NYC Chocolate Chip Cookie Tour April 14, 2009

A chocolate chip cookie article and Spring Break in NYC led to a self-guided NYC Chocolate Chip Cookie Tour. Finding the best chocolate chip cookie in Manhattan sounded like just the way to spend my week. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=3

The City Bakery: A large cookie that had a strong taste of butter and brown sugar. Somewhat chewy with large chocolate chunks. A good cookie but a little too rich for my taste. I was disappointed because the cookie appeared to be on a warmer, but it was at room temperature when I got it. I also tried the hot chocolate here since it was supposed to be the best. It was very thick — like melted chocolate with a little bit of heavy cream in it. I also got a peanut butter cookie here. It was a small mound and it was very light, soft, and crumbly, like the flour was sifted well. The peanut butter cookie was great, but overall I would not make the trip back there. Especially with Max Brenner just around the corner.  http://thecitybakery.com/

Milk and Cookies: Such a cute little shop! It was all homey and cute just like a milk and cookies place should be. It had maybe a dozen different types of cookies. I had the chocolate chip and peanut butter. These were smaller (or normal) size cookies. The chocolate chip was crunchy and had good texture – maybe with ground nuts? The peanut butter had peanut butter chips in it (my favorite!). It actually reminded me a lot of Diddy Reese in Westwood, CA. Better because the cookies are actually good and made with quality ingredients. Worse because they don’t have $1 cookie ice cream sandwiches. Overall, it was a great experience and I will go back again the next time I’m in Greenwich Village. http://www.milkandcookiesbakery.com/

Jacques Torres: The hands down winner! This shop is out of the way in a somewhat industrial area, but we made the walk from Greenwich Village. It’s a pretty big chocolate shop. We got to see them making all their easter bunnies from behind the glass. Supposedly, they grind the chocolate there from the beans, although I didn’t get to see that. They asked me if I wanted the cookie warm and got it from a warmer. The large cookie was a perfect blend of chewy outside and soft middle with delicious melty chocolate. The chocolate was clearly of good quality, also.http://www.mrchocolate.com/

Max Brenner: This was my runner up favorite. I got a dark cookie since their regular chocolate chip came with milk chocolate. The dark cookie is a chocolate cookie with semisweet chocolate chips. It was a large, thick cookie — chewy/crisp on the outside and soft and almost brownie-like in the middle. I got the cookie and left, but it was a cute restaurant atmosphere with lots of chocolate options. http://www.maxbrenner.com/

Matt’s Birthday Cake March 1, 2009

Matt request a white cake with light frosting. So this is what I came up with, stealing components from a few sources…

White Cake: http://cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?docid=5694
Blueberry filling: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Blueberry-and-Orange-Layer-Cake-with-Cream-Cheese-Frosting-105183  Except I added some vanilla instead of the lemon zest.
Meringue Frosting: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/meringue-frosted-cake-with-raspberry-filling?autonomy_kw=raspberry%20filling&rsc=header_1  Except I added 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar and a tsp of vanilla

 

Overall, it was a really light, yummy cake. I thought all the components worked well together and it was really cute with the meringue frosting. I’d definitely try it out with other fruit as well.

Now, however, I have to figure out what to do with the 10 egg yolks you are left over with from this recipe. Ideas anyone?

Chantilly Cake January 22, 2009

Apparently, this cake is very popular in Kona, but I never got a chance to try one, so I got a recipe off the internet to make myself. It is a chocolate chiffon layer cake with pastry cream filling and a thick rich frosting (described as like a German Chocolate Cake frosting without the coconut). The chocolate chiffon and pastry cream combo was amazing! I was not a fan of the frosting, although the frosting is supposed to be defining part. I think a chocolate whipped cream frosting would make a delicious and light cake so maybe I’ll try that next time. I would also double the amount of pastry cream because it was a very thin layer that added moisture but not as much taste as I would like. And as a general rule, one can never have too much pastry cream.

