Desserts

Dessert Recipes

Baby Shower: Strawberry Cupcakes, Lemon Coconut Cupcakes and Flower Sugar Cookies

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This past weekend I got to help host a baby shower for a good friend.  Everything turned out wonderfully.  I think the mommy-to-be felt showered with love and lots of pink and ruffles!

One of the ladies suggested a onesie making table.  I ordered some adorable iron-on appliques and bought onesies in various sizes.  When people were done they could pin them up on a clothesline.  Here is the Etsy shop I ordered them from, NanaBleu.

The space we used for the shower didn’t need much decoration, but I made these Martha Stewart tissue paper pom poms.  We hung a few and scattered the rest around the room.  Here is the link to the craft.  The instructions say to use 8 sheets of tissue, but I discovered that 10 made for a much fuller pom pom.  Use different widths of paper to create different sized pom poms.  Now that I know how to make them, I think I am going to use some in baby girls nursery!

For dessert I made strawberry cupcakes using the Sprinkles cupcake recipe that I also used to make this strawberry cake.  One batch of batter and frosting is the perfect amount for a dozen cupcakes.  If you’re not a generous froster, you will have some frosting left over.

These lemon coconut cupcakes were a bigger hit than I expected them to be.  I breathed a sigh of relief when someone said she loved them since it was the first time I’d tried the recipe.  I tinkered with the recipe a bit, which isn’t always a smart move the first time you make something.  Thankfully it was a good decision and they were delicious.

These flower cookies were party favors and turned out well.  I used a new sugar cookie recipe.  Big mistake.  The dough softened too much during the rolling and cutting which made getting them from board to cookie sheet a very frustrating task.  I think I might have muttered some not so nice language under my breath more than once.  On the bright side, the cookies tasted better than my usual sugar cookie.  I’m just not sure if the frustration is worth it.

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

Adapted very little from Taste of Home

Makes 15 cupcakes

Ingredients

Lemon Coconut Cupcakes

  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 3 eggs, room temp
  • 3 teaspoons grated lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sour cream, room temp
  • 1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 4 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 1/2 to 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut, toasted

Directions

Cupcakes

  1. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla.
  2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl; add to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream. Beat just until combined. Fold in coconut.
  3. Fill paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350° for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.
  2. Beat in grated lemon peel, vanilla and lemon juice until combined.
  3. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until smooth; stir in 1/4 cup coconut if desired.
  4. Frost cooled cupcakes; sprinkle with remaining coconut.
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Lemon Cream Pie

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with this lemon cream pie.  Nothing at all.  Simple flavors, creamy filling, slightly tart and slightly sweet with a crunchy, buttery crust.  There is one lone slice left in the fridge and I am tempted to eat it for breakfast.  It can’t be any worse than a donut, right?

This came about at the last minute the other night when some sweet friends brought dinner for us after I’d been out of town all week.  Since they were bringing everything, I said I’d make something for dessert.  It was 5 o’clock.  As fate would have it, I had everything I needed for this pie, including a box of Mi-Del graham crackers that, in my opinion, took this pie to a place it would never have gone with a box of Honey Maid.  They’re more substantial in texture and flavor and provided a great base for the pie.

I started this pie at 5 and we ate it at 8.  With 2 hours of that being chilling time this pie is pretty quick and easy.  And there isn’t really an hour of active time since cooling time for the crust and pie is factored into the hour.  What I’m saying is that if you’re in a time crunch and want to give something more impressive than a box of Oreos to dinner guests, make this pie.

