Cocoa Brownies

     

It made a ton of brownies because I cut them into little tiny squares to give away, but usually I wouldn't make as many in a pan as are shown in this picture of part of the pan!

This is the final installment of the Christmas cookies.  These cocoa brownies, from the Fat Witch Bakery cookbook, get their chocolatyness from cocoa power rather than chocolate, as the name implies.  They're really good!  I'm a fudgy brownie fan, and these are quite fudgy and dense and very chocolaty.  They are also incredibly easy to make and clean up (you don't need a mixer or even a bowl!).

A few of my cookbooks lament that no one uses cocoa powder anymore.  I personally use it pretty frequently and I have a ton of recipes that call for it, so I'm not sure why they think that.  But if they are right and I'm the exception, I completely agree with them that it is a terrible shame that people don't use it.  My point is, if you see a recipe for something chocolate that calls for cocoa and no other forms of chocolate, don't be turned off.  Try it, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised!

Just to let you know...

As you may have noticed, I've redesigned my blog.  In addition to some reformatting and the new color scheme, I've also added two stand-alone pages.  These pages, one on cookbooks and one on restaurants, can always be accessed from the top navigation bar.  I hope they'll be useful or, at least, interesting!

I addition, I have decided to provide occasional links to Amazon; for example when I mention a cookbook, I will link it to Amazon's page on that book.  I am doing this for two reasons: one, when I really like a cookbook, I'd like to share it with you and this seems to be an easy way to do so; two, I earn a very small amount of money should you click on the link and then buy the book.  I will never link to a book that I have not used or don't like.  Should you want to know more about the cookbook (and my opinion on it) check out my page on cookbooks, where I will be slowly but surely posting about my favorite cookbooks.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake, con't

  

Here's the photo of the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake.  I love that there are chocolate chips in the cake, not just the icing!   Yum!

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake

Happy New Year!

This cake is from the Alice's Tea Cup cookbook.  The full name is "Jean's-Not-Yet-But-Soon-To-Be-Famous Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake."  Back before Alice's Tea Cup franchised and when the sisters (who own and started the store) were often seen in the restaurant, I used to go pretty frequently (I still go plenty, but not as much).  Back then, this cake was spectacular.  Apparently Jean, the owners' mother, actually made the cake at the restaurant when they first opened.  I know this because she told me.  You see, one day when I ordered the cake, I was saying how great it was and a woman at the next table turned around and introduced herself; she was Jean!

As the restaurant got busier and expanded, I'm sorry to say that the cake changed.   It wasn't as moist and the icing didn't have the chocolate chips mixed in it, just a few on top...which meant less icing and less chocolate.

So you can imagine how happy I was when the cookbook came out in time for the holidays and had the recipe in it.  I made it for New Year's Eve and I have to say I was disappointed.  The cake itself came out perfectly, just as I remembered it.  The problem was the icing.  It was too stiff and sugary and I found it very difficult to work with.  And today it started to get oddly dry in some spots and tiny patches of butter started to separate from it.  I think the problem was that there wasn't enough butter in it.  And I think it will be easier to spread (and possibly nicer to eat) with mini chocolate chips in the icing.  I thought I remembered that from the restaurant, but honestly that may have been because they used mini chocolate chips on top after they changed it, I can't remember (it's been years, literally).  Anyway, as disappointed as I am, it was still a great cake and it doesn't pain me to try it again with more butter!

P.S.  I'll upload the photo tomorrow.

Bourbon Currant Cookies

  

Yet another cookie for my Christmas cookie plate.  I really wanted to make something bourbon, but I didn't want a bourbon ball.  So I looked at the indices of a couple cook books and I found these in Martha Stewart's Cookies.  They seemed Christmasy enough and I really like that cookbook, so I didn't mind that I was trying a new recipe in a bit of a time crunch (I had to finish all the plates by Christmas day, and I was making these on the afternoon of the 24th.)

They were very, very good.  However, I think 'cookie' may be a bit misleading.  They were cookies, don't get me wrong, but the dough, the taste, and (to some extent) the texture, were scone-like.  That isn't a complaint, mind you, just an observation.  They were excellent...almost like a boozy scone crossed with a nice butter cookie.  

