Red Wine Chocolate Cake with Cherries

Somehow July sneaked past me and decided not to stop by to say hello. If you asked me what I did last week, I would think I just watched the fireworks booming over Lake Michigan. Sitting on the Michigan-side shores and looking back on a town of my childhood. But apparently that happened just about a month ago, if you believe the calendars. Personally, I think a Time Lord visited Madison and erased my memory to hide our wild adventures.

Yep. That's my story. Time Lord. In July… in Madison, Wisconsin. Quite logical really.

So that means that I made this cake just a few days ago if we're thinking back to last week, "the beginning of July." Rumor has it there was a nasty heat wave that swept though the region and made me think of my stove as the catalyst to the apocalypse. Good thing that "hasn't happened" yet and I made this cake pre-heat wave for a wonderful lady named Kate.

Kate and "A" are grad school friends and soon after moving to Madison we bonded over being Michiganders and living approximately five doors down from each other. After many potlucks, late-night group beers, dog sitting and crazy landlady adventures, I can honestly call this gal a good friend.

And anyone who knows me knows friends get cake, especially on their birthday. And what's a Michigander girl to do for a Michigander's birthday? Make a Michigan "Kate Cake." Ok, maybe the term "Kate Cake" isn't hot yet but trust me! It will be as it is composed of (only what I assume is) Miss. Kate's favorite things: Michigan cherries, (Michigan) red wine and dark chocolate. It doesn't hurt that it's utterly delicious and one of my favorite cakes that I've made! 

Anything that has a tight but moist crumb, chocolate and is easy to decorate is a win in my book. I also can't discredit the fact that it's relatively low sugar and incorporates fresh fruit! So while the cherries are still blooming and the temperatures are mild, make someone you know a Kate Cake! They won't hate you for it.

Chocolate Red Wine Cake

Adapted from Food & Wine Magazine 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted goat butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups sugar (I used a little bit less)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups dry red wine

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter and flour a 12-cup bundt pan. In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
2. In a large bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar at medium-high speed until fluffy, 4 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 minutes longer. Working in two batches, alternately fold in the dry ingredients and the wine, until just incorporated.
3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack; let cool completely. Top the cake with pitted and sliced cherries reduced in a small sauce pan with a little bit of water.

Chocolate Pretzel Rings

I'm feeling a bit lackluster in the kitchen area today, how about you?  My CSA box is coming on Thursday and I'm surviving off some delicious, but interesting colored, soups I have been stock piling in my freezer. I did buy two cute little butternut squashes at the Capitol Hill farmers market yesterday but those already have a date planned with some green chard. Essentially, things have been grinding to a halt in my kitchen but fret not! I have a stock-pile of recipes (ok, like two or three recipes) for just this occasion.

Cue the easiest/cutest/most crave-worthy snack ever - pretzels with chocolate and M&M's. Roll your eyes if you must, but I made these for the Superbowl this past February. I already had so many recipes piled up, and this barely counts as a recipe and more of a middle-of-the-night craving, they sort of fell by the wayside and faded into foodie oblivion. However, I recently got a new MacBook Pro and in an effort to try and clear out some of the files clogging up my 'vintage' MacBook before transferring files, I happened upon this photo. Blog post worthy right? At least I'm not posting (yet) about the semi-questionable thing I whip up for lunch sometimes...

My friend's old roommate claims that these are "a total chick magnet" and he likes to casually whip some up and impress a girl with his skills (I use that word very loosely here) in the kitchen. Out of the array of snacks I set out, these were definitely one of the first to go. Even better the M&M colors can easily coordinate for an impending holiday or general season. Easy, cheap, customizable AND a chick magnet? What can go wrong?

Evidenced by the following photo, you can see that some apple treats will soon be making their way onto the blog!

Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Buttercream

Did you know, before today, I hadn't had a cup of coffee in almost a week?  I'm trying to make changes here people and my complete and total dependence on coffee was a good start.  That, and I really hate cleaning my French press.  Today is a different story.  As I type, I am waiting for my friends to show up so we can head into the Cascades to do some hiking.  Guess what time I woke up?  6:30 am.  Without an alarm.  Can someone please tell me why I naturally wake up so early on the weekends yet it is feat of strength for me to even pull the eye-shades off before 7:30 during the week?

Regardless, I had coffee this morning.  A whole French press of coffee.  I haven't done this since college and now I am remembering why I don't do this on a regular basis.  I feel like I'm on magical cocktail of all the mood enhancing drugs in the universe.  I sorted my laundry!  I'm writing a blog post!  I made my lunch!  WEEE!  Let's hope the inevitable crash comes AFTER I'm done hiking for the day. [fact: it didn't]

Now that I've forewarned you to how drugged I am, tally-ho!  Onto the food!

