Elvis Fluffernutter Cake

As soon as I saw this cake on Lynn's blog, I saved the recipe thinking I would make it for my stepdad at some point, as he is a big Elvis fan. Plus the cake sounded like something fun and a bit different (banana cake with chocolate chips sprinkled on top, peanut butter marshmallow filling, and peanut butter icing - all sprinkled with chopped peanut butter cups). Well when my stepdad's birthday came around, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he said cheesecake with some kind of sauce. Yea I could've made that for him but what about the fluffernutter cake?? I told him about it but he said no I want the cheesecake. But then I sent him the link to Lynn's post and he changed his mind.

I didn't really like this cake, which is odd for me because usually I can find something I like about most things I bake. Everyone else on the other hand, loved it. Really loved it. Some people said it's their favourite cake I've made - even my mom who is against chocolate chips in banana bread and never eats peanut butter cups.

You can see in this picture my typical "stick all the frosting on top!" tactic. I really don't intend to do this but somehow it always happens. Must work on that.

I've started to put the cakes together a day or so before we eat them but the resulting cakes are drier. I know for some cakes (or maybe all cakes?) people say that if you let it sit for a day it will taste better because the flavours meld, but I'm not really convinced.

Other cakes I've made:
Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Carrot Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese White Chocolate Icing
Perfect Party Cake (Lemon, Raspberry, Coconut)

Elvis Fluffernutter Cake
Originally from All Recipes then adapted by Foodaphilia and adapted again by Cookie Baker Lynn

2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk
3-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 mashed bananas, about 1 cup
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
Chopped up peanut butter cups for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the bottom of two 9-inch round cake pans. Fit the bottoms with rounds of parchment paper. Grease and flour the whole pan.

2. In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition. Add flour mixture alternately with milk, beating just to combine. Stir in vanilla and mashed bananas.

4. Pour batter evenly between the two cake pans. Sprinkle the mini chips over the top of the batter. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

5. Let pans cool for 10 minutes on a rack. Carefully invert layers onto a plate, peel off the parchment paper, then carefully put back on the rack to finish cooling. If the cake cracks at all, don't fret as there will be plenty of gooey frosting to fill in the gaps.

Frosting

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup of smooth peanut butter
4 cups of powdered sugar
2 Tbsp milk
1 cup marshmallow fluff

With an electric mixer cream together the butter and peanut butter until it's smooth. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time. Add as much of the milk as you need to achieve the consistency you want.

Place 1/3 of the frosting into a separate bowl and fold in the marshmallow fluff till completely incorporated.

Frost the top of the first layer with the marshmallow frosting. Top with the second layer. Frost with the rest of the frosting and sprinkle mini chips over the top, pressing them into the frosting slightly.

Intense Chocolate Fudge Cookies

If a cookie is going to have a chocolate dough, it must have melted chocolate in the dough not cocoa powder! Well the chocolate marble chunk cookies I made with cocoa powder were good but maybe because the cookie was half chocolate dough, half regular cookie dough. I realized yesterday when I was reaching to use the cocoa powder, that I rarely ever use it. But now I'm also remembering the chocolate cake that I made that used only cocoa powder and how amazing that was.

I made these quite a while ago actually when I had this intense chocolate craving - and they definitely satisfy a chocolate craving and a half. I found them to be really sweet, with a fudgey middle and brownie-like edges. Tish Boyle (the author) suggests that you take the cookies out when the centers are not completely set, to get that fudgey middle - but personally I think I'd be happier cooking them a bit longer for a more brownie like texture. I substituted some of the bittersweet chocolate for semisweet which I'm sure accounted for the cookies being too sweet. You could probably even reduce the amount of sugar a bit.

I still really want to try out Martha's outrageous chocolate cookies. And I really want to try out this style of super chocolate cookie with espresso, like this one.

Other delicious chocolate things I've made:
Dulce de Leche Brownies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
Chocolate Orbit Cake
Chocolate Pots de Crème

Intense Chocolate Fudge Cookies (aka Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies*)
The Good Cookie

Makes about 36 cookies

1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
14 oz bittersweet chocolate
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder; set aside.

2. Chop 6 ounces of chocolate into pieces between 1/4 and 1/2 inch squares; set aside.

3. Coarsely chop the remaining 8 ounces chocolate and place in the top of a double boiler with the butter. Melt the chocolate and butter over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan from the heat; separate the top of the pan from the bottom and let the chocolate mixture cool for 10 minutes.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla extract at high speed until doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. At low sped, blend in the melted chocolate mixture. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the reserved chopped chocolate and the walnuts; the dough will be thin. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or up to 24 hours).

5. Position two oven racks near the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare two baking sheets.

6. Drop the chilled dough by rounded tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto the baking sheets. Moisten your palm to prevent sticking, and flatten each mound of dough slightly. Bake the cookies, two sheets at a time, for 9 to 11 minutes, until the cookie appear set; switch the position of the baking sheets halfway through baking. Do not overbake, or the cookies will be dry; the centers should not be completely set. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely.

*I renamed these cookies to be more descriptive of what they actually are (the original name is chocolate chocolate chip cookies, if you're interested).

TWD: French Chocolate Brownies & My Blog's Birthday!

This week's recipe was french chocolate brownies, chosen by Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook. I wasn't too intrigued at first, but I'm so glad I made them! And I just realized that June 3 (today) is my blog's birthday! So it's a good thing I made brownies to celebrate. ;) I can't believe it's been a year already. I feel like I should say something more but I'm not quite sure what. I can say that I love being a part of the food blogging community and that there are so many amazing, caring and inspiring food bloggers!