Lemon Cream Pie

From Real Simple

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

  • 9 ounces graham crackers
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice (I didn’t get quite this much from the lemons I had, so no worries if you have the same problem)
  • 1 1/2 cups whipped cream
  • 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
  1.  Heat oven to 350° F.
  2.  In a food processor, process the graham crackers until fine crumbs form. Add the butter, granulated sugar, and ½ teaspoon of the salt and pulse until moistened.
  3. Press the mixture firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate, using a straight-sided dry measuring cup to help.
  4. Place on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until the edges are dry and set, 16 to 18 minutes.  Let cool.
  5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, condensed milk, lemon zest and juice, and the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt.
  6.  Pour the mixture into the crust and bake until set in the center, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool and then refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours.
  7. Using an electric mixer, whip the cream, confectioners’ sugar and extracts on medium until soft peaks form, 2 to 3 minutes. Spread on the pie, sprinkle with the additional zest, and serve immediately.
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Honey Kissed Peanut Butter Cookies

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When I go to bake a batch of cookies, I often find myself adding in other sweet things.  Instead of a basic chocolate chip cookie I make oatmeal, coconut, pecan, chocolate chip cookies.  Instead of simple shortbread I make these tasty treats.  But this time I decided to keep it truly simple.  Peanut butter cookies.  Just peanut butter.  Well, peanut butter cookies with a touch of honey.  I couldn’t help myself.

This recipe for Classic Peanut Butter Cookies is from the King Arthur Flour blog, Bakers Banter.  The cookie dough comes out dry and crumbly.  The recipe suggests adding the slightest bit of water at the end to make it more cohesive.  I added about a tablespoon of honey instead, which probably makes these cookies a little chewier than they would be otherwise.  The texture in the final product was really nice.  Crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy inside.

In hindsight, I am really glad I didn’t add chocolate chips or crushed pretzels to the dough.  It just isn’t up to the challenge of holding on to much more than itself.  I did try to stuff a few of these with a sweetened cream cheese (it worked wonders in these cookies) but it wasn’t very successful.  The crumbly dough didn’t hold together, and of the ones I did manage to form and bake, I wasn’t sure it was even worth the extra effort (or the extra calories).  So, stick to the basics here.  There’s a time and place for excess, and it is not here.

Butter is typically my fat of choice in cookies, but I did follow the recipe here and used shortening.  A note on the site says that you can substitute 1/2 cup of softened butter for the shortening, and that will produce a softer cookie.  The recipe does not call for rolling the cookies in sugar before baking, but I did it because I like the exterior to have that nice sugary coating that leaves a touch of crunchy, sweet sugar on your fingers.

Honey Kissed Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3/4 cup supermarket-style smooth peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • extra granulated sugar for rolling (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
  2.  Beat together the shortening, sugars, egg, vanilla, and peanut butter until smooth.
  3.  Add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the peanut-butter mixture, beating gently until everything is well combined. It may take awhile for this rather dry dough to come together; and when it does, it’ll be quite stiff. Drizzle in the honey and mix to combine.
  4. Drop the cookie dough by tablepoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets (a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here), leaving 2″ between them.
  5. If desired, roll into balls and then in granulated sugar and return to the baking sheet.
  6. Use a fork to flatten each cookie to about 1/2″ thick, making a cross-hatch design.
  7. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, until they’re barely beginning to brown around the edges; the tops won’t have browned. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a rack.

 


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Shortbread, Salted Dulce de Leche & Brownie Bars

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You have no doubt seen those bars on Pinterest, and floating around on the internet called slutty brownies.  I saw them posted on Pinterest by one of the last people I would have ever expected to allow the word ‘slutty’ to appear before her eyes, much less repin a recipe with the word in the title.  I immediately clicked on it when I saw her pin.  These things are ridiculous, and I mean that in a very good way.  A layer of Oreo cookies is sandwiched between a chocolate chip cookie layer and a brownie layer.  They make my mouth water and I’m pretty sure that looking at them just made my yoga pants stretch out a little more than they already were.  By the way, I did not do yoga in these pants today.  In fact, I did nothing.  Oh no, I vacuumed.  That’s something.

So here they are.  The slutty brownies.  And don’t you see what I mean?  Don’t you just feel a little fatter after looking at them?

Photo from whatsgabycooking.com

Anyway, the link I clicked on led me to the Londoner.  She uses boxes of mix, which is totally fine in my opinion, especially with something called slutty brownies.  The easier the better.  Another recipe, from What’s Gaby Cooking, uses scratch made cookies and brownies.  I typically don’t have that kind of time or patience, so I admire you, Gaby!  Jessica Simpson is apparently craving these brownies during her pregnancy, and I don’t blame her.

