor of the beans matched well with the chocolate. The jalapenos didn't make the dish spicy, not at all, contrary to my expectations. I think I may toss a little bit of cayene pepper next time. Because there will definitely be a next time. This dish was so very delicious, people were getting second servings which means a lot when there are ~30 dishes on the table!

Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake via Epicurious.com

For crust:
3/4 C graham cracker crumbs (5 crackers)
1/2 C pecans, finely chopped
1/4 C packed light brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C unsalted butter

For filling:
1 1/2 C pumpkin pure
3 large eggs
1/2 C packed light brown sugar
2 Tbs heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbs bourbon
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 Tbs cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature

Invert bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (to create flat bottom, which will make it easier to remove cake from pan), then lock on side and butter pan. Stir together crumbs, pecans, sugars, and butter in a bowl until combined well. Press crumb mixture evenly onto bottom and 1/2 inch up side of pan, then chill crust, 1 hour.

Heat oven to 500 F. Seriously. Whisk together pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, cream, vanilla, and liqueur in a bowl until combined. Stir together granulated sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt in large bowl. Add cream cheese and beat with an electric mixer at high speed until creamy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium, then add pumpkin mixture and beat until smooth. Pour filling into crust, smoothing top. Place in oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 500 F. Turn the oven down to 200 F and bake for another 40 minutes. Cool cheesecake completely in pan on rack, about 3 hours. Chill, covered, until cold, at least 4 hours. Remove side of pan and bring to room temperature before serving. Serve with roasted pecans and Bourbon-caramel Sauce. Serves 12-16. Despite the startling baking instructions and my fear that I have burnt the crust beyond recognitions this cheesecake came out amazing to say the least. The sheer fact that it is already gone while we still have leftovers from everything else we cooked for Thankgiving is a testimony to how "can-i-have-one-more-piece" it was.

A spoonful of each. Sage mashed potatoes.










Cornbread muffins. The adult's table.









Waldorf salad. Yes, that kind of Thanksgiving.

El Tour de Tucson Fabulous Chocolate Mousse Pie

Last Saturday Tucson was the course for a huge road bike race - El Tour de Tucson. I think some 8,500 people rode in it, half of them riding the full distance of 108 miles. Insane, I know! Some of my best friends were in the race and had a great time though. I was feeling out of shape and under-trained and didn't want to pay the huge registration fee just to do a mediocre race so instead I decided to do Bike Patrol and help people with more enthusiasm and better training than me perform as best as they can. Over the course of a week I attended three classes, got my bike in a pretty good shape by changing the break pads, lubricating the chain, and managed to coral a respectable pile of useful things to bring along - tire wrenches, patched tubes, WD40, tyvek, chain lube, patch kit, allen wrenches, CO2 cartridges, a medical kit, a few bags of sugar gels and some power bars, duct tape,.. The list goes on. I think I was better prepared than most Bike Patrols out there. All in all, I rode ~55 miles, changed 2.3 tires, removed half a dozen bottles off the road, cheered on for a couple of hundred people, and helped 2 people who were sitting on the side of the road. And had a great day in the sun!

In the evening after the race a friend who rode the whole distance had a BBQ and served an amazing chocolate mousse pie for everyone who needed to catch up on some calories. Turns out the pie is one of the signature desserts of a great restaurant in town - Terra Cotta. Here is the recipe from their website. This pie is insanely delicious - rich but fluffy, chocolatey but not too sweet. I recommend using high quality chocolate, but not too high is cocoa content.


Chocolate Mousse Pie

1 1/2 packages (9 ounces each) Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers (to yield 3 cups crumbs)
4 oz unsalted butter, melted
1 lb bittersweet chocolate
4 C cream
2/3 C powdered sugar
2 whole eggs
4 eggs, separated
shaved chocolate curls for garnish

Lightly oil the sides of a 10-inch springform pan. Grind the cookies to crumbs in a food processor or blender. Mix with the melted butter and press into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Chill.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over hot but not boiling water. Meanwhile whip 2 cups of the cream with ½ cup powdered sugar. When the chocolate is melted, remove from the heat and add the two whole eggs and four yolks. Mix very well. Fold in the whipped cream.

Beat the egg whites and fold them into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the chilled crust. Chill overnight or at least 6 hours.
Whip the remaining cream and sugar and spread about half the whipped cream on top of the pie. Un-mold the pie and pipe the remaining cream around the edge with a pastry bag and a star tip. Scatter a layer of chocolate curls evenly over the middle.

