Midnight Delights

The bite sized treats sure are rampant at the grocers.  Everything is mini, little and bite sized.  Also, there is an advantage to making things in that size.  Bite sized treats are easy to transport and are easy to serve.

These particular morsels contain what I call the magic trio.  They have espresso, dark chocolate and a little bit of Kahlua or coffee liqueur.  Also, I think the addition of the walnuts is a great choice.  The chocolate cookie cup acts as a vessel to hold and support the rich, fudgey filling. This recipe makes about 4 dozen.

Midnight Delights
adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients/Cookie Crust
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold butter cut into cubes
1/4 cup strong espresso coffee (chilled)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder

Ingredients/Filling
12 oz or 1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (melted)
2 tbs butter (melted)
2 tsp coffee liqueur (I used Kahlua)
2 eggs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs milk
48 walnut halves( for toppers)

Prepare miniature muffin tins by greasing each cavity.  In a medium size bowl, sift the flour, salt and cocoa together.  Whisk in the sugar.  Then pour into the bowl of a food processor.  Toss in the butter cubes and pulse with steel blade till mixture starts to come together.  Then add the espresso coffee.  Pulse again until the mixture forms a ball of dough.

Sprinkle a flat surface with flour and divide dough into 4 equal pieces.  Take one piece and roll it out to a thickness of  1/8 inch. Using a 2 1/2 inch cutter, cut the dough into 12 disks.  Place each disc in a cavity of the muffin tin, so that each lines the bottom and about 2/3 up the sides of the cavity.  Repeat this process for the rest of the 4 tins.  Place all 4 tins in the refrigerator for 40 minutes to firm up.

While the tins are in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and start on the filling.    In a medium size bowl, whisk together sugar, milk, butter and coffee liqueur.  Then mix in the melted chocolate until all is smooth.  Using a whisk, blend 2 eggs into the batter.  Once completely blended, fold in the walnuts.

Once the chilling time is complete, remove the tins.  Fill each cavity with 1 1/2 teaspoons of the chocolate batter.  Place each tin in oven and bake for 20 minutes. The filling should be puffed and cracked in places when done.  Remove pan and lightly press a walnut into the center of each.

Let bites cool in pan for about 15 minutes and then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

Notes and Tips:

1. My end result was too much dough.  I must confess that the filling was not measured out exactly when filling the cavities and the thickness of the dough was not exact either.

2. If you only have one muffin tin, you can bake in batches. Because of the chilling time, the process will take longer if you prepare and bake 1 dz at a time.

                                    ***LAST YEAR: Lemon Butter Fudge**

Ube Macapuno Cake

Like most food bloggers, I have a long "to do" list when in comes to creating new desserts in my kitchen.  This particular recipe has many variations and is not your typical American cake.  It contains purple yam-which is not commonly found here.  The other unusual ingredient is the macapuno, or preserved coconut. Both of these ingredients can be found at an Asian Market.

Overall, I found the cake to have a wonderful light flavor with great texture.  It is not as sweet as most American cakes, but it was a nice change of pace. The whipped cream and cream cheese frosting was the perfect topper.  As you can tell by the above picture, the cake color is very eye catching which is an extra plus.  However, concerning the macapuno, I did not find it to be particularly appealing according to my tastes. If you have not tried it, it would be a good idea to try it prior to baking this cake. 

This cake, due to its appearance, would be a perfect finale to an Easter meal.

Ube Macapuno Cake
adapted from Heart of Mary  

Ingredients/Cake
7 eggs, yolk and white separated
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup olive oil
1 cup cooked &/mashed purple yam/ ube
3 tbs baking powder
2 1/4 cup cake flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 cups sugar
violet gel paste (optional)

Ingredients/Frosting
1/2 cup sugar
1-12 oz jar macapuno
1-8 oz package of cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups heavy whipping cream

Prepare 2-9 inch round cake pans and 1 8X4 inch loaf pan by greasing and lining the bottom interior with parchment paper.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In one bowl, beat together mashed purple yam, egg yolks, milk and olive oil until smooth.  If you are using gel paste beat 1/4 tsp.  Continue to beat in gel paste until desired color is met.  Set aside.

In another bowl, sift together baking powder, cake flour and salt. Using a wooden spoon, fold flour mixture into egg batter until smooth and no dry streaks remain.  Set aside.

