The Perfect Cake for my Awesome Father in Law

My father in law's birthday is this weekend.
And what do you get the man who has everything??
A cake!

Obviously that would be the answer coming from someone who loves to bake, right? But I have to say that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with baking. The love part comes in the form of the actual process: the scouring over my favorite cookbooks (or blogs) for the perfect recipe, the gathering and measuring ingredients, sifting, stirring, scraping and baking. It is a very enjoyable process for me. The hate part comes in when I end up with a pile of chocolate chip cookies / box of cupcakes / pan of pound cake sitting on my counter... and ZERO willpower to resist the urge to eat it all. Can anyone relate to that?

 So let's focus on the love part for a moment here. Step 1: finding the perfect recipe. I've mentioned my trusty copy of Baking Illustrated before. I adore how much information they give you on how to make the uber-scientific process of baking work out just right. I could spend hours flipping through this book, reading recipes and discovering special techniques for piping meringue, shaping Ciabatta or assembling Baked Alaska. Nerdy? Maybe.

The only problem with my beloved cookbooks is that I spend the majority of my day at work, and unless I lug them into the office with me, my main source of inspiration comes from cooking blogs. Enter my inspiration: Piece of Cake. Shauna has a recipe for a Birthday Cake from Baking Illustrated. Yellow Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Frosting. Perfect for two reasons. #1- I knew I could look up the recipe when I got home. #2- because my father in law is fond of the classics. He's a no frills kind of guy. Just pure and simple deliciousness.

 In the midst of my sifting and stirring and spreading, I took a moment to hand the paddle attachment covered in cake batter to my husband so he could "test it to make sure it wasn't poisonous". He asked if it was frosting. Yes, it is that good. And the (actual) frosting is so silky smooth, it's hard to resist eating it by the spoonful. 

As for the hate part of my love/hate relationship; this is the perfect way to make amends: Always share with your friends, family & co-workers. And do what you need to do to make sure you don't come home with the leftovers!

Happy Birthday, Mike!

** I must give credit for the first, last and second to last photo on here to my sister in law's husband, Mark. He does amazing things with a camera. I hope to start taking some pointers from him in the future.

Recipe from Baking Illustrated.

Yellow Layer Cake
1 3/4 cups (7 oz) plain cake flour, sifted
4 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, cut into 16 pieces

1. Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease two 9-inch round cake pans, and cover the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper. Grease the parchment and dust the pans with flour, tapping out the excess.

2. Beat the eggs, milk and vanilla with a fork in a small bowl. Measure out one cup of this mixture and set aside. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of stand mixer. Beat on low to blend, about 30 seconds. With the mixer still running on low, add the softened butter one piece at a time, mixing until the butter and flour begin the clump together, until it looks pebbly with pieces about the size of peas, 30 to 40 seconds after all the butter is added.

3. Add the reserved one cup of egg mixture and mix at low speed until incorporated, 5 to 10 seconds. Increase the speed to medium high and beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the remaining egg mixture in a steady stream with the mixer running, taking about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl and beater. Beat at medium-high speed again until the batter is thoroughly combined and just starts to look curdled, about 15 seconds.

4. Divide the batter equally between the pans, spread to the sides of the pan, making sure the surface is even and smooth. I used an offset spatula here. Bake until the cakes are light gold in color and a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cakes may mound slightly here, but not to worry, they will level out when cooled. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes then run a knife along the edges to loosen them from the pans. Let cool completely before icing.

For the Frosting:
16 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped fine (or use chips)
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place the chocolate in a bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a simmer over medium-high heat in a small saucepan (Don't let this boil over! It makes a mess). Pour the cream over the chocolate, add the corn syrup and let the mixture stand for 3 minutes.

Whisk gently until smooth and then stir in the vanilla. Refrigerate for 1 to 1.5 hours, stirring every 15 minutes, until the mixture reaches a spreadable consistency. Ideally this would not be made ahead of time as it does not keep well. It should be consumed within a day. You can also whip the frosting with the whisk attachment on a stand mixer to create a frosting with a fluffier texture.