Now that you’re expecting to see how my slutty brownies turned out (and how much weight I gained after eating the entire pan), I did not actually make slutty brownies.  I just wanted to talk about them.  But I did make a three layered bar that brings together shortbread, dulce de leche and brownies.  I made the shortbread cookie and used a can of dulce de leche and a box of brownie mix.  I think they would have been better with a scratch brownie, which really isn’t all that hard to do and I wish I’d done it.  Next time.

Everyone seemed to like these.  The salt was nice next to the sweetness of the brownie.  The combination of textures, crunchy, sticky and gooey was quite delicious.  The only changes I might make would be to use more dulce de leche and, like I said above, make a scratch brownie.  You could add chocolate chunks or nuts to the brownies, I’d probably use pecans, but I’m biased.  Toffee pieces might also be really tasty, but that might be overdoing it…but not as over the top as the slutty brownies,

Shortbread, Salted Dulce de Leche & Brownie Bars

Ingredients

Shortbread Layer

  • 1 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • pinch of coarse salt
Dulce de Leche
  • 1 can of dulce de leche
  • a couple pinches of flaked sea salt
Brownie Layer
  • 1 family size brownie mix (for a 9×13 pan)
  • ingredients called for on the box (eggs, oil, water)
Directions
Shortbread Layer
  1. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until mixture resemble coarse sand.  Do not overmix.
  2. Press mixture into a 9×13 pan (greased if desired, I did not grease my pan).  Make sure to push the mixture slightly up the sides.  When you pour the dulce de leche on top you do not want it to touch the sides of the pan or it will burn and stick during baking.
  3. Bake at 325°F for about 20 minutes.  Let cool completely.
Dulce de Leche
  1. Pour dulce de leche into a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 20 second increments, stirring in between, until it is smooth enough to spread easily.
  2. Spread dulce de leche over shortbread layer evenly, making sure it does not touch the sides of the pan.
  3. Sprinkle salt evenly and lightly over dulce de leche.
Brownie Layer
  1. Prepare brownie batter according to package directions and pour evenly over the dulce de leche layer.
  2. Bake at 350°F for 40-45 minutes.  Check for doneness on the brownie layer and bake a little longer if batter is not cooked in the middle.
  3. Let cool for at least an hour before cutting.

 

 

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Cherry Bread Puddings with Almond Brown Sugar Streusel

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When I found myself with a stale baguette, a can of cherry pie filling and more milk than could easily fit in our fridge I knew that bread pudding was the answer to all of my problems.

I had a pot roast on the stove that I’d just spent quite a bit of time preparing, so I wanted something simple.  A few recipes involved a cooked custard base, but with my laziness I kept searching.  Oh, Paula Deen.  You sure do know how to make rich and delicious desserts with little to no effort.  You are dangerous, Paula.  No scalding of milk or tempering of eggs.  Just measure, whisk, pour and bake.  This recipe is plain and simple and so it was easy to adapt to what I wanted to do.  Here is her original recipe.

The original recipe is baked in a greased 9×13 pan, definitely the simpler option and what I would do if bringing this to a potluck dinner or a casual dinner.  But I wanted to make some individual puddings.  Paula doesn’t require a water bath for her large bread pudding, but I wanted to make sure there weren’t any issues with the texture or consistency, so I used a water bath for my individual puddings.

This is a great dessert to make for a dinner party because you can make them ahead of time and reheat them.  When you sit down for dinner or as people start to finish their meals, stick them in the oven and they are ready to go when you finish.