Fill the bowl of a stand mixer with the egg whites.  Beat on high until foamy.  Then, beat in the cream of tartar.  Switch the speed of the mixer to medium and continue to beat. Slowly pour in a steady stream of the sugar.  Once all sugar is in the whites, switch blender back to high and beat until the whites reach a stiff peak stage.

Fold the whites into the purple batter until evenly distributed.  Separate and pour the batter into the 3 pans.  Place pans in oven and bake until tester comes out clean.  Bake time should be about 30 minutes.  Pans should be rotated at the 15 minute interval.

Remove pans from oven and place on rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Then invert cakes onto rack and let cool completely before removing parchment paper and frosting.

Using a food processor, grind the 1 loaf cake until it all becomes crumbs.  Set aside. 

To make the frosting, place the cream cheese in a small bowl and beat until smooth.  Then, in the bowl of a stand mixer, add sugar, vanilla extract and whipping cream.  Beat on high speed until mixture has a stiff consistency and all ingredients are thoroughly blended together.  Add the cream cheese and beat on low speed until smooth. 

Fill a sieve with the macapuno and let some of the syrup drain. Using 3 small bowls, divide the frosting into thirds..  Choose which of the two cake layers to use for the bottom and top.  Top the bottom layer with 1/3 of the frosting.  Then spoon on 1/3 pf the macapuno.  Place the second cake layer on top and frost top and sides with another 1/3 of the frosting. 

Sprinkle cake crumbs on top of the cake.  Then, using handfuls of cake crumbs, press into the sides of the cake until crumbs are completely used and cake is covered.  With the remaining frosting, pipe big rosettes around the top edge and small rosettes around the bottom edge. Lastly, spoon and smooth the remaining macapuno onto the top center of the cake.

Notes and tips:
1.  I found the amount of cake crumbs to be too much.  Use your own judgement when it comes to the batter amount for the loaf pan.  Bear in mind the less batter will mean less cooking time.

2. When using the gel paste for coloring, consider that the addition of the egg white mixture will lighten the color quite a bit.  It is up to you how dark or light you want your cake to be in color.

3. The cake is very moist, so when it is inverted onto the rack, invert again so parchment paper is touching the rack.  Otherwise there will be a lot of cake sticking to the rack.  Once the cake has completely cooled then your can invert again to remove the parchment paper.

                                **LAST YEAR: Chocolate Glazed Zucchini Cake Slice**

Peach Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are more in the realm of healthy instead of indulgent.  If you crave a healthy treat, these cookies are quite satisfying.  If you crave something rich and chocolatey, this is not the recipe for you.

However, someone at work did make the suggestion of ice cream with these.  Perhaps using these cookies and sandwiching vanilla ice cream between them may get closer to the mark for those that are wanting something more sweet.

After some of the decadent desserts, this is a nice change of pace.  The cookies are soft and chewy with an occasionally bite of dried peaches. These cookies, since they have molasses, bake up to a dark color, but the molasses is something I would not skip in the recipe. I am not a big fan of raisins, so the dried peaches were very suitable for my taste. This recipe makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.

Peach Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Desserts from Loveless Cafe

Ingredients
3 oz dried peaches (1/4 inch chopped pieces)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbs of molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cup of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup of sugar
1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter (room temp)

Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon.  Then stir in the oats and set aside.

In another bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar. Add the vanilla extract and the molasses and beat for 1 minute, scraping down sides of the bowl at the 30 second interval.  The end result should be a fluffy light batter.  Beat the egg into the batter, scraping down the sides of the bowl again to make sure all is blended. 

Using a wooden spoon, fold the dry oat mixture into the batter.  When only a few streaks of flour remain, add the dried peaches.   Stir until there are no streaks of flour and peaches are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

Drop heaping tablespoons of batter two inches apart on prepared baking sheets. You can use a scoop or a spoon.  Place pans in preheated oven and bake for 8 minutes and rotate and bake for another 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cookies cool on pan for 2 minutes and then transfer to a rack to completely cool.

Tips and Notes:
1. The recipe states you can also use sorghum in place of molasses.  The end result will be the same dark cookie but sorghum has more sweetness than molasses.

2. When I baked these, they took about 12 minutes to get done so keep a close eye on your baking time.
                                   **LAST YEAR: Barista Brew Pie**

Chocolate Chunk Cream Cake

It has been a little while since I have posted here.  Friends and co-workers have been asking about some baked goods, so I wanted to make something different that was not too big of a project.

