Category: Desserts/Pastries

Desserts/Pastries

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes filled with Dulce de Leche

The Culinary Chronicles24 Comments

After making the “Easy-Peasy Dulce de Leche” via my crock pot for the honey, I was set on using the ooey-gooey goodness in a cupcake for him, too. I chose a simple cake to compliment the sweet Dulce de Leche and made a quick butter cream frosting flavored with even more of the Dulce de Leche to top the cuppies. By making mini cuppies, per his preference, he could pop one in his mouth from time to time to enjoy without having to commit to a whole cupcake. But in the end, he had so many minis I should have just made a whole cake for him! Nonetheless, I was so pleased that he loved them.

I think what added to the overall product was my choice of boosting the vanilla flavor of the cake as I find that vanilla pairs so well with caramel. I adapted Elinor Klivan’s Vanilla Cupcake recipe by substituting the plain granulated sugar with some vanilla bean sugar I had made earlier in the week. I also added the seeds of an entire Tahitian vanilla bean pod into the batter. It was quite pretty to see all the speckles of the vanilla bean in the batter, too.

The bf and I were VERY happy with the end results of these cuppies and I can’t wait to make them again! If you or if you know of someone who loves all things vanilla (or caramel-like), try out these cuppies and let me know if you liked them as much as we did!

Check out all those pretty speckles of vanilla bean

Mini-cuppies hot out of the oven

Using a #13 Wilton Open Star Tip, fill the mini cupcakes with Dulce de Leche.

Happy minis full of Dulce de Leche

Using a #17 Wilton Open Star Tip, pipe a decorative pattern with the frosting. I sprinkled some pearl nonpareil candies on top of a few, too.

Inside peek of a cuppie.

I made one full sized cupcake since I had a little more batter left over at the end. I had fun piping all these stars on top…. 🙂

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Vanilla Bean Cupcakes filled with Dulce de Leche

Ingredients:

Vanilla Bean Cupcakes (Adapted from Elinor Klivans)
1 ¼ Cups All Purpose Flour
½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
¼ Teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1 Cup Vanilla Sugar*
½ Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
1 Tablespoon Good Quality Vanilla Extract
Seeds from 1 Vanilla Bean Pod
½ Cup Sour Cream
*Dulce de Leche (see previous post)

*Vanilla Sugar
Take the scraped Vanilla Bean Pod and bury into one cup of granulated sugar. Cover for a minimum of 5 days, stirring every other day.

Dulce de Leche Buttercream Frosting
3 to 4 Cups Confectioners Sugar (sifted)
½ Cup Unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 to 3 Tablespoons Dulce de Leche

Preheat the oven to 350°degrees and place paper liners in pans.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a standing mixer, beat the eggs and sugar together until light and creamy for about 2 minutes. Add the butter, vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla extract. Mix until well incorporated. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients until well blended. Fold in sour cream until smooth and well incorporated.

Fill each lined cup ½ to 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 10-12 minutes (for mini cupcakes), rotating halfway between baking time. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. Cool completely in pans on top of a wire rack.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare frosting. In a large mixer bowl, whip the butter for several minutes until very light and fluffy. Slowly add the confectioners sugar until the butter becomes thicker and stiff. Add the Dulce de Leche and whip until combined. If needed, add a few more spoons of confectioners sugar until desired consistency is reached.

When cupcakes are thoroughly cooled, fill a piping bag with a small tip and the Dulce de Leche. Carefully insert the tip into the cupcake and slowly fill each cake with desired amount.

Fill another piping bag with the prepared Dulce de Leche frosting. Frost and decorate the cupcakes.

ENJOY!

Breakfast/Brunch · Desserts/Pastries

Ginger Scones

The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

Years ago my sister came home with a DELISH scone recipe. Truth be told, before that, I didn’t even know I liked scones. I had thought this traditional British quick-bread was always too dry and lacked substance. That is, until I tried these. 🙂

Nancy Silverton of the La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles, California has created these killer Ginger Scones that are perfectly flaky, somewhat fluffy, and are further accentuated by the candied ginger. L-O-V-E them! It’s quickly been adopted by my entire family and is my go-to when hosting folks over for brunch or for any goodie basket.