Best B-day Ever and a Good Cake

Best Birthday Eva'! I haven't laughed so hard in recorded history! I wish I would still be hanging out with these guys in my 60s, I honestly do!

So, two of my friends were celebrating their 60th birthday last weekend and I volunteered myself to make a cake. Yes, I know, a masochist. But I thought that the Mexican-inspired dinner would match well with a Tres Leches cake, and Tres Leches cake is my new favorite thing. My first piece of Tres Leches cake was at a wedding this spring. It was fruity, moist and absolutely delicious. My second piece (and the third and fourth) was at the Las Campanas observatory in Chile a few weeks ago. I had cake for lunch and I would have had it for dinner too. I asked the chef for the recipe and he was all to kind to write it out for me. Turns out the cake is pretty simple - sponge cake, soaked in a mixture of three milks, which was no guarantee for success - my first attempt at making it failed quite miserably (but was happily eaten nevertheless). So here it is, attempt Number 2, follow the directions exactly:


Tres Leches Cake

For the cake:
6 eggs
1 C white all purpose flour, sifted (sift, then measure)
1 C + 1 Tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt

For syrup:
1 can evaporated milk
1 can condensed milk
heavy cream

For topping:
4 egg whites
1 C sugar

Please, please, please, do sift the flour! Separate the eggs. Beat the yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar and the vanilla for 2-3 minutes, until the mixture is frothy and light yellow. Beat the egg whites until frothy, ~ 2 minutes. Keep beating the whites and add 1/2 cup of the sugar tablespoon by tablespoon, beating until well incorporated before adding the next tablespoon. Keep beating the whites until soft peaks start forming. Carefully mix a portion of the whites in the yolk mixture to lighten it up, then pour the rest of the whites in and fold, veeeery carefully. Mix salt, 1 Tbs of sugar, baking powder and the flour (the baking powder may not be necessary). Sift the flour mixture into the wet mixture little by little, slowly folding the flour in. Do not overmix! I used an electric mixer to beat the eggs and then folded the ingredients with a spatula. Pout into a springform pan. If the pan is nonstick, oil and flour the sides of it, but not the bottom, before pouring the mixture in. Bake for ~40 min at 350 F, until the top is lightly brown and springs back to the touch. Take is out if the oven and flip is upside-down on a towel for a couple of minutes to avoid serious deflation.

While the cake is baking, make the "syrup". Use the condensed milk can as a measuring cup and mix 1 can of condensed milk, 1 can-full of evaporated milk and 1 can-full of heavy cream. Stir well until the condensed milk is well dissolved.

While the cake is still warm, remove the sides of the springform and move to another plate if you want. Using a cerated knife cut off the thin top crust. This is done so that the cake absorbs the milk mixture easier but will make is unappealing without frosting. Put the springform sides back on and slowly pour the milk mixture minus ~3/4 cup evenly on the cake. Place in the fridge to chill. Decorate with merangue, stick the candles in and start singing "Happy birthday to You". Enjoy!

Cookies for Breakfast

I swear, I will eventually cook something sore substantial than desserts! I really will, I swear! But until then, one more batch of cookies. My housemate left for a grueling trip around Europe a few days ago. She will be visiting 3 countries, giving 4 talk and participating in a conference, all in under two weeks. Phew! I wanted to make her some cookies for the trip, so that she has some comfort food (or food, period) while hopping from plane to plane, or working on her talk late into the night in a hotel room on the other side of the pond. I started with her favorite "Cookies a la Grammy" she makes with the dried cherries her Grammy sends her for her birthday every year, and tweaked, and then tweaked it some more:

"You can have them for breakfast" Cookies
1 C butter (2 sticks)
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 C white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 C rolled oats
1+ C dried cranberries
1/2+ C pecan pieces
1+ C chocolate chips
zest of 1/4 lemon (or less, or none)

Beat butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes, until fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and zest, and beat some more. Combine flour, salt and baking powder and add to the wet mixture. Finally, stir in the oats, dried cranberries, pecans and chocolate chips. Feel free to change the nuts, chocolate chips and dried fruit ratios (or omit some), as long as they all add up to ~2 1/2 cups. These will go well with dried cherries (definitely skip the lemon zest) or walnuts or white chocolate chips too. Drop teaspoonfulls (or ice-cream-scoop-fulls) of batter on a baking sheet about an inch apart. Bake at 10-12-15 minutes at 350F until bottoms are lightly brown. Let them cool on the sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely. They are really soft when warm (this is apparently not a sign that they are underbaked) and will stay quite soft. Makes ~3 dozen cookies.