Peppermint Bark

I always thought of myself as a dark chocolate kind of girl. I love to savor a small little chunk of super dark right after a meal. (I have this seriously intense chocolate craving the second I finish the last bite of my dinner). Dark chocolate really satisfies the craving and also makes me feel pretty darn good about myself... you know with all of the health giving antioxidants and such.

So anything with white chocolate I tend to think of as "not worth it"... but let me tell you, one little taste of this peppermint bark had my taste buds singing praises to white chocolate... even with it's lack of anti-oxidants. 'Tis the season, right? The silky smooth white blends amazingly with the dark. Add some crunchy freshness with smashed candy cane and you've got the perfect holiday treat.

 

 I had never made any kind of bark before this. My husband is a big fan and wanted to make some (read: he wanted me to make some) for us to give out (read: give out half and gorge ourselves on the other half). So off to the store I went for chocolate and peppermint extract.

We had a GIANT homemade candy cane from one of Scott's co-workers so we used that for our topping. See how big it is? I was a little sad to destroy it, but happy that it went to good use (and a portion of it back to work with Scott)

 I sort of wish I would have made more. I wasn't sure exactly how much the recipe would make, but figured I could always make another batch. 

I am definitely going to make another batch.

 The original recipe calls for the dark chocolate mixture to be melted directly in a saucepan, but mine morphed into some weird chunky slimy glop. It was totally irreversible and I had to toss it. I don't know what happened, but I had enough chocolate and whipping cream to do another batch, which I did with a double boiler and it came out fine. The 3/4 of a teaspoon of Peppermint extract in the dark mixture really gives it that extra punch of minty freshness... like you're in a Peppermint Patty commercial. Really.

So the key is to give each layer a chance to set up completely and have the next layer of melty chocolate be just lukewarm. Spreadable, but not hot enough to start smearing the layer underneath. We want a clean separation of white and dark here.

 I sort of ran out of white chocolate for the top layer. My edges left the layers exposed, but I kind of like the way it looks. Like a peppermint bark pizza!

Trim it up as directed below and package however you wish. These little 4x6 inch "treat bags" from Michael's allowed for the perfect serving size. Not so much that people hate you for single-handedly causing 5 lbs in holiday weight gain. Just enough to make them love you and ask you for the recipe.

Layered Peppermint Bark Crunch
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Makes about 36 pieces

17 ounces good-quality white chocolate
6 ounces coarsely crushed peppermint candies (about12 regular candy canes)
7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
6 tablespoons whipping cream
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract

Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or a sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil.

Place the white chocolate in a heat proof bowl set over saucepan of barely simmering water to create a double boiler. Stir occasionally until the chocolate is melted and smooth and a candy thermometer registers 110°F. Pour 2/3 cup of the melted white chocolate onto the baking sheet, and using an offset spatula, spread it into about a 9x12-inch rectangle. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup crushed peppermints. Refrigerate until set, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, stir together the bittersweet chocolate, cream and peppermint extract in a double boiler or a bowl set over simmering water until just melted and smooth. Cool until it is lukewarm. Pour the dark chocolate mixture in long lines over the white chocolate rectangle. This is important to not melt the white chocolate layer. Using a clean spatula, spread the chocolate in even layer. Refrigerate until very cold and firm, at least 25 minutes.

Rewarm the bowl of white chocolate over barely simmering water again, to 110°F. Working quickly, pour the white chocolate over the firm bittersweet chocolate layer and spread evenly to cover. Immediately sprinkle the remaining crushed candy cane over the surface of the candy. Chill until firm, at least 20 minutes. I left mine in overnight before cutting.

If using a silicone mat, slide a spatula under the slab and move it to a cutting board. If using foil, lift the foil with the bark on it to a cutting board and trim it directly on the foil. Trim the edges of the slab to obtain nice clean edges with the layers visible, then cut the bark into pieces. You can snack on the edge pieces, or if you don't care about having perfect pieces, you can include the edges in your packaged up gift bags.