Cherry Bread Puddings with Almond Brown Sugar Streusel

Adapted from Paula Deen

Makes 10 individual puddings

Ingredients

For the puddings

  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 5 large beaten eggs
  • 2 cups milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 4 cups cubed stale baguette
  • 1 can of cherry pie filling (you will only use about half of the can)
For the streusel:
  • 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sliced almonds
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.  Grease 10 6-ounce ramekins.
  2. Mix together granulated sugar, eggs, and milk in a bowl.  Add vanilla and almond extracts.  Pour over cubed bread and let sit for 10 minutes to give the bread time to absorb the liquid.
  3. In another bowl, mix and crumble together brown sugar, butter, and almonds.
  4. Using a 1/3 cup measure, pour a scoop of the pudding and bread mixture into each ramekin.  Then take about 1 tablespoon of cherry pie filling and plop it in the middle.  Use a knife to push the pie filling around in the ramekin without mixing it too much.  Top each pudding with some of the streusel.
  5. Using 2 9×13 pans or a large roasting, arrange ramekins so that they do not touch each other.  Have 4-6 cups hot water ready to go, I just used hot water from the tap.  No need to boil it.  Place the pans in the oven then pour hot water around the ramekins so that it comes up 1/3 to 1/2 way up the sides without getting any water into the ramekins.
  6. Bake for 40 minutes, remove from the oven and water bath and let cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes.  Refrigerate for at least an hour to let the puddings finish setting.  Serve cold or warm in the oven again for 15-20 minutes at 350°F.

 

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Dark Chocolate Brownies with Candied Ginger and Sea Salt

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Cravings are not something I get very often, but I had a serious craving for a nice fudgy brownie a few weeks ago.  I am going to blame (and thank) my pregnancy for this.  My pantry just so happened to be stocked with the perfect ingredients.  A bag of candied ginger, some Lindt 70% cocoa chocolate bars (thanks, Lindsey!) and my newly purchased Maldon flaked sea salt that I had been very anxious to use.  After adding some butter, sugar, eggs and flour, I had these bites of chocolatey goodness that perfectly satisfied my chocolate craving.

In searching for a recipe I found the sweet and salty caramel brownie in this Baked cookbook which is now on my list of things to make and not share with other people.  Since I didn’t have everything to make the caramel brownies, I used the basic brownie recipe and then added in some chopped candied ginger, chopped dark chocolate and sprinkled the brownies with some flaked sea salt before and then right after baking.  I didn’t measure my salt.  Use a light hand when sprinkling because a little goes a long way.  The salt with the dark chocolate is so wonderfully perfect.  And the ginger.  Oh, the ginger.  Leave it out if you really hate it, but it is subtle and delicious.  I love the interest it added to this simple brownie.

These brownies are very fudgy and dense, making them less than easy to remove from the pan.  I did not use parchment in the bottom of my 9×13, as suggested.  I just greased the pan generously thinking this would surely be enough to guarantee quick and safe removal.  I let the brownies cool, and then chilled them in the fridge so they would be easier to cut.  I think this little trick does make removing gooey brownies easier in general, but maybe they were a bit too cold.  I had a few casualties that weren’t pretty enough to be served and had to be eaten…what a shame.  It was kind of like cutting the first piece of pie that almost always falls apart and looks ugly.  After you clear up that first row, things do get easier to cut and remove.  Now, do not let all my negative talk deter you from making these!  The little frustration involved in cutting these is definitely worth it in the end.  Just use parchment, remove the whole pan of brownies once they’re cool, transfer it to a cutting board and use a large chefs knife to cut them.  I still thing chilling them for a little bit helps, but it’s up to you.

Other Tips

  • Use good chocolate, the chocolate is the main attraction.
  • Cut these into small squares, they are rich.
  • Give some away, or you’ll get sick.
  • Store them in the fridge and let them warm up for a few minutes before enjoying.

Dark Chocolate Ginger & Sea Salt Brownies

Adapted from Baked Explorations

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 11 ounces good dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 5 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 ounces chopped dark chocolate
  • 4 ounces chopped candied ginger
  • Flaked sea salt, fleur de sel

