Archive for baking

Chocolate Duet Cookies from Panera–My Version

{ May 4, 2009 @ 8:33 pm } · { baking, recipes }
{ Tags: , , , } · { Comments (6) }

chocolateduet

This one goes out especially to my Panera Bread peeps, Roxanne and Nate.  We had some great times eating Frontera Chicken sandwiches, Tomato Basil Bisque, and Chocolate Duet Cookies while informally counseling one another on our love lives.  While your great advice may not have stuck with me (sorry guys!), my love for the crunchy, chocolatey deliciousness that is the Chocolate Duet Cookie is still going strong.

Even though there is a Panera less than a mile away from me here in Washington, I like to know how to make all my favorite foods at home.  So, last Friday I scoured the ‘net for the official Panera Chocolate Duet Cookie recipe to no avail.   I improvised!  Here is the recipe I came up with.  If my dad eating the whole batch almost single-handedly in a 24 hour period is any indication, this recipe is a hit!

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (for less sweetness use less white chocolate and more semi-sweet chocolate)
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped nuts (Panera uses walnuts, I used macadamia nuts)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°F (you may need to adjust this based on your particular oven, my mom’s oven bakes these perfectly at 375° and my dad’s needs to be set at 350°.)

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Drop level tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets and bake in batches in middle of oven until puffed and set, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.  Makes about 30 cookies.

Keep an eye on these cookies in the oven, especially on your first batch.  You don’t want them to burn on the edges!

Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie with Creme Fraiche Topping

{ April 29, 2009 @ 2:59 am } · { baking, cooking, recipes }
{ Tags: , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

chocolatepuddingpie

I tend to pander to the tastes of my friends and family when I cook.  F’rinstance, a couple weeks ago Katie mentioned she liked pudding.  Thus, my last three dessert creations involved pudding in some way (Boston Cream Pie Layer Cake, Chocolate Pudding Pie, and Double Chocolate Pudding Parfait).  What can I say? I love my little sis!

Here is the recipe for the Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding Pie with Creme Fraiche Topping.  My comments, modifications and review follows.

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 1 cup chocolate wafer cookie crumbs (about half of one 9-ounce package; about 23 cookies, finely ground in processor)
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), finely chopped

Filling:

  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 cups whole milk, divided
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon dark rum
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:

  • 1 cup chilled crème fraîche*
  • 1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Bittersweet chocolate shavings or curls (optional)

Preparation

Crust:
Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Blend cookie crumbs and sugar in processor. Add melted butter; process until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture onto bottom and up sides (not rim) of 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Bake until crust begins to set and no longer looks moist, pressing gently with back of fork if crust puffs, about 12 minutes. Remove crust from oven, then sprinkle chopped chocolate over bottom of crust. Let stand until chocolate softens, 1 to 2 minutes. Using offset spatula or small rubber spatula, spread chocolate over bottom and up sides of crust to cover. Chill crust until chocolate sets, about 30 minutes.

Filling:
Whisk sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt to blend in heavy medium saucepan. Gradually add 1/3 cup milk, whisking until smooth paste forms. Whisk in remaining milk, then 1/4 cup cream. Using flat-bottom wooden spoon or heatproof spatula, stir mixture constantly over medium heat, scraping bottom and sides of pan until pudding thickens and begins to bubble at edges, about 5 minutes. Add chocolate; stir until mixture is smooth. Remove from heat; stir in rum and vanilla. Pour hot pudding into crust and spread evenly. Cool 1 hour at room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap; chill overnight. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated.

Topping:
Using electric mixer, beat crème fraîche, whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl just until stiff peaks form and mixture is thick enough to spread (do not overbeat or mixture may curdle). Spread topping decoratively over top of pie, swirling to create peaks, if desired. DO AHEAD: Pie can be made 6 hours ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate.

Sprinkle chocolate shavings decoratively atop pie, if desired. Cut pie into wedges and serve.

* Sold at some supermarkets and at specialty foods stores.