These are actually bars, even though the title states cake.  This recipe hails from a label on some gourmet chocolate bars.  The chocolate bars are the Julia Baker chocolate brand.  The idea of reserving chocolate bars for baking may be a difficult task, but the effort to resist eating the bars by themselves does pay off.  The chewy, tasty texture of the cream cheese in the batter paired with rich chunks of chocolate make for one tasty treat.

Chocolate Chunk Cream Cake
adapted from Julia Baker via Bakingdom.com

Ingredients
2 eggs
4 oz of cream cheese
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbs melted butter
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup plus 2 tbs cake flour
1 cup confectioners sugar
3-4oz chocolate bar, coarsley chopped

Prepare an 8x8 inch pan by greasing the interior. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  Whisk in the granulated sugar. Stir in the melted butter.  Then add 1 egg and mix until all is smooth.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth with a spatula or back of a spoon to making sure all is even.  Place 1/2 of the chocolate bar pieces on top of the batter.  The pieces should be placed so the coverage is even and no pieces touch the sides of the pan.  Set pan aside.

Beat the cream cheese in a small bowl on medium speed for 30 seconds.  Then scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for an additional 30 seconds.  The cream cheese should be smooth and fluffy.

Sift 1/4 cup confectioners sugar into the cream cheese and stir until no dry streaks remain.  Repeat this process, scraping down the sides of the bowl at each interval,  until all the confectioners sugar is blended.   Using a wooden spoon, mix in the egg and the vanilla extract.

Pour this mixture evenly over the first batter layer in the pan.  Then finish by placing the remaining pieces of chocolate on the cream cheese layer.  Again, take care not to have any pieces touch the sides of the pan.

Bake for 30-33 minutes.  Cake will have a deep golden hue when done.  Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Notes and Tips:
1. original recipe states that you can also use a 4X11 inch tart pan.  Since the removal of the cake does require a sharp knife to be run along the edges, do not use a tart pan with scalloped edges.

2. As stated above, the cake will not easily slip out the pan for removal.  The bottom has no issues it is just the sides due to the toasted edges.  The greasing helped a little, but it still needed a knife run along the edges.

3. I used caramel filled as well as regular dark chocolate bars.  Using the caramel filled bars caused  an occasional grit or crunch to the bite.  Based on that, I would use a plain dark or milk chocolate bar.
                                       **LAST YEAR:Fried Apple Hand Pies**
 

Pistachio Layer Cake

This particular cake may take some time, but the flavor combination of the pistachio and lemon curd is quite a treat.  In the cookbook, Momofuku Milk Bar, Christina Tosi does state that this cake became a bestseller.  After tasting this, I do agree.

As you know, food bloggers are not real big on making things twice.  However, I am ready to make this again so I can share it with more people.  Sometimes the big projects in the kitchen are well worth the time and effort, and I put this cake in that category,

This is a six inch layer cake that does require some special equipment.  You will need a six inch cake ring and 2 strips of acetate (3"X 20").  The acetate strips are sometimes referred to as cake collars.

Before starting on this cake, the layering components should already be made.  The recipes for these items can be found (here). Please read through all this recipe prior to making this cake.  This will insure that you are aware of the time and the special ingredients required.

Pistachio Layer Cake
adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar

Ingredients
1 cup of flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup of blanched almond flour
1 3/4 cup sifted confectioners sugar
2/3 cup pistachio paste
3 tbs glucose
1/2 cup pistachio oil
1/4 cup heavy cream
6 egg whites (separated/add each in increments)

Prepare a baking sheet by coating the interior with non stick spray and lining with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Using a stand mixer, beat together the pistachio paste and glucose together until smooth.  This will take about 2-3 minutes on medium speed.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl when finished.

Put the mixer on low speed and add each egg white to the mixture.  Let the mixer run for about a minute before adding the next egg.  Repeat the same step with all the egg whites, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each 2 egg increment.

Keeping the mixer on low speed, blend the confectioners sugar and almond flour.  Continue to beat the mixture for about 3 minutes.  Stop and then scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Then turn the mixer back on low speed and slowly pour in the pistachio oil and the heavy cream.  Those ingredients should be fully incorporated into the batter after one minute.  Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl again.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Using a wooden spoon or spatula, fold the sifted ingredients into the batter until no dry streaks remain.