Directions

  1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Grease sides and bottom of 9×13 inch pan.  Line the bottom with parchment, leaving a little overhang on the short sides if desired, and grease the parchment.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.
  4. Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl of a double boiler set over a pan of simmering water, and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are melted.  Turn off the heat and add both sugars.  Whisk until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan.  Let cool for a few minutes.
  5. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.  Add the remaining eggs and mix to combine.  Add the vanilla and stir.  Do not overbeat at this point.
  6. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and fold it a few times.  Add the chocolate and ginger and fold until a slight trace of flour remains.
  7. Spread batter evenly into the 9×13 pan, then sprinkle lightly with flaked salt.
  8. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.  Stick a toothpick into the center to check for doneness, only a few moist crumbs should attach.
  9. Sprinkle immediately with a little more salt (a little goes a long way) and let brownies cool in the pan, then cut them into squares and serve.
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Sprinkles Strawberry Cake

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There is something just plain fun about making layer cakes.  I shared this thought with Ben as I put the finishing touches on this cake that I’d started working on almost 24 hours earlier.  Cookies, cupcakes, brownies, bars, etc. are great because they are typically pretty easy, not terribly time consuming, you can make enough for a big group, and they are hard to screw up.  Cakes, on the other hand, can be troublesome for me because I worry about them not turning out and then not having a single thing to show for my hours spent in the kitchen.  Not to mention you have a big, sugary, calorie laden commitment on your hands…unless you’re giving the cake away or serving it to at least 12 people.  You also are not as free to taste test with a cake.  You can sneak a cookie, or a cupcake (or 2) without being found out, but steal a slice of cake before it’s served and everyone notices the big gaping hole and the crumbs you’re trying to wipe from your mouth.  Despite all that, making a layer cake is therapeutic and the end result is more rewarding than a batch of cookies.  I feel the same way about pie.  They are both big glorious circles of sweet goodness, meant to be displayed on a pretty cake plate and served on those lovely dessert plates you never use.  Am I being too dramatic about baked goods?  I guess it wouldn’t be the first time…

For some reason I was in the mood for strawberry cake, maybe it was all the pretty pink cakes I’d been seeing on Pinterest.  I’ve made Spinkles strawberry icing before, but never the cupcakes.  So I printed the recipes off of Martha Stewart and headed to the store, a girl on a mission to make a delicious cake.  I was pretty excited about it.

I doubled the cupcake recipe to make two 9-inch cakes.  I made 150% of the frosting.  At first I thought about doubling it but when I realized that meant 4 sticks of butter I decided we would just make do with less, and it was plenty.

The cake is dense, not too terribly sweet, and not at all like the strawberry cake you can make from a box.  I wonder if it’s even possible to create a cake from scratch that is close in texture to a box mix.  If you know of a recipe, please send it to me!  Those soft textured cakes do tend to fall apart when frosted and stacked too high, so a dense cake is probably better when you’re planning on stacking 4 layers.  I usually grease my cake pans, line them with parchment circles, and then flour them.  Somehow I’d managed to run out of parchment and not buy any more.  So with a bit of fear I simply greased and floured my pans.  They came out perfectly!  That was a nice surprise.

The frosting is SWEET.  Quite possibly too sweet, not for me, but for the average person.  I like sweetness and sugar…a lot.  If you are not as much of a sweet fan, maybe use half butter and half cream cheese for the frosting to give it a little tang.  Now that I am thinking about it,strawberry cream cheese icing sounds pretty incredible, so I might have to try it myself.  The frosting has little strawberry seeds, and some people may not like that.  So, use a sieve to strain the seeds from the puree if you’re one of those people.  I like my frosting stiff when I frost a layer cake so that it doesn’t start to fall off the cake.  In order to achieve this I had to add more powdered sugar than the recipe calls for (which explains the sweetness) but really does make frosting and decorating less stressful.

Here are some tips for layers cakes that I’ve found helpful.

