Oak Bars

When I stumbled across the recipe for Oak Bars on Cook Like a Champion's blog, I knew I had to make them. In fact, not only did I run right out to buy the ingredients to make them, I also hopped on Amazon and ordered the book that the original recipe comes from: The Boozy Baker. With a name like that, I was guaranteed to like the book, so I figured it would be worth my while to buy it. I've only made this recipe (so far), but I have no doubt that I will be pulling that cookbook off my shelf quite frequently. In fact, just because it seemed like a good idea, I ordered some of the other cookbooks that Amazon suggested, based off my selection: Cooking with Booze and Booze Cakes. Are we sensing a trend, here? Enough about my alcoholic cooking tendencies (for now), though....

I suggest going wine tasting at your favorite local vineyard(s) so that you can pick a nice, oaky Chardonnay. Don't skimp here. You want lots of oak. The recipe doesn't use a huge amount of Chardonnay, so it needs to pack a punch. I made the mistake of getting a recommendation from the wine guy at my local grocery store, and the Chardonnay was not oaky enough for my taste. I'm looking forward to trying this with one that's more heavily oaked. And, the recipe doesn't use much, so you can splurge on something that you'll enjoy drinking--after all, someone's got to finish the rest of the bottle!

The toasted cashews and butterscotch chips are the perfect counterpoint to this recipe--it's worth the effort to find unsalted cashews. I've never used them in a blondie recipe before--I usually just use walnuts, but the cashews definitely took this recipe over the top to add a whole new dimension of flavor. Walnuts just wouldn't cut it. And the butterscotch chips--need I say more? Everything's better with butterscotch chips! After one of the longest introductions I've done, it's high time to get to the recipe...hopefully all this buildup has succeeded in convincing you that you need to make these...NOW!


Oak Bars (from The Boozy Baker)

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 c. packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. Chardonnay
• 1/2 c. toasted, chopped, unsalted cashews
• 3/4 c. butterscotch chips

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then the Chardonnay. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until nearly combined. Stir in the cashews and butterscotch chips.

Pour into a greased 8x8" or 9x9" pan, and smooth the surface. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden at the edges and just set in the center.

The Cookie Dough Monster

I had been eyeing Lindsay's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcake recipe ever since she posted it, which was more than 2 years ago! If you haven't seen her blog, definitely check it out. This weekend I finally got around to making the cupcakes, so without further ado, the cupcakes, and another cookie dough bonus!


First, the cookie dough
2 sticks butter, softened (or zapped in the microwave if you're impatient like me!)
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (can sub light brown)
A splash of milk (a few Tbl)
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream the butter and sugars together until smooth.  Alternate the dry ingredients (mix the soda in with the flour) with the milk, and stir until combined.  Fold in the mini chocolate chips.*

Roll the cookie dough into balls using about a tablespoon of dough, reserving 1/2 cup of dough in the refrigerator for each dozen cupcakes you intend to make (up to 3 dozen) and freeze on a cookie sheet until firm.  Feel free to transfer them to a freezer bag for longer-term storage.

Luckily the divot disappears!

The day you want to make the cupcakes, prepare your favorite vanilla or chocolate batter and fill the muffin tins 3/4 full.  Drop a frozen dough ball into the center of each, and bake until set and light brown in color.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare the buttercream.

For each dozen cupcakes, cream
1 stick butter (softened)
1-1/3 cup powdered sugar
Pinch salt
1/2 cup of reserved cookie dough

Pipe onto cooled cupcakes, and sprinkle with extra mini chocolate chips if desired.

Note the * from earlier!  I was dubious at the probability of being able to pipe frosting with mini chocolate chips in it onto the cupcakes.  The first cupcake (the only one you'll see!) piped perfectly.  And then the tip clogged.  And clogged again.  So unless you have a really big star tip, or want to pipe using a plain tip, I'd suggest dividing the dough before adding the chocolate chips to the dough ball inserts, keeping the "frosting dough" free of clog-happy chips!

Now, what to do with those leftover balls of dough?

Coat them in chocolate!

Melt some chocolate (no need to temper for guilty indulgences), and stick a cookie sheet covered with foil in the freezer.  Grab your bag of frozen dough balls and coat them in the chocolate, setting them on the chilled cookie sheet to harden.