This is a cake I made for my friend Sasha's birthday.  We play kickball & bar trivia together, so she knows about my baked goods.  When her birthday rolled around, she asked for a birthday cake knowing that I willingly make extravagant cakes.  After questioning her about cake flavors (Chocolate?  White?  Yellow?  Neon Green?) and toppings of choice (Rainbow sprinkles? Fruit? Fluffy clouds?) she decided on her favorite flavor combination: chocolate and raspberry.

Easy for me as I've made cakes & cupcakes with this combo countless times! As far as the raspberry buttercream goes, you can use either fresh or frozen raspberries, just make sure you strain the puree before reducing it.  I made this mistake once… I almost lost a friend over a rogue raspberry seed.  Even after adding some preserves to the puree, if the color isn't to your liking, feel free to add a pin prick of rose food coloring.

Mint Chocolate Brownies (Gluten & Dairy Free)

Here is it - my first recipe post that follows my gluten free, dairy free diet.  I would be lying if I said this wasn't difficult.  I have never read so many nutrition labels with such concentration in my entire life nor have I had to pester so many waitresses to make SURE that smoothie has NO DAIRY (not even milk powder) in it.  That's not even the hardest part, I think that titles belongs to having to say no to friends.  To eat at certain restaurants, restrain from diving headfirst into their sandwich (still on the hunt for a good DF/GF bread) or just seeming like the weirdo with the nitpicky dietary concerns. 

Really though, it's not that bad.  I haven't had to deal with this for years, I don't even know if I'll have to deal with much longer (doctor's appointment is on May 5th) and I live in Seattle.  I think out of all cities to be gluten and dairy free in, Seattle must be one of the best.  PCC, Metropolitan Market AND Whole Foods are my meccas now.  Even Trader Joe's does a pretty good job (I'm a big fan of how well they label things).

And you know what's even better?  NO ONE knew these were gluten and dairy free until I told them!  In my book, that's a a huge success on the GF/DF front.  I brought them to the kickball game last week and everyone (the other team, the ref, my teammates) raved over them, asked for seconds and still contested that the fact that they were GF/DF free.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

So, Superbowl was how long ago?  A month?  Maybe a month and a half… oh, who really cares.  Better late than never, right?  I've proposed a lot of questions to in the first few sentences, but this is a fact, cookies are cookies and no matter what time of year it is and the only thing that changes is how they are decorated.


As I've already mentioned, the slew of food I made for the Superbowl will be the main focus of the next 6 or 7 posts.  Yes, I made a lot of food but what do you expect?  One of my favorite things to do is to cook for a large crowd and I think I even outdid myself this time.  There were 10 to 15 people crammed into a small Capitol Hill condo and we still had leftovers for the next week.

The reason these sugar cookies are the the typical color of your typical sugar cookies because I made them chocolate in an attempt to provide a decorating shortcut.  However, I realized that they were much darker than actual footballs and I still had to ice the whole thing.  Oh well, maybe it gave them a double dimension of awesomeness?  And yes, I did dye coconut green to make green for the pigskins to rest on.  I'm not an overachiever or ANYTHING... never.  Ever.

However, I thought the chocolate flavor of these was a litter blander than I would have hoped.  Maybe even a little flat.  Next time I make these, I think I am going to adjust the amount of cocoa powder and see if I can get the rick flavor I was striving for.

Lavender Macarons with Honey Dark Chocolate Ganache

These turned out perfectly.  As in, I had not a single issue.  Being that these are macarons we are talking about, I say this with much pleasure and pride.  The first time I made macarons was about year ago and I tried David Lebovitz's safe, trusted and true French chocolate macarons.  I thought those turned out well.  Ohh boy, was I wrong.  They were good, but not compared to these beauties.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it is very important to weigh all of your ingredients when making macarons as the wet to dry ingredient ratio must be perfectly balanced or things could start going tragically awry, i.e. causing the batter to be the incorrect consistency.  Even once you have the right proportions of ingredients, you need to treat them like your favorite child (not like people have them or anything…).  Don't over-beat the egg whites as it could cause the macarons to be all sorts of lumpy, lopsided and misshapen.  But there is a fine line you see because if you don't beat the egg whites enough, the macarons will fail to thrive and there is a good chance you won't get the prized feet.  I am in no way shape or form a master of the macaron, so I recommend you head over to Not So Humble Pie if you have more questions.