Give these a try. They’re so easy and tasty that you’ll love them, too!

Chopping the Candied Ginger

 

Golden Beauties out of the oven

 

All that’s missing is a steaming hot cup of coffee…or tea if you want to go traditional. 🙂

 

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Ginger Scones
From Nancy Silverton‘s Pastries of the La Brea Bakery
Makes 8-12  Scones (Depending on size of each scone)
Special item: 3-inch round cutter

Ingredients:

2¼ Cups All Purpose Flour
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest
1½ Sticks (6 ounces) Unsalted Butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
4½ Ounces Candied Ginger, finely chopped into 1/4-inch pieces to equal 2/3 cup
¾ Cup Heavy Cream, plus extra for brushing the tops of the scones

Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder, and pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the lemon zest and butter, and pulse on and off, or mix on low, untl the mixture is pale yellow and the consistency of fine meal.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and stir in the ginger. Make a well in the center and pour in the cream. Using one hand, draw in the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined.

Wash and dry your hands and dust them with flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead a few times to gather it into a ball. Roll or pat the dough into a circle about 3/4 inch thick. Cut out the circles, cutting as closely together as possible and keeping the trimmings intact.

Gather the scraps, pat and press the pieces back together, and cut out the remaining dough. Place the scones 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Brush the tops with the remaining cream.

Bake for 12 to 16 minutes, until the surface cracks and they are slightly browned.

Desserts/Pastries

“Easy-Peasy” Dulce de Leche

The Culinary Chronicles23 Comments

Here’s the thing. I heart my Honey. And when you heart someone AND you love to cook/bake, you usually try to find ways to make things that they heart eating.

And one of the things that he loves is caramel……in fact, all things caramel-like. In the past, I’ve made him caramel candy, caramel cupcakes, flan with TONS of caramelized sugar, etc., etc. I was running out of ideas until I stumbled upon the Cupcake Project’s post a few weeks ago on Dulce de Leche.

True, Dulce de Leche differs from Caramel. Caramel is typically sugar cooked down (with or without a tad of water, depending on your preferred method). Often it’s “stopped” with cream or butter if you’re using it as a sauce. Dulce de Leche is a heavily sweetened milk that is slowly cooked down. Different in approach but both have very similar flavor profiles. And I knew the BF would love either I made.

But what caught my eye was the cooking method described by the Cupcake Project. Usually recipes for Dulce de Leche are extremely time intensive, cooking large amounts of milk and sugar down—while needing to carefully keep an eye out to not scorch or burn the mixture. All this method required was a can of condensed milk and a crock pot. Seriously…it was a Set It–And–Forget It situation. Heck–I can do that! And BAM–8 hours later, I was opening a decadent and luscious can of Dulce de Leche. And the options are limitless for what one can do with Dulce de Leche. This particular can was going towards some cupcakes I was working on.

Do I recommend people trying it? Heck Yes! It was SO easy! I will definitely be doing it again. Placed in an airtight container, the Dulce de Leche can be stored in your fridge for up to a month. But trust me….it won’t make it past a few days. But then again, I live with a “Love All Things Caramel” monster 🙂

Take a can (or two, or three) of condensed milk. Remove the label and COMPLETELY submerge under water in a crock pot. Set on low heat.

8 hours later…and it’s ready!

Carefully remove from the crock pot.

Wipe can clean.

Slowly open the can and watch the ooey-gooey goodness creep out 🙂

Carefully stir to eliminate any accumulated lumps and you’re all set!!!

Seriously, it doesn’t get any easier than that 🙂

Desserts/Pastries

A.B.’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Culinary Chronicles5 Comments

Some things just don’t get old…..