I had my first taste of these brownies at 5:30am the day after making them. I wanted to bring some brownies to work, and the first piece I cut for myself ended up kind of falling apart. So I just ate it which was not so smart in retrospect considering the fact that I was barely awake and not able to totally enjoy it.

I was skeptical of adding raisins to a brownie, as I'm sure many other people were. But I thought I would trust in Dorie, and just see how it turned out. Well I was right about the raisins - kind of weird. You're supposed to flambé them, but my rum wouldn't light on fire (I thought it was supposed to be easy to light alcohol on fire?) so I kind of want to try the brownies again if I can figure out how to flambé properly. Aside from that though, these brownies were so very delicious. They're incredibly moist and somewhere between a chocolate cake and a brownie. Not the dense kind of brownie though, which usually I favour. At first I thought they could've been more chocolate-y but really they're quite perfect just the way they are, and they're not too sweet. I have no idea if the 1/8 teaspoon of cinnamon really made a difference in flavour.

I had to take the brownie photos with my cute new dish! I have no idea what I'm going to use it for but I had to have it.

Other TWD recipes I've made:
Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Orange Berry Muffins
Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

French Chocolate Brownies
Baking: From My Home to Yours

Makes 16 brownies

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies & Toblerone Cookies

These cookies may just take the chocolate chip cookie champion title from the Neiman Marcus cookies. I was really happy with how soft they were, and how they were a bit chewy with slightly crispy edges. The taste of the actual dough was good but I'll try adding a bit more vanilla next time to see if that can make the cookies even better.

I made the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies as a request from my mom, and decided to do half of the batch as Toblerone cookies. The Toblerone cookies were definitely more addictive than I could've expected. Unfortunately I didn't add enough Toblerone, and the Toblerone I used was a limited time one (milk chocolate with white chocolate caps). I also learned that raw macadamia nuts do not taste good! At least not the ones I had. And that they really must be toasted before being used in these cookies.

9 days and 5 exams until I'm free to go on a baking spree!

Other chocolate cookies I've made:
Chocolate Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies
Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies & Toblerone Cookies*
Adapted from Tyler Florence (from Bon Appetit Dec 2006)

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract**
1 1/2 cups white chocolate, chopped (about 8 1/2 ounces)
1 cup coarsely chopped roasted macadamia nuts (about 4 1/2 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl until fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until blended. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, then vanilla. Add dry ingredients and beat just until blended. Using spatula, stir in white chocolate chips, and nuts.

For large cookies, drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 21/2 inches apart. For small cookies, drop dough by level tablespoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 11/2 inches apart.

Bake cookies until just golden, about 18 minutes for large cookies and about 15 minutes for small cookies***. Cool on sheets.

*Note: To make Toblerone cookies, replace white chocolate and macadamia nuts with chopped Toblerone bars.

**I'm going to try 2 tbsp next time.
***I underbaked them a bit, baking large size cookies for 13 to 14 minutes.

My 100th Post! And Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread

This is my 100th post! I don't have anything exciting to celebrate it with but this banana bread was pretty delicious. I rarely make banana bread because when I was growing up my mom always made it. It was yummy but I guess lost its magical appeal. She never put walnuts or chocolate chips in it though, and this was actually my first time putting chocolate chips in banana bread. I like to maintain this image in my mind of banana bread being healthy and if I put chocolate chips in it, well it just makes it a little more difficult to believe! But I thought if I cut down the sugar a lot (to 2 tablespoons) and only put a small amount of chocolate chips, it wouldn't be a terribly unhealthy snack. And thus begins my love of this chocolate walnut banana bread.

I haven't used my mini loaf pans for a while and forgot how great little loaves are. In the recipe I wrote that you can use either oat flour or whole wheat pastry flour. The oat flour makes it much denser, but I loved it that way. If that's not quite for you, try the whole wheat pastry flour. It will still be a dense muffin but lightens it up a bit.

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Healthy Banana Bran Muffins
Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Pumpkin Pecan Raisin Muffins

Chocolate Walnut Banana Bread
Adapted from How It All Vegan!

Makes 1 loaf, 6 mini loaves, or 12 small-ish muffins

3 ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour OR oat flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup chocolate chips, optional*

Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork until very mushy, then add the applesauce, sugar, and walnuts and stir together.

In a separate large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour (or oat flour), salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and mix together gently until "just mixed". Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon into a lightly oiled loaf pan (or muffin pan) and bake for 40-50 minutes**. Test with a toothpick or a knife to see if done.

*Use nondairy chocolate chips or omit them to make this vegan.
**The first time I made these, I used mini loaf pans and I can't remember how long it took. I would check them around 25 minutes and see how they are. Maybe even 20 minutes.

Chocolate Fudge Soufflé Bars

As promised, here is another delicious baked item! This time it's chocolate fudge soufflé bars. I wasn't sure quite what to expect but the blurb before the recipe described it as "a chocolate fudge filling sandwiched between a crunchy brown sugar crust and a thin, crisp chocolate top". I just couldn't resist.

Since I used an 8x8 pan instead of 9x9, my bar ended up half crust and half chocolate fudge souffle, which was okay with me because I really love crust. The crust part was like shortbread, and the chocolate part was very soft and fudgey, with the promised slightly crisp top. Quite a delicious little bar that's something a bit different!