Can be made 2 weeks ahead and kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Merry Christmas!!

Buckeyes!

I have never heard of these cookies (or are they candy?) in my entire life. Initially I thought they were called Buckeyes because they look like an eyeball. Sort of gross... and sort of true in  a round about way. They are named after the Buckeye nut, which got it's name from the Native Americans who thought the nut looked like the eye of male deer. The nut comes from a tree that is native to Ohio..... hence Ohio being the Buckeye State and the Buckeye being the mascot for Ohio State University.

If you do a Google Image search for the Buckeye Nut, you'll see that these cookies look exactly like the nut of the same name (although I didn't coat mine high enough up the sides for them to really look like the nut). See the notes below on a trick for getting the coating up the sides without losing the ball in the chocolate bath.

My apologies for the boring history lesson. I hope I kept it short enough so that you didn't just scroll down to the bottom to get straight to the recipe :)

 I have been on the hunt for a recipe that contains graham crackers... But it can't be just any recipe; the graham crackers need to somehow be formed into a little ball and coated with chocolate. There is a very specific purpose for this, but I have to keep it under wraps until after December 18th. Check back after then for a recipe that will be the MVP of your next camping trip. Anyhow, I found this recipe when I googled "Graham Cracker Balls". Perfect!

I decided to try these as a trial run for the above mentioned Top Secret recipe and really liked the way they turned out. They are simple to make and soooo tasty. I had to give the majority of them to my husband to take to work with him, fearing that I would devour all of them and wake up 10 lbs heavier. Yikes.

Follow the easy-peasy recipe below. I learned a few things along the way that might be helpful:

1. Don't leave any big chunks of walnuts or graham crackers. If you can use a food processor or mini-prep, do it. The finer the crumb, the better the balls will stick together.
2. Add half the graham cracker crumbs and stir the mixture. If its too sticky add more. You don't want it to be overly dry.
3. Use a toothpick or fondue fork to dip. If you don't want the hole from the toothpick showing at the top, stick the poker in the side and tilt the bowl of chocolate, submerging the ball until just a small circle is uncoated at the top. Submerge the part when the toothpick is poked in, that way you don't have to patch up the hole. I will do this next time I make these... I put the pick in at the top and was having a hard time submerging the whole thing without it getting stuck and the pick slipping out when I removed them from the choco-bath.
4. I used crunchy peanut butter but will try smooth next time for a less chunky end result.
5. If you don't like coconut, you can leave it out. I would try and add 1/4 cup of cream cheese to bring a little more depth of flavor. Other recipes I have found call for cream cheese. Sounds good to me!

Buckeyes
Adapted from Zandria’s Mom’s Graham Cracker Balls

1/2 - 2/3 box graham crackers, crushed into a fine crumb
1 cup walnuts, chopped finely
1 cup peanut butter
8 oz. shredded coconut
2 sticks butter, melted
1 lb. confectioners sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
 
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips


Mix all ingredients except the chocolate chips together in a stand mixer until smooth. Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Place rolled balls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, or by heating in the microwave for 30 seconds and then in 10 second increments until smooth, stirring in between each heating.

Using a toothpick or skewer, coat each ball with chocolate and place on the cookie sheet. Chill for 30 minutes for the chocolate to set.

Yields about 60 balls, depending on the size. They will keep for 3-4 days, or up to a week in the fridge.

Remember to check back after December 18th for a variation of the Buckeye that will be sure to blow your mind :)

Cocktail Foods

I don't know about you but I get a little snacky when I am enjoying an adult beverage or two. Tonight is Wine Night, hosted monthly by my sister's friend, Stephanie. The girls get together, drink some wine and catch up with each other. I thought this would be the perfect time to try a few recipes out of my newest cookbook (I'm sure I've already told you about my not-so-secret obsession with cookbooks). It is called "Cocktail Food 50 finger foods with attitude".

