TWD: chocolate oatmeal drops

Wow...I have been a bad blogger lately.  And things have been so crazy that I'm quite confused about the days.  I finally got a moment to sit down w/my google reader and saw a TWD post.   My thought was "Oh yeah, that's tomorrow...I guess I could go ahead and schedule my post so it will be up first thing in the morning..."  Then I kept scrolling through reader and saw two more TWD posts--oh crap!  Today IS Tuesday!  So here, even though I baked the cookies five whole days in advance, I am posting towards the end of the day. 

 I made these cookies Friday evening when several of my sweet Bible study girls came to hang out and watch movies :).  They are very much like a brownie in cookie form, and were great warm from the oven, but I must say that I wasn't sure about the oatmeal in them.  I felt kinda like the oatmeal was an add-in like chocolate chips...but to me oatmeal isn't quite special enough to be the special addition to a cookie.  I think maybe I would have liked them better w/more oatmeal or w/chocolate chips instead.  We ate some and then I sent the rest on w/my sister to a friend from high school who has recently had a loss in his family.  I think chocolate cookies are perfect for sad hearts!

For the recipe you can either flip to page 75 of Baking from My Home to Yours (which I know you bought after seeing all the TWD posts right?  right?  well, you should!)  Or you can head over to Caroline & Claire's blog: Bake with Us where they posted the recipe. 

Oh yeah, and when I was really sick a few weeks ago, I actually did make the Great Grains muffins picked by Christine of Happy Tummy, but I never got around to posting about them--or eating all of them for that matter.  Made them on Feb. 1 and took this picture of the remaining muffins yesterday (didn't finish them--they went in the trash after their photo shoot).  They were ok, but I left them completely plain b/c hubs doesn't do fruit or nuts but likes muffins, but then they were too plain.  Oh well...

 

 Don't forget to check out the TWD leave your link post to see who baked along!

TWD: Midnight Crackles

Woohoo!  Starting off on the right foot this year by baking and posting in time for the round up! 

This week for the TWD 3-year anniversary, the founder of our fabulous baking group: Laurie of Slush and her amazing helper Julie of Someone's in the Kitchen chose the Midnight crackles from p 74 of Baking from My Home to Yours. 

With the new weight loss goals, I halved the recipe, and only baked 2 cookies to try for some built-in portion control.  I think I'm going to go ahead  and roll out the rest of the dough into balls and freeze them so I can have a cookie or two when "needed" but not worry about a huge plate of cookies tempting me!

These cookies are really quite easy to whip up--I always like anything that doesn't require waiting for butter to soften (I always go too far when trying to do it in the microwave).  But I had a bit of a goof when adding the dry ingredients to my mixer, I accidentally turned it to high rather than low and had a flour/cocoa/spice explosion all over the place!

Oh well, it's not like the kitchen was super clean so it just inspired me to get to cleaning a bit faster!!

I baked up my 2 cookies this morning, and either did not let the dough soften enough or baked them for too short a time b/c they were not exactly crackly...  Oh well.  They were still good.  I don't know how I feel about the chocolate/spice combination either.  It confuses my mouth I think but I really enjoyed my 2 cookies warm from the oven :). 

Happy anniversary to all my fellow TWD bakers, and thanks so much to Laurie & Julie for all your hard work managing this book, and of course to the incomparable Dorie Greenspan who has made all of us better bakers!

(go here for the recipe)

TWD: chocolate espresso shortbread cookies

For this week's TWD assignment Donna of Life's too Short not to Eat Dessert First chose the espresso chocolate shortbread from page 125 of Baking from My Home to Yours.

I am not a coffee person.  I just don't like it.  But for some reason I decided to make this recipe as is rather than making the variation of oatmeal spice shortbread.  Maybe b/c I have some friends who like coffee...maybe b/c I've been running so hard lately that I can't think! 

I do keep some instant coffee on hand for baking and such, so I used that rather than espresso, but the coffee flavor was still too strong for me.  I LOVE Dorie's method for rolling out the dough though--stick it in a plastic bag, roll it out and then cut the bag off and you get nice little squares!  Mine had some wrinkles from the bag and don't look perfect, but that's fine w/me!  The new bible study girls seemed to enjoy these alright, but I think I'm gonna send the rest to my parent's house b/c my mom loves shortbread :).