Based on epicurious.com reviews of this recipe, I decided to use straight whipped cream instead of the more tangy creme fraiche.  I was happy with the classic, sweet whipped cream taste.  I baked the crust for about 5 extra minutes, which was a huge mistake.  The instructions said to bake until “crust begins to set and no longer looks moist.” Well, there is a lot of butter in the crust and it still looked moist, so I kept baking.  It ended up hard as a rock.  Just bake 12 minutes or less.  Also, I think melting the chocolate on top of the crust is overkill, don’t bother.  The filling is too chocolatey.  If you are a die hard chocoholic who loves chocolate as bitter and rich as you can get it, then go for it.  Otherwise, tone it down by adding a lot less chocolate at the end.  I tasted the pudding before I added the 4 oz of bittersweet chocolate and it tasted a lot better than after.  Next time I’ll try this chocolate pudding pie recipe:  http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/102366

Chocolate Wows

{ December 9, 2008 @ 4:43 am } · { baking, recipes }
{ Tags: , , , } · { Comments (4) }

2008dec4-0041

Looking for a cookie that encapsulates everything you love about chocolate? Look no further!  This decadent, gooey treat has more chocolate ounce per ounce than any cookie I have run across.

From “The All New Good Housekeeping Cook Book,” this recipe begs to be shared (and people will beg for you to share it, once they’ve tasted the results!).

Ingredients

  • 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 6 squares (6 oz or one cup) semisweet chocolate, chopped (or as-is if using chocolate chips)
  • 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1  1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 cups pecans (8 oz) chopped
  • 1 package (6 oz or 1 cup) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Grease two large cookie sheets (instead of grease I place wax paper or parchment paper on top of the cookie sheets).  In small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.
  2. In heavy 2-quart saucepan, melt chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth (using 30 second increments, I melt chocolate and butter in a bowl in the microwave).  Remove from heat and cool.
  3. In large bowl, with mixer at medium speed, beat eggs and sugar until light and lemon colored, about 2 minutes, frequently scraping bowl with rubber spatula.  Reduce speed to low.  Add cooled chocolate mixture, flour mixture, and vanilla; beat just until blended.  Increase speed to medium; beat 2 minutes.  With wooden spoon, stir in pecans and chocolate chips.
  4. Drop batter by rounded teaspoons, 2 inches apart, on prepared cookie sheets.  With small metal spatula, spread batter into 2-inch rounds.  Bake until tops are shiny  and cracked, about 15 minutes (took about 13 minutes in my oven), rotating cookie sheets between upper and lower oven racks halfway through baking.  Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheet.  With wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.
  5. Repeat with remaining batter.  Makes about 48 cookies.

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

{ November 20, 2008 @ 9:14 pm } · { baking, recipes, Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

Some of you may have heard the heart breaking tale of my last attempt at homemade bread.  I unceremoniously dumped all the specified ingredients into my Oster breadmaker with utter faith that my toils would be rewarded with a carbohydrate rich slice of healthy goodness.  I was crestfallen with the leaden lump of bitter inedibility that greeted me four hours later.  Did I mention I was laid off from my job the same day?

Two weeks later and I’ve finally rehabilitated my spirits enough to try again.  While perusing the bulk goods at Henry’s, I discovered there are two types of wheat flour: coarse and pastry.  I had attempted to bake bread with coarse wheat instead of pastry wheat flour!  I left with a bag full of wheat pastry flour and a heart full of hope that my dreams of homemade wheat bread would be realized.

Hearty Whole Wheat Bread

Hearty Whole Wheat Bread

For those of you who do not have bread makers, I apologize.  This recipe is for machine made bread only.

Whole Wheat Bread Recipe Large Loaf 1 1/2 Pounds–

From the Oster Deluxe Bread and Dough Maker Recipe Book:

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cups water
  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 3 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 packed brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 regular active dry yeast or bread machine yeast or quick-acting active dry yeast

Directions

  1. Remove bread pan; attach kneading blade.
  2. Place all ingredients in bread pan in the order listed (one special hint: always put the liquid ingredients in first, the dry ingredients in last.  Before adding the yeast, dig a shallow hole in the dry ingredients and place the yeast in the hole so that there’s absolutely no contact between the liquids and the yeast).
  3. Insert bread pan, close lid and plug in.
  4. Select bread type…
  5. Press start

Voila! Your bread will be ready in a few hours.  I think what made the biggest difference was using the pastry wheat flour and making a shallow hole in the dry ingredients for the yeast.  Oh yeah, and not being stunned by my sudden lack of employment.  Let’s all hope that my job situation turns around as well as my bread situation did! :)

Ode to Fall–Caramel Pudding Cake and Acorn Squash

{ November 20, 2008 @ 4:07 am } · { baking, cooking, recipes, Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , } · { Comments (1) }

Well, it’s San Diego and Fall is in the air.  That is, if by Fall you mean 80 degree weather every day and slightly cooler nights.  No matter, I still insist on using the freshest seasonal fruits and veggies in my kitchen, which in this case happen to be Pippen Apples and Acorn Squash.