  • Bake the cakes and let them cool completely.  I like to do this either in the morning or the night before.  If I do it the night before I wrap the cakes in plastic wrap overnight so they don’t dry out.
  • Make the frosting on the thicker side.  (Unless you’re frosting a really delicate cake.  It will pull on the cake too much and cause it to fall apart.)
  • Level your cakes so that when stacked the cake is not domed or slanted.  I use this, but some people are amazing and are able to just use their eyes and a serrated knife.
  • If you’re slicing the cake layers in half, measure to be as close to half as possible.
  • Use an offset spatula for frosting.  It is just easier, buy one.  I use them for loosening the sides of a cake from the pan as well.
  • When you start frosting, plop a little frosting in the center of your cake plate and center the bottom layer on it.  This will keep the cake from moving around.
  • After layering, put a thin coat of frosting on the cake (your crumb coat) and then chill it for at least an hour.  This will allow your next layer to be smoother and free of crumbs.
As far as decorating goes, there are so many beautiful things you can do.  I am not so great at the decorating.  I used my extra frosting to pipe around the bottom and top of my cake.  Here is a great resource from King Arthur that will help you.  This kind of thing takes a lot of practice, so you’ll have to practice, and probably mess up.  When I was piping the top edge I noticed I’d started using more pressure as I was going around the cake so that when I finished there was a huge difference in the size of the rope.  I carefully wiped off what I’d done, smoothed the icing and did it again.   A good way to practice, if you ever find yourself with extra icing, is to use different frosting tips and just pipe onto wax paper.
I hope you think of an excuse to make a layer cake!  If you can’t, then try this recipe for cupcakes.

Strawberry Cake

From Sprinkles via Martha Stewart, doubled from cupcake recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 1/3 cup whole fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 1/2 cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 4 large egg whites, room temperature

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 2 9-inch cake pans; set aside.
  2. Place strawberries in a small food processor; process until pureed. You should have about 2/3 cup of puree, add a few more strawberries if necessary or save any extra puree for frosting; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, mix together milk, vanilla, and strawberry puree; set aside.
  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. Gradually add sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and slowly add egg and egg whites until just blended.
  5. With the mixer on low, slowly add half the flour mixture; mix until just blended. Add the milk mixture; mix until just blended. Slowly add remaining flour mixture, scraping down sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary, until just blended.
  6. Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans. Bake until tops are just dry to the touch, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer cakes in pans to wire racks and let cool for 10 minutes.  Then, carefully remove cakes from pans and let cool completely on wire racks.

Strawberry Frosting

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup whole frozen strawberries, thawed (I used fresh)
  • 1 1/2 cup (3 sticks) unsalted butter, firm and slightly cold
  • 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
  • 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Directions
  1. Place strawberries in the bowl of a small food processor; process until pureed.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy.
  3. Reduce mixer speed and slowly add confectioners’ sugar; beat until well combined. Add vanilla and about 6 tablespoons strawberry puree (save any remaining strawberry puree for another use); mix until just blended. Do not overmix or frosting will incorporate too much air. Frosting consistency should be dense and creamy, like ice cream.
  4. Use frosting to top cupcakes or cake.

 

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

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This is Jacques Torres’s secret recipe!  I found it on Martha Stewart, so it’s really no big secret.  In the summer of 2010 I went to visit my sister and her family in Brooklyn.  We stopped by the Jacques Torres shop in Dumbo and we got one of these cookies.  I think these have got to be among the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.  The chocolate is in these thin layers thanks to chocolate pastilles, not chocolate chips.  You can find these online, at some grocery stores and baking shops.  This makes a huge difference. You get lots of chocolate in every single bite and it is melty, gooey and wonderful.  Pastilles are those big flat chocolate disks.  You’ve probably seen them.  They look like this.

Now, I will not claim to have duplicated the magic of Mr. Chocolate in my kitchen, but I did turn out some tasty cookies.  They would have been tastier if I’d gotten the chocolate I was supposed to get and hadn’t been distracted at HEB by Fabio.  That’s right.  Fabio from Top Chef, and me, and Carson.  We took a picture together.

I was almost done with my grocery list.  All I needed were a few more produce items and 1 pound block of the best chocolate HEB had to offer.  Then I found out Fabio was doing a cooking demo and in my haste to get everything I needed in time for Fabio, I forgot about it.  About 5 minutes after he started cooking Carson started getting pretty grumpy, so we had to check out and head home.  I had to go out later (in the pouring down rain, without an umbrella) to the store closer to us that didn’t have a great selection.  I wound up with some 60% cocoa chocolate bars, one bag of semi sweet and one of milk chocolate chips.

