0 Alpineberry Shares

My baking buddy, the talented Veronica of Veronica's Test Kitchen, tagged me for the 5 things meme and I'm finally getting around to putting my list together. Maybe you've been dying to know more about what makes me tick (doubtful) or maybe this could be TMI* (likely). So read at your own risk.

1. I am a yeast virgin. Even though I bake a lot, I have never used yeast. I've never made brioche, croissants, bread, or focaccia from scratch. I've used (scientific grade) yeast in the lab for experiments but that doesn't really count, does it? If it does count then this will be only 4 things about me. I plan to explore the realms of baking with yeast and, if successful, you'll probably hear about it.

2. My husband and I make worm poop. No, not for a living and not literally. We are vermicomposters. Vermicompost, or worm casings, is a nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner. Well, the truth is, he's the vermicomposter and I just reap the benefits of an organically enriched garden. Have you seen the March issue of MSL? Martha has a perfect pretty little kitchen nook for her bin of worms. Oh, that bee-yotch! She has to be so perfect all the time. (As much as I love her, I sometimes just have to playa-hate a little). Meanwhile, our bin lives in the garage bathroom shower stall (which we never use – I mean the stall not the garage). When my husband first set up the worm bin, the worms tried to make a break for it. Apparently their new home was not to their liking, so they tried to escape. I can't imagine what hundreds of worms jumping, or is it crawling, out of a lidded bin must have looked like, but I'm so glad I wasn't home to see that.

3. I have silicone implants..........in my eye! I have a condition called chronic dry eye. My ophthalmologist closed the opening to my tear ducts by inserting tiny silicone plugs which are supposed keep the small amount of tears that I do make from draining away.

4. The last non-food related book I read was The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It was recommended to me by a friend after I complained to her about the time / space inconsistencies in the Keanu Reeves Sandra Bullock movie The Lake House. I can never really wrap my brain around the whole concept of time, space and multiples of myself existing at the same time but in different "times". I think I first had an issue with it when I saw Back to the Future (the first one) and Marty comes back to the present from the past (or is it goes back to the future from the present?) and he sees his other self disappear and go to the past. Then there was Kate and Leopold with Sally and the Wolverine-cum-aristocrat. I mean, he goes to the future and the past has changed because he never did all the things he was supposed to do. But if she goes back to the past how will he have met her in the future so she could go back? And yes, I know, it seems that everything I know about time travel I learned from the movies but that's why I'm mentioning the book. Duh.

5. Back in 1989-1990 Saturday Night Live had a sketch called "Cooking with the Anal-Retentive Chef" featuring the late Phil Hartman as Eugene. I'm not so extremely anal-retentive in the kitchen that I can't complete my tasks like Eugene, but I do take a bit longer than necessary since I can't be messy while I cook or bake. I can’t not tidy up as I go along. I thoroughly clean my Kitchen Aid stand mixer after every use and I have been known to wrap my trash before tossing it into the waste can.

I'm not sure how long this meme has been going around and I'm not sure if you've already been tagged but I'm passing this along to:

Bron at Bron Marshall
Ellie at Kitchen Wench
Jenny at All Things Edible
JenJen at Milk and Cookies
Patricia at Technicolor Kitchen

*TMI= too much information

0 Chocolate Intensity

I have a small, somewhat manageable collection of about 100 cookbooks and subscribe to no fewer than 10 food related magazines. I love flipping through the books and magazines, looking at the pretty photos and reading the recipes. I even keep a stack of post-it sticky notes in my nightstand drawer so I can flag the recipes I like while I read in bed. As much as I like owning cookbooks and getting magazines, I don't cook from them as much as I should. Yet I keep buying new cookbooks and renewing my subscriptions year after year.

That's where the Daring Bakers (or whatever we're going to officially call ourselves) come in. After seeing their amazing feat of croissant making last month, and having participated in something like this once before, I knew joining them was the small push I needed to actually use recipes from and justify all those books.

Peabody suggested that we bake flourless chocolate cakes this month and Tish Boyle's "chocolate intensity" from The Cake Book was the chosen recipe. On my own I would've never flagged this recipe with a sticky note or if I did, I may have never gotten around to baking it. But the fun of "group baking" was incentive enough. And an actual deadline didn't hurt either.

The name definitely said it all. The chocolate intensity was the opposite of a fluffy, light and airy cake. It was deep, rich, fudgy, and most definitely intense. And that's before glazing it with a chocolate ganache. Actually, to say this cake was intense is an understatement. Tish described this as death-by-chocolate but a sweet way to go. Almost a pound of chocolate and 3 sticks of butter went into this creation. It tasted like a chocolate truffle cheesecake without that sour tang from the cream cheese. And even though the chocolate was supposed to be the headliner, the coffee really stole the show, and my heart too since I'm a coffee addict. There was no doubt that the coffee did its job of adding depth and complexity to the chocolate, but I really liked that the coffee flavor stood out. But in retrospect, maybe it stood out as much as it did because I brew my coffee strong and use dark roast beans.

