Different than the day before

Costco had raspberries for about $4 for 12 ounces the last time I was there.  I bought 3 packages, with the intent of making Jeni's raspberry sauce with a lot of them.  I made a double batch of the sauce, and ended up with about 2 pints.  Some will almost certainly end up inside or on top of ice cream, and I'll probably eat some with yogurt, but I've been looking for other things to make as well.  I was in a brownie mood today, and decided to try swirling some sauce on top of the batter before it went into the oven. The brownies are the Classic Brownies from Cook's Illustrated--I made half the recipe (in an 8" pan), throwing in some chocolate chips instead of adding nuts.  I dolloped about 50 grams of raspberry sauce on top of the batter and swirled it in with a chopstick.  I baked the brownies for 30 minutes.  

The verdict?  Quite tasty!  Raspberry and chocolate is one of my very favorite flavor combinations.  The girls thought they were good but weren't totally thrilled.  That's okay, since that means more for me! =)

Have flour, will travel

Gillian and I were looking for something fun to do on Sunday afternoon while Jamie and Brianna went to the Tennis Center.  We started off at the park for a bit, but it was still a little too damp after some overnight thunderstorms.  I remembered that some folks from King Arthur Flour were going to be in town for a baking demonstration on yeast breads.  G had been to another cooking/baking demo with me a couple months ago, and was game to try out this one.  It turned out not to be the best for her--it was a much larger group, so it was hard for her to see, and she spent most of the time playing games on my iPad.  We only stayed for about an hour before her attention span hit its limit.  But I enjoyed the part of the presentation that I did get to hear, including some entertaining stories.  With my level of experience, I didn't learn a lot of new stuff, but I'm intrigued by some of the classes that KAF offers at their Baking Education Center in Vermont.  I'm going to add a trip to Norwich to my Mondo Beyondo list.  It would be a great opportunity to meet my blogging friend Rebecca, too.  Maybe I can convince some of my other baking/blogging friends to meet up with me there and we can all take a class together.  Anyone interested? =)
 

When we got to the demo, we each got a booklet of recipes.  G immediately pointed out the recipe for Double Fudge Brownies.  When we got home, J & B still weren't back, so I suggested that we could bake something together.  G quickly suggested the brownies.  I knew it wouldn't be a problem to get my employees to eat some of them, so we made the full 13"x9" pan.  The recipe calls for brown sugar, which I think helps keep the brownies moist.  I used natural cocoa powder rather than the Dutch-processed that was called for (I prefer the way it tastes) but did keep the espresso powder to boost the chocolate flavor.  The somewhat sneaky ingredient is white whole wheat flour.  Granted, these are brownies, so there isn't a whole lot of flour, but a little extra whole grain is always a good idea, right?

The verdict?  You would never guess that there was whole grain flour in these brownies.  They are fudgy and a bit chewy, and altogether yummy.  The change in cocoa worked out fine.  We added a mix of chocolate chips and m&ms to our batter, but next time, I'll put the m&ms on top instead.  The candy shells sort of melted into the brownies when we let them rest overnight.

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe in the KAF Whole Grain Baking cookbook.  And if you think you'd like to join me on a trip to New England, let me know!

p.s. We got this nice KAF bowl scraper to take home with us--you can never have too many of those!

The mother of invention

I lost count.  I was really excited last month when I realized that I had a blogging milestone coming up.  I knew it would be sometime in February.  But I apparently wasn't paying attention.  So instead of happily announcing that I am at post #400, I can now tell you that I'm at post #402.  Oh, well. =)

Even though I already posted some this month, I figured such a momentous event called for celebrating with brownies.  Who am I kidding?  I don't need an excuse to make brownies.  But it is a good opportunity to make some new brownies.  Ones that I won't have that much competition for, since I have a feeling my kids won't eat them.  The one category I had left for this month was magazine focus.    It's not usually the first place I look, but I thought I'd try Bon Appetit.  I like a lot of what I read in the magazine, but don't search their website all that often.  The recipe that quickly caught my eye was the Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts.  It's from Alice Medrich, and I've made enough of her recipes to be pretty confident that I'd like the brownies.