If this sounds good, you might also like:
Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies
Chocolate Pots de Crème
Chocolate Orbit Cake
Cream Cheese Brownies

Chocolate Fudge Soufflé Bars
125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble, and Savor

Makes 12 to 16 bars

Crust
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces

Topping (Fudge Soufflé)
3 tbsp unsalted butter, cut in pieces
5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs, separated
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tsp hot water
1 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour

Make the crust: Butter the bottom and sides of an 8x8x2 or 9x9x2 baking pan. Put the flour and packed light brown sugar and the salt in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix on low speed just to blend the ingredients, about 10 seconds. Add the butter. Increase the speed to medium and mix until fine crumbs form, about 1 minute. (Some large crumbs, about 1/4 inch in size, will remain.) Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press it evenly over the bottom.

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350F. Bake the crust until the top is golden, 20 to 25 minutes.

Make the fudge souffle: Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof container and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir over the hot water until melted and smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and set aside.

Put the egg whites and cream of tartar in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed until foamy. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Reduce the speed to medium and slowly beat in the sugar, 1 tablespoon every 30 seconds.

Whisk the egg yolks, dissolved coffee, and flour into the chocolate mixture until blended thoroughly. Fold in half of the beaten egg whites, then fold in the remaining egg whites. Spread the filling evenly over the baked crust.

Bake just until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it, and the top looks firm, about 15-20 minutes. Cool thoroughly in the pan on a wire rack. Use a sharp knife to cut into 12 to 16 individual bars.

Chocolate Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

There's this place that sells cookies at a university here (Blue Chip Cookies for those of you in the Vancouver area) that are so insanely delicious. Since I didn't go to that university (my university didn't offer anything so tasty) I've only had these cookies a few times, but my two favourite kinds are the "marbelous" (chocolate dough with chocolate and white chocolate chunks) and coconut oat. The coconut oat is this thin buttery super coconuty delicious creation that's somewhere between soft/chewy and maybe a little bit crispy.

A month or so ago I came across these chocolate oatmeal coconut cookies on Deborah's blog who found them on This Week for Dinner. Once I saw them and read the combination of coconut and oats, I hoped hoped hoped that these might just be similar to the wondrous Blue Chip coconut oat cookies. I made them shortly after finding the recipe (which is actually kind of rare, as I'm sure many of you can relate to - saving recipes that you find on blogs that you want to make soon but then not getting around to it until much later if at all).

Well I am extremely happy to say that these cookies did not disappoint! I was ecstatic about how well they turned out. Especially fresh from the oven, all warm and soft with a bit of a crispy edge. These were it! Cookie bliss. The only problem was that I thought I'd prefer them crispy so I started to bake them a bit longer, but the next day they became really quite hard and only a bit chewy. So next time I won't bake them as long. And while the chocolate chips in them were good, I'll make them without next time so I can enjoy my perfect buttery coconut oat cookie. The photos really don't do them justice! And the chocolate chips look really weird.

If this sounds good, you might like:
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Carrot Coconut Cake
Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies
Coconut Cream Pie

Chocolate Oatmeal Coconut Cookies
Barbara Boczany & This Week for Dinner

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
6 tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup flour
2 1/4 cups oats
1 1/2 cups dried unsweetened shredded coconut
12 oz (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Beat butter and sugars at high speed until fluffy. Add eggs and beat till blended. Beat in vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Add flour and mix at low speed until blended. Stir in oats, coconut and chocolate.

Arrange 1/4 cup mounds about 3 inches apart on large buttered baking sheets. Pat down to 1/2 inch. Bake in upper oven, rotating occasionally, 15-18 minutes. Cool one minute. Transfer to cooling rack.

Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins

I've been dreaming of these decadent muffins for quite some time - Earl Grey white chocolate sour cream based muffins. I've mentioned before how I have this Earl Grey obsession. I want to try it in everything! (Next an Earl Grey creme brulee, mmm.)

Once the muffins were baked I was so very eager to try one. It didn't taste quite like the lemon poppy seed muffins that uses the same base. I know the flavours are totally different but something was still not the same. I thought it might just be that I replaced some of the all purpose flour with whole wheat. But then my boyfriend tried them and he immediately picked up on it - I forgot to add the sugar. Durr. They were still good though and the white chocolate helped to make up for the missing sugar. I have to make these again though, with the sugar, to truly satisfy my craving.

You might also like:
Orange Berry Muffins
Snickerdoodle Muffins
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
Earl Grey Madeleines

Earl Grey White Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours

2/3 cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground Earl Grey tea (or more if you dare)
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3/4 cup white chocolate chunks

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground Earl Grey tea. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don't worry about being thorough - a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Stir in the white chocolate chunks. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.

Chocolate Cookie Bark

This is a super easy and delicious treat to make, and it looks good too! I heard about it from a friend and couldn't stop thinking about what cookie bark would taste like. I finally got around to making it and it was really addictive. I rarely ever eat Oreos on their own but when they're in something else I always want to try it. (Like the Cookies & Cream Pound Cake from My Sweet Vegan.)

I felt wrong melting chocolate in the microwave and thought about doing it on the stove over steam but then thought ah well whatever and just went for the microwave. The peanut butter mixed into the white chocolate was so good I could've just eaten it with a spoon when it was melted. Actually I did, but just a bit! I might now become obsessed with the white chocolate peanut butter combination. Next time I'm going to use milk chocolate instead of semi-sweet because I'm more of a milk chocolate person, but if you like dark chocolate then use that.