Freeze or refrigerate until the chocolate sets, and enjoy!

Destination Post: Eggnog Cookies

I love eggnog. I mean LOVE eggnog. As in, drink-it-straight-out-of-the-carton love eggnog. As such, I love all things eggnog-flavored. Like my eggnog cream pie ( /shameless self-promotion). And I'm always looking for new things to put eggnog in. Conveniently enough, at the school where I work, we had a TON of eggnog left over from a canceled holiday party. And the dessert-of-the-week was cookies. Now, my mom has a nutmeg cookie recipe that I've always liked. It's awesome. And then I got to thinking...I like nutmeg on top of eggnog. And then I remembered that the recipe calls for some milk...that could easily be substituted with eggnog. So, I made eggnog cookies. And they were every bit as heavenly as I expected. I'm not a big cookie person, generally, but put eggnog in them, and I'm there! These have a subtle eggnog taste, enhanced by the nutmeg in the cookies. They're a cakey cookie, so be forewarned, if that's not your thing (it's not usually mine, but I like these in spite of that). And, to top it off, there's an eggnog glaze on top. Because, how perfect is that? I'm thinking that next time, I'll spike either the icing or the cookie (or maybe both!) with rum or whiskey.... Couldn't do that for the kiddos, but it would be a great touch for an adult version!


Eggnog Cookies (adapted from my mom's recipe)

Cookies

• 1/2 c. vegetable shortening
• 1/2 c. butter
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 3/4 c. white sugar
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 Tbl. vanilla extract
• 4 1/4 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 3/4 c. eggnog
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 c. white vinegar

Cream together the shortening, butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Note: if you have a vendetta against shortening or are just plain out of it, feel free to substitute all butter. Next, beat in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Add the dry ingredients to the batter in two additions, alternating with the eggnog. OVER THE BOWL, stir the baking soda into the vinegar. This is the fun part--it will foam up like a science experiment. Immediately stir it into the cookie batter. Chill the batter overnight. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes at 375 degrees F. Cool, then frost with eggnog icing (listed below).

Icing

• 4 c. powdered sugar
• 6 Tbl. eggnog

Stir until well-combined, varying the amount of eggnog as needed to achieve a spreadable consistency. And, if you have to frost 700 of them, don't worry about whether the icing looks perfect, even for the ones you're taking a picture of.

What's Baking: Chocolate Strawberry Tartlets

So, I'm horribly late on posting this, and I've been horribly neglecting my poor readers. I heartily apologize. I've been baking, I swear...I just haven't had time to photograph it or blog it. I'm making an exception for What's Baking?, though!


Our challenge for February was to bake with love and make something appropriate for Valentine's Day. I did indeed make this for myself and a special someone on Valentine's Day...and given the fact that I made up most of it as I went along, it turned out quite nicely. I was making a whole French-inspired menu, from boursin and chevre as appetizers, to the beef bourguignon, green beans almondine, and herbes de provence-roasted potatoes. Then I got stuck on dessert. Since dinner was so heavy, I wanted something relatively light...which meant fruit. And appropriate for Valentine's Day...which meant chocolate. Thus, the Chocolate Strawberry Tartlet was born! So I hope you enjoy them!


Chocolate Strawberry Tartlets (crust from Foodnetwork.com)

• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. plus 3 Tbl. sugar, divided
  
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. cold butter, cut into pieces
• 1 egg, separated
• 2 Tbl. ice water
• 12 oz. good semisweet chocolate
• 2 c. heavy cream, divided
  
• 1 lb strawberries, hulled and quartered
• A few sprigs of fresh mint
• 3 Tbl. powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine the flour, 3 Tbl. sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse until the mixture forms coarse crumbs. Add the egg yolk and 2 Tbl. of ice water, pulsing until the dough just comes together, adding more water as necessary. Form it into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Note: I cut the recipe more or less in 1/3, which yielded 4 mini tarts (maybe 3-in. in diameter). However, I screwed up and added the full egg yolk and the full amount of water, which resulted in a ridiculously hard, cookie-like crust. So don't do that. Please.

Roll out the dough to about 1/4-in. thick. Press into your favorite 9-in. tart pan or into several individual tart pans, making sure to get dough into all the corners of the fluted edges. Trim the top edges so that they look pretty. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes, or don't, if you happen to overlook that step of the directions.