For me, that list includes my Jack Johnson albums, watching “The Breakfast Club”,  Foster Farm Chicken Commercials, and perusing through the Sunday morning Target ads. Oh, and of course, Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Very few things beat the beautiful aromas of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies 🙂

So, when one of my Besties was driving through town on a road trip with her family, I thought I would pack them a little basket of snacks that would include a few cookies. If anything, I thought it would occupy her beautiful little daughter on the car ride down to the aquariums, too.

Now, everyone has their texture preference of a chocolate chip cookie. I prefer the slightly crunchy outside and chewy interior—with of course, TONS of ooey-gooey chips! I initially wanted to give the NY Times Best Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe a go but quite frankly, didn’t have the extra 24 hours to age the dough. Eh, there’s always next time.

I decided to give our boy, Alton Brown’s, recipe a try. With over 600+ reviews and a title of “chewy”, I figured it couldn’t be bad.

And it wasn’t.

That Alton. He always gets me. 🙂

True to form, crispy on the outside—chewy on the inside. With two…count them, TWO cups of chocolate chips. Mmmm….

A few things to note:

  • I didn’t have Bread Flour on hand, so per Joy of Baking, I substituted with All Purpose Flour. Not exact but the ratios are pretty close.
  • I had wanted to add a little Fleur de Sel over the cookies before they baked but had run out. So, I used a bit of course Kosher Salt but since it’s flaked—it melted into the cookie too much. Meh, now I know better 🙂
  • Although the recipe said you can get 2½ dozen cookies, I only got 20. Pretty typical results for me actually—I never get the amount recipes quote.

And of course, while you enjoy them, don’t forget an extra large and icy glass of milk. 🙂

Cheers!

A shower of chocolate chips

I like to use an ice cream scooper for nice, round cookies

6 will fit on one Silpat covered baking sheet

These cookies took about 12 minutes–turning the sheet once half way through the baking time

Mmmm….Cookies….

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Alton Brown
Makes 20 Cookies

Ingredients
2 Sticks Unsalted Butter
2¼ Cups Bread Flour
1 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
¼ Cup Sugar
1¼ Cups Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 Egg Yolk
2 Tablespoons Milk
1½ Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Cups Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

And to make them EXTRA special, package them in clear bags with a pretty little ribbon

Desserts/Pastries

Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Toffee Brownies

The Culinary Chronicles1 Comment

 

There are very few American desserts in my opinion that are more iconic than the brownie (yeah-yeah….some would say Apple Pie but that’s just too cliche 🙂 )

Now the texture of a Brownie can truly vary from one person to the next. Some prefer the cake-like approach, whereas I enjoy the dense-chewy brownie. I also love the crunchy bits that the corner squares offer—mmm, good!

So, when the BF and I decided to make a triple feature at the drive-in movies one evening, I immediately began whipping up a batch of brownies to pack with us. I decided to kick up my “go-to” milk chocolate brownie batter by adding some toffee chips and peanut butter. Because as my girl Ina Garten would say, “How bad could that be?” 🙂

And they were OH-SO-GOOD!! Gooey, chocolatey, decadent…..and the bits of toffee added such a great texture. I’m wondering why I didn’t think of this earlier! But at least we’ve got it now and I’m more than happy to share the goodness.

So friends, pour yourself a nice icy-cold glass of milk and tuck into one of these brownies. You won’t regret it! 🙂

 

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Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Toffee Brownies
Makes 9, 3 inch Brownies

Ingredients:
½ Cup Unsalted butter
1½ Cups Milk Chocolate Chips, plus ¼ Cup reserved (I used Ghirardelli Chips)
½ Cup Toffee Chips
½ Cup Smooth Peanut Butter, plus1Tablespoon Water
¾ Cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
½ Tablespoon Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
¾ Cup All-Purpose Flour
1 Tablespoon Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
¼ Teaspoon Salt
¼ Teaspoon Baking Powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper for easy removal. Cover parchment paper with cooking spray.

