Low Fat Chocolate Chunk Muffins

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Usually when you hear the words low fat you think of bland, dry, or flavorless baked goods. I’m happy to report that is not the case with these muffins. These are moist, chocolately, and flavorful! And as an added bonus, they are easy to make and don’t even require a mixer.

Photos of the process here.

Since it’s Mother’s Day weekend and I’m down in San Diego at my parents’ house, I wanted to make these for my mom. After going through her cupboards, I realized she doesn’t have a mini muffin tin so I decided to double the recipe and make a dozen regular size muffins rather than 18 mini muffins. (From my experience, three minis usually equal one regular size muffin.) I also used whole wheat baking flour instead of all-purpose flour and Splenda instead of sugar. You can’t even tell I made any substitutions.

Ingredients
1 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar or 1/2 cup sugar if you like your muffins sweeter
2 Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup light sour cream
scant 1/2 cup 2% milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 egg white
3.5 ounces chopped dark chocolate

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Measure all of the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl, and whisk together. In a separate bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients and whisk to combine, trying to get as many lumps as possible out of the sour cream. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients all at once and stir to incorporate. Once mixture in combined, fold in the chocolate chunks.

Grease a mini muffin pan. Scoop the muffin batter into a tin with a tablespoon measuring spoon, using one tablespoon of batter per muffin cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the muffin tins for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Recipe from Joy The Baker.

May 9, 2008 | Filed Under Muffins | 2 Comments

Peanut Butter Torte

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This was my first torte, and according to my coworkers, it was delicious! In fact, one of the executives even called it wicked. As for me? Well, I don’t even like mousse-y type stuff and even I thought it was pretty good. Yes, I have a thing with textures and food. I’m weird like that.

Anyway, while this was easy to make, I found it quite time consuming. Lots of chopping and cleaning up Oreo cookie crumbs–oh wait, that was just me? The end result however, was magnificant. Everyone kept walking by asking if I really made it and said it was almost too pretty to eat.

I made a few modifications to the original recipe by omitting the coffee and nutmeg (hate hate hate nutmeg), and I used at least 30 Oreos for the crust. Other than that, I followed everything else. Photos of the process here.

Ingredients
1 ¼ c. finely chopped salted peanuts (for the filling, crunch and topping)
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon instant espresso powder (or finely ground instant coffee)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
½ c. mini chocolate chips (or finely chopped semi sweet chocolate)
24 Oreo cookies, finely crumbed or ground in a food processor or blender
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Small pinch of salt
2 ½ c. heavy cream
1 ¼ c confectioners’ sugar, sifted
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 ½ c salted peanut butter – crunchy or smooth (not natural; I use Skippy)
2 tablespoons whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate finely chopped

Preparation
Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch Springform pan and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.
Toss ½ cup of the chopped peanuts, the sugar, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chops together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put the Oreo crumbs, melted butter and salt in another small bowl and stir with a fork just until crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the spring form pan (they should go up about 2 inches on the sides). Freeze the crust for 10 minutes.

Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then transfer it to a rack and let it cool completely before filling.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, whip 2 cups of the cream until it holds medium peaks. Beat in ¼ cup of the confectioners’ sugar and whip until the cream holds medium-firm peaks. Crape the cream into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.

Wipe out (do not wash) the bowl, fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment if you have one, or continue with the hand mixer, and beat the cream cheese with the remaining 1 cup confectioners’ sugar on medium speed until the cream cheese is satiny smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, ¼ cup of the chopped peanuts and the milk.

Using a large rubber spatula, gently stir in about one quarter of the whipped cream, just to lighten the mousse. Still working with the spatula, stir in the crunchy peanut mixture, then gingerly fold in the remaining whipped cream.

Scrape the mouse into the crust, mounding and smoothing the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight; cover with plastic wrap as soon as the mousse firms.

To Finish The Torte: put the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Leave the bowl over the water just until the chocolate softens and starts to melt, about 3 minutes; remove the bowl from the saucepan.

Bring the remaining ½ cup cream to a full boil. Pour the cream over the chocolate and, working with a rubber spatula, very gently stir together until the ganache is completely blended and glossy.

