Entries tagged with “Baking” from Sketchy's Kitchen
Everyone likes chocolate chip cookies, I'm a fan of the thin and crispy ones, my wife likes the chewy ones, and our son likes anything you give him. I've seen Alton Brown make thin and crispy ones, I've made toll house cookies, and every variation across the board. A few months ago i set out to make the perfect chocolate cookies for us. I estimate 20 to 25 batches of cookies were baked to come up with the one the family like the most.
Brown sugar makes a chewy cookie, white sugar makes a thin, crispy cookie. With this recipe, i have opted for more white sugar for a thin edge, and some brown sugar to keep part of the cookie thick and chewy. I chose to use baking powder and baking soda to keep the cookie from spreading too much, and the addition of the baking powder adds a subtle salty taste to the final product, which everyone has enjoyed.
The liquor adds a nice hint of flavor to the cookie that can be hard to identify, but it also serves another purpose. The additional liquid helps the spread, and ensures crispy edges with their high sugar content. Rum is a great flavor, but amaretto works nicely, as well as grand mariner. Ricard was noticable by me, but the taste testers didn't mind the additional bitter hint. I think I will try sambuca next time. Mint liquors would also be interesting to play with.
Why parchment paper? Well, there is nothing better for cookies. I have tried non stick pans, i have tried silpat. Use parchment paper! The cookies never stick to it, and you can use it over and over. I have two scoops to dish out the cookies. If you do not have a scooper, you can use a tablespoon to drop the cookies on the parchment paper lined pans. The scoop I use to make chocolate truffles is perfect for small, children size, cookies. And the larger scoop makes nine sized adult cookies.
Let the cookies rest for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then transfer them to a cooking rack. The edges are crispy, and the centers are nice and chewy
If you decide to use this recipe, go ahead and tell me how they came out, and what you used in them. Perhaps I will try adding some bacon next time I make them ...
Continue reading Cookies - Chocolate Chip.
By request of on of Jen's friends, I'm going to make a post about my English muffins. In an attempt to save some money, I started making English muffins for breakfast. I wasn't sure how they would turn out at first, but they are quite easy to make, and can be completed in one day, which is always nice.I'm using a recipe from A Bread Bakers Apprentice. It has a handful of ingredients, and is very easy to complete. I've made three batches of muffins, and they get easier each time. No special equipment is needed, well.. you will need a cast iron griddle or skillet to cook them, besides that, it's all straight forward.
Ingredients are flour, butter, milk, yeast, salt, sugar, and corn meal.
The recipe makes six large English muffins, the tops and bottoms are crispy, while the center is soft and full of nooks and crannies (if you open them correctly). The corn meal is used for dusting, otherwise, they would never release from the parchment paper when you go to cook them.To cook them - warm up a griddle and oven to 350 degrees. Once it is up to temperature, drop three of the muffins on the griddle and cook for seven to eight minutes. Flip them over and cook fro the same amount of time. When you put them on the griddle, you may hear they crackle and pop, this is normal and nothing to be concerned about. The goal is to get a nice dark crust on the bottom before flipping. They will come to a medium brown in two to three minutes, but may take up to eight minutes to get the nice rich brown you are looking for. They are very resilient to burning, so if you keep an eye out for the color after 5 minutes, you should not have any problems.
Once cooked on both sides, place the muffins in the oven for 8 minutes to insure the centers are cooked through. Then cool on a rack until room temperature. We keep ours chilled, and fork separate them before toasting in the morning. To get the expected texture when toasting, you really need to use fork to separate them, otherwise, you get a uniform smooth cut with no where for the butter/lemon curd/cheese/etc to go.These can easily be completed in an afternoon. When the little chef gets a little bigger, I think he would have fun helping me make these. Since everything is done on the griddle, they are easy to shape, drop, and flip.
Recipe after the break ---
Continue reading English Muffins.
It's been a while since I've updated here, as I said before, I got in a
slump. Well, I resurrected my sourdough starter, and started baking
again. I'll start my first sourdough in three month tonight (possibly
tomorrow - depending if the sky's are clear).
This
last week we had come company over for dinner. Can't talk about the
main course yet, but I can talk about the rustic bread I made, the
sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and tomato bread dip, and the other dishes.
First up - we have the bread, this was a cold fermented rustic recipe.
Most doughs require room temperature proofing to get the yeast growing.
I really like the texture and flavor of this bread, but I am deeply
saddened that my stone is sitting in 4 pieces in the garage. The tops
browned very nicely, but the bottoms were very weak. you just can't
get good browning with metal pans. I'll have to go get some tiles
tomorrow morning.