You might also like:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Topped Brownies
Chocolate Orbit Cake
Dulce de Leche Brownies
Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies

Chocolate Cookie Bark
Kraft Foods

8 oz semi-sweet chocolate
6 oz white chocolate
2 tbsp peanut butter
10 Oreo sandwich cookies

Place semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate in separate medium microwaveable bowls. Microwave until completely melted, following directions on package. Add peanut butter to white chocolate; stir until well blended. Crumble half the cookies over chocolate in each bowl; mix well.

Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate mixtures onto wax paper-covered baking sheet, alternating the colors of the chocolates. Cut through chocolate mixtures several times with knife for marble effect.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Break into 14 pieces. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies

One of the yummy cookbooks I got for Christmas was Tish Boyle's The Good Cookie. Over 250 cookie recipes, how could I resist? I went through and picked 3 cookies to start with but only ended up making 2, this being one of them, the other being caramel-almond tiger cookies that I'll be posting about soon and you can see in the blurry background.

Usually I'm not really a fan of chocolate dough cookies, except I've really fallen for the Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies (which use actual chocolate in the dough instead of cocoa powder). And I also usually don't like nuts in my cookies, so I'm not sure what drew me to this recipe that uses cocoa powder and pecans. I was really happy with how they turned out though. Very chocolatey. This cookie seems to benefit from using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips, and was the perfect excuse for me to use up the last of my Callebaut chocolate (which was quite possibly one of the reasons I loved these cookies.) And the pecans added the perfect bit of crunch and something special.

I love how cute these cookies are (not traditionally cute no but to me they are!) and I loved how they were soft throughout and stayed soft for days. They also freeze really well. And I have now begun my love affair with pecans. Okay so I've only made 2 baked goods with pecans so far (I added them to a muffin) but I predict good things in our future. Butter pecan biscuits from Dorie's book for one, and also pecan pie cookies.

Chocolate Marble Chunk Cookies
Adapted from The Good Cookie

Makes about 34 3-inch cookies or 55-60 small cookies.

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted*
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet bar chocolate, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup pecan pieces

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375F.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars at medium-high speed until light, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of th ebowl as necessary. At low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until blended.

4. Transfer 1 3/4 cups** of the dough to another bowl and set aside. Add the cocoa powder to the dough remaining in the mixer bowl and mix on low speed until blended. Add half of the chocolate and half of the pecans and mix unitl well blended. Stir the remaining chocolate and pecans into the light coloured dough.

5. Fill one side of a measuring spoon*** with the light dough, making it well rounded, not level. Fill the remaining half with chocolate dough. Roll the dough into a bowl and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Moisten your palm to prevent sticking, and flatten the dough into a 1 1/2 inch disk. Repeat the remaining dough, spacing the cookies 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the lighter dough just begins to color. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

*I used regular cocoa.
**Don't be like me and put less than 1 3/4 cups because it looks like too much. You'll end up with more chocolate dough, which was actually quite tasty on its own.
***I used a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop but the recipe recommends a 1 tablespoon scoop.

Chocolate Candy Cane Bark Cookies

These were my favourite goodie I baked this Christmas. Inspired by Heidi at 101 Cookbooks, I took the most delicious Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, made my own candy cane bark, broke it up and added that to the dough instead of chocolate chips. (And on a sidenote, I really want to try out Heidi's chocolate chip cookie recipe that uses only whole wheat pastry flour - same link!) I was really paranoid about giving out this cookie to friends because I knew it wasn't the kind of cookie that was made to last for a week before eating. I couldn't hold back from telling some of my friends to make sure they ate that one first!

When I first tried the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe, I wasn't sure if it was everything I was looking for in a chocolate chip cookie. But I keep going back to it and trying different add ins, and I love the cookies every time so something must be good! One of the friends I gave this cookie to said she really liked it, partly because the candy cane pieces on the bottom of the cookie caramelized. I wasn't sure how I would like candy pieces in a cookie (I thought they'd annoyingly get stuck in my teeth while I was enjoying the cookie) but I crushed the candy cane up fairly fine and there were on mishaps.

The bark was really easy to make and addictive, especially since I used Callebaut chocolate. Yum yum. This is a very loose and easy to modify recipe for chocolate candy cane bark. Just do equal amounts of milk chocolate and white chocolate, and sprinkle however many candy cane pieces that you think looks good on top.

I think that actually sums up my Christmas baking posts. I made eggnog bars and strawberry shortbread cookie bark for just general eating at home. To give away, I made these chocolate candy cane bark cookies, peanut butter fudge, earl grey shortbread, snickerdoodles (which held up surprisingly well and didn't dry out too much), and gingerbread. I was really happy with how everything turned out, except for the gingerbread. Why I keep inflicting super molasses-y gingerbread on people at Christmas, I don't know. I'll probably be posting about that cookie soon.

Candy Cane Bark

Makes about 2 cups of candy cane bark pieces, or just a bunch of bark to eat.

1/2 lb milk chocolate
1/2 lb white chocolate
10 mini candy canes, crushed

Melt milk chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly on a parchment paper lined baking sheet (about 0.5 cm thick - you could make it thinner or thicker based on your preference though.) Allow to cool completely. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Spread evenly on the milk chocolate layer (try to work quickly as the hot white chocolate will start to melt the milk chocolate - this could probably be minimized by freezing the milk chocolate first?) Immediately after you finish the white chocolate layer, evenly sprinkle on the candy cane pieces. Put the baking sheet in the freezer until very firm. Break into whatever size pieces you want, or chop it up.

Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies

I've noticed that all of my posts recently have been about baked goods. Must be because when I'm in school I don't want to take the time to follow a recipe or think too much about what I eat for dinner. But there's always time for baking! Anyway, last summer I saw these Andes chocolate mint cookies on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. I was dying to make them but where could I find Andes mints?! I knew I'd seen them before but no idea where I could find them. It turns out they're only available around Christmas. Now I'm stocked up with Andes mints for whenever I want to make these again.

Everybody really loved these cookies. They're brownie-like, and even though the mint part only comes from the Andes chocolate on top, it makes the cookie very minty. I thought the cookie could have been more chocolate-y but this recipe is quite delicious as it is. And I was happy to find out that these cookies freeze really well.

Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies
Recipezaar

Makes 50-60 small-ish cookies, or 30-40 large-ish cookies.

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
Andes mint candies, broken in half (about 1 package)

Heat oven to 350°F.

Over low heat, combine butter, sugar and water. Heat until melted and add chocolate chips until partly melted. Remove from heat and stir. Pour into large mixing bowl. Let stand 10 minutes to cool slightly.

Beat in eggs one at a time on high speed. Reduce mixer to low speed and add flour, salt and baking soda. Beat until well-blended. Chill 1-2 hours (dough is almost liquid before chilling but hardens and is easy to shape after chilling).*

Roll into balls, place two inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Place an Andes Mint half on top. Allow to melt slightly and spread with a spoon.

*Mine wasn't almost liquid before chilling so don't worry if yours isn't.

Chocolate Pots de Crème

Ever since I started my food blog here, and perhaps before, I've wanted to take part in the blog event Sugar High Fridays. This month it's being hosted by 1x umrühren bitte with a pudding theme. It's taken about 6 months for me to actually participate! Either because I miss the submission deadline, or didn't know what to make for the theme. Not this time - I planned ahead. And with the theme of pudding it was made pretty easy for me. Plus I had an excuse to pick up these 2 cute ramekins that I saw when I was shopping for ingredients.

I was thinking of making butterscotch pudding or caramel pots de crème, but then decided on chocolate pots de crème from the ever amazing Baking From My Home To Yours. I've never had or made pots de crème and was very intrigued. They're basically a baked custard pudding thing, and basically delicious. Extremely delicious.

The texture was smooth and creamy. I though it was the perfect sweetness, with a real but mellow chocolate flavour. My boyfriend thought it should have been sweeter though. A bit of a crust formed on the top, not hard at all but more ganache-like. I was pleasantly surprised at how good they tasted using Baker's chocolate. I tried them both warm and cold, and they're good both ways but I prefer them warm. I'll definitely be making these again.

The one thing I'm wondering about though is how Dorie suggests after putting the ramekins in to a water bath, covering the entire thing with plastic wrap. I did this, but by the end the plastic wrap had shrunk away, leaving the ramekins mostly uncovered. Hopefully it didn't melt and fall into the pots de crème. Anyway, does anyone know the story behind this? Did I do something wrong with the plastic wrap? Do I really need it? Also, I ended up cooking one not in a water bath and while it tasted good still, I think the egg cooked a bit on the bottom.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and all that! :)

Chocolate Pots de Crème
Baking From My Home To Yours (Dorie Greenspan)

Makes 8 servings

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 large egg
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300F. Line a large roasting pan with a double thickness of paper towels, then put eight 4-ounce (1/2 cup) custard cups, ramekins, espresso or pot de creme cups in the pan. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils turn off the heat.

Put the chopped chocolate in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or a large heatproof bowl. Bring 1/2 cup of the heavy cream to a boil. When the cream is just at a boil, pour it over the chocolate and wait for 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula and starting in the center of the bowl, gently stir the cream and chocolate until the ganache is smooth; set aside.

Stir the remaining 1 cup cream and the milk together in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a large glass measuring cup or bowl, whisk the egg, yolks, sugar and salt together until pale and slightly thickened. Still whisking, drizzle in a little of the hot liquid - this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid. Finally, slowly whisk the egg mixture into the ganache, stirring gently to incorporate.

With a spoon, skim the foam off the top of the custard, then pour the custard into the cups. Pour enough hot water from the teakettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cups. Cover the top of the pan snugly with plastic wrap, poke two holes in opposite corners and very carefully and steadily slide the setup into the oven.

Bake the custards for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the tops darken and the custards jiggle a little only in the center when tapped or lightly shaken.

Gingerly remove the roasting pan from the oven and place it on a cooling rack. Allow the custards to rest in their warm bath for 10 minutes, then peel off the plastic wrap and transfer the cups from the water to the cooling rack. Refrigerate when they reach room temperature. When the pots de creme and cool, cover them tightly with plastic wrap or their little lids.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Topped Brownies

This will be very brief as I'm in the middle of my finals. I really wish I could spend hours reading food blogs instead. I'll be done on Friday though! Yaey. And I will celebrate by baking eggnog bars and chocolate pots de creme!

After I saw this recipe for chocolate chip cookie topped brownies, I couldn't stop thinking about making them. They did take quite a bit of time to make as you're basically making 2 recipes and putting them together, but are well worth it.

As for the finished product, I wasn't sure what to think at first. I love the idea of a cookie on a brownie, but I couldn't really taste the cookie so that was disappointing. Everybody who tried them really liked them. They freeze really well (which is good because this recipe makes a huge amount), and the brownie texture is pretty much perfect (dense and moist, maybe slightly fudge-y but not ganache-y). I will definitely make these again! My second successful Dorie Greenspan recipe. I can't wait to make practically everything else in Baking From My Home To Yours.