Pour the ganache over the torte, smoothing it with a metal icing spatula. Scatter the remaining ½ cup peanuts over the top and chill to set the topping, about 20 minutes.

When the ganache is firm, remove the sides of the Springform pan; it’s easiest to warm the pan with a hairdryer, and then remove the sides, but you can also wrap a kitchen towel dampened with hot water around the pan and leave it there for 10 seconds. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

May 6, 2008 | Filed Under Cakes and Cupcakes, Tuesdays With Dorie | 17 Comments

Paul’s Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Pound Cake

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Passover ends tonight (my family begins eating chametz at lunch–story for another time) and I wanted to bake something with flour! I had some sour cream leftover from the Passover brownies I made and was in the mood to try a new recipe so I flipped through my new cookbook and decided on this pound cake.

Speaking of this cookbook, it is a hoot! The author, Judy Bart Kancigor, included photos of family members throughout (including some very cute men–maybe she’ll hook me up!). There’s also an enormous family tree at the beginning so you can see who is related to whom. I love when cookbooks are personalized like that, it’s so much more fun.

OK, back to the cakes. Oddly enough, this is the third pound cake I have made that calls for a tube pan–what happened to the days of pound cakes in loaf pans? Or I am just imaging that? Anyway, I still don’t have a tube pan so I substituted two 9″ loaf pans instead and only baked the loaves for about an hour (during which my kitchen smelled ohsogood!).

These loaves are buttery, rich, and moist (unlike my previous pound cake disappointment) and the chocolate chips are definitely a nice, sweet addition! I can’t wait to bring these into work tomorrow for my coworkers to enjoy.

Photos of the process here.

Ingredients
Unsalted butter or unflavored vegetable cooking spray, for greasing the pan
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus exra for dusting the pan
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325 F. Grease a 10-inch tube pan with removable bottom, dust it with flour, and tap out the excess.
Combine the flour and baking soda in a bowl. Stir well, and set it aside.
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl after each addition. Then beat in the vanilla until smooth.
Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in four additions, alternating the with the sour cream in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Scrape the batter into the prepared tube pan, and bake on the center oven rack until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Allow the cake to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack.
Run a knife around the center tube and the sides of the pan, and lift the tube from the outer pan. Gently slide the knife between the bottom of the cake and the pan, and lift the cake off the pan. Cut the cake into slices, and serve.

Recipe from Cooking Jewish by Judy Bart Kancigor.

April 27, 2008 | Filed Under Cakes and Cupcakes | 8 Comments

Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

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Quick note: Tuesdays With Dorie will resume in a couple weeks, once Passover has ended!

It used to be that if I were to show up to a Passover seder without chocolate chips meringues, I would be forced to sing the Four Questions, in Hebrew, by myself. OK not really, but trust me, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. Then a few years ago I brought matzo brittle (in addition to the meringues and other Passover desserts), and that too, became a holiday must-have. Well, this year I do believe I have found a third recipe that will now be included in every Passover seder, thanks to Deb!

Hmm, I suppose I should have begun this post by explaining that many Passover desserts elicit the following response: It’s good (for a Passover cookie/brownie/cake). Well, I’m happy to report that with these cookies, I heard, These are sooo good! Everyone who tasted them went back for seconds, and said they were oh so yummy! Then again, I guess that’s what happens when you take a regular, flourless recipe and just make it for Passover, go figure. (Yes, I am aware the picture is horrid, but we were in a huge rush–you try to bake dessert for 35 people AND take pictures.)

This cookie is thick, chewy, and slightly crunchy, thanks to the nuts. We made three batches–two with pecans and one with walnuts, and they were all a huge hit. I should note I used regular cocoa powder, not Dutch-process.

Ingredients
2 3/4 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar*
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

*Passover Confectioner’s Sugar
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon potato starch

Pulse in a food processor or blender. Makes 1 cup Passover confectioners’ sugar.