Check out Donna's blog for the recipe!

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

For this week's Tuesday with Dorie assignment, Amy Ruth of Amy Ruth Bakes chose the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake from p. 286-287. 

Once again, I contemplated skipping out b/c the cake didn't sound fabulous to me, but I forged ahead and made it very last minute...to the point where I had to stick the cake in the fridge and cut and frost it while it was still pretty warm in order to have it done by 10 pm!

Despite my procrastination, I thought it was a pretty quick and easy cake to throw together.  I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand: I ran out of regular cocoa powder halfway through so I used half regular, and half hershey's special dark.  I also didn't have enough sour cream so I used half sour cream and half vanilla yogurt.  I was kinda worried b/c both my yogurt and sour cream were low fat and I was afraid that it might make the cake less moist, but I was wrong!  (and seriously, how can you be worried about not having enough fat when there are 2 sticks of butter?!?)  I also really think that the dark cocoa  was a change for the better--I ADORE dark chocolate w/raspberry and that's what it tasted like :).  Oh yeah, and I used raspberry rhubarb jam for the filling, but I told my coworkers it was just raspberry...ooops!  I also was using a slightly smaller pan than specified so I only filled it just over halfway full and baked the remainder in my freestanding heartshaped silicon cupcake liners.

Well, I sure am glad that I made this b/c it was amazing!  The cake was extremely moist with an almost velvety texture, and though I had slight reservations about the fruit filling I thought it definitely brightened the taste.  And the frosting!  How amazing is that!?!?  All you had to do was melt some semisweet chocolate and stir in sour cream!  Amazing!  Even though I had to slice and fill the cake while it was still slightly warm, I had no trouble at all cutting the layers and stacking them.

With my cupcakes I sliced each one in half and tried a few different fillings: nutella, chocolate peanut butter, and one with the jam.  As much as I love those chocolate spreads, the jam was definitely my favorite.  I don't know why, but the one I filled with nutella tasted very cinnamonny--and of course there was no cinnamon in the cake...weird.

Sadly, I did not get good pictures.  I waited until right before leaving for work this morning to try and get a good natural light shot, but it is so miserably hot and humid that this is what I got:

 It fogged my lens up! 

The first one up towards the top is somewhat clear, but it did not take any time at all to feel like I was photographing a fog, and by the time I got home from work, this is all that was left:

The cake was a hit at the office, except for sweet Larissa (though she still ate two pieces I think...).  She took a bite before I told her there was a fruit filling and just looked at me weird. Then she asked it it was orange or pineapple!  heehee--silly friend.  Hubs was also intrigued by the cake--he saw it on the counter and said "Cool! It looks like a meatloaf!"  which I don't understand b/c he HATES meatloaf and usually refers to it as gross.  But he didn't try it due to the jam.  Silly boy.

Thanks so much to Amy Ruth for this pick, and be sure to visit the TWD LYL post to see who baked along this week!

Chocolate With Francois--Chocolate Mousse

What does it mean that my priorities for today went:

1. get up as late as possible
2. read blogs and post friday favorites
3. make chocolate mousse
4. take a shower and get ready for the day (which happened about 3 pm...)

Well, one thing that means is that it is Friday and I am off work (until I go in for month end that is...)  Another thing that it means is that I must be very lazy!  This is evidenced by the fact that I had COMPLETELY forgotten about this months CWF challenge until I saw Julie's post about it.  Oops!  Well, she mentioned that the recipe was super easy, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I decided to jump right in and whip up some chocolate mousse!

Well, Julie was right and this was a super easy recipe to throw together:  whip up some cream, beat eggs with your kitchenaid, melt chocolate, then pour boiling sugar syrup into the eggs, continue beating for a bit, and then fold it all together and refrigerate!  And it was super yum--light yet incredibly rich at the same time.  I had a bit an hour after making it and it was just lovely. 

whipping eggs w/sugar syrup

whipped cream and melted chocolate

yummy light as air mousse!