Chipster-Topped Brownies
slightly modified from Baking From My Home To Yours (Dorie Greenspan

Brownie layer:
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped*

Cookie layer:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought chips

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan, line it with wax or parchment paper. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

To make the brownie batter: Put both chocolates and the butter in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stirring occasionally, heat just until the ingredients are melted, shiny and smooth. If the mixture gets too hot, the butter will separate from the chocolates. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy. Beat in the salt and vanilla extract. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate and butter; mixing only until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula then, still on low speed, add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the batter. Using the spatula, fold in the walnuts, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.

To make the cookie dough: Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Working with the stand mixer in the cleaned bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. One at a time, add the egg and the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Still on low, mix in the chopped chocolate. Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls over the brownie batter and, using a spatula and a light touch, spread it evenly over the batter.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cookie top is deep golden brown and firm and a thin knife inserted into the brownie layer comes out with only faint streaks of moist chocolate. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.

When the brownies are completely cool**, carefully run a knife between the sides of the pan and the brownies, then invert them onto another rack, remove the paper and turn right side up onto a cutting board. Cut into bars about 2 inches x 1 inches.

*Original recipe calls for 1 cup walnuts but that would be too walnut-y for me in a brownie so I put less and it was just perfect.
**If you don't wait until they're cool, you will end up with ugly gooey brownies. While ugly doesn't really matter unless you're serving them to other people that might care, I found that it just made for a bit of a mess between the cookie and brownie layers.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones

First off, thank you to all the lovely people that have been commenting on my posts! I haven't had a chance to visit all of your blogs yet since finals are starting to suck away more of my time, but I will definitely be visiting them. Now on to the food! I came across these peanut butter chocolate chip scones on Baking Bites and was immediately intrigued. Many months ago my friend mentioned a peanut butter bagel, and ever since then I've been dreaming of peanut butter bread-y things, so I knew I had to make these.

They're incredibly easy to make and turned out just perfectly. Crispy outsides, soft insides, a cross between a scone and a biscuit. The scones aren't as peanut butter-y as a cookie would be but the taste and smell are definitely there. And who doesn't love chocolate chips in baked goods? The dough is made in a food processor (how much easier can it be than that?) and uses milk instead of cream so I can feel slightly good about eating them. And some of the all purpose flour can easily be replaced with whole wheat flour, without changing the texture.

The recipe is written to make 16 mini scones, which I didn't realize at first. If I had then I might have just cut them into bigger pieces but I'm glad that I didn't. Making them mini means more crispy edges, which I love, and a perfect little size treat. And even better, the edges on the scones stay crispy until the second day (whereas usually I find scones will become completely soft the next day).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Scones
slightly modified from Baking Bites

Makes 16 scones.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp paking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
10 tbsp butter, cold and cut into 10 pieces
4 tbsp natural peanut butter
1 1/8 cup milk (1 c + 2 tbsp)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Pulse to combine. Add butter and peanut butter and pulse a few times, until mixture resembles very large, coarse crumbs. Add mini chocolate chips.

Combine milk and vanilla extract. With the motor of the food processor running, pour in milk. Stop when the dough starts to come together into a ball. Try not to fun the food processor any more than necessary.

Divide dough into three or four pieces and pat each piece into a circle on a lightly floured surface. Cut each circle of dough into 4 or 5 pieces, to make 16 triangular scones. Place on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 16-20 minutes at 400F, until light golden brown.

Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container if not eating right away.
The scones are best within two days of baking.

Notes: Make sure not to add too much milk otherwise the dough will be too wet. When mixing the dough in the food processor, stop it periodically to make sure that everything is mixing properly (I found that the dough was gooey on the bottom and crumbly on top if I didn't stick a spatula in there and mix things up).

(Perfect) Chocolate Cinnamon Cake

I wish I had better pictures that fully showcased how insanely delicious this cake was. It's extremely chocolatey, and while it's made with cocoa powder (which is the reason I think I don't always like chocolate cakes) it tastes like there's real melted chocolate in the batter. The cake is dense, moist and soft - in other words, perfect.

The recipe actually comes from Starbucks' website, but I found it through Baking Bites. Starbucks has only given out a few recipes over the years on their site so I was really excited to try this one. While the recipe is for cinnamon chocolate loaf, you can definitely omit the cinnamon and replace it with something else, or with nothing and just have a yummy chocolate cake! I made it with cinnamon this time but I don't think I would again just because cinnamon and chocolate is not my favourite combination. My only problem with this cake is the sugar crust on top. As you can see from my pictures, there is way too much sugar on top so most of it ends up falling off. Some of the crust forms into hard little pieces/strips. Maybe a light sprinkling of sugar, or icing! Not that this cake even needs icing. (I keep calling it cake but for some reason the original recipe calls it "bread"?)

Chocolate Cinnamon Bread (Cake)
from Starbucks & Marcus Samuelsson

Chocolate Batter
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baknig powder
1/2 teaspoon baknig soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cocoa-Spice Sugar Crust
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder
pinch ground cloves
pinch ground ginger
*

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two 9x5x3-inch loaf pans and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

Make the chocolate batter: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed, until light and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl several times.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, water and vanilla. With mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to butter, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until blended. Divide the batter between the two pans, shake the pans to even the tops and set aside.