The recipe below is the full batch.  I made a half batch of the smaller sized cookies and wound up with somewhere around 50 larger than average size cookies.  I can’t imagine any occasion where you might possibly need to make a full batch, maybe a bake sale or if you’re making Christmas cookie plates for the neighborhood.  The half batch made a ton of cookies.

The recipe calls for pastry flour, but I used cake flour.  For the chocolate I used 8 ounces of chopped 60% cocoa chocolate, 4 ounces of semi sweet chips and 4 ounces of milk chocolate chips.  I let the dough sit overnight in the fridge.  I’ve heard that this lets the flour soak up more moisture and then there’s some scientific mumbo jumbo about letting the gluten strands relax which is said to create better texture.  Either way, these have wonderful chew, a terrific flavor and are dangerously addictive.  Be very careful if you make these and make sure to give lots of them away!

Jacques Torrres’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 pound unsalted butter
  • 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour
  • 3 cups bread flour
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 pounds Jacques Torres House (60 percent cocoa) Chocolate or other best-quality semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
  3. Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
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Valentine’s Cream Puffs

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Happy Valentine’s Day!  I made these as a last minute Valentine’s dessert.  And by last minute I mean I thought about doing them last night and made them this morning.  The great thing is that they turned out!  Not in the perfect heart shape I was hoping for, but love isn’t perfect.  So, I’m going to pretend that it was intentional and I meant it as a metaphor for life.  Love isn’t always perfect, but it is delicious! 

If you haven’t made cream puffs before, you really should try it.  They aren’t that difficult or time consuming, you can fill them with a variety of tasty things, and they are impressive.  You can tell people you made pâte à choux, which sounds fancy and hard, but only because it is French.

I used a pâte à choux recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  The recipes in this cookbook are different than most, but once you read through it and see how it’s all laid out, they are actually quite easy to follow.  I retyped it below in the usual form of ingredients followed by directions.  Julia uses a side-by-side form that I really do like.  If you have the book, turn to page 175!  I had no issues with these puffs.  I made mine on the larger side, so there is some extra cooking time involved.  I’ll include directions for little and big puffs below.

You can use ice cream, whipped cream or pastry cream as a filling for your finished puffs.  The recipe I used for pastry cream was quite thin, so I couldn’t pipe the filling into the puffs like I’d planned.  Here is a good pastry cream recipe.  I cut the top off of the puff and spooned the cream into the center and placed the top back on.  This is an easier and less messy method anyway, so I’m glad I was forced to do it this way.  For a really simple dessert, just slice the puffs in half and fill with a little scoop of your favorite ice cream, drizzle with chocolate sauce, and you have profiteroles.  Again, fancy sounding but so very simple.

If you fill these with pastry cream before you plan to serve them, refrigerate the puffs and do not dust with powdered sugar.  Dust with sugar and drizzle with chocolate right before serving.  If you’re using ice cream or whipped cream, fill right before serving.  Enjoy!

Piped Puffs
Center of Cooked Puff
 
Baked Puffs
All of these hearts are a little different (and some don’t even look like hearts at all!)
Filling the Puffs with Pastry Cream

Pâte À Choux

Ingredients

  • 1 cup water
  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • a pinch of salt
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 4 eggs
  • 1 egg beaten with 1/2 teaspoon of water for glazing the puffs