Moogie of Moogie & Pap chose this month's recipe and said we were all to present it in a creative way.  Well, since I barely got it done at all, I'm afraid that all you get is chocolate mousse in vintage fire king bowls...but it is delicious!  Head over to her blog for the recipe!

TWD: Chockablock cookies

For Tuesdays with Dorie this week, Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet chose the Chockablock cookies from page 86 of Baking From My Home to Yours.

These cookies were not what I expected.  You know how sometimes you just have this image of how things are going to be made, and then they aren't it at all?  When I started first grade and was going to eat cafeteria food for the first time I would try to imagine what the food was when we got the menu each week.  When I saw "chuck wagon" on the menu, I was so far off....I imagined that the cafeteria ladies would actually have made little covered wagons out of vegetables!  (i tried to find an image of what I was imagining with Google, but apparently I am alone in this fantasy...)  Well...needless to say, I was very disappointed when instead of an intricately designed sculpture, I was served a breaded patty of mystery meat.  *sigh*

My thoughts were similar (though a little less grandiose) when it came to these cookies.  Apparently I just think very literally:  I imagined square shaped chocolate cookies (you know, like chocolate blocks?).  I did read the recipe and figure in all the chunks of things, but I just thought they would be a little more chocolatey.  When I mixed up the dough I was kind of "eh" about it.  I really felt that the molasses flavor was overpowering.  I liked them pretty well when they came out of the oven though, and I'll update you tomorrow to see if I like them even more (I've heard that they are even better the next day).  

I did as Dorie suggested and froze some of the dough in lumps in the freezer for later consumption and only made six little (ok, BIG) cookies for myself b/c I knew in advance that these would be a "Sarah cookie" aka, too many "ingredients" for hubs to try.  I did use dried cherries for my fruit component b/c I had some on hand and I LOVE them.  I got excited with my new chopper and cut the walnuts a bit too much, so they weren't quite as chunky as I would have liked, but overall I think they are good--lots of flavorful components and a very little amount of fat compared to most recipes that we do, and that is always great!

Thanks to Mary for picking this week's recipe (check her blog for the recipe) and check out the TWD site to see who baked along this week!

**Update: I really like these the next day!  I think some substitute other than molasses would make them even better, but they are pretty darn tasty cookies!  :)  **

Dinner w/the neighbors and a chocolate peanut butter cheesecake!

Tonight we had the very fun priveledge of having a dinner party with our new(ish) neighbors!  I have to admit one shameful thing...they have lived next door since november and last week was the first time that I went over to introduce myself!  This past year has been so crazy, but we have finally established a relationship.  : )

I introduced myself to Rachel last weekend after I made a batch of sourdough bread and took some to share, and then this Saturday afternoon she had slipped the sweetest letter into our mailbox asking us over for dinner!  She also asked if I would like to make dessert since I had mentioned how much I love to bake, and of course I gladly agreed : )  They are just a lovely couple...but I must admit I feel very young and inexperienced compared to them!  I don't think they are too much older, definitely not over 10 years, but are both astronomers from Australia, and have lived all over Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US.  They are here teaching at our alma mater which is just wonderful for WKU!  We also got to meet the couple who live on the other side of them--English teachers at the local community college.  It was fun and also kinda rare to have 3 houses in a row with young couples who don't have kids.  Not that I have anything against children or only want friends who don't have kids, but most of the other people on our street have families and there is a bit of a difference in how we all relate. 

This was also a fun time for me to get to make anything at all that I wanted!  Since the TWD recipe for this week is biscuits I looked through my other magazines, cookbooks, and bookmarked recipes for a great dessert, and finally settled on this Paula Deen recipe that I have been drooling over since 2007!  It was perfect b/c I had a bunch of mini peanut butter cups left over from Easter too.  After I made it I had a bit of second-guessing myself...what if they don't eat peanut butter or are allergic?? so I made a fudge pie too just to be sure ; )
Well, everyone definitely did eat peanut butter and everyone raved about this cheesecake!  After our huge meal (steak, chicken thighs, asparagus, salad, mashed potatoes and bread) only a few people had room for tiny slices of fudge pie too...but everyone ate the cheesecake!