Spoon the batter onto the prepared pan and smooth to an even layer.  Bake for 20-22 minutes.  Cake is done when the edge bounces back when touched lightly and the cake starts to pull away from the edge of the pan.  Remove from oven and let cool in the pan completely before  proceeding.

Assembly Components (recipes here)

1/2 cup pistachio oil
1 recipe lemon curd
1 recipe pistachio frosting
1 recipe milk crumbs

Invert the cake onto another piece of parchment and peel off the top piece of parchment.  Using your cake ring, cut out two layers.  You will have some cake scraps left over which will be the bottom layer of your cake.

Clean the cake ring and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Line the ring with one piece of the acetate strip.  Take the cake scraps and place inside and lightly press the pieces together to form and even layer. Brush that layer with 1/4 cup of your pistachio oil.

Spoon 1/2 the batch of lemon curd onto the pistachio soaked layer.  Smooth out the curd into an even layer using a small knife or the back of a spoon.  Then sprinkle 1/3 of the milk crumbs over the lemon curd.  Press lightly so the crumbs are adhered to the curd.  The next layer added is 1/3 of the pistachio frosting.  Smooth the surface in the same manner as the lemon curd.

Take the other strip of acetate and tuck it between the cake ring and the previous piece of acetate.  The acetate should only overlap by 1/4 inch.  Choose the worst of the two layers (good layer is for the top) and place inside the acetate, on top of the pistachio frosted layer.  Smooth on the components in the same order and manner as done for the first layer.  In this process, reserve 1/2 of the remaining pistachio frosting and milk crumbs for the top layer and use up all the lemon curd and pistachio oil.

Place the top layer onto the second and smooth on the remaining frosting.  Sprinkle the rest of the milk crumbs on top.  Place the cake in the freezer for 12 hours for flavors to meld.  3 hours prior to serving, pop the cake out of the cake ring (push from cake bottom up) and peel off the acetate. Transfer to cake stand or platter.  Wrap cake in plastic and let defrost for 3 hours.  This cake will last in fridge well wrapped in plastic for up to 5 days.

Tips and Notes:

1. It is important that you have a good sturdy cake pan to insure that the cake bakes evenly.  Older pans sometimes get warped and cause problems when baking.

2. The hardest process I found was installing the 2nd acetate strip.  Since the strips are 20 inches there is a lot of overlap that must be kept even.

3. The amount of pistachio oil brushed on the layers is personal preference, I found the 1/2 cup to be too much initially. However to my surprise, it did finally meld with the cake during the chill time.

4. Do not press or mash the cake scraps too hard for your first layer.  The cake pieces still have to be somewhat spongy to soak up the oil.
                                  **LAST YEAR: Citrus Pie**

Pistachio Cake /Stage 1-Components

Well, I finally got around to doing the project recipe from the above book. This particular cake takes several hours for the flavors to meld and has several components that make up the layers.

This post contains the recipes for the filling, frosting and milk crumbs.  However, if you do intend to try this delicious and unusual cake, please read over this as well as the actual cake recipe. The cake recipe will be posted tomorrow.  Review is needed to make sure you have all the ingredients and are aware of the advance hours needed to create the cake.

It is best to prepare these components prior to baking the cake, so once the cake has cooled it can be assembled without delay.  The components are more suitable for storing than the cooled cake by itself.

Lemon Curd

Ingredients
1/2 tsp powdered gelatin
2 tbs cold water
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick or 1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
4 eggs
zest from 3 lemons
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt

Fill a blender with the lemon juice, zest and sugar.  Blend on medium for 2-3 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved.  Add the eggs and blend on medium speed for an additional 2 minutes for the  color to change to a bright yellow.  Empty mixture into a sauce pan.  The blender will need to be cleaned for an additional use.

Pour the cold water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the surface of the water.  Let sit for 2-3 minutes to bloom.

Place the saucepan of the lemon mixture over low heat.  Let it cook, while constantly whisking and keeping a close watch.  It will become thicker and eventually come to a boil.  Once it reaches that stage, transfer contents back to the blender.

Drop cubes of butter into the warm lemon mixture.  Add the gelatin and salt.  Blend on medium high for 2 minutes.  It should have a sheen to it and be thick and smooth.  Strain contents into a heat proof bowl and place in fridge to cool for at least 1/2 an hour. After this chill time, mixture is ready to use as a filling. If refrigerating beyond the 30 minutes, cover surface with plastic wrap.  It will keep for a maximum of one week.