In a heatproof bowl, melt butter and 1½ cups milk chocolate chips in the microwave until smooth. Do this in 20 second intervals, stirring in between to ensure that you do not scorch the chocolate. Cool the chocolate mixture until room temperature. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until mixture is glossy and smooth.

Whisk together remaining ingredients and combine with chocolate mixture. Stir in remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips and toffee chips. Spread batter evenly in pan. Mix peanut butter and water in a heatproof bowl. Microwave for 15 seconds to thoroughly incorporate both ingredients. Drizzle peanut butter mixture on top of the brownie batter. Using the tip of a pairing knife, create swirls of the peanut butter. Do not over mix, as you want to keep the peanut butter visible.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes up mostly clean.  Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes and cut into 3 inch squares.

 

Breakfast/Brunch · Desserts/Pastries

Blueberry-Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake

The Culinary Chronicles10 Comments

My dear co-worker’s birthday was coming up and as her assigned “birthday buddy”, I was in charge of bringing in a cake to our staff meeting to celebrate her fabulousness. Since I knew she had a chocolate cake for her festivities at home, I was sure that I wanted to bake her something sans-chocolate. Lucky for me, our Meyer Lemon tree was filled with ripe lemons for the picking so I opted for a fruit-citrus cake.

I turned to my gal, Martha Stewart, for some inspiration. Since our staff meetings are in the morning, I opted for a bundt cake that makes you feel better about eating sweets in the morning since it “looks” more “breakfast-like”. I know…not really–but work with me here 🙂

I settled on Martha’s Blueberry Lemon Bundt Cake, with of course, a few tweaks. For the batter, I added fresh meyer lemon juice to kick up the bright citrus flavor. I also thought the cake was a bit “naked” and created a light glaze to cover the tops. Incidentally, I hadn’t greased the pan thoroughly so the glaze acted as the perfect “cover up” to my imperfections. Also, if you don’t have fresh blueberries, use frozen ones like I did. Just be sure not to defrost them before use—just toss the frozen ones directly with the zest and flour before folding into the batter. 🙂

A few quick suggestions to a successful cake:

  1. Generously and THOROUGHLY cover your bundt pan with cooking spray. I thought I had but clearly I hadn’t done enough when I inverted the cake later. Yikes!
  2. It’s really important to cool the cake in the pan for some time. Trying to flip it too early could cause tears and sticking since the cake hasn’t fully set yet.
  3. I used Meyer Lemons in my recipe which may vary if you use regular lemons. Meyer lemons tend to be juicier and less tart than the more commonly found ones, so adjust accordingly to your preference.
  4. If you glaze the bundt cake, be sure to wait until the cake has fully cooled or the glaze will soak into the cake versus “glazing” it.

Overall, I think the birthday gal and my co-workers enjoyed the cake. The citrus gave a light flavor which was further accented by the berries. The sour cream also assisted in the moist texture. Next time you’re looking for an alternative to a chocolate cake, give this Lemon Bundt Cake a try 🙂

After creaming the butter and sugars.

Tossing the blueberries with zest and flour.

Inverting the bundt cake. EEKS! Clearly, not enough cooking spray!

No problem–that’s where glazes act as a tasty cover up to any imperfections!

 

 

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Blueberry-Meyer Lemon Bundt Cake
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

For Cake:
2½ Cups All-Purpose Flour, plus 1 teaspoon for blueberries and zest
2 Teaspoons Baking Powder
½ Teaspoon Salt
1 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 Cup packed Light-Brown Sugar
1 Cup Granulated Sugar
4 Large Eggs
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 Tablespoons Meyer Lemon Juice
1 Cup Sour Cream
2 Cups Blueberries
2 Tablespoons Grated Meyer Lemon Zest
Nonstick cooking spray, for pan

For Glaze:
¼ Cup Meyer Lemon Juice
2 Cups Confectioner’s Sugar (*add more for thicker glaze)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 2 1/2 cups flour with baking powder and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars on high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in vanilla and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of sour cream.