Next up was a basic for me. Marshmallows. This time we have passionfruit marshmallows. These were made with concentrated passionfruit juice (since you cannot buy them in richmond). I used two egg whites in this recipe, so they are a little fluffier then the gelatin only recipe that is most common.
This
last week we had come company over for dinner. Can't talk about the
main course yet, but I can talk about the rustic bread I made, the
sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and tomato bread dip, and the other dishes.
First up - we have the bread, this was a cold fermented rustic recipe.
Most doughs require room temperature proofing to get the yeast growing.
I really like the texture and flavor of this bread, but I am deeply
saddened that my stone is sitting in 4 pieces in the garage. The tops
browned very nicely, but the bottoms were very weak. you just can't
get good browning with metal pans. I'll have to go get some tiles
tomorrow morning.
Next up was a basic for me. Marshmallows. This time we have passionfruit marshmallows. These were made with concentrated passionfruit juice (since you cannot buy them in richmond). I used two egg whites in this recipe, so they are a little fluffier then the gelatin only recipe that is most common.
It's been a while since I've updated here, as I said before, I got in a
slump. Well, I resurrected my sourdough starter, and started baking
again. I'll start my first sourdough in three month tonight (possibly
tomorrow - depending if the sky's are clear).
This
last week we had come company over for dinner. Can't talk about the
main course yet, but I can talk about the rustic bread I made, the
sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and tomato bread dip, and the other dishes.
First up - we have the bread, this was a cold fermented rustic recipe.
Most doughs require room temperature proofing to get the yeast growing.
I really like the texture and flavor of this bread, but I am deeply
saddened that my stone is sitting in 4 pieces in the garage. The tops
browned very nicely, but the bottoms were very weak. you just can't
get good browning with metal pans. I'll have to go get some tiles
tomorrow morning.
Next up was a basic for me. Marshmallows. This time we have passionfruit marshmallows. These were made with concentrated passionfruit juice (since you cannot buy them in richmond). I used two egg whites in this recipe, so they are a little fluffier then the gelatin only recipe that is most common.
As for the stars and the sky - I got a great shot of a crescent Venus with my Nikon D40 with a telephoto lens.
This
last week we had come company over for dinner. Can't talk about the
main course yet, but I can talk about the rustic bread I made, the
sauteed mushrooms, garlic, and tomato bread dip, and the other dishes.
First up - we have the bread, this was a cold fermented rustic recipe.
Most doughs require room temperature proofing to get the yeast growing.
I really like the texture and flavor of this bread, but I am deeply
saddened that my stone is sitting in 4 pieces in the garage. The tops
browned very nicely, but the bottoms were very weak. you just can't
get good browning with metal pans. I'll have to go get some tiles
tomorrow morning.Next up was a basic for me. Marshmallows. This time we have passionfruit marshmallows. These were made with concentrated passionfruit juice (since you cannot buy them in richmond). I used two egg whites in this recipe, so they are a little fluffier then the gelatin only recipe that is most common.
As for the stars and the sky - I got a great shot of a crescent Venus with my Nikon D40 with a telephoto lens.
Better late then never - right?
This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.
The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.
Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"
We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.
For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.
Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.
This holiday season, we decided to bake most of our gifts. I made lemon sable cookies, biscotti, stolen, cinnamon raisin bread, marshmallows, brioche, and some Portuguese sweet bread. Everything turned out well.The Lemon Sable cookies were first. They were slightly lemony, with hints saltiness and sugar. They had the perfect balance of sandiness and chewy.
Next was the biscotti. There were multiple batches of these Italian twice baked cookies. The Little chef helped me make a few batches of what he calls "Mixer cookies"
We made honey lavender-lemon, mixed fruit (cranberries, cherries, and raisins) and spice, chocolate chocolate, and chocolate chip. The little guy loves these cookies. These were based on the Dorie Greenspan recipe - I really like the addition of corn meal in the recipe. It adds a nice touch of texture that is so often missing from these cookies.
For the stolen, I soaked some zante currants, golden raisins, tart cherries, and craisins in Myers rum and ginger alcohol. With the addition of cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, and some Navan liquor made the stolen very moist and flavorful. They rose nicely, and when dusted with powdered sugar, looked very festive.
Everything else was straight forward. The brioche was the best thing I made this season. It's hard to screw up bread with a pound of butter and 5 eggs. We had that at New Years brunch at Piet's place, and for the worlds best French toast the next day. I'll be making the brioche again in the next few weeks, it smells so good when baking, and when slightly toasted or grilled, so much flavor comes out.
TKO's - better known as the Thomas Keller Oreo
I've meant to make these for quite a long time. I just forgot about them. These are grown up cookies. They are very rich, they have a deep chocolate flavor, and they are a little salty.
