Melting Moments (non-Lauren style)

Ok, no pic, but I thought I'd put this down for the record. They tasted good but were a crumbly mess and very dry. I liked the addition of the oats. I wouldn't let them cool on the pan for more than a second because it seemed to cook them longer than necessary, and I like them as less-dry as I can get them. I like that she used the verb "to dredge" with the powdered sugar portion, but I'll tell you this -- dredging makes a mean mess of your kitchen. All in all, kind of a lame recipe.

Blueberry Crumble Bars

I'm not a big one for fruit desserts, but since I'm married to Jon, and as I went to pick fresh blueberries Thursday morning, I figured I should try these out. They are amazing. Highly recommended even for us chocolate folk.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/14 tsp salt

11 T cold butter, cut into cubes

1 egg

1 tsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is a course meal with a few pea-size pieces of butter. In a small bowl, whisk the egg, lemon zest and vanilla until blended. Add to flour mixture and stir until blended but still crumbly. Press into the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan.

Filling:

3/4 cup sugar

1 T cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

2 cups blueberries

In a medium bowl, compine everything but the blueberries. Add the berries and toss to coat well. Spread them evenly over the crust.

Topping:

1 cup flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

6 T butter, melted

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt until blended. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture comes together. Sprinkle evenly over the blueberry filling.

Bake bars for 48-50 mins. at 350 degrees or until the topping is lightly browned and the filling is bubbly. Cool completely. (Still good while warm, though.) Enjoy!

~L

First round: It isn't pretty.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hate to post if this isn't good, but here's the recipe. Let me know how it works out. It sounds yummy.

1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
14 oz. bittersweet chocolate, divided
2 T butter
2 eggs, at room temp (the baker swears this matters)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (ick)

Whisk flour and BP in a small bowl. Chop 6 oz of the chocolate into 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces.

Coursely chop remaining chocolate and place in double broiler with butter. Melt over barely simmering water, stirring occasionally. Remove the pan, and let it cool for 10 minutes.

In bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar and vanilla on high speed until doubled in volume (about 3 mins.) At low speed blend in chocolate. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. With a wooden spoon, mix in chocolate chunks and walnuts (blech), dough will be thin. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate 1 hour.

She says to bake them 2 sheets at a time near the center of the oven. (I don't know whether this matters, but other recipes she bakes one sheet at a time.) Drop chilled dough 2 inches apart onto baking sheets with parchment or sprayed with cooking spray. Moisten your palm and flatten slightly. Bake 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees until they appear set, switching sheet positions halfway through baking. Don't overbake, or they will be dry. Cool for 10 mins on sheet, then switch to wire rack to cool.

Have fun!

Lion House Strawberry Shortcake

4 eggs
1 C sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 C flour
1/4 C cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

1 quart strawberries, mashed
1 C sugar
1 pint whipping cream, whipped and sweetened

Oven 350. Grease and flour 8-inch springform pan. Beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar gradually, beating until thick. Add vanilla. Sift dry ingredients and fold gently into egg mixture. Pour into pan and bake 30 minutes. Cool and remove from pan. Split into three layers (I only got 2 out of it, which was plenty).

Mix mashed strawberries with sugar. Whip the cream and sweeten. Place the first layer of cake on a serving plate. Spread 1/3 of the strawberries on layer. Spread about 1/4 of the whipped cream on top of the berries. Repeat with second layer. Put cream on top, decorate with berries.

I mashed the berries, but it made it really watery, so I suggest chopping them kind of coarsely, and draining the juice so the cake doesn't get so soggy. This is one of those cakes you have to put together right before you serve it or at least have in the fridge until right before. It really tasted amazing -- worth the work.

Half Baked Goodness

You know how I love Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice-cream, so why did I never think to try it in baked-good form? I don't have a satisfactory answer, but after finding this recipe during a recent blog-stalking spree, I decided to try it. Fan-didly-astic was the result.

It doesn't have a recipe per se, (the blog used Betty Crocker packages, which are nasty) so I just made my favorite brownie recipe and put it in the 9x9" pan, though a 9x13" would work just as well. I then made my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe. Next, you drop cookie-sized balls of dough into the brownie batter and press them into it a bit. I baked it at the temp the brownies called for, though they ended up taking about 12 minutes longer than normal. Just use the toothpick test.

The picture shows them with a chocolate ganache topping, which I foregoed, but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt the brownies. Two words for you: To. Die. For.

~L

Boston Cream Cupcakes from Lauren

I had to take a break from pumpkin, so I tried these. They tasted amazing, but presentation was.... less than ideal. (I'm going to blame this partially on the fact that Jon told me he was tired of being the sous chef and he wanted to be "in charge" of this one, which resulted in lumpy pastry cream and seized chocolate.) I'd make a few changes to it. Let me know if yours turn out any better.

Can you guess which was ours?

Pastry Cream:
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
Pinch salt
1 Tbs. cornstarch plus 1 tsp
2 tbs cold butter, cut into 2 pieces
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Cupcakes:
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool, cut into 12 pieces
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
Chocolate Glaze:
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I'd use Ghirardelli's 60% cocoa chips)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
For the pastry cream: Heat cream in medium saucepan over medium heat until simmering, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks, sugar, and salt together in medium bowl. Add cornstarch and whisk until mixture is pale yellow and thick, about 15 seconds.
When cream reaches full simmer, slowly whisk it into yolk mixture. Return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick and glossy, about 1 1/2 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter and vanilla. Transfer pastry cream to small bowl, press plastic wrap directly on surface, and refrigerate until cold and set, at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

For the cupcakes: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin with cooking spray, flour generously, and tap pan to remove excess flour.
With electric mixer on low speed, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in large bowl. Add butter, one piece at a time, and combine until mixture resembles coarse sand. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Add milk and vanilla, increase speed to medium, and mix until light and fluffy and no lumps remain, about 3 minutes.
Fill muffin cups three-quarters full (do not overfill). Bake until toothpick inserted in center of cupcake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool cupcakes in pan 5 minutes, then transfer them to rack to cool completely.

For the glaze: Cook cream, corn syrup, chocolate, and vanilla in small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Set glaze aside to cool and thicken for 30 minutes.

To make the cupcakes, cut a cone out of the center of each cupcake. Trim the bottom of it so only a small disk of cake remains. Fill the hole in each cupcake with the pastry cream, and replace the disc of cake. Place cupcakes on a wire rack and drip glaze over each so it runs down the sides. Refrigerate until just set, about 10 minutes. Cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 2 days; bring to room temperature before serving. (I liked them cold as well.)

They took quite a bit of effort, so I would recommend making them on a leisurely Sunday or make the cream ahead of time. I'd also half the chocolate because I had tons leftover.

Spicy Chocolate Pumpkin Bars from Katie

2 C Flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves (I omitted because I didn't have any, and I don't like cloves that much, and it was fine)
1/4 tsp salt
1 C butter
1 1/4 C sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 C pumpkin
1 1/2 C chocolate chips...or round up :)

Preheat to 325. Grease 9x13 inch pan. Beat butter and sugar until pale and creamy. Add egg, beating just until combined. Beat in pumpkin, followed by dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips. Bake until the edges start to pull away and/or toothpick test in center. 35-40 minutes. I halfed the recipe to try it out, and that worked well, though it didn't take as long to cook. The picture shows that they sprinkled the dough with sugar and baked it.

These were MORE than fantastic. I served them warm, though they were still good the next day. But warm is best. With milk. I got this new cookbook -- more tries to come!