I took this picture a few days after I filled the shells because I'm a bad person.  If not a bad person, at least a cookie neglector.  I'm surprised it's not an offense punishable by food blogger law, or if it is and I just don't know it yet, please go easy on me!  I swear, I just got side tracked and I was packing for a trip down to Eugene!

You probably noticed, and if you didn't please make an eye doctors appointment, but the shells are bright purple.  No, there is not that much lavender in them… I just got a little happy with my super fancy, super concentrated food dye.  I was a big girl and bought something other than the squirt bottles you can find at the local Safeway.  Who knew that you only need to use a little bit to achieve the same result as using half a bottle of the supermarket stuff?  Apparently not me…

Now that you're well informed that these are not in fact mutant macarons, they are in my opinion only one notch below Laudree's and 5 notches above the ordinary.  The floral lavender is an unexpected delight to the tongue with the sharp contrast of the extra dark chocolate mellowing everything out.  I would like to note that the chocolate I bought was a smidgen too dark, so I added a little honey to the ganache as I was whipping it up.  Not only do honey and lavender pair wonderfully together, but it made the dark chocolate a little less harsh.

Next time I make these,  I might try a lemon curd filling, lemon, fig, olive oil or vanilla bean filling….hmmmm, suggestions?

Thin Mint Star Cookies

I bet you noticed something is a little different.  No, I didn't get a haircut.  No, I didn't lose 10 pounds (I wish!).  But YES, thank you for noticing, I did redesign The Ginger Cook.  I obviously wanted to keep the whole ginger (read: redhead) color present, but I wanted to strip everything down.  I worked to achieve this by making the background a crisp white and the accent colors two shades of "ginger" and gray.  I made all the "badges" and the header using pixelmator (i.e. Mac photoshop) and in my perfect little dream world, I'm going to update the banner for every season.  Let's see if this will actually happen or not.

All in all, I would say I am really happy with the redesign!  Yes, there are still some things that need to be worked out, but quite honestly, I really need to take a break from coding.  I am not a coder and will never be.  Screaming at my laptop at 2am happened more times than I would like to admit.  There was a lot of "BLERG!  Why won't the font just change??'  U of M, the few web design classes I took did not prepare me for doing it all on my own.  I'm sorry, but it's the truth.  I guess we can just call it even and say you gave me the life skills to be able to be mildly web savvy all by myself.

I would like you apologize, though, for posting a ('holiday') cookie recipe well after Christmas and while most of you are in the throes of your "get healthy" New Years resolutions.  I swear, I'm not trying to be cruel!  I'm trying to be healthy too.  Expect a lot of soups and lentil concoctions in the upcoming weeks.

Though, aren't thin mints good for the soul year round?  Yes, that's right.  These cookies taste almost exactly like thin mints!  We can't be completely dependent on Girl Scouts, they control the cookie market too heavily.  Break out of their controlling grasps and make to your own girl scout cookies - show them who's boss!!  Girl Scouts, I mean you no harm.  I was one until I was in middle school, but your cookies are too good to be seasonal.  It's very frustrating.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate/Raspberry Swirled Frosting Topped with Tempered Chocolate

Who knew cupcakes could be so evil.  In my mind, they represent all that is pure and good in this world.  But apparently the day I decided to make them in my new kitchen, they had other plans.  Saying that everything around me fell apart, stopped working and generally just did not work is not an understatement.

When Alex was visiting (part one) last week, I got the urge to bake one sunny Seattle day (yes, they do exist).  Having not baked anything sweet in a long time, I decided the best way to start back up again was with cupcakes.  Cute, pink, chocolate and fruity cupcakes.  The universe had other plans.

I have always had gas stoves and always want one.  Alas, my condo has an electric stove.  Albeit a nice one, but it will still take me some time to get used to. This was the first time I had used my oven in Seattle; I had no idea if it'd run a little hotter or colder.  If definitely runs hotter - WAY hotter.  My cute little cupcakes that, according to More from Magnolia, should have taken 25 to 30 minutes to cook.  25 minutes after popping those babies in the oven, I was disturbed to sniff the faint smell of burning as I approached the oven.  That's right, about half of the cupcakes were dry and crumbly (through not burnt).  No, I didn't over crowd my oven.  Yes, I let it preheat for 20 minutes after it reached 350 degrees.  Yes, I was sad.  The next batch of cupcakes turned out well, but they baked for only 21 minutes.

Oh, but that's not the worst of it.  One, the drawer that utensils are in literally fell apart when I opened it to get a spoon out.  Alex fixed that for me.  Then when I was mixing the raspberry frosting with my tiny little hand beater (the chocolate was already finished in the Kitchen Aid stand mixer), I blew a fuse... the same fuse that the fridge is on.  My fridge shut off.  No big deal, right?  Just go back to the circuit breaker and flip the switch.  Wrong. So very wrong.