They have a nice, deep chocolate flavor, they are a little sandy, buttery, and oh so good. The adults and kids in the neighborhood loved the cookies, I made two flavors for the filling. The white ones were straight white chocolate, and the red centers were white chocolate with dried raspberries.
These were not that hard to make -- the ingredient list was short, and it makes a bunch of cookies. I made two batches of these - one for a party, and a second batch for us and the neighborhood families. I used raspberry powder for the filling, I Added it with the cream and it worked really well. The color was nice, and the flavor was very strong.
TKO's
from The Essence of Chocolate
makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies
Cookie:
- 1 1/2 cups plus 3 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup plus 1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (dutch process if you have it)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 15 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 3/4" cubes, at room temperature
Filling:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 8 oz. white chocolate, chopped
1. For the Filling: In a small pan, bring the cream to a boil. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand for 1 minute, then whisk to melt the chocolate until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl, and let stand for 6 hours to thicken up.
2. For the Cookies: In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed. With the mixer running, add the butter, a piece at a time. The mixture will be dry and sandy at first, but over 2 minutes, will form pebble-sie pieces that start to cling together. Stop the mixer and transfer the dough to your board.
3. Preheat oven to 350F. Seperate dough into 2 pieces. Roll each piece of dough between 2 pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper to 1/8" inch thick. Using a fluted cutter, cut into rounds. Scraps can be pieced together and rolled out again. Place 1/2" apart on baking sheets lined with Silpat liners or parchment paper.4. Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. Remove and cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. Cool completely.
5. To Assemble: Lightly whip the white chocolate cream to aerate and fluff up. Transfer filling to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" plain tip. Pipe about 1 1/2 tsp in the center of half the cookies. Top with another cookie to sandwich. Gently press down until the cream comes to the edges.
6. Cookies can be stored in a container for up to 3 days. Loosely cover
Here's few shots of some of the things I never got around to posting!
And somewhere there is a passionfruit-mirror top chocolate opera cake I need to load up
I'm late on my post -- I'll pull the work card. I started a new job last month, I get to work from home, but they are working me to death :D As I post this - on a holiday weekend, I am doing work on my work computer at 11:48 PM on a holiday! We're supposed to calm down in about a week, but so far, the first months has been a bundle of work!
I did manage to get this months Daring Bakers challenge completed, but I missed the post date -- so here's my post. And thanks to this months hosts Tony and Meeta.
I enjoyed this challenge, my only complaint - after the challenge was complete, I had a large volume of unused material. Mostly made with expensive chocolate. Sure, having a few cups of chocolate sauce is not a bad thing, but at the price, I'd rather have the money and some cheap Hershey's syrup. After making the recipe, the glaze and sauce could have been halved. I also had a lot of the chocolate pastry cream left over, but most of that got eaten.
The pastry came out brilliantly. I had large gaping air-pockets and everything was evenly cooked. These were light and fluffy, filled with chocolate and covered with chocolate. The short lifespan on these made my neighbors very happy.
I felt the cake was too heavy, all the flavors were very strong and overpowering. Even with a light and airy cake, the multiple glazes and heavy buttercream, and chocolate were just too much. M y wife felt the same way. Even with tiny little slices, the cake was too much. It didn't taste bad, it was just too heavy. I didn't think the opera cake was too heavy, I think the addition of mousse lightened the overall texture and feel of the cake, This one was just buttercream and buttercream.
Chris from Mele Cotte picked the recipe - it was a little tough following the instructions, but the final product looked good. Just read and reread the recipe a few times. You might want to print it out and organize it by sub recipes, and make sure you know how they will be used together. Here is a list of others who participate in the Daring Bakers Challenges.
One thing that I did learn -- I should not be given a piping bag. I need to find a class and learn how to use those damn things!
SO - in summary - didn't like it, so I can't recommend it to others. I know other bakers had much better experiences with it, maybe I just don't like cakes like this? Who knows?
Well, close enough. This
months Daring Bakers challenge was to make light opera cake. For those unfamiliar with these cakes, they
are made with a joconde-dense almond cake. The cake is very eye friendly. There are alternating layers of the almond cake,
flavorful syrup is spread on each cake layer, and between each layer is either
a buttercream, or a mousse. Finally,
there is a chocolate glaze poured over the cake. Typically, the cake is very heavy. Chocolate, coffee, and almond flavors are the
normal flavor combination. Our challenge was to make it more spring like. No chocolate, no coffee, no chocolate, did I
mention no chocolate?Since the recipe is SO LONG, I will link to it, instead of displaying the entire recipe.
For us daring bakers, the biggest challenge was picking flavor combinations. Since we were thinking spring time, light, fruity flavors were at the top of most people's minds. Others were immediately sucked into the green tea realm. I immediately wanted to use orange. Then Galliano came to mind.