I decided to make "Sinful Spuds" and "Pepperoni Pinwheels".... not for any reason other than the fact that I had the majority of the ingredients for both on hand already.

First I made the Sinful Spuds:

New Potatoes stuffed with feta, green olives and pine nuts.

You'll need:

12 small new potatoes
salt
1/2 cup feta
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
2 tbs chopped green olives
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs dried currants
1/2 tsp chopped lemon zest
1/4 tsp oregano
24 parsley leaves for garnish

Cut a think slice off the top and bottom of each potato. Then cut in half crosswise. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil, add 1.5 tsp salt. Add potatoes and simmer until fork tender, 10-15 minutes. Be careful not to overcook. Strain and let cool.


In a bowl, crumble the feta. Add pint nuts, olives, olive oil, currants, lemon zest, oregano and pepper. Mix well.


To assemble: Scoop out the center of each potato with a melon baller. Fill the centers with the feta mixture. Garnish with a parsley leaf.


Up next: Pepperoni Pinwheels...


Puff pastry with pepperoni, gruyere and honey mustard....

You'll need:

1/2 cup finely grated Gruyere cheese
3/4 tsp dried sage
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 puff pastry sheet, thawed
2 tbs honey mustard
2 oz. packaged sliced pepperoni
1 egg, lightly beaten

Mix the gruyere, sage, oregano and pepper in a small bowl. Lay the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface with the short side closest to you. Cut in half crosswise. ** Here the recipe calls for you to arrange with the long side closest to you, but I didnt think my pastry would be long enough to roll over more than twice, so I did short side closest to me.**

Put 1 tbs mustard on each piece of pastry and spread evenly leaving 1 inch on the farthest edge from you. Arrange the pepperoni in a single layer on top of the mustard. The sprinkle the cheese mixture on top of the pepperoni.


Brush the farthest edge with the egg. Roll the puff pastry tightly from the closest edge toward the egg coated edge. Lay seam side down on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes. ** You can do everything up until here up to 1 day in advance. Just keep the rolls refrigerated and covered.**.

Preheat oven to 400. Slice the logs into 1/4 inch thick slices and lay on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart.


Bake in the center of the oven, 1 sheet at a time until they are golden brown, about 14 minutes. Serve warm.


Next time you have a few friends over for some cocktails, try one of these recipes! The perfect finger food to accompany your adult beverage :)

Dulce de Leche Brownies

This is another great recipe from David Lebovitz. I check his blog often because he has awesome dessert recipes... and because he lives in France... and I love all things French! It has been almost 10 years since I lived there, and I feel like reading his blog keeps me in touch with la vie française. I like that. He also travels quite a bit so reading his stories about places he visits is inspiring to me.

** Side note if you're into farmers markets: He recently posted about his visit to Cork, Ireland. He details his experience at their farmers market. Here's the link if you want some good reading.

David's recipe for Dulce de Leche Brownies:

8 tablespoons butter cut into pieces
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup Dulce de Leche (or Cajeta)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line a 8-inch square pan with a long sheet of non-stick aluminum foil that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides. If you don't have non-stick foil, grease the bottom and sides of the foil with a bit of butter or non-stick spray.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.


Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted.





Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour.


Now comes the dulce de leche part.... you can probably find canned dulce de leche in the grocery store, but if you can't, follow David's recipe for making your own. I am sure its worth it. In a pinch, the canned stuff is perfect. I found it right next to the sweetened condensed milk at the grocery store. This is what it looks like:


Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.


Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.
These brownies actually become better the second day, and will keep well for 3-4 days.

I don't have a photo of the cooked brownies. Their yumminess took over my ability to have a rational thought :(

My new go-to cookie!!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies!!

When I need a quick batch of cookies for a party or just to satisfy a sudden sweet tooth, I usually fall back on the tried and true chocolate chip cookie. But when I had a Costco sized container of peanut butter on hand leftover from a camping trip, I started thinking of ways to chocolateize (yes, I just made that word up) the usual peanut butter cookie.