After church this past Sunday I was feeling peckish, so I thumbed through my copy of the “Lion House Classics” cookbook and happened upon the recipe for Caramel Pudding Cake.  Normally I only like to try recipes with pictures or familiar names, but this recipe spoke to my need for warm, gooey comfort food.

The recipe is as follows:

Ingredients

  • 4 cups water
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup chopped peeled apples
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
  • Whipped topping or vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions

Mix and boil together water, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup butter; set aside.  Cream remaining 1/4 cup butter; add sugar.  Cream thoroughly; add chopped apples.  Sift dry ingredients together and add alternately with milk.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Spread batter in greased 9×13-inch pan.  Pour hot brown sugar and butter mixture over batter.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.  Cut in squares and serve, warm or cold, with whipped topping or ice cream, if desired.  Makes 20-24 servings.

This cake was amazing.  I especially enjoyed it with a nice scoop of Haagen Daz Vanilla Frozen Yogurt.

Caramel Pudding Cake

Caramel Pudding Cake

The Finished Product

The Finished Product

And now on to my next Fall delight: Baked Acorn Squash with a Caramelized Brown Sugar and Butter Crust.  It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.  All you do is take one of these:

Acorn Squash

Acorn Squash

Cut it in half from top to bottom, scoop out the seeds and stringy pieces, place both sides face down on a rimmed baking sheet filled with an inch of water, and bake at 400 degrees for 45 min – 1 hr (it’s really supposed to be for 45 minutes, but I went to the gym for an hour during this time, and it turned out great).

Then removed the baking sheet from the oven.  Turn both halves of the squash face up.  Using a fork, gently scrape some ridges into the flesh.  Add about 1-2 teaspoons of butter to the flesh of each half, making sure that it is evenly distributed.  Add about 1 tablespoon of brown sugar to each half.  Return to oven at 350 degrees for another 15-20 minutes.  I gave Pete a bath and took a shower during this time, so it may have been in there up to 30 minutes.  But, this longer finishing time in the oven caramelized  the butter and brown sugar!  It was unbelievable.  Best squash I’ve ever had… even better than that squash I had at The Lobster in Santa Monica with Duane, Will and Laura last Fall.  You’ve gotta try this:

Caramelized Acorn Squash

Caramelized Acorn Squash

And that, my friends, is my culinary ode to Fall.

Look forward to some additions with a Thanksgiving theme in the coming weeks.

Death By Chocolate Bundt Cake

{ August 25, 2008 @ 4:23 pm } · { baking, recipes, Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , } · { Comments (2) }

So this past Sunday I was jonesing for chocolate. I had happened upon a blog devoted to Death by Chocolate recipes (http://www.7thsign.com/~salguod/death-by-chocolate/) last month, so I though I’d peruse it for recipes that I might actually have all the ingredients for. Here is what I found:

1 box chocolate cake mix

1 box instant chocolate pudding (4 serving size (1/2 cup per serving)

1/4 to 1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup water or Gran Marnier (I used Coconut Rum–Roxanne bought a huge bottle from Costco to make my strawberry cheesecake recipe, so I thought I’d try it out. I don’t think you can really taste it for better or worse.)

1/2 cup sour cream (I used light sour cream)

4 eggs

12 oz chocolate, semi sweet chips (This is equal to about 2 cups of chocolate chips)

Mix ingredients, in order. Be careful not to over mix. Pour into greased Bundt pan, I just spray a ton of Pam on the pan. Cook at 350 for 55 minutes. Cool 15 minutes and remove from pan. Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, or drizzle with a chocolate ganache.

Although it’s not quite as dense as I like my chocolate baked goods to be, this turned out well for a cake mix recipe. My go-to chocolate craving cure are the Best Cocoa Brownies from Epicurious www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BEST-COCOA-BROWNIES-108346. But, Mike P and Sara L had absolutely no complaints about this Bundt cake!

Suzy’s Four Layer Dessert

{ July 12, 2008 @ 3:46 pm } · { baking, recipes, Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , } · { Leave a Comment }

This one goes out to Troy, who has been begging me to post this recipe, even though it isn’t new to me. In fact, my earliest memory of this cake is East Glacier, Montana in 1984… my sibs and I were eating it out on the picnic table after a delicious family dinner. My older brother kept saying, “Look! There’s Superman,” and stealing bites off of the plates of his slack jawed little sibs. It’s that good!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crust:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup chopped nuts (usually walnuts, but pecans work well also)
  • 1 stick butter (or margarine) softened
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix well and press into a 9″x13″ pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool.