Galliano has a very light citrus taste, along with some vanilla, anise, and some herbs. Its dominating flavor is anise, like Sambuca or Pernod. I built the flavors around this. Orange-vanilla buttercream with hints of Galianno and Drambuie, the syrup was Galliano flavored, and the liquid used in the syrup was infused with star anise. The mousse was white chocolate, vanilla, and honey. And the final glaze was white chocolate, Galianno, and a hint of limoncello for some additional citrus.
This is a complex recipe. Not overly difficult, just time consuming. If you can balance your time, and the recipe, over a few days, this can be accomplished by anyone.
I made the cake and syrup one evening. The next evening I made the buttercream and mousse. I assembled the cake and cooled it overnight. The next day after work I made the glaze and poured it over the cake. Once cooled, I squared the cake. This is a presentation cake. There is no icing on the sides, so the layers can show. You see them in bakeries all the time.
I loved this recipe and this concept. So did my neighbors. They were willing tasters, and this makes a
lot more then two people can attempt to finish before the cake starts to head
south. Once square, you can get 12 or more rectangle slices from the cake.
As many of the other Daring Bakers recipes, I did this one twice. Not because I screwed up on the first one, but because I had so much fun making this. We have new neighbors, so I figured this would make a great 'welcome to the neighborhood' gift. They told me they were chocolate lovers, so I approached the recipe a different way. I avoided the coffee flavors, but I gave them as much chocolate as they could stomach!
For my second opera cake, I made chocolate joconde (almond cake), I made a Grand Mariner and limoncello syrup, orange-grapefruit buttercream with a hint of vodka, a raspberry lime bittersweet chocolate mousse, and a chocolate glaze infused with vanilla and Grand Mariner. I also ventured into new territory and made a stencil of my logo.
My two remaining reviews of Dining in NYC will have to wait a few days. I wanted to talk about yesterday -- First, I made a banana bread with my son. It has a hint of orange and vanilla, and partially crushed sweet cacao nibs. Turned out wonderfully. Slice it, toast it, pat-o-butter.
The sweet cacao nibs add the extra boost it needed from the previous recipe. and the hint of orange is a nice flavor note on the tongue -- it's not too powerful, but it is recognizable between the nibs and banana.
The main event for Saturday was the Lebanese Food Festival. We all had a good time. There were about 10 booths selling food. All the food was homemade, and much of it was cooked on site. they spend months preparing the food for the weekend festival. some of the dishes can be made months in advance and frozen, some are made on site. When you sell cookies for three days, you have to have a ton of them already prepared.
We got a large sampling from the booths and sat down in the grass for dinner. Our son ate just about everything we gave him. My favorite dishes were the tabouli and the spinach and feta cheese pie. After the hearty portions, I braved the lines to get us a sampling of the desserts. They were frying doughnuts on site, so I grabbed an order of them, then I got an assortment from the cookie table.
The doughnuts were nice and warm. The cookies were good, but they all had a similar flavor and texture.
This month Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms tasked the Daring Bakers with the mission of making cheesecake pops. It looked exciting, I thought cheesecake, I'm good with cheesecakes. Well, this cheesecake did not want to cooperate. I followed the recipe, and the cake was NO WHERE near being cooked. I checked a few cookbooks -- some said the center could be a little unfirm, but the temp should be 150 degrees. So, I pulled it, let it cool, then stuck it in the refrigerator overnight.The next morning, I pulled it and tried to scoop out a ball. This did not work out at all. The ball had the consistency of soup, chunky soup. The outer 2 inches were cooked, the rest wasn't. I decided to 're-bake' the cheesecake. This would have worked brilliantly, should have worked brilliantly. You can just tell there is a but coming.
I forgot about it. Forgot about it while it was in the oven at 200 degrees. To say overcooked would be an understatement. I popped it out of the pan, then I had to cut the top of the cheesecake off. It was hard and pointy, it cracked like shards of glass. The inside part tasted fine, so I formed it up, stuck it in the freezer, and dipped them in tempered chocolate.
Well, if you have read this blog, I don't like it when things don't work out. SO >>> I made it again. This time I cooked the cheesecake for TWICE the alloted time in the recipe. Everything scooped out, or cut out cleanly, I used some different toppings, and these are downstairs now.
The first batch was enjoyed by my neighbors, people love them - even if you don't. I decided to eat one of the Oreo topped ones after the photo shoot. When I bit into it, the pop flew in half and deposited the uneaten part on the floor. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. How did it tast - great, but I will recommend people to eat them on a plate. Think of them as chocolate dipped cheesecake bits.
The cheesecake is the right consistency for eating, but I don't think it is the right consistency for pops. I think it might need to be a little overbaked to withstand the forces of gravity.