After frantically flipping the fuses, and one phone call to my landlord later, Alex and I had no success.  We though maybe they was a surge protected outlet behind the fridge, but who would do that?  Apparently whoever designed my condo.  After pulling out the fridge we pressed one button and the fridge whirled back on.

Phew.

But at least the buttercream turned out wonderfully and the frosted cupcakes were still as cute as can be.  No matter what is thrown at me, I seem to have a surprising knack for making buttercream's.  I just though you all should what lengths I went through to bring these beauties to the masses... well, to mainly Alex & Rachel... and a few people at a downtown Seattle rooftop BBQ.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from More from Magnolia

Ingredients:

• 2 cups All-Purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa 
• 1 ½ teaspoons soda 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar 
• ½ cup sugar 
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened 
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk 
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350º
2. Line muffin tins with cupcake papers, set aside.
3. Sift the dry ingredients together, set aside.
4. Using the medium speed of a stand mixer, cream butter until smooth and light in color.
5. Add sugar, beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
7. Add the dry ingredient mixture, in thirds, alternating with buttermilk and vanilla. With each addition, beat until ingredients are well mixed, but do not overbeat.
8. Using spatula, scrape down bowl, making sure ingredients are well-blended.
9. Carefully spoon into pans, filling 3/4 full.
10. Bake 25-30 minutes.  Cool in tins 15 min.Remove and cool completely on wire rack before icing. Makes about 30 cupcakes.

Chocolate Raspberry Buttercream

Adapted from More from Magnolia

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons strained raspberry puree
• 1 tablespoons almond milk
• 5 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled to lukewarm
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted powdered sugar

Note: to melt the chocolate, place in a double boiler over simmering water on low heat for 5-10 minutes; stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely smooth and no pieces remain; remove from heat and let cool 5-15 minutes or until lukewarm. 

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy. 
2. Add the milk and raspberry puree carefully and beat until smooth. 
3. Add the melted chocolate and beat well for 2 minutes. 
4. Add the vanilla and beat for 3 minutes. 
5. Gradually add in the sugar and beat on low speed until creamy and of desired consistency.

Raspberry Buttercream

Ingredients:

• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup (approx) strained raspberry puree
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter using an electric mixer on medium speed for about 3 minutes or until creamy.
2. Beat in the raspberry puree until smooth.
3. Add in the powdered sugar one tablespoon at a time until creamy and of desired consistency.

Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Three days.  It took three days for me to make this batch of cookies.  No, it isn't because this is an overly complicated recipe that calls for tricks to get them just right.  Or just because I said so.  These cookies took three days to make because of one big thunderstorm and three days without power.
These cookies had the destiny of being a Father's Day present for my Grandpa.  He loves the flavor combination of mint and chocolate.  Mint Chocolate ice cream, mint chocolate cake, mint chocolate…. oh, you get the idea.  I knew I wouldn't have time to make them on Saturday, so I decided to make them Friday night with the hope of giving them to him Sunday morning.  Oh, how fate decided to intervene.  Around 8 pm on Friday night, with everything mise en place, I began mixing up all the ingredients.  As with all cookies I make, I stuck them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to work their magic.  If you're one of those people who can always predict the end of romantic comedies, you know what happens next.  The power went out.  Now this is Michigan, and I live in a neighborhood that's in the "country" (the suburban definition of country), so I didn't expect it to last long.  Maybe just a few hours of overnight.  Still, I couldn't open up the fridge, lest I let out some precious chilled air, to put plastic wrap over the bowl.  I went to bed dreaming of being able to bake the cookies in the morning.

I was wrong.  And severely disappointed.  The power was still not on, but my dad ran out to Home Depot at 7 am to buy a generator to save the food in our fridge.  It went on like this until when we came home from a Father's Day lunch on Sunday late afternoon.  While the power was on, I quickly baked the cookies and they turned out wonderfully.  They were so light and soft, but there was still a nice 'shell' around the cookie.  Ironically, the power went out again the next day (but only for a few hours) because DTE needed to fix something that was damaged during the storm.

So, the secret to making the perfect cookie?  Have the power go out, use a generator to power the refrigerator for three days and once the power goes on, frantically make the cookies before the power goes out again.

Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• ¾ cup cocoa powder
• 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flower
• 12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream the butter in a large bowl with a hand mixer for about 2 minutes until fluffy.  Add sugars and beat for 3 to 5 minutes.  This is crucial, the sugar crystals puncture tiny holes in the butter making it fluffy, ultimately resulting in a soft and fluffy cookies.
2. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well combined.  Add in the salt, extracts and baking soda, beat in.
3. Add in the cocoa powder and beat in (if you're not confident is your stills to beat in cocoa powder without covering yourself with cocoa powder shrapnel spewing from the bowl, feel free to use a spatula).
4. Once combined, beat in the flour ½ cup at a time.  Once combined, stir and fold on chocolate chips.
5. Cover bowl in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 30 minutes.  During this time, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
6. Using a small sized cookie scoop, or a tablespoon, make small balls of dough and place 1 ½ inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat.  Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack and store in an airtight container.

Happy Father's Day, Grandpa!!

Jake's 22nd Birthday Cake - Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Buttercream

It has been forever since I last posted.  You know, just some small things were happening.  I had my senior finals, I finished college, I graduated yesterday (Obama spoke at my graduation!) and I feel like I could sleep forever.  Also the amount of inventive and interesting cooking and baking I have been doing in the past few weeks has been dwindling, I have been holding on to three recipes for almost three weeks - Jake Hoernschmeyer's 22nd birthday cake, Jake Trithart's 22nd birthday cake and a few batches of cake balls (most of which ended up at the former Jake's house or in my roommates stomachs).  The first recipe I will be posting is for the first Jake's birthday - a chocolate cake with a vanilla bean buttercream.  With a special request for sprinkles.

I baked for about three days straight, continuously wore my apron and always had a light dusting of flour covering my hair and face.  Seeing how happy Jake was when we brought out the cake singing "Happy Birthday" and being able to give all his friends cake made it all worth it.  Yet it also didn't hurt that I had a chance to try out my new cake leveler and two new piping tips!

I asked him in March what kind of cake he wanted - he specifically requested a chocolate cake with a vanilla frosting and there had to be sprinkles.  Of course I had to make it a little fancier.  I used my "stand-by" chocolate cake recipe - I have been using this recipe for about four years.  It's a slightly dense, but moist, cake with a nice crumb.  I froze the three layers overnight wrapped in saran wrap placed in freezer safe bags - it makes leveling and decorating immensely easier.  For the frosting, I had been wanting to use vanilla beans for a quite some time and I felt like a vanilla bean buttercream would be the best way to foray.  I'm glad I made the buttercream, but who knew just TWO vanilla beans were so expensive?  Once again, it was worth it.

Regardless, I really do recommend making this cake for your next birthday, celebration… or any day you think you want a cake.

Stand-By Chocolate Cake

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 3 cups light brown sugar, packed
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• 1 1/3 cups sour cream
• 1 1/2 cups hot coffee

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour 3 (9-inch) cake pans. Cut 3 circles of waxed paper or parchment paper to fit the bottoms of the pans, then press them in.
2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer), cream the butter until smooth. 
3. Add the sugar and eggs and mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
4. Add the vanilla, cocoa, baking soda and salt and mix. Add 1/2 of the flour, then 1/2 of the sour cream and mix. Repeat with the remaining flour and sour cream. 
5. Drizzle in the hot coffee and mix until smooth. The batter will be thin. Pour into the prepared pans and bake until the tops are firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay), about 35 minutes. Halfway through the baking, quickly rotate the pans in the oven to ensure even baking, but otherwise try not to open the oven. Let cool in the pan 10 minutes. Turn out onto wire racks and let cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Buttercream

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated 

• 2½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 vanilla beans, halved lengthwise
• 4+ cups confectioners’ sugar
• Pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a standing mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Using a paring knife, scrape seeds from vanilla bean into butter and beat mixture at medium-high speed to combine, about 15 seconds.
2. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 1 minute. 
3. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully incorporated, about 30 seconds; scrape bowl, add vanilla, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 20 seconds, then increase speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Fudgey Brownies

I have a very sad story.  Last Tuesday my hard drive died; as in it froze, burnt out, stopped working and ceased to exist.  Then because the last time I used Time Machine to back-up my computer was March 16th, I lost two weeks worth of data, including 5 recipes worth of photos.  Needless to say I was stressed.  But in the time between my hard drive dying, getting a new one on, re-installing OS X and restoring my hard drive I decided I need to bake.

If you have been reading my blog, you would know that I love Mollie Katzen's "The New Moosewood Cookbook."  Her entrees are some of my favorite I have ever made, but I haven't made too many of her desserts.  I usually prefer to develop my own.  But these brownies, oh, they are amazing.  I think the last time I made them was two years ago when I was living out in New Mexico working at Philmont and I felt it was time to make them again.  These brownies are incredibly fluffy, while still being dense and fudgey, and the crumb has a wonderful texture.  To enhance them even further I added some chocolate chips and ground cinnamon (it adds an incredible depth to chocolate).