I made half the recipe in a 6 in. springform b/c I was short on cream cheese, and i'm glad b/c it was so rich i still have nearly half a cheesecake left to take to work tomorrow.

I couldn't get a picture of the sliced chicken before dinner, but I wanted to show you the chocolate layer...YUM!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake

Paula Deen's Best Desserts 2010 or Holiday Baking 2007

I baked half the recipe in a 6 in. springform pan, but for the same time

Crust:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/3 cup butter, melted

Chocolate Layer:

6 (1 oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate

6 tbsp. butter

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

Peanut Butter Layer:

3 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Chocolate ganache:

3 (1 oz.) squares semi-sweet chocolate

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Garnish: chopped peanut butter cups

• Preheat oven to 300 * F.
• To prepare crust; In a small bowl, combine cracker crumbs and brown sugar.  Add melted butter, stirring to combine.  Press crust into bottom and 1 in. up sides of a 9 in. springform pan.  Bake for 6 min; let cool.
• To prepare chocolate layer: In a medium bowl, combine chocolate and butter.  Microwave on High in 30 second intervals, strirring after each, unil chocolate is melted and smooth (about 1 1/2 min. total).
• Whisk in sugar, eggs, and flour until combined.  Pour into bottom of cooled crust and bake for 15 minutes.  let cool.
• To prepare peanut butter layer: in a large bowl, beat cream cheese and brown usgar at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.  Beat in peanut butter until combined.  Beat in eggs and egg yolk, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in cream.  Pour over cooled chocolate layer, and bake for 1 hour and 15 minues.  Remove from oven, and gently run a knife around edges to release crust from sides of pan.  Let cool completely.
• To prepare chocolate ganache: in a small bowl, combine chocolate and cream.  Microwiave on High in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until chocolate is melted and smooth (about 1 min. total) Spread over cooled cheesecake.  refrigerate a least 8 hours before serving.  Garnish with chopped peanut butter cups, if desired.

No TWD this week....Chocolate with Francois instead, and I'm hosting!

Even though I love coconut, I did not make the Coconut Tea Cake chosen by Carmen of Carmen Cooks.  I may end up making it for Easter this weekend...we'll see!

Instead, I have a very special event today...even though I've only been in the group for a very little while, it is my turn to host for Chocolate with Francois!!!

I must admit, I feel a bit guilty to be hosting so quickly since I have only baked along once before, but we're still a small group and we've got to start somewhere!  Chocolate with Francois is a small group baking through Francois Payard's Chocolate Epiphany.  I was so lucky to have found the book right at the time that the group was starting and have enjoyed looking through all the amazing recipes.  It was really hard to choose one--the pictures are absolutely gorgeous and since the group is so young I had so many options!

I ended up choosing the Chocolate Canneles from page 48--I was interested in these from my very first glance at the book!  I have never had a cannele, but the picture and description were just wonderful:

"Canneles are a specialty of southwest France.  Their thick exterior crust is very crisp and dark, while their inside is moist and lighter in color, with a distinctive chewy 'crumb'..."

My only reservation is that they are baked in special molds, which I do not have, an imagined that most of the other bakers would not have either.  After much online research I found that canneles can be made in muffin tins instead of the molds so we were good to go! (thanks to Tartlette for this information!)  I was very tempted to buy some cute little mini bundt pans that were shaped like a little squat cannele mold, but we're trying to save money, so i passed...:(

These really were not hard to make...but you do have to allow the batter to rest.  Francois also recommends inverting the molds over the cooling rack in order to prevent them from sinking...but I think that this caused mine to sink from the bottom.  However, the way that they sank kinda made them look like the shaped ones from the book! 

I hope that everyone enjoyed baking along with me this month, and if you are interested in joining the details are on the group blog. 