These are a total hit everywhere I bring them. As you can see from my pictures, I also used Hershey's Kisses because I wasn't sure if people would be put off by too much peanut butter on peanut butter action. Can you ever have too much peanut butter? Apparently not, because there are always leftovers of the Kiss ones, and none of the peanut butter cup ones.

Here's the recipe, it's from www.Cooks.com:

**One item of special equipment that will be needed: small tart tins / mini muffin tins.

1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag Reese's small peanut butter cups

Chill the peanut butter cups for a few minutes in the freezer, then unwrap. It works best when the cups are cold, the wrappers don't take any chocolate with them. Set unwrapped cups aside.

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour & baking soda to creamed mixture. Mix until a nice dough forms. Shape into 1 inch balls and put in ungreased small tart tins. Do not spread dough in cups, but feel free to press them down a little bit. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Look for the cracks in the cookie to know when they're done. Remove from oven and immediately press peanut butter cup into center. Let cool in tins for 15 minutes and remove. Be careful when storing, the chocolate will remain melty for a while.

Makes 48-50 cookies.



You will be eating these by the half dozen, guaranteed.

Buttermilk Biscuits

My wonderful group of girlfriends up in SF got me a gift card to Sur La Table for my birthday and specifically labeled it "cooking classes". I knew as soon as I saw a class on CHEESE, that it would be an excellent choice for said gift card spendage. We made Mozzarella, Ricotta, Queso Blanco, Crème Fraiche and... drum roll please: Homemade Butter!

I realize I am leading you off topic here, you're seeing the headline about biscuits or somesuch and thinking why is she going on about the cheese class?

For a couple of the cheeses, you need buttermilk. Have you seen the smallest size carton of buttermilk in the store? It's a quart. When you need 6 tablespoons of the stuff to make a batch of Crème Fraiche, you have to find something to do with the other 58 tablespoons.

So, I turned to my trusty copy of Baking Illustrated. This book is my BFF.



Page after page of the most useful baking advice you can ever hope to get. These guys tinker, test and experiment so we don't have to. The goal is to have a foolproof recipe that will work every time.

Impossible Cheesecake?

Not to brag, but I rarely have a mishap in the kitchen. I don't think I have ever burned anything in the oven. I've never forgotten an ingredient. And never ever have I had something come out so bad that I couldn't eat it.

Flour > Dough > Bread Bliss

When they say "Five Minutes a Day" they really mean it. Boy was this dough easy to make. I was laying in bed with my hubby the other night and got the bug to dig into this book (finally!)

Step #1 - Run downstairs

Step #2 - Throw flour, water, yeast and salt in the KitchenAid and mix

About 3 minutes later I had my dough!!

Step #3 - Cover in loose plastic wrap, put in fridge *Bonus* you can keep it in whatever container you mixed it in, so 1 less dish to clean

Step #4 - Skip back upstairs and get back in bed

The next day my dough had risen a bit, but not as much as I had imagined it would. To make the "Boule" (literally "Ball" in French) you pull out a grapefruit sized chunk of dough from your batch (the one you made in 3 minutes flat) with lightly floured hands, round it out by pulling the edges under to form a taught top. Place on a pizza peel (or wood cutting board if you don't have one of those) lightly sprinkled with cornmeal. Let rise for 40 minutes while you're cooking dinner or cleaning, or doing whatever needs doing.

Slice the top so the boule will have those nice markings you see on bakery bread, pop onto a pizza stone that's been pre-heated while the oven was pre-heating. Pour a cup of water onto a cookie sheet placed on the lower rack of the oven and close the door quickly! The water helps to make a steamy environment for the baking boule.

The Boule is the most basic bread recipe in the book, the one readers are to "become familiar with" before moving on to any of the other recipes. I think "becoming familiar" entails making it once. It was that easy.



What do you think? I think I need some photography lessons :)