Moosewood's Fudgey Brownies
Adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook
Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 5 oz of baking chocolate
• 1 ¾ cups light brown sugar, packed
• 5 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Let soften 2 sticks of butter (don't melt it)
2. Melt the 5 oz. baking chocolate with a doubler boiler. Let cool.
3. Cream the butter with 1 3/4 cups (packed) light brown sugar and 5 eggs until light and fluffy. Add 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract. Beat in the melted, cooled chocolate.  Stir in flour, 1 tsp of cinnamon and 1 ½ cups of semisweet chocolate until just combined.
4. Spread into a buttered 9x13" baking pan. Bake 20-30 minutes (mine took more like 40 minutes, but once again, I have a student housing oven) at 350 degrees.
5. Cut immediately after removing from the oven and wait about 10 minutes until serving.

French Chocolate Macaron

     I cannot tell you how long I have wanted to make macarons.  I was in Paris over the summer and fell in love with the ones at Laudree (thank you Adrien for the wonderful suggestion)!  My family and I sat in the Luxembourg Gardens on a gorgeous sunny day, people watched, and ate our macarons… that is until the police kindly told us we were sitting on grass that was not to be sat on.  Oops.  But no matter, I had already savored every last one of my macarons.  Yet I was not completely fulfilled – I wanted more!  Sadly, Laudree is not cheap and I was leaving for Luxembourg in two days.

     When I was back in America, I instantly began scouring the Internet for information on the magical macaron.  Oh, they’re hard to make?  What’s a ‘foot’?  There is an Italian and a French method to making them?  You had to try how many times before you successfully made just one macaron?  Mon Dieu!  I decided to improve my culinary skills a little more before attempting such a daunting gastronomic feat!

     Slowly over the course of the school year, my interest in macarons began to fade… but every time I saw them on Tastespotting or Foodgawker, I just had to read the blog post behind the beautiful picture.  I began bookmaking recipes that sounded good nor exceedingly difficult to make.

Then I came across David Lebovitz and he made my dream of making a macaron come true.  His recipe is utterly fail-proof.  Every single one of my macrons produced feet and tasted delicious.  I believe the most important factor in my success was that I weighed all of my ingredients (aside from the eggs).  It really makes a huge difference – when I weighed five tablespoons of granulated sugar, it was 10 oz too much!  But I did make a few alterations based on other information I had read (they are noted in the recipe).

     Next time I make this I will use a better piping technique (which I had only figured out on the third to last macaron I piped) and rap the baking sheets on the counter a little more (as mine were a little too ‘fluffy’).  Now go!  Impress your friends and make some of macarons!!

French Chocolate Macaron with Chocolate Ganache Filling

Adapted from David Lebovitz's The Sweet Life In Paris

Macaron Batter Ingredients:

• 1 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
• ½ cup powdered almonds (about 2 ounces, 50 gr, sliced almonds, pulverized in yo)
• 3 tablespoons (25 gr) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature and ‘proofed’ in the refrigerator for 24 hours
• 5 tablespoons (65 gr) granulated sugar

Chocolate Filling Ingredients:

• ½ cup (125 ml) heavy cream
• 4 ounces (120 gr) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Macaron Batter Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 340º F (170º C).
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and have a pastry bag with a plain tip (about 1/2-inch, 2 cm) ready.
3. Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn't quite fine enough.
4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
5. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag (standing the bag in a tall glass helps if you're alone).
6. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in one-inch circles (about 1 tablespoon each of batter), evenly spaced one-inch apart.
7. Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, let sit for 20 minutes, then bake them for 15-18 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.

To make the chocolate filling:

Heat the cream in a small saucepan.  Pour over chopped chocolate, let sit for one minute, then whisk until smooth.  Place in refrigerator to cool, stirring every 10 minutes to ensure even cooling.  When are desired consistency for piping,  fill pastry bag fitted with ¾ inch tip and pipe onto macaron shell.

Mint Chocolate Chip Cake

Happy 86th Birthday, Grandpa!  Today we celebrated my grandpa's birthday (even though his birthday is a little later in the week) and it was my duty to make the cake.  Of course, I didn't complain; it's more experience in the kitchen, more material for my blog and another chance to make my Grandpa smile!  His favorite ice cream flavor is mint chocolate chip.  As long as I can remember, every single time we have ever gotten ice cream, he always orders mint chocolate chip if they have it.  May summers in Frankfort were spent walking down to the Cool Spot and order ice cream with Grandpa.  I couldn't think of what kind of cake to make him until I was thinking about how much I wanted some ice cream (even if I can't eat it).  Then I remember my Grandpa's LOVE of mint chocolate ice cream and the cake was born!