Milk Crumbs

Ingredients
1/4 cup dry milk powder (for mixing)
2 tbs dry milk powder (for dusting)
2 tbs flour
1 tbs cornstarch
1 tbs sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbs melted butter
1 1/2 oz white chocolate

Line a baking sheet with parchment and preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Whisk together 1/4 cup milk powder, flour, cornstarch, sugar and salt.  Set aside.

Using a fork, stir in the melted butter until there is no longer any dry mix. It should turn into clusters. Pour the mixture onto the prepared pan and use a fork to break up any large clusters.  Place pan in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove and let cool completely.  Again, use the fork to break up any large clumps.

Transfer the cooled crumbs to a heatproof bowl and dust with the remaining 2 tbs of milk powder and set aside.

Melt the white chocolate in the double boiler and pour over the cooled crumbs.  Stir until all is evenly coated.  Let cool, taking time to stir the mixture every 15 minutes.  After 4 of these intervals, you can  place in fridge to all the crumbs to completely harden.  This should take an additional 30 minutes at the most.  Break up mixture and it is ready to be used in the recipe.  For storing, place in an airtight container to store in the fridge.  Storage time can be up to one month in fridge or freezer.

Pistachio Frosting

Ingredients
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup or 8 tbs of butter at room temp, cubed
1/4 cup of confectioners sugar
3/4 cup of  pistachio paste

Sift the confectioners sugar together with the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Drop in cubes of the butter. Beat the mixture at medium high for 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl at one minute intervals.  The mixture should be smooth and pale yellow when completely blended.

With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the pistachio paste.  Beat on low for 30 seconds and then on medium high for about 2 minutes.  Scrape down bowl at a one minute interval and at the end.  Turn the speed up to high and beat for 1 minute.  Frosting should be an even tone of green.  Using a spatula, scrape contents into an airtight container.  Frosting can be used immediately.  For storing, place in an airtight container and it will keep for 1 week.

Belgian Blondies

I have been trying different bar cookie recipes recently.  Last week I had tried a recipe for Margarita Lime bars that had an error on the liquid ratio, so the edges set up fine but the center was just a pool. There was no saving it, I even tried to microwave it so the center would get done, but that did not work.

Anyhow, this particular recipe did turn out to be a success.  The bars are rich, buttery and full of delicious white chocolate.  The recipe instructions had a method in which to melt the chocolate.  However when I made these, there was a certain amount of chunks that did not melt, which makes them perfect for the person that loves white chocolate.

The rich flavor makes them perfect paired with black coffee.  Also, forget the shortbread and serve these squares with a bowl of strawberries.

Belgian Blondies
adapted from Tea with Bea

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup plus 2 tbs or 2 3/4 sticks of butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 lb white chocolate (chopped into pea sized pieces)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup of sugar
1 3/4 cup of flour
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 340 degrees.  Grease an 8X12 inch baking pan and line bottom with parchment, leaving an overhang on 2 sides so the bars can be lifted out of the pan prior to cutting.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and let come to a boil.  Place the chocolate pieces in a heat proof bowl and pour in the melted butter.  Stir until most or all of the chocolate is melted.  Set aside.

In another bowl,  blend eggs, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth. Pour in the chocolate mixture and stir. In another bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.  Then fold dry ingredients into the chocolate batter until no dry streaks remain.

Spoon mixture into prepared pan and smooth the surface.  Place pan in oven and bake for 28-33 minutes.  The bars are done when golden brown on top but still retain a gooey center.

Remove pan from oven and place pan on cooling rack.  After 1 hour, place pan in the refrigerator for  2 hours to set up.  After two hours, remove pan from refrigerator and run a knife down between the pan and the blondies on the sides without parchment paper.  Then lift out blondies and cut into squares for serving.

Tips and notes:
1. You can use a 9X13 size pan, but watch on the baking time. Also with a bigger pan, the blondies will not have the same height.
2. Do not use baking chips.  They are a different blend than the actual white bar chocolate and will not work in this recipe.  Use good quality white chocolate bars.
3. For a smoother bar with no chunks of white chocolate, use a grater disc in a food processer to grind the chocolate to insure that all chocolate will be melted with the hot butter.
                                  **LAST YEAR:Butter Cupcakes**