2nd Layer:

  • One 8 oz. package of cream cheese (or Neufchatel, a lower fat alternative)
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 cup cool whip

Whip together, spread on cooled crust.

3rd Layer:

  • 6 oz. instant pudding (We always use chocolate)
  • 3 cups cold milk

Mix together, allow it to thicken, and pour over 2nd layer.

4th Layer:

  • Cool whip
  • Nuts and/or chocolate shavings

Top with remaining cool whip out of a 12 oz container. Sprinkle nuts or shaved chocolate, or for the super-deluxe treatment, grate a Snickers bar over it.

Enjoy! Don’t forget to keep it refrigerated.

pics to come

Birthday Cheesecake

{ June 15, 2008 @ 7:28 am } · { baking, recipes, Uncategorized }
{ Tags: , , , , , , , , , , } · { Comments (4) }

For Roxanne’s birthday I had to branch out a little beyond my usual dark chocolate dessert rut since she’s not crazy about chocolate. I gave her two choices based on her preferences: carrot cake or cheesecake. She opted for cheesecake. This recipe is from http://www.epicurious.com. Epicurious is an amazing site for recipes. All the recipes come from Gourmet magazine and have user reviews and ratings. This makes it easy for me to decide which recipe to use based on how well it turned out for other users. I have a huge stack of Epicurious recipes I like.

strawberry-coconut cheesecake Bon Appétit | July 2004 http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/STRAWBERRY-COCONUT-CHEESECAKE-109722

Crust
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted, divided
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut,* toasted, cooled
1/4 cup sugar

Filling
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 large eggs
1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco López)**
1/4 cup coconut rum (such as Malibu)

Topping
1/4 cup seedless strawberry jam
2 tablespoons water
3 1-pint containers strawberries, stemmed, sliced

Preparation

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with 1 tablespoon melted butter. Line pan with parchment paper; lightly brush paper with some of melted butter. Blend crumbs, coconut, sugar, and remaining butter in medium bowl. Press mixture over bottom of prepared pan. Bake crust until lightly browned at edges, about 10 minutes. Cool. Reduce oven temperature to 300°F.For filling:
Using electric mixer, beat first 4 ingredients in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Beat in cream of coconut and rum. Pour batter over crust. Place cake pan in large roasting pan. Add enough water to roasting pan to come 1 inch up sides of cake pan. Cover roasting pan with foil.

Bake cake 1 hour. Remove foil. Bake until cake is pale brown, puffed, and just set in center, about 40 minutes. Cool cake in water bath 2 hours. Remove from water; run knife around cake to loosen. Chill cake in pan 3 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cake in oven 2 minutes. Remove from oven. Place sheet of foil, then 10-inch-diameter cardboard round or tart pan bottom on top of cake. Turn pan over. Shake gently, allowing cake to settle onto foil and round. Remove pan and parchment. Place platter atop cake and turn cake right side up onto platter. Remove round and foil.

For topping:
Simmer jam and 2 tablespoons water in small saucepan. Brush top of cake with warm jam. Overlap berries atop cake, covering completely. Brush remaining jam over berries; chill. (Can be prepared up to 8 hours ahead.)

Test-kitchen tip: Baking cheesecake in the gentle, even heat of a water bath (bain-marie) ensures a uniform texture. *Available at specialty foods stores and natural foods stores.
**Available in the liquor section of most supermarkets.

I desperately needed a nap while I was making this. When i was trying to toast the coconut I burned the first batch (the way to do it is in the oven on broil for only about 1 minute. I did it for 3 minutes the first time when it got burned. The second time I managed not to burn it, but then I accidentally tipped over my cookie sheet and dropped it all on the floor. I almost gave up at this point, but I gave myself a pep talk and powered through on the third try.

Since I was so tired I didn’t have time to mess around with the oven for an hour and 40 minutes. Instead, after baking the crust, I put the cheesecake in the oven for 75 minutes and then turned the oven off and left the cheesecake in to finish baking through. This mode of baking turned out great! I put it in the refrigerator and did the strawberry topping an hour or so before serving.

This cheesecake had a subtle coconut undertone that was offset by the succulent sweetness of the strawberry. It was a crowd pleaser, and elicited at least one marriage proposal. ;)

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.