Coconut Almond Macaroons

Another Christmas cookie.  These are almost like the coconut macaroons I make normally, but with a bit less sugar and some almond extract.  They don't taste too almondy, just a hint of almond comes through.  I personally don't like my macaroons to be too sweet, so I cut way back on the sugar.  (Well, I also cut back on the sugar because I use sweetened coconut, which I think is almost enough sweetness.)

Very soon I'm going to make them with chocolate drizzled on them or perhaps chocolate chips mixed in.  When I do, I'll post the whole recipe, because by then I'll have perfected it.

P.S. No photo for these either, because they look just like the other coconut macaroons I made, and you can see them on the cookie plate.

Cream Cheese Mints, take two

  

Oops, the photo came out quite faded...that's odd, it shouldn't be.

Another Christmas cookie: my cream cheese mints.  I'm not going to write much because I have actually posted the recipe for these already.  You can see it here.

For this batch I used about 5-6 (I think) drops of red food coloring to get the pink color.  Aren't they pretty?!

Gingerbread Christmas Cookies

The first cookie on the plate was gingerbread cookies...a Christmas classic.  I used the same gingerbread dough I used for the Christmas tree cookies to make these.  However, I left off the icing, because I thought they tasted better plain.  To make them I just used the smallest snowflake cutter and made a ton of the 1.5in (or so) diameter cookies.  A perfect size for a cookie plate, I think--they aren't so big as to overwhelm the rest of the cookies, nor are they so small as to get lost.

P.S.  I forgot to take a photo of these separately, sorry.  But you can see them on the plate or the tree (this batch didn't have the holes for hanging, of course).

Christmas Cookies

    

Over the next few days I'll be blogging about the Christmas cookies I made.  You see, every year I make a variety of cookies to give a gifts.  This year I made (clockwise from top), brownies, bourbon currant cookies, my cream cheese mints, gingerbread cookies, and (center) coconut macaroons.  I think that gave a pretty diverse selection of flavors while still keeping in the Christmas-y cookie tradition.  And they looked so nice together too!

Cookies are wonderful to give as gifts (and to receive, I'd imagine).  I just arrange them on a white paper plate and wrap in plastic wrap.  Either I tape the ends of the cling wrap together under the plate or tie them with ribbon on the top (though, that's a bit of a pain because usually you have to use two very long strips of the cling wrap to get the plate wrapped properly, so I don't tend to do it the ribbon way.)

By the way, when picking cookies to put together there are no firm rules (at least that I'm aware of).  I personally like to do one really chocolaty thing, at least one crunchy/crisp cookie, and one soft/chewy cookie.  In addition, I like having one that is slightly unusual and one that is pretty common.  Of course these can overlap...for example a chocolate brownie would be a chocolaty, chewy, and common cookie.  Don't ignore brownies or other bar cookies--cut into small squares, they count as a cookie for the purposes of a cookie plate.  I tend to avoid cookies with nuts unless I'm sure the person I'm giving them doesn't have nut allergies.  I also like to include at least one gluten free thing in case of someone being celiac (though that may just be because I know enough many people who can't eat gluten that now I'm used to making gluten free things.)

Oh Christmas Tree, con't

    

The tree (note all the popcorn and dried cranberry strands in addition to the cookies.)

Here are the promised photos of our Christmas tree and its cookie ornaments!

The gingerbread cookies are some of my favorite gingerbread cookies to eat.  I found the recipe on the food network website by searching "gingerbread cookie ornaments," so I wasn't expecting them to taste great, but they really do!  They were pretty easy to make, but I found that the dough was very finicky and worked best the next day (even though the recipe only said that the dough needed to be chilled for a few hours.)  I found the cookie cutters I used at a Williams-Sonoma outlet.  It's a set of three nesting snowflake shaped cookie cutters (in small, medium and large) and two accent cookie cutters (very small diamond and chevron, to cut out details from the snow flakes.)  They were so much fun to play with because you can make a ton of different, pretty patterns.  