In a bowl, toss blueberries and zest with remaining teaspoon flour; gently fold into batter. Coat a 12-cup nonstick Bundt pan with cooking spray. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake cake on bottom rack of oven until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes. Invert onto a rack; cool completely, top side up.

While cake is cooling, whisk lemon juice and confectioner sugar to create glaze. Mix until all the sugar has dissolved and there are no longer lumps. When the cake has completely cooled, drizzle glaze over the cake.

Serve and enjoy!

Desserts/Pastries

Happy St. Paddy’s Day: Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes w/ Baileys Ganache

The Culinary Chronicles13 Comments

Happy St. Patrick’s Day Friends!

It’s true, I’m not of Irish descent..…but this Vietnamese Gal considers herself an equal-holiday opportunist and jumps at the chance for all festivities. And who couldn’t use a bit more luck in their lives? 🙂

So when a friend had suggested making Guinness cupcakes awhile ago—I thought I would take a spin with them for this particular holiday. Plus, some of my favorite foodie bloggers have been reviving this tasty treat—and who am I not to trust their judgment? 🙂

After much research, I settled on Smitten Kitchen’s “Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes” recipe as I liked the idea of the ganache filling. I substituted Baileys for the Irish Whiskey in the ganache since I had none on hand and didn’t want to pick up a small bottle for the few teaspoons. (Though, I’m sure I could have found some type of use for it!)

The results? P.D.G.—Pretty Darn Good! Seriously! I was a bit concerned that the Guinness would leave a bitter taste to the cuppie—as it usually leaves that flavor on my palette from just a sip. But the other ingredients must have mellowed that flavor out and instead, left a beautifully moist and flavorful end product. The ganache was fabulous too—and quite easy to make. Extremely rich and “truffle-like” in texture and flavor.My only critique was the frosting, although I may be bias as I typically prefer a cream cheese base. Although the Baileys was a great addition, I found the frosting too sweet–even by cutting the confectioner sugar amount in half. Next time, I’ll stick with the cream cheese base 🙂

Also, at the next go-around, I may add Baileys Mint Chocolate Cream liquor to the ganache and some mint extract to the cakes for a different spin. Mint Chocolate is one of my favorite combos 🙂

Overall–quite a knockout cupcake. Rest assured, I’ll definitely make this one again!!!

So to all my peeps out there –Wishing you a very Happy St. Patrick’s Day filled with luck and tasty cupcakes!

Measure out 1 Cup of Guinness–or your preferred Stout Beer

Bring to a simmer with 1 Cup of Unsalted Butter

Whisk in 3/4 Cup of Cocoa Powder

Line your cupcake pans with paper cups. I chose these cute green-striped greaseproof ones to add the festivities 🙂

Fill liners 3/4 filled with cupcake batter

Bake at 350 degrees. Mine took 19 minutes and were cooled on racks for 30 minutes.

Time to prep the ganache!

Chop up the 8 ounces of chocolate while waiting for the cream to simmer

Of course I added a bit of Baileys to the ganache 🙂

I used a cookie cutter to create a little “bed” for the ganache 🙂

I enlisted the help of a pairing knife to pop out the stubborn pieces 🙂

Using a Wilton #12 Round Tip, pipe ganache in the centers

Happy little Baileys Ganache filled cuppies

Pipe or Ice the cuppies with your Baileys Buttercream

I used a Wilton #4B Star tip for my swirls and added little shamrock sprinkles for extra luck 🙂

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Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Baileys Ganache
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:

Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 Cup Guinness Stout
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
¾ Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Ghirardelli)
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1½  Teaspoons Baking Soda
¾ Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs
⅔ Cup Sour Cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate (I used Godiva)
⅔ Cup Heavy Cream
2 Tablespoons Butter, room temperature
1 to 2 Teaspoons Baileys Cream (optional)

Baileys Frosting
3 to 4 Cups Confections Sugar
½ Cup Unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 Tablespoons Baileys
1 Teaspoon of Green Food Coloring (optional)
**I doubled this recipe to make enough to pipe large swirls on the cupcakes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.