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350. Spread the walnut halves on a large-rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes, until they are golden and fragrant.
Let cool slightly, then transfer the walnut halves to a work surface and coarsely chop them. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320. Line two large-rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped walnuts. While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat or it will stiffen).
Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked; shift the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through to ensure even baking. Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto 2 wire racks. Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe from New York Magazine via Deb.

April 21, 2008 | Filed Under Cookies and Bars, Jewish/Jewish Holiday, Passover | 5 Comments

And The Cookbook Goes To…

The lucky winner of Cooking Jewish by Judy Bart Kancigor is Phyllis of Ima on (and off) the Bima. Phyllis, I’ll be in touch to get your address so be on the lookout for an email from me!

April 16, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 2 Comments

Marshmallows (Dorie Greenspan’s Recipe)

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The minute I began making these I had a feeling it was going to be a disaster. As I reviewed the ingredients I was a little surprised by the egg whites the recipe called for. I’ve made marshmallows twice, both times sans eggs (recipes here and here) and they were super easy and delicious. This time however, no such luck.

Here’s a quick rundown of my problems. First, I measured out all of my ingredients ahead of time as I always do yet I somehow ended up with an extra tablespoon of sugar and read the recipe about 10 times trying to figure out when and to what I should have added it. I eventually just threw it in with the egg whites. Next, because of the Hot Sugar Blister Incident of 2008, there was no way in hell I going to pour 265 degree boiling sugar into a mixer on medium speed. Adventurous when it comes to recipes, maybe; crazy, I am not.

So instead, I put the mixer on low and poured the boiling sugar into the egg white and then–I smelled scrambled eggs. I kid you not. By now, I was 99% sure this was going to be a failure but I continued on, committed as always, and followed the rest of the steps. I let the mixture (which somehow looked correct) sit out on the counter overnight but the next morning, it was bad. Gooey and globby and slimey and not what marshmallows should look like. I suppose I should also note that I live in southern California and being as we had record high temps this past weekend (95 degrees in Hollywood, insane!), I didn’t really have a “cool, dry place” to let the marshmallows set. Perhaps that contributed to the disaster?

And so, it is safe to say that the next time I feel the need to use the whisk attachment of my KitchenAid, you better believe I will be using an eggless marshmallow recipe.

Ingredients
About 1 cup potato starch (found in the kosher foods section of supermarkets) or cornstarch
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 1/4-ounce packets unflavored gelatin
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
3/4 cup cold water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar*

Preparation
GETTING READY: Line a rimmed baking sheet — choose one with a rim that is 1 inch high — with parchment paper and dust the paper generously with potato starch or cornstarch. Have a candy thermometer at hand.

Put 1/3 cup of the water, 1 1/4 cups of the sugar and the corn syrup in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Once the sugar is dissolved, continue to cook the syrup — without stirring — until it reaches 265 degrees F on the candy thermometer, about 10 minutes.

While the syrup is cooking, work on the gelatin and egg whites. In a microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the remaining cold water (a scant 7 tablespoons) and let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it is spongy, then heat the gelatin in a microwave oven for 20 to 30 seconds to liquefy it. (Alternatively, you can dissolve the gelatin in a saucepan over low heat.)

Working in the clean, dry bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in another large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until firm but still glossy — don’t overbeat them and have them go dull.

As soon as the syrup reaches 265 degrees F, remove the pan from the heat and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the syrup, pouring it between the spinning beater(s) and the sides of the bowl. Add the gelatin and continue to beat for another 3 minutes, so that the syrup and the gelatin are fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla.

Using a large rubber spatula, scrape the meringue mixture onto the baking sheet, laying it down close to a short end of the sheet. Then spread it into the corners and continue to spread it out, taking care to keep the height of the batter at 1 inch; you won’t fill the pan. Lift the excess parchment paper up to meet the edge of the batter, then rest something against the paper so that it stays in place (I use custard cups).

Dust the top of the marshmallows with potato starch or cornstarch and let the marshmallows set in a cool, dry place. They’ll need about 3 hours, but they can rest for 12 hours or more.