Brush the tart shell with beaten egg white, and bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is a nice golden brown. Cool.

Meanwhile, microwave the chocolate and 1 c. heavy cream, stirring every 30 seconds, until the chocolate is melted. Pour ganache into the cooled tart shell(s) to a depth of about 1/2-in. Chill until the ganache is set.

Also meanwhile, combine 1/2 c. sugar with 1/2 c. water and the sprig of mint in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and then simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until the simple syrup has a nice mint flavor to it. Toss the chopped strawberries with the mint syrup, then spoon the strawberries over top of the tart(s). Chill until it's time to serve.

Just before serving, combine 1 c. heavy cream, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Whip until stiff peaks form, then dollop a healthy blob on top of each serving. Enjoy!

What's Baking: Swiss Meringue Buttercream

It's that time again! There was another What's Baking? challenge. This one was "try something new for the new year." When I read that, I immediately thought of egg whites. I've never made a meringue before. But then, I remembered that I don't really like meringue pies or meringue cookies much. And a better idea struck. On my message board, everyone RAVES about a specific kind of frosting. One that I've been meaning to try for a while and haven't gotten around to. One that works with egg whites. Specifically, Swiss meringue buttercream.


Conveniently, it was my friend's birthday, so I wanted to make cupcakes for him. Because, you know, I never bake for birthdays. Ever. /sarcasm. I wasn't sure as to his exact flavor preferences, but his wife assured me he liked everything. That's easy enough. I settled on vanilla bean cupcakes filled with homemade lemon curd and frosted with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream (of course).

These turned out really well! They were a hit with everyone who tried them. And the Swiss meringue buttercream was actually fairly forgiving. I was making a small batch, and I don't think my thermometer was immersed quite enough to get an accurate reading, so I'm pretty sure I cooked my egg whites pretty well past 160 degrees. In spite of this (and in spite of smelling disturbingly like scrambled eggs), the frosting came together fine and tasted alright. Now, personally, I don't like the taste of butter (*gasp*). And the difference between this frosting and the normal American buttercream that I usually make is that the Swiss meringue buttercream has a lot less sugar and a lot more butter. So, it wasn't my personal favorite in terms of flavor. I also found it very difficult to pipe. I never quite got to stiff peaks like the recipe calls for, as my egg white/sugar mixture was more like a marshmallow fluff consistency after cooking and whipping than light and airy peaks, so this is probably my own fault, and probably wouldn't have happened had I not overcooked the egg whites. I think the Swiss meringue buttercream is also a LOT more time-consuming than an American buttercream. So, while I'm not a convert, it was good to try something new!


Vanilla Bean Cupcakes (from Annie's Eats)

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 2 c. granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 5 eggs
  
• 3 c. flour (the original recipe calls for cake flour, but I used AP)
  
• 1 Tbl. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 c. buttermilk
• 1 Tbl. vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and sugar. Split open the vanilla bean, scrape out all the seeds, and add the seeds to the butter and sugar. Then, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Sift together the dry ingredients, and add them to the butter/sugar mixture in two additions, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Mix just until combined.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter into well-greased muffin tins. This will make about 27 or 28 cupcakes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 18-22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Orange Curd (from Food and Wine)

• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 2 Tbl. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. orange zest
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 stick of butter, softened, cut into small pieces

Whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar in a small-to-medium saucepan. Whisk in the orange juice, lemon juice, and zests. Add butter. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens. Strain it through a fine-meshed sieve to remove any lumps and the zest. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly against the surface of the curd to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate overnight or up to one week.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (from Annie's Eats)

• 5 egg whites
• 1 c. plus 2 Tbl. granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 4 sticks of butter, softened, cut into small pieces
  
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix together the egg whites, sugar, and salt in a heatproof bowl (I used my mixer's metal bowl). Set it over a pot of simmering water, and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer (if needed), and whip on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled to room temperature. Now, add the butter, about 2 Tbl. at a time, making sure to completely beat in each piece before adding the next. Note: the original recipe says that the recipe may look soupy or curdled at this point--mine didn't, but mine was also bordering on scrambled eggs. So, if that happens to you, don't panic. It means you're doing it right. Just keep mixing, and it will eventually come together. Once it does, mix in the vanilla extract. The frosting can be refrigerated for a couple days--just whip it up a little before you use it.