I topped mine with Oreo cookies, sweet cacao nibs, candy bits, chocolate sprinkles, roasted hazelnuts, and a dark cherry coulis thickened to a jelly. All the flavors went well with the chocolate
Not Quite Nigella has decided to throw her first blogging event.
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:
Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
I was planning on using the rest of the bananas,
until I came across her event. Now I can do both. I used my
tried-and-true banana bread recipe (adapted from Alton Brown's). It's worked
a number of times, is fast and easy to do. This time I added some cacao
nibs to the recipe
When eaten by themselves, cacao nibs have a crunchy, cool, chocolaty taste. They are a little grainy, but get smooth as you chew them. Many fine candy retailers will have a variety of nibs available for purchase. Once baked, the cacao nibs take on the texture of walnuts. The flavor is very mellow, and when baked in the bread, most people think the bread contains nuts, instead of cacao nibs. If you think chocolate, you can taste it, otherwise, I'm not sure the flavor is strong enough. Also - if you think chocolate - you'll want sweetened chocolate. Yes, sweetened chocolate would make this much better, but would turn it into more of a dessert. Sweetened nibs, or chocolate-coated nibs, might make this better, without overpowering the bread.
I think I will pick up some of the chocolate-coated cacao nibs and try this recipe again. Anyway - here is the recipe:Cacao Nibbed Banana Bread
3 Overripe Bananas
1 Cup Sugar
1 Stick Melted Butter (cooled)
2 Large Eggs
1 tsp Rum
2 Cups Unbleached AP Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cacao nibs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (non convection)
Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray, and make a parchment sling for the pan.
Mash the bananas with the sugar until liquefied, then mix in the butter, eggs, and rum.
Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Fold that into the bananas and mix until combined. Fold in the cacao nibs and pour into a prepared loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 70 minutes. You want the internal temp to be 210 degrees, and an inserted toothpick needs to come out clean. Mine took about 65 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes in the pan. Remove from pan, peel off sling, and rest on wire rack until the bread is near room temperature.
This months Daring Bakers challenge was a party cake. I meant to put this up yesterday, but Monday morning will have to do, This is my third challenge, and it went very well. Cake is always welcome in my house, so I ended up making two :D The cake is amazing. Light, fluffy, bright white. We were allowed to take some liberties with the recipe - altering the flavors, but sticking with the general recipe. on my first cake I decided to add blood orange zest to the cake recipe, and I used blood orange juice and zest, and vanilla paste in the Italian buttercream. This made the icing slightly pink, but I decided to not add food coloring to the icing.I realized I have absolutely NO skill with icing cakes. I tired to follow the instructions for icing the cake. I filled each layer with a mix of blackberry preserves and fresh blackberry juice, the layered the icing. when I finished, I was almost out of icing. Parts of the outside did not get a full covering, This dried out part of the cake, Granted - it tasted great, but looked very incomplete.
Once this cake was demolished, I decided to make another. I used everything I learned with the first cake and applied it to the second. First off, I changed the recipe. I made a honey lavender cake with lemon curd filling. This was an interesting experience. I love the smell of lavender, I make honey lemon biscotti, and I use it in some spice blends. for the cake, I ground some lavender with the sugar and added it with the sugar. I didn't use a lot, just enough to barely smell it. The next step was the icing.The Italian buttercream recipe has you whipping the egg whites and sugar before you add the butter. I replaced half of the sugar with my wife's breakfast honey (local farm down the street). I pulverized two tablespoons of lavender blossoms with a teaspoon of sugar and added that during the creaming stage. Once the icing was ready, I dug through the icing colors and pulled out the violet paste. I added the color until I had a nice violet tint. I like the icing color paste - it does not have a flavor that you can taste.
This cake came together much better. Lemon curd and icing in each layer, full coverage on the outside. But I still cannot decorate a cake. I remembered to put down a crumb coat, the I top loaded the cake and worked the icing down the sides. we had full, even coverage on the cake, and the icing was much more balanced then the previous cake. The flavors worked great, we all enjoyed this cake more then the first.This is my favorite cake recipe, we will be making this again :D
I have a new healthy starter! My old one died and got funky when I was sick, so I rebuilt a new one from scratch. This time I stored some of the Seed Culture in the freezer. That way I should be able to resurrect it if dies again. Back to the sourdough -- I made a large loaf with mimolette cheese. I diced the cheese into little bits and incorporated it into the dough before the first rise. the bread came out great! The sourdough starter imparted a great flavor in the bread, and the little pockets of cheese were wonderful. As usual, the little guy spotted the bread immediatly and wanted some.
As for the oven spring, I think I needed to let the dough proof for 30 more minutes, or make the slashes a little larger. The bread exploded on me and cracked the base of the bread. Technically, the slash and exposure is called a grigne, but I keep thinking I mispelled a word.