Make the cupcakes: Put the butter with the beer in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer. Whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In a mixer bowl, beat the eggs and the sour cream together. Add the beer/butter/cocoa mixture and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture and beat briefly just to combine. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined, making sure to incorporate little pockets of flour on the bottom so that the batter is of equal consistency everywhere.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way if you want flatter cupcakes and 3/4 if you want domed. Bake for about 17 minutes, or until a toothpick or a slim knife inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool completely to room temperature.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped. Using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. I went about half to 2/3 of the way down and used a small knife to help me extract the centers. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: In a large mixer bowl, whip the butter for several minutes until very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, letting it incorporate, until the butter becomes thicker and stiff (you will know when this happens). Slowly drizzle the Bailey’s (or milk or cream or a combination thereof) and whip until combined. Add green food coloring to desired hue. Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

Note: Smitten Kitchen gave a great tip about slowly adding the confectioner sugar to have a less grainy texture. It also required less sugar in the end. By sifting the sugar and using Smitten Kitchen’s suggestion, I ended up only using 4 cups of confectioner sugar for a double batch. That’s half than what was listed—and even then I felt it was a bit too sweet.

Sneak peak inside the cuppies. The Baileys Ganache was really yummy and tasted like Truffles!

Desserts/Pastries

Valentine’s Dinner…The Sequel

The Culinary Chronicles6 Comments

Our travels to New York left us quite weary and in need of some substantial rest. With that said, the BF still managed to take his gal out for a romantic Valentine’s Dinner—the same lovely spot that we had celebrated our 1st Valentine’s Day 4 years before. 🙂 What a sweetie.

A few days later, I decided to pull together dinner to reciprocate the love and extend the Valentine’s Day celebrations. I admit my final entrée wasn’t exactly what I had in mind at first. In fact, I had hoped to try my hand at a crispy duck breast but after 5 stores later (which included poultry shops and specialty stores) I was left “duckless”. Who knew duck would be so hard to find—especially non-frozen ones? I’ll definitely have to plan a week ahead next time. 🙂

I settled on making a rack of lamb but served it with a side dish that I hadn’t used before—polenta. After all, my 2010 Foodie Goal was to cook with an ingredient that I had never previously used…..and for February, it was polenta.  As opposed to our regular lamb chops preparation, I went with a traditional marinade of rosemary-garlic-lemon zest & juice-olive oil. I was hoping this brighter flavor would compliment the sautéed mushroom medley and polenta cakes.  (The latter was inspired by my dear cousin—author of Nutrition to Kitchen).

But I believe the star of the evening was dessert…..a Dark Chocolate Torte with a Cabernet-Berry Coulis. Rich, decadent, divine, and just screamed of Valentine’s after plating. Hey, I needed to pull out the big guns since I couldn’t produce the duck. 🙂

The results? I believe the BF was very happy with our dinner—particularly with dessert as he kept on repeating, “This is craaaazzzyyy….”. I took that for “crazy good” than “crazy bad” as he had a second helping of dessert. 🙂

Lessons learned from this dinner:
1) When attempting something “special” or out of the ordinary, plan ahead;
2) When things don’t go as planned, don’t be afraid to quickly jump to Plan B;
3) Chocolate and Wine makes EVERYTHING better;
4) Don’t wait for only Valentine’s Day to show someone you love how much you care about them.

Here’s to 365 Days of Valentine’s Celebration!