Instead of glazing the cake whole and slicing wedges, I cut out rounds to make a bunch of small cakes. And then I served it two ways. One was unglazed on a pool of crème anglaise and a sprinkle of powdered sugar. I liked the contrast between the dark bittersweet chocolate and the creamy vanilla sauce. The other was as Tish meant death-by-chocolate to be served, covered with an equally decadent bittersweet chocolate glaze.

I'm really looking forward to seeing the cakes the other gals baked. There was a bleeping funny reaction, a passionate team spirit, a plea for a life sponsor, a silent voice, a girls night coffee, a traveling blogger, an inspired budding chef, cute and probably well photographed miniatures and a maiden voyage in a brand new oven.

Chocolate Intensity
from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book
(makes one 9-inch cake)

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (preferably 62% cocoa), finely chopped
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brewed coffee
6 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch round cake pan. Line the bottom with a parchment round and butter the parchment. (If you're using a pan with a removable bottom like a springform, make sure to wrap the pan with 2 or 3 layers of foil.)

Place chopped chocolate in a large bowl.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, stir butter, sugar and coffee until the butter is melted and mixture is boiling. Pour the hot mixture over your chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs vigorously until blended. Whisk in the vanilla and salt. Slowly add about 3/4 cup hot chocolate mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. (Tempering the eggs with a little bit of the hot chocolate mixture will prevent "scrambled eggs" when combining the two mixtures.) Add the egg mixture to the hot chocolate mixture and whisk to combine well.

Strain the batter through a sieve (to catch any cooked egg bits) and then pour batter into prepared pan. Set cake pan in a large roasting pan and fill the pan with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake for 35-45 minutes, until the center is shiny and set but still a bit jiggly. Transfer cake pan to a cooling rack and cool for 20 minutes.

Run a thin knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Place a cardboard round on top of the pan and invert the cake onto it. Remove pan and carefully remove the parchment paper. Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours before glazing with chocolate glaze or before serving unglazed with crème anglaise.

small cakes before and after glazing

Chocolate Glaze

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place chopped chocolate in a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove pan from heat and add the chopped chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute then gently stir until chocolate is melted and the glaze is smooth. Gently stir in the vanilla. Transfer glaze to a small bowl and cover the surface of the glaze with plastic wrap and let cool for 5 minutes at room temperature before using.

To glaze the cake:

Place the chilled cake, still on the cake round, on a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Slowly pour the hot glaze onto the center of the cake. Smooth the glaze over the top and sides, letting the excess drip onto the baking sheet.

Scrape the extra glaze from the baking sheet and put it in a small ziploc bag. Seal the bag and cut a tiny hole in one of the bottom corners. Gently squeeze the bag over the top of the cake to drizzle the glaze in a decorative pattern. Refrigerate the cake at least one hour before serving.

unglazed with crème anglaise

Crème Anglaise
(makes about 2 1/4 cups)

2 cups whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split
6 tbsp granulated sugar
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks

Pour milk into a heavy saucepan. Scrape vanilla bean seeds into milk and add the pod, sugar and salt. Heat the milk mixture until warm but not simmering.

Prepare an ice bath (a bowl nested in a larger bowl filled with ice water).

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks lightly. Slowly add about 3/4 cup of the warm milk to the egg yolks, whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan.

Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

Strain custard into the bowl set in the ice water. Stir the crème anglaise to cool it down. Cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

0 Spicy Almond Sugar Cookies

In honor of the Chinese Lunar New Year (which lands on February 18th this year), I wanted to bake something, well, Chinese. But we Chinese are not widely known for baked sweets except, maybe, for egg custard tarts (dahn taht in Cantonese). Other known baked goods would be fortune cookies and almond cookies. The origin of both cookies is unclear and might be American not Chinese creations. In any case, I decided to modify a recipe I found in a local newspaper for Chinese almond cookies.

The cream of tartar adds a sort of old-fashioned crispness to the cookie and the nutty, spicy brown sugar topping is a departure from the typical whole almond fossilized on top. You can use any spices in the topping, but I used cinnamon, ginger, star anise and clove. These cookies turned out to be more like snickerdoodles than Chinese almond cookies, but my family and friends really liked them. So celebrate the Year of the Boar with something sweet!

Spicy Almond Sugar Cookies
(4 dozen cookies)

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Topping:
1/3 cup blanched almonds, toasted lightly and chopped
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground star anise
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Egg wash:
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and almond extract. Mix in the dry ingredients. The dough will be crumbly but moist. Gather the mixture together using your hands or a spatula into a cohesive mass.

To make the topping, mix together the almonds, brown sugar, and spices in a small bowl.

Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch diameter balls. Place 2 inches apart on your prepared cookie sheets and flatten to about 1/2-inch thickness. Then lightly brush top with the egg wash and generously sprinkle with the topping. Bake for 11-12 minutes.

0 Chocolate Brownie Hearts

I've wanted to try out silicone baking pans for some time now. My silicone cookie sheet liners are great and my silicone spatulas are stain proof and fairly heat resistant. So when I found this silicone heart shaped muffin pan on clearance for $2.99 (at Williams-Sonoma if you can believe it!), I thought what do I really have to lose? I mean, that's less than I spend on a latte at Peet's.



