French Toast with Caramel Sauce

I forgot to post this last year. When our friends came round (and we baked cookies) the girls had a sleepover while the parents got some alone time. Alaina and Tegan are great kids and I wanted to surprise them by getting up early and making a special breakfast. Unfortunately they are morning people (at least Tegan is) so I couldn't really surprise them. But I still banned them from the kitchen, so at least the type of food was a surprise.

Chocolate Cake with Pumpkin Spice Latte Filling

I start grad school this week. Yikes! I'm excited, don't get me wrong. But it's been a while since I've been a student and even longer since I've been in college. I know it's going to be a good experience and I'm going to learn a ton, but right now I just feel incredibly stressed.

Happily my friend Katy (who's getting a very science-y PhD) and her family invited me and my mom to their lovely house in St. Albans for lunch today. Her father is an excellent cook and a delicious meal with friends is the best distraction from the imminent doom--I mean exciting opportunity--of starting classes tomorrow.

Belated Birthday Cakes

Look how beautiful and dark the inside
of the flourless chocolate cake is.

I made the desserts for my birthday party, including two cakes. Yes, two cakes. I was planning on making three cakes but I decided on two cakes and a bunch of small desserts (I'll tell about those later) instead. I made a German chocolate cake and flourless chocolate cake.

Three layers of German chocolate goodness!

In case you were wondering, German chocolate cake is not German. It's American and was created by Bakers Chocolate to promote German's Sweet Chocolate, which is named after the employee who developed the sweet dark chocolate. The recipe I used is from Baked's cookbook. The cake was less sweet and more chocolaty than traditional German chocolate cake and had a tender, moist crumb from the buttermilk. The filling was very close to the original sweet and sticky mixture of (Baker's brand) sweetened coconut and pecans held together by, among other things, evaporated mix. It was really the perfect update of a classic dessert.

The flourless chocolate cake was also from Baked's cookbook. A while ago I posted about a brilliant nut and gluten free chocolate cake I'd made; unfortunately I lost the recipe. Oh no! So this cake served two purposes: to test Baked's nut and gluten free cake and to be a gluten free cake for my relatives that needed it. It preformed wonderfully. My guests were thrilled by the rich, brownie like cake and I was thrilled to find a replacement for my lost recipe. I have to admit, I like the other recipe a bit more--this one is richer and denser, which isn't bad, it's just a bit less cake-like. That said, if the one other replacement recipe I have yet to test doesn't turn out more like my old recipe, I'll be perfectly happy using this one. FYI: the cookbook suggests glazing the cake with chocolate ganache. I'm all for that! However in this case I wanted something a bit easier and lighter (given the quantity of desserts I was making and planning on eating) so I topped it some barely sweetened, fresh whipped cream and a light dusting of cinnamon. Delicious!

Strawberry Coffee Cake

Remember the raspberry sour cream coffee cake I made? This is a variation of that. Instead of sour cream, I used fat free Greek yogurt. It made the texture of the cake a little bit tough but it tasted pretty much the same and made the cake lower fat and cal. Next time I think I'll try regular fat free yogurt (instead of Greek yogurt) since it has more moisture and, hopefully, will make the crumb a bit more tender. I also substituted sliced strawberries for the raspberries because I happened to have strawberries in the fridge that needed to be used up but no raspberries at all. I think I liked the raspberries more, but generally I like raspberries more so I'm not convinced it's a reflection on the cake. Overall not the perfect cake, but yummy nonetheless and (as cake goes) nearly healthy!

Chocolate Crumb Muffins

I've made this before as crumb cake and it was very good. I wanted muffins this time around so I gave it a shot and it was almost as good as the cake. I found that the crumb ratio was off (there wasn't nearly enough cinnamony, buttery goodness) and they weren't quite as moist (that could have been because I used fat free Greek yogurt instead of the full fat sour cream the recipe calls for) but they were still delicious. And don't they look lovely?

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

While not my favorite cookies, I like snickerdoodles. There is something comforting about the warmth of the cinnamon and the brown butter that these call for enhance that feeling. The brown butter, which is not nearly as daunting to make as it would seem, is warm and slightly nutty and adds a subtle complexity to the flavor of the cookie. The texture was lovely and chewy, with a fine crust of sugar. Delicious! (The recipe is from Baked's new cookbook, which I just bought and am quite happy with.)

A quick note on brown butter: it can seem intimidating to make--at least I used to find it intimidating. But really it isn't hard to make at all. Basically it's burnt butter, and really how hard it is to burn something? Seriously, all you do is put butter in a pot and melt it over a medium heat. Instead of taking it off the heat once it's all liquid, leave it on and the mill solids will eventually separate out and some will fall to the bottom. This is what will burn and turn brown and start to smell warm and slightly nutty. I assume that the French name for brown butter, beurre noisette (noisette meaning nut or hazelnut, if my French serves me), is a tribute to the nutty flavor and aroma. At this point, swirl it a bit to distribute the burnt bits and bring some unburnt solids to the bottom. At this point it's up to you if you want to make it pale or dark. I prefer it on the darker side, but that's just me. For the snickerdoodles, and other recipes I suppose, you also have the choice of straining out the burnt solids or not. Either way you have the nice flavor, but it's obviously stronger if you don't strain it. Also if you don't strain it you end up with little dark flecks in your butter and, therefore, your dough. I think that is quite pretty (it's similar to the effect you get when you use vanilla beans or vanilla bean paste instead of vanilla extract--pretty black flecks of flavor in whatever you are making) but I suppose the pristine, dark tan dough without the bits of burnt milk solids has a beauty to it as well. Sorry, I lied. This was not a quick note at all. Ah well, I hope it was helpful even if it wasn't brief.

Spiced Chocolate Cookies, take 2

You may remember the Spiced Chocolate Cookies I made last Christmas. These are the same cookies, exactly the same. Why change perfection? Seriously though, they are chewy inside, crispy outside and chocolaty wit a kick of spice. The worst thing is that they are addictive...you can't eat just one. Guess it's good that the recipe makes a surprisingly large batch!