*Note: I’ve only included my preparation of the Dark Chocolate Torte with the Cabernet-Berry Coulis as this was the extra special component to dinner 🙂

Rosemary-Lemon Rack of Lamb with Sauteed Mushroom Medley and Crispy Polenta Cakes

Dark Chocolate Torte with Cabernet-Berry Coulis

Dark Chocolate Torte with a Cabernet-Berry Coulis
Ingredients:

Dark Chocolate Torte
1 2/3 Cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli)
1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips (I used Ghirardelli)
1 Cup Unsalted Butter
1/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (I used Ghirardelli)
2 Teaspoons Instant Espresso Powder
5 Large Eggs
1 Cup Granulated Sugar

Cabernet-Berry Coulis
3 Cups Frozen Mixed Berries (Blackberries, Raspberries, Blueberries)
1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/3 Cup Cabernet Sauvignon
1 Teaspoon Lemon Zest

Preheat oven to 350° degrees. Using a 9-inch spring form pan, generously cover the bottom and sides with cooking spray and line bottom with parchment paper. In a microwave safe bowl, melt chocolate chips with butter in 20-30 second intervals in the microwave. Be sure to stir the chocolate between each interval and be careful to not burn the chocolate as different ovens vary in temperature. Melt and stir until smooth. Whisk in cocoa and espresso and cool for 15 minutes.

In a stand mixer, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until extremely thick. I did this for about 8-9 minutes. Gently fold in chocolate mixture and be careful not to deflate egg mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake torte until tester inserted into center comes out with some moist batter attached, about 40 minutes. Don’t be alarmed if it looks cracked. Cool in pan on rack for at least 1 hour—the center of the torte will drop. Using a long thin knife, run blade along the sides of the pan to assist in releasing the cake and remove sides. Place plate on top of torte and flip onto plate. Remove pan bottom and peel off parchment paper. Continue to cool at room temperature.

While torte is cooling, place all coulis ingredients in a medium sized, heavy saucepan. Simmer on medium-low until berries have broken down and the wine has cooked off. Approximately 10-15 minutes. Let cool.

To serve, slice torte into wedges and spoon coulis on top.

**Use the highest quality chocolates and cocoa powder when possible. This will add to the intensity of flavor to your final product.

Desserts/Pastries

Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

The Culinary Chronicles20 Comments

 

I’ve been on a serious coconut kick lately…..I don’t know. Maybe it’s my inner-self willing for the warm weather of the tropics during this chilly winter. 🙂

I decided to give Martha Stewart’s recipe for Coconut Cupcakes a spin. She actually has two posted on her website but I opted for this particular one since it didn’t require egg white/meringue. I’m lazy sometimes….guilty as charged 🙂  I did slightly tweak her recipe a bit to add more coconut flavor and ended up frosting it with my Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting.

After I had pulled them out of the oven and set them on racks to cool, I became somewhat alarmed as a few of the sides of the cakes began pulling from their liners. Eh…oh well. That’s what frosting is for, right? But after one bite–I was SOLD! I LOVED this cupcake. Somewhat dense in texture (perhaps from the coconut milk?) and infused with wonderful coconut flavor! Since I opted for a simple frost versus piping the frosting, it was not the least bit over sweet. YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY!

This one will definitely be kept in my favorites folder. I hope you enjoy it, too! 🙂

 

The Coconut Milk that I used

Light layer of frosting after the cupcakes have thoroughly cooled. No fancy piping this time 🙂

Dipping the cupcakes in the Shredded Coconut

Make sure to thoroughly cover the cupcakes

And VOILA! Delicious Coconut Cupcakes 🙂

 

 

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Coconut Cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 20 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes
1¾ Cups all-purpose flour
2 Teaspoons baking powder
½ Teaspoon salt
½ Cup packed sweetened shredded coconut
6 Ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 Cups sugar
2 Large eggs plus 2 large egg whites
¾  Cup unsweetened coconut milk
1½ Teaspoons vanilla extra
1½ Teaspoons coconut extract (Martha uses vanilla extract only)

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
16 Ounces of Cream Cheese at room temperature
8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter at room temperature
5 -6 Cups Confectioner Sugar (varies due to preferred frosting consistency)
1 Tablespoon Coconut Extract
1 Tablespoon Unsweetened Coconut Milk
*2 Cups Sweetened Shredded Coconut to top cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add shredded coconut to flour mixture. Cream butter and sugar with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition.