Once they are cool and set, cut the marshmallows with a pair of scissors or a long thin knife. Whatever you use, you’ll have to rinse and dry it frequently. Have a big bowl with the remaining potato starch or cornstarch at hand and cut the marshmallows as you’d like — into squares, rectangles or even strips (as they’re cut in France). As each piece is cut, drop it into the bowl. When you’ve got 4 or 5 marshmallows in the bowl, reach in with your fingers and turn the marshmallows to coat them with starch, then, one by one, toss the marshmallows from one hand to the other to shake off the excess starch; transfer them to a serving bowl. Cut and coat the rest of the batch.

*Where does this extra tablespoon go?!

SERVING: Put the marshmallows out and let everyone nibble as they wish. Sometimes I fill a tall glass vase with the marshmallows and put it in the center of the table — it never fails to make friends smile. You can also top hot chocolate or cold sundaes with the marshmallows.

STORING: Keep the marshmallows in a cool, dry place; don’t cover them closely. Stored in this way, they will keep for about 1 week — they might develop a little crust on the outside or they might get a little firmer on the inside, but they’ll still be very good.

Playing Around
RASPBERRY MARSHMALLOWS: Fruit purees are excellent for flavoring these candies. For raspberry marshmallows, you’ll need a generous 1/3 cup of puree; reduce the vanilla extract to 1/4 teaspoon. After the batter is mixed, gently fold in the puree with a rubber spatula. You can use the same measurements and technique for other purees, such as strawberry, mango and passion fruit.

CAPPUCCINO MARSHMALLOWS: Sift 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon together into a small bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup boiling water and mix until smooth. Reduce the vanilla extract to 1/2 teaspoon, and add it to the espresso mix. After you add the sugar syrup and gelatin to the meringue, beat in the espresso mixture and continue.

LIGHT CHOCOLATE MARSHMALLOWS: Melt 3 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate and stir in 2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder. Reduce the vanilla extract to 1/4 teaspoon, and after the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the chocolate mixture with a large rubber spatula.

PUMPKIN SPICE MARSHMALLOWS: Whisk together 1/2 cup canned unsweetened pumpkin puree, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg and a pinch of ground allspice. After the marshmallow batter is mixed, fold in the spiced pumpkin with a large rubber spatula.

Makes about 1 pound marshmallows.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

April 15, 2008 | Filed Under Candy, Failure, Tuesdays With Dorie | 21 Comments

Cookbook Giveaway!

I have been given a copy of Cooking Jewish by Judy Bart Kancigor to give away to one of my readers. Although it is a book of Jewish recipes, don’t worry if you’re not Jewish because really, who doesn’t love matzo ball soup and all of the yummy desserts I can’t wait to try!

All you have to do is leave a comment by April 14 and tell me something about yourself, kinda like we did last year. A winner will be drawn at random via a very scientific method of writing everyones name on a piece of paper and sticking all the names in a bowl and choosing one. The winner will then be contacted by email so please make sure your email address is in the comments. Also, this is only open to people who live in the US and Canada, unless you want to pay for the shipping yourself. (Sorry!)

April 6, 2008 | Filed Under Blog | 35 Comments

Gooey Chocolate Cakes

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Yummy!

Oh wait, you were expecting more? Well then. These are moist and delicious and gooey and really, the only thing that could have made them better is ice cream. Of which I had none. Alas, that didn’t stop me from eating one while it was still piping hot and oozing chocolate.

Speaking of oozing, prior to making these, I read that other people weren’t getting runny insides. Fortunately for me, they came out beautifully (quite unlike the ugly photo). Also, I made them in the afternoon and brought them to a friend’s house later that night. We just popped them in the microwave for a bit and they were perfect!

Photos of the process here.

Ingredients
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, 4 ounces coarsely chopped, 1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons sugar

Getting Ready
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter (or spray - it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heat proof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted - you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Serving
These should be served as soon as they are put on plates. The cakes are not meant to be served alone - they need something to play off their warm, gooey, soooooo chocolaty interior. Ice cream is the most obvious choice and, to my mind, the best in terms of texture and, of course, temperature. Any chocolate-friendly flavor will be good. Circling the cakes with crème anglaise is another good idea and, for those for whom too much is not enough, circling the cakes with crème anglaise and running a ring of bittersweet chocolate sauce through the custard is an even better idea.