Make the cocoa-spice sugar crust: In another bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, cocoa, ginger and cloves. Sprinkle the surfaces of both batters with the cocoa sugar mixture, dividing evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 to 50 minutes. Let cool completely, run a thin knife around the sides to release the breads and remove from pans.

*The recipe calls for an additional 1/4 cup decorating sugar but I think that's just way too much sugar. 1/8 cup total sugar might be enough (which is quartering the original recipe, and halving the recipe as written here.)

Cookie Love (I've Discovered the Neiman Marcus Recipe)

A couple of random things first. One is have you heard about the new vegan baking book My Sweet Vegan by the lovely Hannah? I haven't had a chance to look through it yet but I'm sure it's great - just look at her site! And two, I need to learn the lesson of being careful how much citrus I add to things. I made orange carrot soup a month or more ago which turned out tasting like orange soup (which I do not recommend). I forgot that I halved the recipe, and to measure the orange juice before adding it to the soup. It was pretty inedible. Then a couple of nights ago I made the lemon caper sauce I had previously made to go over tofu, but I put it with whole wheat spaghettini. I doubled the recipe and discovered that no amount of white wine or vegetable stock (okay maybe massive amounts) was going to tame the lemon flavour. Hopefully in the future I will be more careful with citrus fruits!

Moving on, I found possibly the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. I'm not sure I can commit to that statement yet but they're as close as I've found so far. They're the perfect texture (though of course that statement is relative because we all like different kinds of cookies), or rather the texture I've been searching for in a chocolate chip cookie recipe. The texture is the same throughout - just a nice, soft, chewy but not buttery and flat cookie. A cookie that holds its shape well and is a little bit crispy on the outside. Unfortunately they seem to go dry within a few days though. I'm not sure that I love the taste of the dough on its own (I think the Magnolia Bakery's or Didi Emmons' chocolate chip cookie doughs taste delicious), but I didn't add the espresso powder so I should try that next time. I'll also try adding extra vanilla (after all I have two 1 liter bottles to use up).

I'm really looking forward to trying these cookies with white chocolate peppermint bark, as discovered by Heidi. I've also tried making them with M&Ms, yum yum.

Neiman Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies
Neiman Marcus

Makes 2 dozen.

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds).

2. Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

3. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

4. Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Coconut Cream Pie

For my birthday this year I decided to make a coconut cream pie. I was extremely looking forward to making my own birthday cake (originally I was looking for a cake recipe) since it meant I would have a great excuse to make something elaborate, only myself to please and I wouldn't feel bad eating a bunch of it. I was tempted by a brownie mosaic cheesecake on Smitten Kitchen that looked challenging and delicious, and an eight-layer chocolate peanut butter cake in Saveur. But I wasn't able to find a cake that really appealed to me (a sign that I need more baking books!) I knew I always wanted to make this coconut cream pie so I thought why bother searching for a random cake recipe - I should just make something I've wanted to make for years even if it's not as complicated as some of the cakes out there.

I saw Martha Stewart make this pie on some TV show I can't remember now. This was years ago, but I always remembered it. Probably because she puts this thin layer of chocolate on top of the crust before putting in the coconut custard. Mmm hidden chocolate layer. You might think it's a good idea to add extra chocolate and make the layer thicker (the more chocolate the better right?) Well I do not recommend it, as this is what I did. It made the crust really difficult to cut through. I was not at all thinking about how hard chocolate gets when it's sitting in the fridge. Ah well, it was delicious even though it was hard to bite through!

I don't think I heated the custard long enough because it wasn't very thick. I got really tired of waiting for little bubbles to come up, while also trying to avoid it boiling and burning. This was after I did something incredibly stupid that I don't even know why I did - I heated up an empty pot at medium-high heat on the stove, then poured the custard into it. WHY?? Why did I do this. I really have no idea since I know that it was not something I should've done. Thankfully only a little bit of the egg cooked and I was able to salvage most of it. The coconut custard had an interesting light but definite coconut flavour, versus other coconut cream pies I've tried which have a stronger and sweeter coconut taste. My mom described this pie as "fluff", which I know custard is not supposed to be but hey we all liked it.

I'm still a little bit scared of making crusts, but this one turned out well so my crust making confidence can increase! I made a full recipe and only needed half so I have the other half sitting in my freezer. Not sure what I should do with it but I would hate to throw it away. Maybe the earl grey white chocolate cream pie I created in my head?

I was really happy with how the coconut cream pie turned out and I would definitely make it again. All of the components were delicious and the chocolate layer added something extra (though next time it will be a much thinner layer of course).

Coconut Cream Pie
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

makes one 9-inch pie

all-purpose flour, for dusting
1/2 recipe pâte brisée (recipe follows)
1 large whole egg, lightly beaten
4 large egg yolks
3 cups canned unsweetened coconut milk
2/3 cup granulated sugar
5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
chocolate curls*
coconut curls or shredded coconut, toasted**

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to a 12-inch round, a bit less than 1/4 inch thick. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie plate. Using kitchen shears or a sharp knife, trim crust to a 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold under overhang so it extends slightly beyond edge of pie plate. Crimp edge as desired. Prick dough all over with a fork. Brush rim of dough with beaten egg. Chill pie shell until firm, about 30 minutes.

2. Line chilled pie shell with a round of parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges of crust just turn golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove parchment and pie weights. Return crust to oven, and continue baking until golden all over 15 to 20 minutes more. Place pie shell on a wire rack to cool completely. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees.

3. Place coconut curls (or shredded coconut) on a rimmed baking sheet and bake, tossing occasionally, until fragrant and lightly golden, about 10 minutes. (Watch closely.) Set aside.