To assemble:

Take the cooled cupcakes, and cut a plug approximately 1 inch in diameter out of the center of each cupcake. The plug should NOT go all the way through the cupcake. Dispose of these plugs in any manner you like (personally, I ate them). Fill each cupcake with orange curd. Then, frost each cupcake with the Swiss meringue buttercream, trying not to disturb the orange curd. Devour.

Butterscotch Pie

Anyone who doesn't like pies quite as much as me is probably getting sick of pie posts. But I don't cater to crazy people who don't like pie. And this pie is right up there on my list of favorite pies. I'm combining my friend Paula's grandmother's filling recipe (you know it's got to be good if it's a grandmother's recipe!) with my friend Andrew's crust recipe...with a little bit of tweaking to both recipes. His crust is just a touch on the salty side, which is the PERFECT counterpoint to the sweet, rich butterscotch custard filling.


Butterscotch Pie (from Paula's grandmother and Andrew)

Crust

• 1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• Rounded 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/3 c. shortening
• 1 Tbl. cold vodka
• 2-4 Tbl. cold water

Pulse together flour and salt in a food processor. Add shortening, and pulse until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add vodka and 2 Tbl. of water. Pulse until mixture begins to come together. Add more water--a little at a time--if necessary, just until dough comes together.

Form dough into a disk. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Roll out dough, and transfer to a 9-in. pie plate, trimming the excess dough from the edges. Prick the bottom and sides with a fork. Bake at 450 degrees F until golden brown, about 12-14 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. cornstarch
• 1/4 c. dark brown sugar
• 3/4 c. light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 2 c. milk
• 1 stick of butter, cut into small pieces and softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 Tbl. butterscotch Schnapps

In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks and egg together until well-beaten. Mix in the cornstarch until thoroughly incorporated.

In a medium saucepan, combine the sugars, salt, and milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, just until bubbles appear. Temper the egg mixture by slowly stirring in 1 c. of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly. Once the eggs have been tempered, add them back into the saucepan of milk, again stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat until mixture thickens considerably.

Remove the saucepan from the heat, and stir in the butter, one piece at a time. Once all the butter has been incorporated, mix in the vanilla and butterscotch Schnapps. Strain the custard through a fine-meshed sieve into the cooled pie crust, and spread evenly. Lay a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the pie to keep out air, and refrigerate overnight. To serve, top with whipped cream, if desired (or if your pie has big, gaping cracks in it that need disguising!).

Spiked Eggnog Cream Pie

Eggnog is one of my most absolute favorite things about Christmas. I.love.eggnog. I also love pie. And cream pies happen to be my favorite kind of pie. Naturally, I felt the need to make an eggnog cream pie for Christmas dinner. And of course, being me, I had to spike it. Yummmmm. I can't recommend this recipe highly enough if you're an eggnog fan, like me! I used Martha Stewart's Rum-Vanilla Cream Pie as a starting point/inspiration, but adapted both the method and the ingredients very heavily, so I'm comfortable calling it an original recipe.


Spiked Eggnog Cream Pie (a Brownies and Blondies original)

• 1 9-in. pie crust, baked and cooled
  
• 1/4 c. cornstarch
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 c. eggnog
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Several dashes of nutmeg
  
• 1/4 c. butter, cut into small pieces and softened
• 1/4 c. white rum

Mix together egg yolks and cornstarch in a small bowl. It will be a pretty paste-like consistency.

Combine the sugar, eggnog, salt, and about 3 dashes of nutmeg in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat just until bubbles appear, stirring constantly.

Temper the egg yolks by slowly mixing in about 1 c. of the hot eggnog. Make sure to add it only a little bit at a time, so as not to scramble the eggs. Once you've added 1 c. of the eggnog to the yolks, pour them slowly back into the remaining eggnog in the pan, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens considerably. Remove from heat and mix in the butter, one piece at a time. Once the butter has all been incorporated, mix in the rum.

Strain the custard through a fine-meshed sieve into the cooled pie crust, and spread it evenly. Put a piece of cling wrap on the surface of the pie to keep out air, and refrigerate overnight. To serve, sprinkle with additional nutmeg, and top with a dollop of whipped cream, if desired.