Storing
Although the whole point of a warm, runny cake is to eat it when it is warm and runny, the cake is still delicious, but different, the following day. If you wrap the cooled cakes in plastic wrap and keep them at room temperature, the next day the texture of the center of the cake (the part that was once gooey) will remind you of ganache. Eating the cake will be like enjoying a bonbon: it will be firm on the outside and creamy within.

My Notes
I used a disposable aluminum muffin tin. I also used semi-sweet instead of bittersweet chocolate.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

April 1, 2008 | Filed Under Cakes and Cupcakes, Tuesdays With Dorie | 24 Comments

Passover Recipes

In case you’re on the lookout for some good Passover dessert recipes (sorry not all of them have pictures), I can help you out:

Also, I’m going to try a recipe for chocolate brownies topped with toffee, then topped with chocolate chips, then sprinkled with almonds, then sprinkled with sea salt. If it’s a success I’ll add it to this list.

Now, to answer questions that I always get: Yes, you can use margarine rather than butter to keep the recipe pareve. Yes, you can make the brownies in advance and freeze them. Yes, you should keep the matzo brittle in the fridge because the chocolate isn’t tempered and it tends to melt a little. And yes, you can use imitation vanilla instead of real vanilla.

Stayed tuned for a cookbook giveaway in the next couple of weeks!

March 24, 2008 | Filed Under Jewish/Jewish Holiday, Passover | 11 Comments

Hamantaschen II

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I almost didn’t write this post because my Hamantaschen are so ugly. In fact, they’re even uglier than last year’s which I didn’t think was possible. And you wouldn’t know it from looking at my photos, but Hamantaschen are triangular shaped cookies, representative of Purim’s villain Haman’s triangular ears/pocket/hat depending on whom you ask. I think in Hebrew school we learned it was either Haman’s hat (remember the song?) or ears, but really–triangular ears?

Anyway, Hamantaschen are soft cookies, traditionally with a poppy seed filling, but we grew up eating apricot ones, hence my apricot filling. I used the same apricot filling recipe (yum!) from last year but decided to give this new dough recipe a shot, and it’s good! However, I ran into one weird problem–I baked some on parchment and some on Silpats. The ones on parchment tended to open more and the ones on Silpats stayed sealed. Weird, huh?

Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups sugar + a pinch for the egg wash
3 eggs + 1 for the egg wash
1/4 cup orange juice or milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Approximately 4 to 4 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Fruit preserves. (Not jam.) You can also use Nutella.

Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too hard to blend or seems curdled, add about 1 tbs of flour to bind it.

Stir in the orange juice or milk and the vanilla. Fold in 4 cups of flour, salt and baking powder. Mix to make a firm but soft dough. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes to give the flour time to absorb all the moisture. If the dough is too sticky to handle after ten minutes have passed, add extra flour up to 1/2 cup. The dough will be sticky when it’s ready, but you should be able to handle it without it getting stuck to your fingers.

Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 flattened discs and work with one portion at a time. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Use a 3-inch cookie or biscuit cutter and cut as many rounds as you can.

In a small bowl mix 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of water and a pinch of sugar to make an egg glaze. Brush the rounds with the wash, then fill each with a generous 1/2 teaspoonful of your desired filling. Fold 3 sides of each circle together, creating triangles. I like to leave a little space in the center so you can see what the filling is (plus it looks pretty), but you can also seal your hamantaschen completely.

Brush the cookies with additional egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar, and bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets.

Tips
Bake your hamantaschen in the upper third of the oven - usually the bottom part of the oven is too hot and may also cause premature bottom-browning. If you want to use leftover scraps to make more cookies, only roll them out once more because a lean dough like this one can only be rolled a couple times before becoming really tough.

This dough can be frozen for about 2 months or refrigerated (wrapped well in plastic) for one to three days. Just give it time to warm up before rolling it out. You can also freeze or refrigerate the filled triangles before baking. If you do this, just bake them without defrosting.