Recipe: http://alohaworld.com/ono/viewrecipe.php?id=1051307109

Info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chantilly_cake

Sarah’s Birthday Cupcakes: Chocolatey Goodness November 18, 2008

I wanted to make cupcakes like Sarah and I had at the Bouchon Bakery in Vegas. They were chocolate, with chocolate mousse in the middle, with marshmallow-y frosting. I tried piping the chocolate pudding in the middle of the cupcakes, but I didn’t get as much pudding in there as I wanted to. But I have decided that homemade pudding is both delicious and easy to make. I liked it best when it was warm. YUM.

Cupcakes

Ingredients
8 tablespoons unsalted butter , cut into 4 pieces
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate , chopped
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (1 1/2 ounces)
3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (3 3/4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar (5 1/4 ounces)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup sour cream (4 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

Instructions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line standard-sized muffin pan (cups have 1/2-cup capacity) with baking-cup liners.
2. Combine butter, chocolate, espresso, and cocoa in medium heatproof bowl. Set bowl over saucepan containing barely simmering water; heat mixture until butter and chocolate are melted and whisk until smooth and combined. Set aside to cool until just warm to the touch.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder in small bowl to combine.
4. Whisk eggs in second medium bowl to combine; add sugar, vanilla, and salt and whisk until fully incorporated. Add cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Sift about one-third of flour mixture over chocolate mixture and whisk until combined; whisk in sour cream until combined, then sift remaining flour mixture over and whisk until batter is homogeneous and thick.
5. Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups. Bake until skewer inserted into center of cupcakes comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
6. Cool cupcakes in muffin pan on wire rack until cool enough to handle, about 15 minutes. Carefully lift each cupcake from muffin pan and set on wire rack. Cool to room temperature before icing, about 30 minutes.
 

Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon table salt
1 cup half andhalf
3 large egg yolks
2 cups soy milk 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder

Instructions
1. To melt the chocolate, chop and place it in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of almost simmering water, stirring once or twice until smooth. After melting, allow to cool slightly.
2. Sift cocoa powder, cornstarch, sugar, espresso, and salt into large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Slowly whisk in light cream, followed by yolks, then milk. Stir in chocolate. (Chocolate will form clumps that smooth with cooking.)
3. Bring mixture to boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with whisk, scraping bottom and sides of pot. Pudding will gradually darken and thicken. Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring gently but constantly with wooden spoon until pudding very thickly coats spoon or instant-read thermometer registers about 200 degrees, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
4. Pass pudding through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl, pressing with rubber spatula. Leave residue in strainer. Stir vanilla into pudding. Serve warm or directly cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap, cool 30 minutes, and refrigerate.

 
Seven Minute Frosting
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seven-Minute-Frosting-238014

Ingredients
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
1. In large metal bowl, whisk together 1/3 cup water, sugar, egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Set bowl over pan of barely simmering water and mix with handheld electric mixer at low speed. Gradually increase speed to high, beating until mixture holds stiff peaks, about 5 minutes.
2. Transfer bowl from pan to folded kitchen towel on counter and continue beating until mixture is cool and billowy, about 2 minutes more. Beat in vanilla.

Madeleines September 10, 2008

Thanks to my lovely sister, I now have madeleine pans.

I tested them out using Cook’s Illustrated recipe (http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipe.asp?recipeids=1482). I made one batch of vanilla and one batch of chocolate.

The chocolate ones came out a bit better due to some human-error issues with the first batch. I felt like they were a little more dense than I would have liked, so I might try out a different recipe next time. But they did get very good reviews at book club.

 

Ideas to try:

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=2b98df4d680d0110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD

Olive Oil Cake September 10, 2008

Ever since I had the Rosemary Olive Oil Cakes for dessert at Osteria Mozza here is Los Angeles, I’ve been wanting to try making some olive oil cake of my own. And while I’m not a fan of Emeril, this recipe looked too good to pass up. And it was well worth it! The cake is delicious–moist, fruity, and not too sweet. And the peach rosemary syrup is ridiculous–in a wonderful way. But I think the cake would go with all kinds of fruit syrups.