In other bread baking news, I attempted the Poilane style miche again. I say again because I made a masonry brick the first time. 
Miche refers to a large round loaf. Poilane refers to Lionel Poilane, French boulanger. I don't know what I did wrong the first time, but it was quite wrong. Nothing went right. This is a LARGE and interesting recipe. It's huge, it even says not to use a stand mixer, because you will break it. It has 3 pounds fo flour in the recipe, add that to 2 cups of water, it is a mass of dough to be reckened with. as I said, the first time I made a masonry brick. It was hard and inedible. I didn't blog about it becasue I wanted to figure out how to do this darned recipe first. I made another attempt, and pulled the bread out of the oven yesterday. This one proofed better, was much easier to work with, but I think I still have the proof timing off. As with the sourdough above, this wheat sourdough exploded out of the gates. I worry about overproofing the dough and starving the yeast, but they get overexcited if there is too much food when you start to bake the bread. I'm doing some research to see if I can get this figured out.
On the good sice, the Miche taste great and has a nice crusty exterior. It think the top will soften a little int he next 24 hours, but it does not fit the bill for what my wife wanted. She wanted sandwhich bread for PB&J -- this bread requires meat and cheese. It is tangy, has a very light rye flavor, and goes great with soppresetta, cheese, garlic and oil, anything hearty.
This month's Daring Baker's challenge was French Bread. Mary and Sarah picked a classic Julia Child's recipe. I've made the Peter Reinhart version a few times, and the recipe is drastically different. I decided to make both and compare the two outcomes.Like all my breads, I take a very hands on approach. I don't use mixers, I like the feel of the dough, and I can tell when it is ready by how it feels in my hands. The Julia Child's recipe was the first batch I made, so I will start with that. The recipe was pretty straight forward, the bread proofed up well the first day, but because of my work schedule, I had to take one liberty with the set of instructions. I retarded the second rise in the refrigerator. To make this all in one day is a VERY time consuming venture. Some of the other Daring bakers were quoting 9 hours or more to get the bread into the oven. With work and the little one, there is no way I was going to find that time in one day.
The dough was very supple and easy to work with. It formed up well, and the last rise was effortless. I used a kitchen towel rubbed down with flour - one tip - If you do this, make sure the towel is not treated with fabric softener. The smell can pass over into the dough, I've had trouble with getting dough to release from my slip, so I bake all my dough on parchment now. About halfway through cooking, I pull the parchment out. This prevents the bunches of seminola from forming on the bottom of the bread. I formed three shapes. 2 baguettes and one 'mini loaf'. I use a lame to make my slashes, and cook on a bakers stone.
The Julia recipe looks beautiful, came out with a great crust and a good crumb, but it was a little too salty for my taste, and the bread did not have a lot of heartiness to it. Two of my loaves came out perfect, the other one split lengthwise. It still looks good from one angle, and tastes just like the others. It had the smallest crumb, that is because the steam decided a quick side exit was the easiest way to get out. I thought I had the surface tension correct on that one, but apparently, I misses a pinch somewhere. Overall, the bread was quite nice and easy to make, but lacked something in the flavor category.
I attempted the Peter Reinhart version a week later. This recipe uses both bread and AP flour, this changes the crumb, flavor, and gluten creation. It also uses a pan fermentate - this adds a lot of flavor to the final recipe. The preferment is a mixture of instant yeast, water, and flour. You mix it up, let it rise for a few hours, then cool it overnight. This allows a little fermentation to take place, and adds a lot of that 'bready' flavor. This recipe uses less salt, which removed the saltiness that was present in the Julia's recipe. The final product was not as light as Julia's recipe, but it had more depth.
Which one do I like better? I'm not sure. Both recipes can be broken into two day events without affecting the final product. One was salty, but that is easily corrected by using less salt. I do think there is a disservice to the Julia recipe by not utilizing a preferment, but the lightness of the inside was great. I think I will try a hybrid batch in the future. Take the bread flour preferment and salt content from Peter's recipe, and the yeast and AP ratio from Julia's.All in all, I had fun, and the house was full of bread for a few weeks. Check in tomorrow to see how my new sourdough starter turns out! I've got a loaf forming up in a brotform now :D
Ok -- updates!
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
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I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
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On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.
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I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
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I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
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Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.