Reduce speed to low. Mix any remaining wet ingredients in a bowl if needed. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with wet ingredients and ending with dry. Scrape sides of bowl. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes until testers inserted into centers come out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks.

While cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add coconut extract, coconut milk and then gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar, ½ cup at a time. Continue adding sugar to desire consistency. (I used only 5 cups this time since I didn’t need the frosting to be as firm as when I pipe it). Refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before use.

Frost cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting. Liberally cover each cake with the shredded sweetened coconut.

ENJOY!

They are JUST as tasty in Mini Cupcakes form, too 🙂

Desserts/Pastries

How to make a little boy smile….

The Culinary Chronicles15 Comments

With Cupcakes and Transformers!

Well, at least that’s the method I used recently for the BF’s nephew. 🙂  The little man was celebrating the BIG NUMBER 4 so I wanted to bring him something special to add to his birthday festivities. Over the holidays, the BF recalled “D” really enjoying a traditional chocolate cupcake with white frosting, topped with coconut. With that in mind, I set out to make the little man a cupcake that would reflect those flavors while featuring his favorite thing–TRANSFORMERS!

Using Martha Stewart’s Devil’s Food Cupcake Recipe for the base, I added my twist by using a Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting to give that extra “oompf” of coconut flavor.

Fill the lined cupcake pans 3/4 way full.

The wonderful Vanilla my co-worker brought back for me from Mexico. I used it for the first time in this batter 🙂

The cupcakes hot from the oven. This took 19 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

The frosted cupcakes waiting for their coconut shower. I know that I didn’t have to pipe them since it would be covered in shredded coconut but hey–I rarely pass up the chance to practice my piping 🙂

Liberally covering the cupcakes with shredded coconut.

Now add your favorite candy decorations—in this case, the Autobots and Decepticons…..

And there you have it–a recipe for a 4 Year Old Boy’s Smile! 🙂

They were so cute, I had to include another shot of them 🙂

Incidentally, I did consider using themed cupcake liners instead of the candies but when I tried a batch, I found that they weren’t greaseproof. Because of the amount of butter in the batter, it left the liners completely oily and unattractive. In other words, No Bueno. I opted to go for my traditional foil liners and use the candies. (Note: In the photo above, I added another liner to the cupcake after it cooled to hide the grease marks.)

Overall I think the little man enjoyed them–so I deem it a successful mission.  AUTOBOTS, Roll Out! 🙂

Devil’s Food Cupcakes
Adapted from Martha Stewart
Makes 24 Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcake Batter
¾ Cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Ghirardelli)
¾ Cup hot water
3 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon baking powder
1 ¼ Teaspoons coarse salt
1 ½ Cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 ¼ Cups sugar
4 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 Cup sour cream, room temperature
2 Cups shredded sweetened coconut (to cover cupcakes)

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting
16 Ounces of Cream Cheese at room temperature
8 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter at room temperature
5½ -6 Cups Confectioner Sugar (varies due to preferred frosting consistency)
1 Tablespoon Coconut Extract
*2 Cups Sweetened Shredded Coconut to top cupcakes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Whisk together cocoa and hot water until smooth. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter with sugar in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Remove from heat, and pour into a mixing bowl. With an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat until mixture is cooled, 4 to 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add vanilla, then cocoa mixture, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the sour cream, and beating until just combined after each.

Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three- quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool 15 minutes; turn out cupcakes onto racks and let cool completely. Cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen up to 2 months, in airtight containers.

While cupcakes are baking, prepare the frosting. In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter until fluffy.  Add coconut extract and then gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar, ½ cup at a time. Continue adding sugar to desire consistency. (I typically lean towards the full 6 cups for a firmer consistency to pipe the frosting). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before use.

Frost cupcakes with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting. Liberally cover each cake with the shredded sweetened coconut and top with your choice of decorations.

ENJOY!