The big advantage to silicone bakeware is that it's supposed to be nonstick. No more buttering and flouring especially when you have fancy shapes like shells or bundts (or simple shapes like rectangles or hearts). No more worrying about whether or not your cake will come out of the pan intact. Well, maybe I got a dud because I had a lot of trouble prying some of the brownie hearts out of the pan. And even though the molds are soft and floppy, making it relatively easy to push out any sticking brownies from the bottom of the molds, 5 of 12 brownies didn't survive the extraction process. May they rest in pieces.

I usually don't have trouble removing my baked goods from (metal) pans since I butter, flour or line when necessary. Maybe if I had buttered and floured the silicone? But that defeats the purpose of using silicone. I don't know if I'll try the silicone pans again. Part of me wishes I spent the money on lattes instead. As disappointing as this first silicone pan experience was for me, at least I had some brownies to console me.

Chocolate Brownie Hearts

3 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3 tbsp (1.5 oz) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat an oven to 325ºF. Butter the wells of a heart-shaped muffin baking pan (or a regular muffin pan).

Melt the chocolate and butter over a double boiler, stirring occasionally, until smooth and blended. Let cool slightly.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg and vanilla until light in color and doubled in volume. Whisk in the chocolate mixture and then the flour mixture just until combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the wells of the prepared pan and smooth the tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a brownie comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 20 minutes.

0 Bad Photos, Good Eats

I usually bake at night after dinner and then take my photos in the morning before work. I wish I had more time to compose my shots, but I'm a habitual "snooze-buttoner" and have to snap my photos as quickly as possible, wrap up the baked goods and rush out the door. But even if I did have the time, I don't know if I could style the food properly. I am a much better baker and cook than I am a photographer or food stylist.

After uploading my photos from the CF card to my hard drive, I realized that, at a glance, I couldn't distinguish the photo of the cookie from the photo of the scone. Sadly my photos don't adequately convey how yummy the scones and cookies were.



Buttermilk Scones w/ Dried Cherries & Almonds
16 scones
(adapted from "The Baker's Dozen Cookbook")

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 ounces (12 tbsp/ 1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
2/3 cup dried cherries, chopped coarsely
1/3 cup almonds, chopped coarsely
2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F.

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture resembles small peas.

Stir the buttermilk, vanilla and almond extracts together and add all at once to the mixture. Stir with a fork until the dough becomes sticky and shaggy. Stir in cherries and almonds.

Turn your dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Knead the about 10 times. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into an 8-inch circle about 1/2-inch thick. Sprinkle each circle with 1 tbsp sugar (if using) and press the sugar gently into the surface of the dough. Using a sharp knife cut each circle into 8 wedges. Repeat with other half. (Or you can just divide the dough into 16 round patties like I did.)

Bake the scones until light brown and slightly puffy, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool about 5-10 minutes before serving.




Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
(from Tish Boyle's "The Good Cookie")

1 3/4 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces (1 cup) chocolate, chopped
1 medium-sized ripe but firm banana, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 375F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment (or lightly grease them).

Combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside dry ingredients.

Using a stand mixer at medium speed, cream butter and both sugars until combined, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until blended. At low speed, add the dry ingredients.

Remove bowl from mixer and using a wooden spoon stir in the chocolate, banana, and nuts (it's okay if the banana gets a bit mashed).

Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto your prepared sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Flatten the dough slightly. Bake until the cookies are golden brown on the bottom, about 11 to 13 minutes.

0 Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

Nutella is such a sweet girl (yes, Nutella is a she). Although her strong chocolate personality might be a bit overwhelming for some, it's really her subtle hazelnuts that make her unforgettable. It's hard not to like her. Just last week she was hanging out with new friends egg white and jam like they had known each other forever.

For World Nutella Day, I thought I would introduce her to cream cheese. I wasn't sure if they would get along since cream cheese can be a bit tangy. Well, I was worried for nothing. Nutella and cream cheese got along just swimmingly. I think they're going to be BFF (best friends forever)!



Nutella Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients for brownie layer:
10 tbsp butter (5 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/4 cup Nutella
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder

Ingredients for cheesecake layer:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened at room temp.
3 tbsp granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 cup Nutella

Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9x9 inch square pan with parchment.

To make the brownie layer...
Combine butter, Nutella, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Sift in flour and cocoa powder and mix until well combined. Pour batter into your prepared pan and spread evenly. Set aside while you prepare the cheesecake layer.

To make the cheesecake layer...
Mix the cream cheese, sugar, eggs and Nutella until well combined. Pour over your brownie batter.

Bake at 325F until the cheesecake looks set, about 40-45 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan before cutting. (I cut my brownies into 36 since they are quite decadent.)



World Nutella Day is the brainchild of Ms. Adventures in Italy's Sara and At Home in Rome's Shelly. Please join the Nutella festa on February 6th and celebrate the original chocolate hazelnut spread.