I left some of the gingerbread cookies plain and iced some with royal icing that I sprinkled with sugar while it was still wet.  I found the icing difficult to use, so I ended up doing mainly patterns with dots (which are easy enough).  Honestly, they looked great that way!

Gingerbread ornaments awaiting their icing.

Iced gingerbread cookies.  Aren't they pretty?!

The sugar cookies with "stained glass" windows were made using special cookie cutters (also from Williams-Sonoma, but not the outlet.)  I made the cookies using the recipe that came with the cookie cutters.  The dough (and subsequent cookies) was delicious and actually had cream cheese in it.  I've never seen a sugar cookie recipe that calls for cream cheese and I don't know why--they were amazing!  

The trick is that the cookie cutters, which are shaped like ornaments (with a hole for hanging them and everything) cut out decorative holes that you fill with crushed hard candy.  When they bake, the candy melts and forms a colored sugar window.  They are incredibly tedious to make because you have to be so careful filling the holes just enough, without getting any candy on the cookie, or it will get stained too.  They're worth the effort though, I think.  I mean, they look beautiful on the tree!

A close up of the one of the sugar cookies with "stained glass" windows.

Buttermilk Biscuits

    

This is the last belated Thanksgiving post, I promise. 

I found the recipe on the food network website (as it turns out I now have 2 or 3 buttermilk biscuit recipes from the 9 new cookbooks I got for Chanukah, ah well.)  I'm actually glad I had to search for this recipe, because oh wow they were good!  They were relatively simple to make and they came out perfectly.  They were buttery and flakey and tender and soooo good with cranberry jelly and turkey on them!   

Chocolate Pecan Pie

  

You can actually see the chunks of chocolate and pecans!  (Not to mention, the rich dark chocolaty center...yummy!)

I actually made this for Thanksgiving.  It was VERY good.  If you don't mind (well, even if you do, I suppose) I'm not going to say too much about it, since it's been so long since I made it.

The recipe is from the cookbook Death By Chocolate, so, as one can imagine it was very chocolaty.  The pie crust dough was easy to make and even easier to work with.  The only problem it made too much of the filling and then the filling that did fit in the pie shell puffed up insanely in the oven.  It wasn't supposed to look like a quasi-souffle, but it tasted wonderful, so who cares!

Oh, by the way, I was able to make it the day before and let it chill overnight (which the recipe recommended) so I didn't have to worry about using the oven on Thanksgiving day, which was very nice.

Chocolate, Orange, Chestnut Trifle, con't

   

Sorry, the color came out oddly faded when I uploaded the photo...I have no idea why...

Here's the photo of my chocolate, orange, chestnut trifle.  Doesn't it look wonderful?  I love the orange zest on top (not my idea, Giada suggested it in the recipe).  Yummmmmmm.

Oh Christmas Tree

I did something insane this year.  I talked my mom into decorating our 8-foot Christmas tree/Chanukah bush with cookies instead of real ornaments.  This entailed making an insane amount of cookie ornaments. It took a LONG time.  But it was worth it...the tree looks amazing!

I'll put up individual posts about the different cookies I made, but here's an overview:

I made gingerbread snow flakes (with the coolest cookie cutters ever).  Some with royal icing, some without.  And hung them with cream ribbon.  I also made sugar cookies in ornament shapes with 'stained glass windows' (with the second coolest cookie cutters ever).  I used green and red candy to make nice christmasy windows.  I hung them on deep brown ribbon to contrast with light cookie (and with the dark gingerbread/cream ribbon ornaments).

I'll post more about the cookies and photos of the tree soon, but I'm tired tonight, so you'll just have to wait until tomorrow!

Chocolate, Orange, Chestnut Trifle

I saw this recipe on Giada de Laurentiis' cooking show and thought, "I have to make this for Thanksgiving."  So I did!

I used my pound cake instead of store bought, but other than that I followed her recipe (with the slight exception of not having enough orange liquor and having to use part liquor part simple syrup, rather than one or the other like she says).  I've only made one other dessert of hers and it didn't come out great, so I was slightly hesitant, but this was wonderful!  It came out perfectly.  And it was relatively straight forward, albeit a little tedious, to make.  Perhaps the best thing is, if you make the cake in advance or buy it, it doesn't use the oven so you don't have to worry about timing it around the turkey!