I looked all over the internet and there were no recipes that I really liked.  Some required only mixing together the wet and dry ingredients - I know that wouldn't produce cake results I'd like (it'd most likely come out too dense).  Instead I turned my attention to King Arthur.  I based my recipe off their Chocolate Cake recipe.  I didn't want anything too chocolatey, as it would overpower the mint flavor I was going for.  But at the same time, I didn't want it to fall flat and taste boring like milk chocolate.  So, I had to improvise.  I also used my own recipe for mint buttercream - I just followed the rule of ratios.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 cup milk, warmed in microwave for 1 minutes
• 1/2 water, boiling
• 4 large eggs, separated & whites beaten until stiff peaks form
• ½ bag of creme de menthe chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour three 8" round pans.
2. Place a strainer over a large mixing bowl. Measure in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cocoa, and sugar. Sift/shake the dry ingredients through the strainer into a mixing bowl, to eliminate any lumps.
3. Add the butter and mix at low speed for 1 minutes. With the mixer running, add the oil and continue mixing until the mixture looks like sand.
4. Combine the vanilla with the milk and coffee or water, and add all at once. Mix for 1 minute at low speed, stop and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, then mix for 30 seconds more.
5. Separate the eggs.  Beat the whites until stiff peaks form, set aside.  Beat in egg yokes one at a time.  Stir in creme de menthe chips.  Then gently fold in egg whites.
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake for 24 to 26 minutes.
7. The cake is done when the top springs back when very lightly touched in the center, and the edges just begin to pull away from the edge of the pan. A toothpick inserted in the center will come out clean.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and place on a rack to cool before removing it from the pan.
9. Once cooled, put the cakes in the freezer for about a half an hour.  When 'frozen' remove and cut layers in half (you will now have 6 'layers').

Mint Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons butter, softened
• 5 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
• ⅔ cup milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• gel icing, until desired color is achieved

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, beat the butter at a low speed with an electric mixer or tabletop mixer.
2. Add powdered sugar, alternating with the milk, and beat to smooth, but thick consistency (you may need to add more milk or sugar)
3. Stir in vanilla and peppermint. If you want a less minty flavor, decrease the peppermint extract or leave out altogether.

Grandpa blowing out his candles!

Look at those six (slightly demolished) layers!!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies (aka Milk Dud Cookies)

Sorry I haven't been on-top of my blogging!  What's even even worse is that I have been cooking at lot of very healthy things and haven't documented them!  I made some roasted chickpeas (a wonderful snack), some vegetable soup (complete with purple potatoes), browned butter chocolate chip cookies with toasted coconut (for Jessi's farewell snack fest), and a simple pasta dish (for a quick dinner).  Sadly, school has been getting in the way of cooking and more importantly not taking photographs!  I think the biggest reason I've been falling behind is… THE OLYMPICS!  I can't even being to describe how much I LOVE the Winter Olympics.  I can honestly say I love it  more than the Summer Olympics… the snow, the skiing, the figuring skating… and seeing  Russia dominate everyone in hockey (don't worry, I'm still cheering for the USA).  Mainly, the Winter Olympics really make me miss ski racing… it makes me want to run a GS course again.

I have made a lot of desserts in my day (obviously) but all my housemates said that these were the BEST that I have ever made.  The flavor also reminded me of Milk Duds (hence the name).  They are amazing straight out of the oven because the caramel is so gooey, but you can also zap them in the microwave for 5 seconds to get the caramel all gooey again.

Ingredients:

Chocolate Cookie Recipe Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 bag of caramels, unwrap

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside.
3. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth.
4. Wrap dough ball in plastic and chill for at least one hour.
5. Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into roughly 1 1/2 – 2 inch diameter circles or squares (the shape and precision of the cut section doesn’t really matter since you will be wrapping it around the caramel anyway), brushing extra deposits of flour off the top.
6. Roll the dough around an unwrapped caramel.  Roll the dough back and forth in your hands until it forms a smooth ball.
7. Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet (or silpat) for 10-12 minutes until the cookies are firm.
8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