 

Cornmeal-Olive Oil Cake with Poached Peaches in Rosemary-Honey Syrup:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/cornmeal-olive-oil-cake-with-poached-peaches-in-rosemary-honey-syrup-recipe/index.html

Bridal Shower: Chocolate Peanut Butter Brittle Cake August 18, 2008

So, I decided to use my friend’s bridal shower as a test of my baking skills. I’m made the same peanut brittle chocolate peanut butter cake that I had made for my friend’s birthday earlier this year. Although I used a different chocolate cake recipe since this cake has to be for 20+ people.

It’s a chocolate cake (using a chiffon recipe) with peanut butter filling and a whipped chocolate ganache frosting. I also make peanut brittle and broke it into tiny pieces to put into the peanut butter layers. Then decorated the outside with bigger pieces.

I made two half sheet chiffon cakes, which I then cut in half to create a four layer cake.

Unfortunately, because it was hot when I was frosting the cake with the whipped ganache, things got a little melty and it wasn’t as light and fluffy as I had wanted. It ended up just being a really thick layer of dense chocolate ganache. And as good as that sounds, it was a bit much since the rest of the cake was already very rich.

Also, I wouldn’t use the chiffon cake again. While it was good cake, I think a more hearty cake would hold up better to the chocolate filling.

 

Dark Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Frosting: Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache

Peanut Butter Filling (times 3 for this cake)
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

 

Peanut Brittle: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/OLD-FASHIONED-PEANUT-BRITTLE-2682?recipename=OLD-FASHIONED%20PEANUT%20BRITTLE&saved_to_box=y

Makes about 3 1/2 pounds

3 cups sugar
2 cups water
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 cups salted roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter 2 heavy large baking sheets. Stir first 4 ingredients in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil without stirring until candy thermometer registers 260°F., about 40 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Mix in peanuts and butter and cook until thermometer registers 295°F., stirring constantly, about 15 minutes. Add baking soda and vanilla and stir briskly (mixture will foam up).
Immediately pour out onto prepared baking sheets, dividing evenly. Spread out brittle as thinly as possible. Let stand until cold and hard.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Showdown (kinda) August 13, 2008

Cathy and I decided that we should do a side-by-side chocolate chip cookie comparison.

 

We tried the Neiman Marcus cookies (http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml) and Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookies book (page 58).

 

The NM cookies had espresso powder (or in our case, instant coffe) in it. Also, the NM had a much higher flour to butter ratio–making a more dense cookie that definitely didn’t spread out as much when baked.

 

We also tried making bigger cookies with 2x as much dough. For the NM cookies, these turned out pretty well. But the MS cookies spread out A LOT.

 

Cathy took these into work and it was a tie between the two cookies. While I really like the texture of the NM cookies, I think the coffee taste is a little strong for me. I’d like to try it again cutting down on that or leaving it out altogether.

 

The next one to try? I think its going to have to be Alton Brown’s The Chewy: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html. But what other recipe to pit it against? I’ve been wanting to try David Lebovitz’s recipe (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000158.html), but I think I’ll have it give it a little more thought!

Potato Buttermilk Bread August 11, 2008

This recipe is from page 319 of The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

 

This is the first time I’ve made a potato bread but I love the texture. Its chewy and the crust has a nice crunch. Now I have to try some other potato recipes! I made this into 2  smaller boules.

 

I did not do the ice cubes or water spray when I put this in the oven. But I brushed the bread dough with heavy cream, which gave it a nice color.

 

There is a Tangy Cornbread variation on this recipe, that I definitely want to try.

 

Cauliflower Puree August 11, 2008

I love cauliflower. Always have. So I’ve been wanting to try making a cauliflower puree. I mixed together a few recipes and this is what I came up with.

Head of cauliflower (about 1.5 lbs)

2 garlic cloves

2-4 Tbps of vegetable broth

1.5 Tbps of heavy cream

salt, pepper, crushed red peppers to taste

 

I steamed the cauliflower and garlic until the cauliflower was soft enough for a knife to go through very easily (about 10 minutes).

I took the cauliflower out to a bowl, added the rest of the ingredients (adding the broth a little at a time) and used the immersion blender until it was creamy.

Yum!