I took some to a BBQ at a friend's house last night and everyone loved them. So did my housemates. I have to agree, they are pretty good too - I had one with my beer tonight ;) And I may have a couple for breakfast tomorrow too - after all they have all the things I usually have for breakfast - oatmeal, pecans, cranberries, chocolate chips - in them already.

PS. For the original "Cookies a la Grammy" recipe increase the brown sugar to 1 C, the white sugar to 1/2 C, the chocolate chips to 1 1/2 C and instead of cranberries and pecans add 1 1/2 C of dried cherries. We usually cut down on the sugar though, they are too sweet for our taste.

Secret Healthful Ingredient Brownies

I was telling my housemate that I was planning on making brownies which had a secret ingredient and she laughed - apparently her Mom had used the "Secret Healthful Ingredient" method with her youngest sister in an effort to sneak something more nutritious than Mac'n'Cheese in her diet by making cookies with white beans. Now, I have no intention to do any such thing to my friends and housemates, for the most part they are all sufficiently nourished, but this recipe was so interesting and unusual that I wanted to try it. What is the secret ingredient? Black beans. So here are the Black Bean Brownies from Baking with Agave Nectar via 101 Cookbooks. Drum-roll, please....

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 C unsalted butter
2 C soft-cooked black beans, drained well
1 C walnuts, chopped
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1/8 C + some more instant coffee
1/4 tsp sea salt
4 large eggs
1 to 1 1/4 C light agave nectar

Notes on ingredients: I cooked the beans but I guess canned (probably 2 cans, drained and rinsed) beans would also work; I also used instant coffee (Nescafe), if you like a strong coffee flavor add more; if the batter seems unsweet, add more agave nectar.

How to make them: melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave or in impromptu double boiler stirring until no solid clumps are left. In a food processor add the beans, salt, vanilla, half the walnuts and part of the butter-chocolate melt and pulse until well pureed. In a bowl beat the eggs and the agave nectar, add the rest of the chocolate-butter mix, add the bean mixture and the rest of the walnuts. Mix everything well
(with a spoon, the batter it pretty thick). Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper and oil it lightly or spray it lightly with canola oil cooking spray. Spoon the mixture in and spread well. If you are feeling creative, save 1/2 cup of the eggs-nectar mix and pour it on top of the panned mix and swirl it lightly - that will create white swirls. Bake for 30-40-50 minutes, until the brownies are set and your house is filled with the fragrance of chocolate. Cool, refrigerate, cut. The brownies were really soft and moist out of the oven (I thought I had underbaked them) but they will definitely set after being in the fridge overnight.

I am personally not a big brownie fan but these were actually quite tasty. They are moist and not overwhelmingly sweet (which turned me off brownies to begin with) so you can distinguish the chocolate and coffee flavors and explore the texture as you let them slowly melt in your mouth. Now, I would not say they are healthy considering the large amounts of butter, eggs and chocolate which went in them, but they definitely have a couple healthy ingredients.

Black beans are rich in fiber and protein all for only 227 Kcal per cup as I just found (pass me another brownie). They also contain iron, manganese and antioxidants. Yey! Feeling healthier already.

Now what is this agave nectar stuff? Agave nectar or syrup is the processed sap of the agave plant. It is used as a honey substitute by vegans and and has the same sweetness as honey but lower viscosity. I used light agave syrup which had very mild flavor. There is also dark or amber syrup which I guess has a stronger flavor. Raw varieties (processed at temperatures below 118F) are popular among raw foodies. Agave nectar is high in fructose so drink/use responsibly or you might get a sugar high. If you can't hunt down any agave syrup (I found it at Whole Foods) feel free to substitute it 1:1 with honey. Do not substitute with sugar because that will offset the liquids to solids ratio of the recipe.

These brownies breached a whole new field of desserts for me - flourless cakes - which is apparently quite well populated. There seem to be several different branches to flourless cakes also referred to as tortes. To maintain cake-like consistency some contain ground nuts, some contain breadcrumbs (now, that's just cheating) and some (actually all) ask for ludicrous amounts of eggs. Seriously, this Flourless Chocolate Cake with Toasted Hazelnuts and Brandied Cherries is a heart attach just waiting to happen (but I will bookmark it anyways). So in retrospect, these brownies are actually quite healthy.

So, anyone want some brownies? I am serious though unwilling to ship.