More photos here.

My notes

I used orange juice rather than milk.
I skipped the egg wash.
Mine baked in about 15 minutes.
I used a regular old glass rather than a cookie cutter and got about four dozen cookies.

Recipe from A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman via Baking and Books.
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In other news, what do you think of the site redesign? The amazingly talented Maria designed the header image and I think it’s just adorable!

Please bear with me as I work out the kinks of the new template and let me know if you notice anything funky. I’m currently trying to figure out why the live comment preview works in IE but not Firefox, so if you’re familiar with Wordpress, now would be a great time to show off your expertise!

March 22, 2008 | Filed Under Cookies and Bars, Jewish/Jewish Holiday | 5 Comments

Russian Grandmothers’ Apple Pie-Cake

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I’m not a huge fruit dessert person. In fact, my favorite part of a pie is the crust. I am all about the crust. So when I saw this week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe I thought well, even if the filling sucks, at least there’s lots of crust! Why yes, I am the queen of pessimism. (Blame it on Internet dating.) Anyway, I suppose the negative thoughts began early on, when I tried to shape the dough into rectangles and it was sticky. And I mean sticky. (Photos of the process here. I have no idea if mine looks the way it’s supposed to because the book didn’t have a picture.)

Then, I read and reread the recipe and realized I don’t have a 9×12″ baking dish, and oh no what am I going to do because I won’t have enough dough for my 9×13″ dish. Oh, did I not mention I’m also a worrier? Well, I conferred with my mom who didn’t think 9×12″ was a standard size and said just to use the 9×13″, then I did some research and found the 9×12″ to be a typo (phew!). Much happier, I got to slicing my apples. Speaking of apples, if you don’t have one of these gadgets that cores, peels, and slices, you must go out and buy it. What a time saver! (We use it every year for Passover apple crisp and the best ever apple pie for Thanksgiving.)

Back to the pie-cake. I bought 10 apples (half Granny Smith, half Fiji) like the recipe says, and I needed only half of them. Not sure how that happened (maybe the Granny Smiths were large?), but whatever. Aside from the extra apples, that part of the recipe was no problem. The dough however, oh, the dough. I tried rolling it out and it didn’t want to roll, so I ended up taking small pieces and flattening them between my palms then pressing them together in the dish to create the crust. It worked. It’s not attractive, but it worked.

Finally, I got the sucker in the oven and watched it brown in about five minutes. I quickly covered it with foil, let it bake for an hour, and listened for the sound of bubbling apples and cinnamon-sugar, which never happened. But my apartment smelled so good!

OK so, after all that rambling, the verdict: Eh. While the smell is fantastic (and there’s nothing like waking up the following day to the scent of apple pie), I just didn’t find this anything special. Of course, I’m not big on fruit desserts, so I’ll let you know what my coworkers say when I bring it into the office this morning. If it’s gone by lunchtime, we know it’s a hit. Stay tuned.

p.s. I omitted the raisins, because just like nuts, raisins ruin baked goods. Hah.

Dough Ingredients
2 sticks (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 T baking powder
½ tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon
3¼-3½ c all-purpose flour

Filling Ingredients
10 medium apples, all one kind or a mix (Fuji, Golden Delicious, Ida Reds, Cortland, or Rome, etc)
Squirt of fresh lemon juice
1 c moist, plump raisins (dark or golden)
¼ c sugar
1¼ tsp ground cinnamon
Sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar for dusting

Preparation
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 3 minutes more. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the baking powder and salt and mix just to combine. Add the lemon juice—the dough will probably curdle, but don’t worry about it. Still working on low speed, slowly but steadily add 3¼ cups of the flour, mixing to soft, but if you think it looks more like a batter than a dough at this point, add the extra ¼ cup flour. (The dough usually needs the extra flour.) When properly combined, the dough should almost clean the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each half into a rectangle. Warp the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or for up to 3 days. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months; defrost overnight in the refrigerator.)