Chocolate Canneles
Chocolate Epiphany p. 48

• 3 ounces (90 grams)  72% chocolate, chopped (i had  some 77% and some 60%, combined them)
• 2 cups (500 grams) whole milk (used a mix of skim & cream as usual)
• 4 tablespoons (2 ounces; 60 grams) unsalted butter
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (90 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons (14 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup (180 grams) sugar
• pinch salt
• 1 large egg
• 3 large egg yolks
• 3 tablespoons (40 grams) dark rum, such as Myers's or Armagnac
• Vegetable cooking spray, for the molds

Make the Batter: Put the chocolate in a medium bowl.  Put the milk and butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, and scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the pan (reserve the pod for another use).  Scald the mixture, removing the pan from the heat when small bubbles form at the edges.  Pour the mixture over the chocolate, and whisk until the chocolate is melted.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt over a medium bowl.  Combine the egg, egg yolks, and rum and whisk until the mixture is smooth.  Slowly whisk the egg mixture into the dry ingredients.  If you go too fast, lumps will form.  Slowly whisk in the chocolate mixture, whisking until the mixture is smooth.  Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days.
Bake the Canneles: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400* F.
If using copper molds, heat them in the oven for 10 minutes, or until they are hot.  This step is not necessary with silicone molds (i used a metal muffin tin but did not do this step)
Spray the molds with vegetable cooking spray, doing so more generously if using copper molds.  If using silicone molds, arrange them on a baking sheet.  Stir the batter, and transfer to a large measuring cup or to a pitcher if desired, which will make it easier to pour the batter into the molds.  Fill the molds almost to the top, and let the batter rest in them for 30 minutes.  This allows the flour to settle at the bottom, so the canneles won't rise during baking.
Bake for 60 to 75 minutse, until the exterior f the canneles is crisp and set and springs back when you lightly touch the top. (since muffin tins are shorter, i reduced the time to 45-50 minutes...i think that 50 might have been a tad too long as mine got too dark in some places.)
Remove the molds from the oven, and turn them over on a wire cooling rack.  Let the canneles cool in teh molds, which keeps them from sinking and becoming dense.  When cool, unmold them, and keep them in an airtight container.

These were definitely best on the first day...I didn't put them in a container so they lost their crispy exterior after a day or two, but the flavor is still great.  I love the chewy center...I want to try them in some different flavors now!  

strawberry truffle pie

After my last very thought-heavy post, I wanted to post something more to my liking...

I made this delicious pie for our Sunday night get-together for Lacey, and it was quite a hit!  It is really quite simple to throw together and looks impressive.  The chocolate filling is actually similar to a chocolate cheesecake but without eggs.  You should try it!

Strawberry Truffle Pie
from Better Homes & Gardens Ultimate Desserts (another impulse special edition magazine purchase...but i've already used it so it doesn't count!)

• Pastry for Single Crust Pie (they reference their own recipe, but I used my favorite from the Aug-Sept. 09 Food network mag)
• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate peices (1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 8 oz. package cream cheese, cubed and softened
• 2 tbsp. orange liqueur or orange juice
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 pound fresh strawberries, stems removed and halved
• 1/4 cup red currant jelly, melted (i used a combo of cherry preserves and rhubarb raspberry jam b/c that's what I had on hand) 

Preheat oven to 450*.  Prepare Single Crust Pie pastry.  On a lightly floured surface use your hands to slightly flatten dough.  Roll dough from center to edge into a 12 in. circle.  Wrap pastry circle around rolling pin, unroll into a 9-in. pie plate without stretching it.  Trim pastry to 1/2 inche beyond rim of pie plate.  Fold under extra pastry.  Crimp edge as desired.  Prick bottom and side of pastry with a fork.  Line pastry with a double thickness of foil (grease side of foil that will be touching crust.  You can also use a single thickness and weigh it down with pie weights or dried beans).  Bake for 8 minutes.  Remove foil.  Bake for 5-6 minutes more or until pastry is golden.  Coll on a wire rack.

In a small saucepan combine chocolate and butter.  Cook and stir over medium-low heat until melted. (in general I feel much safer to cook chocolate over a double boiler, but this way did work fine.  Do what makes you feel comfortable)  Add cream cheese and liqueur/juice.  Cook and stir until smooth.  Remove from heat.  Stir in powdered sugar.

Spread chocolate mixture in bottom of baked pastry sheel.  Arrange strawberries over chocolate layer.  Brush berries with melted jelly.  Cover and chill for at least 4 hours.  Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.