He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
As the smell of whole wheat bread, fresh from the oven, fills the house, I've decided to write about this month's Daring Bakers challenge (my first). We were tasked with baking a lemon meringue pie. I've made many fruit pies, and a few pies with meringue on them-my favorite is a key lime pie with fresh meringue spooned on top and lightly browned with a torch. Well, I had to make this pie twice. I was a little off when I gave it my first attempt. The first problem is that I started after 9:00 PM. This was just a bad idea.OK - the first attempt should be called 'meringue pie with lemon sauce': The crust came out wonderfully, but the curd didn't set. I've done meringue many times, so I had no problems there. The pie tasted fine, but the texture was WAY off. I went back and read over the recipe. I made a couple mistakes. First, it calls for a 10 inch pie pan, I used a 12 inch. The second problem was a simple misread of the recipe. I botched the steps of the curd, and it never set. On the bright side, when I poured the pie in to the sink, the crust came out in one giant piece.
A few weeks later, I gave it a second try. This time I used a 9 inch pie pan, and everything went very well (I don't own a 10 inch). I started on Saturday morning, and had a wonderful pie by the afternoon. Personally, it's a lot of work for a pie that's only really good for one day. Apple pies, silk pies, key limes, these will all hold for a couple days without going down in quality. The lemon meringue should really be eaten the same day it is made.
Problems with the recipe/pie: the curd can be temperamental. It either doesn't set up, or it weeps when cut. There is this magical zone where the curd holds it shape without bulging or breaking. This challenge required us to strictly follow the recipe, so, flirting with disaster was included. It took me two pies to get it right.
Lemon Meringue Pie
Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie
For the Crust:
- ¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
- 2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
- ¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
- ⅓ cup (80 mL) ice water
For the Filling:
- 2 cups (475 mL) water
- 1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch
- 5 egg yolks, beaten
- ¼ cup (60 mL) butter
- ¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
- 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
For the Meringue:
- 5 egg whites, room temperature
- ½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
- ¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
- ½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
- ¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar
For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.
For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.
For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.
No, this isn't made with banana bread, but that might be an interesting approach in the future. I came across this recipe while flipping through Bon Appétit. I had decided on bread pudding because my mother really likes it. I found a few recipes, but this one called to me - salt caramel and bananas. One of the recipes I had flipped through called for brioche, I decided to replace the white bread in the BA recipe with brioche. I hit the local bakery to be told they don't make it anymore. Well, I went home and almost broke my KitchenAid!
I made three small loaves of "Rich Man's" Brioche. The dough was SO tough on the stand mixer, but OHHH the smell of butter. This was my first time attempting brioche, and it came out perfectly - all three loaves. One loaf was sacrificed to French toast and toddler munching, the rest was saved for bread pudding.
The pudding recipe was pretty easy, it even used store bought caramel sauce to save time. I made a few small changes to the recipe -- I used vanilla bean pods, the brioche, less caramel, and a little extra sea salt. But everything else was straight from the magazine
Caramel-Banana Bread Pudding
8 ramekins
Lay out all the brioche and lightly toast in the oven - you are not looking to add color, just to stiffen up the surface. Mix the caramel with the coarse and fine sea salts. Once toasted, spoon 1 tbsp of the caramel sauce in each ramekin. When the bread is cool, spread the remaining caramel sauce evenly over the rest of the bread. Broil the bread for one minute and rotate the pan. broil for 30 to 60 more seconds. you want the caramel to bubble little, and the bread to begin to darken - do not burn the bread or caramel. Cool
While the bread cools, rub the inside of each ramekin with cold butter. Cut each piece of bread into four pieces and place a banana slice on each piece. If you cut it diagonally, you might be able to cover each piece with a single slice. standing the bread on it's edge, place 5 or 6 slices in each ramekin - you may have to push the last piece in place. Once they are all done, prepare the filling.
Whisk the eggs, half and half, milk, vanilla paste, 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp fine sea salt together. Pour the mixture into each ramekin (I filled each 1/2 up, then balanced the rest of the custard across the ramekins so they were all filled to the same level). Let the custard sit for 30 minutes - most of the mixture will be absorbed in the bread. They can be refrigerated (covered) for up to 8 hours at this point.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and set a pot of water boiling. If you have any extra custard, pour it into the ramekins. Brush the exposed bread with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the ramekins. When the oven is preheated, place the ramekins in a large roasting pan, put the roasting pan in the oven, then pour in the water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. bake for 45 minutes - checking the last 10 minutes for burning. A knife should come out cleanly.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream would go well with these.
They came out beautifully, but next time I would either add chopped up salt caramels with the bananas, or place a whole salt caramel in the center of the empty ramekin - the gooey center concept. The addition of the larger salt crystals gets you a few 'crunchy salt' moments when eating. If you have had salt caramel, you know probably what I am talking about.