Basically, it is a layer of pound cake soaked with orange liquor or simple syrup (or, in my case, both), then a layer of chestnut whipped cream, a layer of imbibed pound cake, a layer of chocolate-orange whipped cream/mousse, cake, chestnut, cake, chocolate.  Yum.

As for the taste, my mom and pops loved it.  I really liked it but, as it turns out, I'm not a huge fan of chestnuts.  I'd only had them once before in a dish with green beans, brussel sprouts (which I hate) and chunks of pancetta, and I liked them, but I think they were rather disguised by wonderful flavor of the pancetta.  I digress.  Still the orange and chocolate and pound cake was incredible together.  And I didn't mind the chestnut layers, I just wasn't crazy about them.  I may have to make this again without the chestnuts.  Perhaps I'll substitute orange whipped cream.  Or better yet, just use more of the incredible chocolate-orange mousse.  I'll let you know if I do!

By the way, I'll post a photo soon, I promise.

Pound Cake

Ok, this is a belated Thanksgiving post...sorry it's sooo belated!

This is the same pound cake I made last year.  It's very, very good and not overly difficult.  So I figured, why mess with things on a holiday...I should just stick with what I know will work.  As anticipated, it worked and was as good as I remembered!

I did add a bit extra orange zest, because I made it to go in an orange, chocolate, chestnut trifle (which I'll post soon).  I'm going to spoil the surprise a little:  the pound cake worked perfectly in the trifle!  (Of course, last year it worked perfectly in the New Year's Eve Trifle, which, albeit, was very different.)

I'm not going to post a photo.  If you want to see what it looked like check out old "homemade pound cake" post.  They look exactly the same!

Coconut Macaroons, take two

    

I made these at the same day I made the chocolate rice crispy brittle to bring to my class...both recipes are gluten-free, dairy-free and nut-free so they are perfect to bring into class (since pretty much every one can eat them).

They are the same coconut macaroons I made quite some time ago.  I just didn't dip them in chocolate this time.  They were very good, even without the chocolate.  And, since my oven is working properly, they got nice and golden on the edges.

Chocolate Rice Crispy Brittle, con't

     

Here's the photo of the chocolate rice crispy brittle...it doesn't do them justice!

Chocolate Rice Crispy Brittle

Yes, I know the name sounds odd...  They were meant to be chocolate rice crispy treats (from Francois Payard's cookbook) but I did something wrong and they set too hard during the cooling phase.  I think it was either that the marshmallows were a little stale or that I over mixed them causing the marshmallows causing them to harden into candy.  Either way, I had to soften the whole thing in the oven and spread it out in a thin layer on a baking sheet.  When it hardened again, I broke it into chunks (like you can with peanut brittle or candy of that nature).

Let me just say, I am really glad they didn't come out right, because they were amazing!!  They were intensely chocolaty (they have cocoa and melted semi-sweet chocolate in them)  and not overly sweet.  I brought some into class and they were very popular, so this isn't just me thinking it was good...there seemed to be a consensus.

P.S. I'll post a photo later tonight.

Cranberry Pecan Rye Bread, con't, con't

I'm back!  I survived the end of the semester craze and I'm ready to blog.  I actually have been baking, just not writing about it, so I have some catching up to do.

In any case, I'm finally going to tell you about the bread I made.

It was amazing!  I've never made bread and, as it turns out, it isn't scary, it's so much fun.  I admit it has it's dull moments...I'm not terribly patient and you have to wait so long for it to rise, but that's OK, it's worth it!

The recipe, from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, was very easy to follow and relatively simple.  The only problem was, the instant yeast didn't wake up properly when I followed her directions to activate it, so I wasted 2 packets of yeast and some time.  Then I had to follow the yeast's instructions on how to activate it, which worked perfectly, but meant I had to modify the bread recipe (because I had to dissolve the yeast in less water than she called for and some sugar.)  Ah well, it all worked out.

The bread was great.  It was the perfect rye bread, soft on the inside, chewy on the outside.  The cranberries and pecans were incredible in it.  And I really liked the maldon sea salt on top, though I think there was a little too much.