4. Prepare an ice bath; set aside. In a bowl, lightly whisk egg yolks; set aside. In a saucepan, whisk together coconut milk, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Bring to a simmer (do not boil), and cook, whisking constantly, 3 to 4 minutes.

5. Whisk a quarter of hot-milk mixture into egg yolks; whisk in remaining milk mixture. Strain into a clean saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until custard is thick and bubbles appear in center, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl, and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto surface to prevent a skin from forming. Set in ice bath until completely chilled, 30 to 35 minutes. (Filling can be kept in refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap, up to 1 day.)

6. Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler or a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (do not let bowl touch the water), or in the microwave. Stir until smooth, and set aside until cool to touch, stirring occasionally.

7. Using a pastry brush, coat inside of cooled crust with melted chocolate. Place in refrigerator or freezer until firm to touch, about 10 minutes

8. Fill crust with coconut custard, spreading evenly with an offset spatula. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, combine cream and confectioners’ sugar; beat until soft peaks form. Using a small offset spatula, spread whipped cream on top of custard. Refrigerate pie at least 3 hours before serving. Garnish with toasted coconut curls and chocolate curls just before serving.

*Take a block/bar of chocolate and use a vegetable peeler to scrape off curls. I didn't heat the chocolate up at all beforehand but I think it helps to heat it up a tiny bit. Not enough so that it melts though, of course.

Pâte Brisée
Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

makes enough for one double-crust or two single-crust 9-inch pies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed

1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.)

2. With machine running, add ice water through feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

3. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Chocolate Orbit Cake

When I went to San Francisco last September I picked up some Scharffen Berger chocolate. I'm sure to many of you is nothing special but I'd never actually seen it anywhere before (since I've been back I've seen it for sale at one store though). I was saving this chocolate for something special - I felt like it couldn't be used for just anything. I kept resisting the urge to just open it and cut off a chunk to eat. When I did open the package, there was a little piece of paper with a few recipes on it. And guess who had a recipe on there? The wonderful David Lebovitz. As soon as I saw that, I knew I had to make his recipe for chocolate orbit cake - which he wanted to call chocolate idiot cake, for how easy it is to make. Apparently it's called chocolate orbit cake because of the crater looking holes in the top of the cake after baking.

Though the cake is supposed to be idiot proof, I did end up messing one thing up. You're supposed to put the cake pan in a bigger roasting dish, and fill it half way up with hot water. Well let's just say I didn't move everything very carefully when trying to put it into the oven. Thankfully the water that got into the cake pan (which was quite a bit actually) pooled on top and so I was able to mostly blot it off with paper towel.

With what goes into this cake (chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar) I wasn't sure what to expect, but the result was amazing. When warm, it's like a gooey brownie or lava cake. When cold, it's like a smooth rich ganache. Ah just thinking about it again makes me drool. I preferred it cold, but it's definitely good warm too. The presentation isn't anything amazing because I just ate it by itself, though you could make a sauce (raspberry? caramel?) or something to go with it. This cake is definitely something everyone must try and one I will make again.

Chocolate Orbit Cake
(a David Lebovitz recipe that came with the Scharffen Berger chocolate)

9.7 ounces Scharffen Berger semisweet chocolate, chopped*
7 ounces (two sticks minus one tablespoon) unsalted butter, cubed**
5 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sugar

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 350F. Butter a 9x2-inch round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment.

2. Place chocolate and butter in a large bowl and set over a pot of gently simmering water; stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Set aside.

3. Meanwhile, in another bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Add the chocolate mixture and whisk together until thoroughly combined.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place in a larger baking pan and pour in warm water to reach halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Careful when putting this into the oven so you don't spill like I did!) Cover entirely with foil and bake just until the cake has set (your finger will come away clean if you touch the center), about an hour and 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the water bath and allow to cool on a rack completely.

*The recipe I used calls for 9.7 ounces because that's the size of the bar of chocolate. I'm sure 10 oz would be fine to use, as much fun as cutting a .7 oz piece would be.
**I used salted because that was what I had and it turned out fine.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

First off, a note about what I said in my last post where I said that potatoes are a source of vitamin C. I just updated that post with more specific information about how to best get vitamin C from potatoes (not from boiling them), just to clarify things. Anyway, onto something completely different!

Ever since I saw David Lebovitz's dulce de leche brownies, I've wanted to make them. I bookmarked the page at least 1.5 years ago, but never got around to making them. They seemed so decadent so I guess I was waiting for a special occasion to make them. That and the fact that I was scared of making dulce de leche, as I've heard that boiling the can of condensed milk in a big pot can result in disaster. David describes a foolproof method for making your own dulce de leche though, without any possibility of an unfortunate incident (aside from water sloshing into the pie plate you've poured the condensed milk into before putting it in the oven, which happened when I was making a chocolate cake but that's another post for another day and also happens to be a David Lebovitz recipe).

I was scared that something might have gone wrong since the condensed milk/dulce de leche looked kind of weird, but once I whisked it it was fine and tasted delicious.

The special occasion was a wedding shower for a friend that loves chocolate. I finally had the perfect excuse to make the dulce de leche brownies that I had been dreaming about for so long! Unfortunately I did not have the foresight to make the brownies earlier or even the day before, but then I wanted them to be as fresh as possible. I know that you're supposed to let brownies cool before cutting them, but that is especially true for these ones. The dulce de leche is so incredibly gooey when it's warm, as I found out when