As you can tell from the picture above… these should probably be called Irish-American Car Bomb Cupcakes.  This past Monday was JP’s 21^st birthday!  He has one sole passion in life: John Deere.  While JP knew he was getting cupcakes brought to his Ultimate Frisbee game on Sunday, Sam bought some cupcake toppers to surprise him with.  As opposed to when I made the Irish Car Bomb Cake, I used a mixture of cake and all-purpose flour, which actually seemed to make the cupcakes a little fluffier (the cake was very dense).  Everyone on the team loved the cupcakes and it was (hopefully) a little bit of a morale booster after their close, and sad, loss to Purdue’s team.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Adapted from Une-Deux Senses

For the Guinness chocolate cupcakes:

• 1 cup stout beer/ Guinness
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs (make sure they're at room temperature)
• 2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey's ganache filling:

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsn. butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp. Bailey's Irish cream

For the Bailey's buttercream frosting:

• 8 tbsn. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 4 - 8 tbsn. Bailey's Irish cream (I used just a little more than this)

 Directions:

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
2. Combine stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.
5. Add stout mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low until incorporated.
6. Divide batter among cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
7. To make the ganache, place chocolate in heatproof bowl.
8. Heat cream in saucepan until simmering, then pour over chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth.
9. Add butter and Bailey's and stir until combined. Set aside until cool and thick enough to be piped (you can use the refrigerator to speed the process but stir every 10 minutes to ensure even cooling). Meanwhile, cut a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method and once the ganache is of the right consistency, pipe the ganache into the centers.
10. To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high until light and fluffy.
11. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated. Mix in Bailey's until smooth. Add more if necessary until frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading. Frost the cupcakes as desired and enjoy!

** Decorate with excess chocolate ganache

Peppermint Mocha Truffles

This is the last of the "cookies" of my holiday plate this year.  I have been wanting to try making truffles for quite some time now, and I thought this festive recipe would be perfect!  I love biting into these truffles and having the hard crunch of the outer chocolate shell contrast with the soft minty mocha-y center.  Mmm.  The only issue I had with the truffles was melting the chocolate and successfully coating the chocolate centers.  The centers kept on getting soft (and difficult to work with) when I dipped them into the warm chocolate.  Next time I may freeze the centers first before dipping them in the chocolate.  Side note: I adapted these from My Kitchen Addiction... I'm not enough of a confectionary to invent candy recipes on my own yet.

Peppermint Mocha Truffles

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces cream cheese softened
• 24 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
• 2 tablespoons instant espresso
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons peppermint extract
• 1/2 teaspoon vegetable shortening
• Crushed peppermint candies (optional)
• Additional chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the instant espresso and water, whisking until completely dissolved.  Add the cream cheese and peppermint extract, and set aside.
2. In a double boiler, melt half of the chocolate chips (12 ounces) over barely simmering water until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Pour the melted chocolate into the mixing bowl with the cream cheese, and use a hand blender to mix thoroughly.  Cover and chill overnight.
3. When ready to make the truffles, use a mini ice cream scoop (or clean fingers) to form little balls (about 1 inch in diameter) of the filling.  Place the balls on parchment paper or waxed paper.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining chocolate chips with the 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable shortening in a double boiler over barely simmering water until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat.
5. Carefully dip each ball into the melted chocolate and coat on all sides.  Lift with a fork and let the excess chocolate drain off.  Place back on the parchment paper to let the chocolate set.  Sprinkle with peppermint candies, if desired.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

 
Imagine a Thin Mint... you know, the best Girl Scout Cookie in existence.  Well, that's kind of what the chocolate part of this cookie tasted like.  And that's a good thing for people that you will be giving these cookies to, but for me it has turned into a dangerous addiction.  This was the largest batch of all the cookies that I made, so I put a few in a Tupperware for myself.  However, I cannot just have one!  I keep on going back for just one more... and then another... and you can see where this is going.  I will deffinately be making these again when it gets closer to Christmas.  Even though these cookies take a little longer to make due to all the refrigerating/freezing time, it's great if you'll be making one or  two types of cookies because when these are in the fridge, you can whip up a batch of Russian Snowballs.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3/4 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
• 8 large candy canes or 30 peppermint candies, crushed
• 2 pounds white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F.  Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl.  Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minutes.  Reduce speed to medium-low, and add the egg, then the yolk, beating well after each addition.  Beat in peppermint extract.  Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until just incorporated.  Shape dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
2. Roll out 1 disk of dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness.  Using a 1 1/2-inch round cutter, cut out circles and place 1-inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.  Freeze cookies until firm, about 15 minutes.  Repeat with remaining disk.
3. Bake until cookies are dry to the touch, about 12 minutes.  Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool. (Undecorated cookies will keep, covered, for up to 3 days.)
4. Melt chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water.  Remove from heat.  Dip tops of cookies into melted chocolate, and sprinkle with crushed candy pieces.