I made three small loaves of "Rich Man's" Brioche. The dough was SO tough on the stand mixer, but OHHH the smell of butter. This was my first time attempting brioche, and it came out perfectly - all three loaves. One loaf was sacrificed to French toast and toddler munching, the rest was saved for bread pudding.The pudding recipe was pretty easy, it even used store bought caramel sauce to save time. I made a few small changes to the recipe -- I used vanilla bean pods, the brioche, less caramel, and a little extra sea salt. But everything else was straight from the magazine
Caramel-Banana Bread Pudding
- 1 cup purchased caramel sauce
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt- 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt (I used gray)
- 1/8 tsp fine sea salt (yes 2, it's not duplicated)
- 3 1/2 bananas
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups half and half
- 1/3 cup whole milk
- 2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 11 slices of brioche (2.5x3-inch slices 1/4 inches thick
8 ramekins
Lay out all the brioche and lightly toast in the oven - you are not looking to add color, just to stiffen up the surface. Mix the caramel with the coarse and fine sea salts. Once toasted, spoon 1 tbsp of the caramel sauce in each ramekin. When the bread is cool, spread the remaining caramel sauce evenly over the rest of the bread. Broil the bread for one minute and rotate the pan. broil for 30 to 60 more seconds. you want the caramel to bubble little, and the bread to begin to darken - do not burn the bread or caramel. Cool
While the bread cools, rub the inside of each ramekin with cold butter. Cut each piece of bread into four pieces and place a banana slice on each piece. If you cut it diagonally, you might be able to cover each piece with a single slice. standing the bread on it's edge, place 5 or 6 slices in each ramekin - you may have to push the last piece in place. Once they are all done, prepare the filling.Whisk the eggs, half and half, milk, vanilla paste, 1 1/2 tbsp sugar, and 1/8 tsp fine sea salt together. Pour the mixture into each ramekin (I filled each 1/2 up, then balanced the rest of the custard across the ramekins so they were all filled to the same level). Let the custard sit for 30 minutes - most of the mixture will be absorbed in the bread. They can be refrigerated (covered) for up to 8 hours at this point.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and set a pot of water boiling. If you have any extra custard, pour it into the ramekins. Brush the exposed bread with the melted butter and sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar over the ramekins. When the oven is preheated, place the ramekins in a large roasting pan, put the roasting pan in the oven, then pour in the water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. bake for 45 minutes - checking the last 10 minutes for burning. A knife should come out cleanly.
Serve warm or at room temperature. Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream would go well with these.
They came out beautifully, but next time I would either add chopped up salt caramels with the bananas, or place a whole salt caramel in the center of the empty ramekin - the gooey center concept. The addition of the larger salt crystals gets you a few 'crunchy salt' moments when eating. If you have had salt caramel, you know probably what I am talking about.
These cookies are pretty easy to make, but it is a little messy. I made these for the cookie exchange at work. I've looked at many recipes, made a few changes, and came up with something I like. Some of the recipes lack vanilla; I think vanilla helps bring out the chocolate flavor. I prefer vanilla beans for flavor, but paste or extract will also work. I added some orange to the recipe for additional flavor.The cookies are almost brownie like in their texture. The addition of rolling the cookies in powdered sugar gives them a fantastic look. When the cookies are baking, they fall and the sugar cracks on the surface. I made my first batch with a hand mixer - I advise against this. the final batter is incredibly thick. I almost burnt out the motor in my hand mixer - so I recommend a stand mixer for this recipe.
Having a square or rectangle baking dish may speed up the formation of the cookies. I thought of this on my second batch. I lined the dish with plastic wrap, then spooned the dough into the dish. I folded over the plastic wrap and pressed the cookie dough flat. This makes it much easier to cut and shape even cookies. I laid out a 1x1 grid across the top and used a bench scraper to cut the dough. I cook them on silpat, if you don't have that, use parchment paper.The first batch I made cooked for 20 minutes. They taste good, but they are a little soft in the middle for my taste. My wife loved the moist texture when they were warm, but it was a little unappealing once they cooled. The addition of two minutes took care of this - they have a consistent cooked texture throughout, while staying moist.
Here's the recipe:- 4 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 Cups Sugar
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp orange extract
- 1/2 vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla extract/paste
- Confectioners sugar for rolling.
Add half the flour in small portions. Scrape down the sides, and then add the baking powder and mix to combine. Slowly, add the rest of the flour. When all the flour is added, mix for 1 minute. Transfer the dough to a plastic wrapped baking dish, cover and press flat. Cool in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, they can sit overnight.
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.
Grid out the cookies and cut the dough into 1X1 squares. The dough is sticky! Coat your hands in powdered sugar and take the squares and form into balls. Roll the dough in the powdered sugar and place on the prepared cookie sheet (silpat or parchment). Place the cookies two inches apart, as they cook, they will fall and spread out.
Cook for 22 minutes. Rotate the pans halfway for even cooking.
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