Directions

  1. In a heavy 1 1/2 quart saucepan, bring water, butter, sugar and salt to a low boil, stirring, until butter is completely melted.
  2. Remove from the heat and immediately add all the flour.  Beat vigorously with a wooden spoon to blend thoroughly.  Then beat over moderately high heat for 1 to 2 minutes until mixture pulls from the sides of the pan, forms a mass, and begins to leave a film on the bottom of the pan.
  3. Remove pan from heat and make a well in the center of the paste with your spoon.  Break an egg into the center and beat it into the paste for several seconds until it has absorbed.  Continue with the rest of the eggs, one at a time.  The third and fourth eggs will be absorbed more slowly.  Beat for a moment more to be sure it is well blended and smooth.
For the hearts (10-12 puffs)
  1. Preheat oven to 425F and set oven racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven.
  2. Fill a pastry bag (or ziploc) with a 3/4 inch diameter tip (or cut an opening in your bag) with the choux paste.
  3. Pipe the outline of a heart onto the pans lined with parchment, then fill in the center.  Hearts should be about 2 inches in diameter and no more than 3/4 inch high in the center.  Space them about 2 inches apart.
  4. Dip pastry brush in the beaten egg and water, letting the excess drip off.  Slightly flatten the top of each puff with the side of your brush.  Be careful not to let the egg drip down the sides, or the puff will not rise as high.
  5. Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Then, reduce the temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.  Puffs will be golden brown, and firm and crusty to the touch.  Turn off the oven.
  6. Remove from the oven and cut a 1-inch slit in the side of each puff.  Return pans to the oven and let sit for 10 minutes with door ajar.
  7. Test one puff by opening it and making sure the center is not wet or uncooked.  If it is, remove the uncooked portion from that and all the other puffs.  Allow the puffs to cool completely on wire racks.

For small puffs (35-40 puffs):

  1. Preheat oven to 425F and set oven racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven.
  2. Fill pastry bag (or ziploc) with a 1/2 inch diameter tip (or cut an opening in your bag) with the choux paste.
  3. Squeeze the paste onto baking sheets lined with parchment, making circular mounds about 1 inch in diameter and 1/2 inch high, spacing about 2 inches apart.
  4. Dip pastry brush in the beaten egg and water, letting the excess drip off.  Slightly flatten the top of each puff with the side of your brush.  Be careful not to let the egg drip down the sides, or the puff will not rise as high.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes until puffs are golden brown, firm and crusty to the touch.  Remove from the oven, pierce the side of each with a knife.  Turn off the oven.  Set back in the oven for 10 minutes with the door ajar.  Then cool puffs completely on a wire rack.
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Brown Butter Icebox Cookies

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As often happens to me these days, I had the urge to bake, but not much to work with.  But if you have butter (and flour and sugar), you have everything you need!  I’ve expressed my love of brown butter before.  Brown butter has this nutty wonderful flavor and can transform a baked good or even a vegetable dish like these brussels sprouts.  Brown butter can turn something that is just so-so into something spectacular.

This shortbread-like cookie recipe comes from Gourmet.  Here is the link.  I didn’t change a thing about this recipe.  The resulting cookies were so deliciously buttery, crunchy, sweet and just the perfect touch salty.  I’m sad that they are almost gone.

The only tricky thing is browning the butter without burning it.  Just keep the heat moderate, stir consistently and take the pot off the heat when you start to get more and more browned bits.  Once the bits begin to brown the process speeds up, so watch it closely.  Just don’t let it burn or you’ll have to start over.  After you’ve browned the butter, let it cool in the fridge until it is solid, mine took about an hour and a half.  It doesn’t have to be hard like the stick of butter you took from the fridge, just not liquidy.  Does that make sense?

I liked the crunchy sugar on the edges of the cookies, but if you don’t have raw sugar on hand you can leave it out.  If you are going to use the sugar, cut about 1/3 of the log of raw dough, roll it in the sugar, pressing firmly.  Then slice into pieces for baking.  I found it was easier to roll parts of the log instead of the whole thing.  While a batch is baking, keep the rest of the dough refrigerated so it remains easy to slice.

Brown Butter Ice Box Cookies

From Gourmet.com

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar

Directions

  1. Cook butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it has a nutty fragrance and flecks on bottom of pan turn golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer butter to a bowl and chill until just firm, about an hour and a half.
  2. Beat together butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in vanilla, then mix in flour and salt at low speed until just combined. Transfer dough to a sheet of wax paper or parchment and form into a 12-inch log, 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Chill, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, at least 1 hour.
  3. Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Roll dough in raw sugar.  Slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, arranging 1 1/2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake until surface is dry and edges are slightly darker, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
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