Peel and core the apples and cut into slices about ¼ inch thick; cut the slices in half crosswise if you want. Toss the slices in a bowl with a little lemon juice—even with the juice, the apples may turn brown, but that’s fine—and add the raisins. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together, sprinkle over the apples and stir to coat evenly. Taste an apple and add more sugar, cinnamon and/or lemon juice if you like.

Getting ready to bake
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Generously butter a 9×12 inch baking pan (Pyrex is good) and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Remove the dough from the fridge. If it is too hard to roll and it cracks, either let it sit at room temperature for about 15 minutes or give it a few bashes with your rolling pin to get it moving. Once it’s a little more malleable, you’ve got a few choices. You can roll it on a well-floured work surface or roll it between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper. You can even press or roll out pieces of the dough and patch them together in the pan—because of the baking powder in the dough, it will puff and self-heal under the oven’s heat. Roll the dough out until it is just a little larger all around than your pan and about ¼ inch thick—you don’t want the dough to be too thin, because you really want to taste it. Transfer the dough to the pan. If you the dough comes up the sides of the pan, that’s fine; if it doesn’t, that’s fine too.

Give the apples another toss in the bowl, then turn them into the pan and, using your hands, spread them evenly across the bottom. Roll out the second piece of dough and position it over the apples. Cut the dough so you’ve got a ¼-½ inch overhang and tuck the excess into the sides of the pan, as though you were making a bed. (If you don’t have that much overhang, just press what you’ve got against the sides of the pan.) Brush the top of the dough lightly with water and sprinkle sugar over the dough. Using a small sharp knife, cut 6 to 8 evenly spaced slits in the dough.

Bake for 65-80 minutes, or until the dough is a nice golden brown and the juices from the apples are bubbling up through the slits. Transfer the baking pan to a cooling rack and cool to just warm or to room temperature. You’ll be tempted to taste it sooner, but I think the dough needs a little time to rest.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

March 11, 2008 | Filed Under Pie, Tuesdays With Dorie | 25 Comments

Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

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This is my first Tuesdays With Dorie post as well as my first attempt at making biscuits, and I think they both went well! (Photos of the process here.)

First things first–I’m not a huge biscuit person. Growing up, the most popular kind of bread in our house was bagels (you can eat anything on a bagel!) so the majority of my biscuit consumption has been limited to the rare times I have ordered something at a restaurant that comes with a biscuit. (Every Father’s Day it’s chicken, waffles, and biscuits at Roscoe’s in Hollywood, but that’s a story for another time.)

These were good, but not exactly what I imagined them to be. I suppose I should have realized that a biscuit with brown sugar would be a bit sweeter than your everyday biscuit, but for some reason, I ignored that hint. Also, these were definitely a lot denser and browned a lot more than I expected.

And of course, it should be noted I don’t have a round cookie or biscuit cutter, hence the um, flower shaped biscuits. Also, I left out the nuts because nuts in baked goods just ruin everything! (So says my ten-year-old self.)

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces
1/2 cup cold sour cream
1/4 cold whole milk
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans, preferably toasted
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch-diameter biscuit cutter and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Preparation
Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda together in a bow. Stir in the brown sugar, making certain there are no lumps. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips (my favorite method) or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and pieces the size of everything in between– and that’s just right.

Stir the sour cream and milk together and pour over the dry ingredients. Grab a fork and gently toss and turn the ingredients together until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick gentle kneading– 3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together. Toss in the pecans and knead 2 to 3 times to incorporate them.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour, pat the dough out with your hands or toll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even– a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of the first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working with them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2-inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits ca be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting– just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14-18 minutes, or until they are tall, puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

Yields 12 biscuits.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

February 26, 2008 | Filed Under Bread, Tuesdays With Dorie | 22 Comments

Red Velvet Cake Balls

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Pictures of the process here.

First of all, YUM. Secondly, YUM. Thirdly, YUM.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I have to tell you that I have a newfound respect for people who dip chocolate by hand. What a pain in the ass. Lesson learned: Spend the extra money and buy the dipping chocolate in the little containers you find next to the strawberries in the produce section of the market. The one I used is called Dolci Frutta Fruit Dip Chocolate and it was delicious and you will thank me for it later! I got it at Pavilions which is owned by Safeway, in case you have a hard time finding it. This chocolate is so cool, once you dip the balls in it (yes, you may giggle) it hardens sorta like Magic Shell (please don’t tell me you’re not old enough to remember Magic Shell) and about five seconds later they are ready to eat.

So, not only are these good, they are easy! And I’ll even admit to using a box mix and canned frosting. I know, for shame! Am I still allowed to have a baking blog? Perhaps we can keep this admission on the down low. Thanks.

Ingredients
1 box red velvet cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)
chocolate for dipping

Preparation

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50.)
Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

My notes:

I used a small cookie scoop.
Buy the dipping chocolate!
I made the balls then refrigerated them overnight (covered with Press N Seal) and dipped them the next day with no problems.

Recipe from Bakerella.

February 21, 2008 | Filed Under Cakes and Cupcakes | 18 Comments

Happy Valentine’s Day

I know, I’m a little early with the valentine cookies. But since I have no valentine this year (waah), I made cookies to share with my coworkers. And trust me when I say they’re not complaining they get to start stuffing their bellies a day early.

I used my favorite sugar cookie and powdered sugar glaze recipes. Also, notice the cute X and O cookie cutters? I was cleaning out my cupboards and came across them–they were a gift from my mom last year which I almost forgot about! Unfortunately, I couldn’t do too many Xs and Os because they are huge and I would have ended up with only about a dozen cookies.
- - -
And finally, totally unrelated, but if you got here via an article in your local newspaper (hi Judi, I tried to email you but it was returned), would you please send me a link or tell me the name of the paper?

February 13, 2008 | Filed Under Cookies and Bars | 6 Comments

Snickery Squares

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I suppose I should preface this by saying that this recipe reminded me that while I love caramel, I’m just not a fan of dulce de leche. I know, I know, the pictures look amazing (well, not my photography, but the actual end product). Delicious shortbread, gooey goodness, caramelized nuts, and chocolate all together, the perfect combination! Alas, I’m just not into it. I can’t help but to think dulce de leche is just missing something. Or maybe I’m just used to Snickers bars and their thick, almost too sweet, caramel. Sigh.

(Yes, this was a long process.)

But instead of talking about what I didn’t like, let me tell you about what I did like. The shortbread is a perfect base, and a recipe I know I will use again. The peanuts were my first foray into caramelizing nuts, and while it was stressful (flashbacks of my disastrous peanut brittle/hot sugar blister incident came to mind), it was well worth it. I’ve worked with enough hot sugar now to know a) wear long sleeves, b) use a long spoon/silicone spatula, and c) not dip my finger in a tiny glob of yummy looking caramel that hasn’t yet cooled completely. Come on, like you’ve never done that. Or uh, thought about it.

Anyway, back to the squares. While they’re not my all time favorite, they’re good–thick, oozing of dulce de leche, and not sickeningly sweet. The true test of course, is how long these remain on the counter at my office tomorrow. I’m guessing they’ll be gone well before lunch.

Ingredients
For the Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten

For the topping
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature

For the filling
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
about 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche

Preparation
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.

To make the crust: Toss the flour, sugar, confectioners’ sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds - stop before the dough comes together in a ball.

Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.

Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.

To make the filling: Have a parchment - or, better yet, a silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon (you’ll be cooking sugar that will climb to over 300 degrees F, so you’ll want to keep as far away from it as possible) and a medium (about 2-quart) heavy-bottomed sauce pan.

Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. (If sugar splatters onto the sides of the saucepan, wash down the splatters with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.) Toss in the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with the sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white - keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet, using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.

When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.

Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts or the big pieces.

To make the topping: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in a microwave oven, using a low power setting. Remove the chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the finely chopped candied peanuts. Slide the pan into the refrigerator to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.

Cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 ½ inches on a side.

My notes:

I used semi-sweet chocolate.
I had a really hard time cutting these after refrigerating for only 20 minutes, so I stuck them in the freezer for a few which made them much easier to cut.

Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

February 10, 2008 | Filed Under Cookies and Bars | 6 Comments

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