I only made a couple of small changes to the recipe--I used pecans instead of walnuts, and I added salt--half a teaspoon.  I also took a shortcut and simply lined my pan with non-stick foil.  I may try another cocoa powder in the future, but for this round I went with plain old Hershey's.  The batter was easy to mix up, and I love the fact that you can make it in one pot.  The suggested baking time of 25 minutes worked great for me.

The only downside is that I was making the brownies last night after dinner.  So I knew it was going to be challenging to get decent pictures.  Sometimes I can manage to take pictures in the morning before work, but I had a very long day today.  I left the house before the sun was up, and knew that I wouldn't be home again until long after it set.  Then inspiration hit--I took a page from my friend Abby's book (she likes to take dough on field trips), and took the brownies to work with me.  Now you're probably thinking, she takes baked goods to work all the time.  That's true, but not with the intent of taking pictures of them in natural light.  Which meant, in my car:

The verdict?  The pictures turned out better than I expected. =)  I need to work on the setup if I do this again, but at least the color in the pictures is good.  The brownies were really good, too.  Jamie and I both like them a lot.  I'm not usually in a nuts-in-my-chocolate mood, but I love pecans, and they worked really well in these brownies.  I think the salt was a good addition, too.  I did share the brownies with one of my coworkers, who thought they were fantastic.

If you'd like to try the recipe for yourself, you can find it here at Bon Appetit!  So what's the most unusual thing you've done to get good blog pictures? =)

Heart of darkness

I didn't have Valentine's Day in mind when I made these brownies.  I just really wanted some chocolate.  The heart shape came about because brown squares aren't terribly photogenic. =)  I feel a little like a copycat, posting these Sweet and Salty Brownies relatively soon after my friend Tracey did. I admit, she was the immediate inspiration, but I've actually made them about 4 times in the past year.   Unfortunately, until this most recent batch, I didn't manage to take any pictures of them so I could actually post about them.  We were too busy eating them. =)  The brownies come from a cookbook that I picked up after Christmas last year--Baked Explorations.  This was actually was the first recipe that I made from the book.  (And I really need to delve into it more than I have so far.)  The recipe makes a 13"x9" pan, and since the brownies are really rich, I always cut them small, so there are plenty to share.  

To make the brownies, the first thing you do is make a salted caramel sauce.  I've mentioned before that I became a much bigger caramel fan after I discovered what a difference it makes to add salt to it.  With a full teaspoon of fleur de sel as well as some sour cream, this particular caramel sauce has a complexity to it that I really enjoy.  The next step is to make brownie batter.  I like mine bittersweet, so I used some 70% El Rey for the chocolate.  The recipe also calls for dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona.  I prefer natural cocoa; since there isn't any leavening that would be affected, I went with my preference and used Scharffen Berger cocoa powder.  Once the brownie batter is made, you spread half of it in your prepared pan--I line my Pyrex pan with non-stick foil rather than parchment.  Next you drizzle some of the caramel over the batter, and spread it to form a thin layer.  Finally, you top it with the remaining brownie batter, then stick the pan in a 350º oven.  (My brownies took 30 minutes to bake.)  Once they come out of the oven, you sprinkle the top with a mix of fleur de sel and coarse sugar; I used turbinado sugar for mine.  

The verdict?  Well, as I mentioned above, these brownies are very rich, and very delicious.  I love salt with chocolate as well as with caramel.  I also prefer fudgy brownies (as opposed to cakey ones), and these are definitely in my favorite category.  Everyone here loved them, as did my coworkers.  They've also been a hit at the daycare when I've taken them there in the past.  

If you'd like to try these for yourself, you can find the recipe in Baked Explorations.  You can also find it all over the web, but I encourage you to check out the cookbook (maybe your local library has it!) since there are lots of other great recipes in it.  Hopefully I can manage to make and blog about some more of them soon. =)

All dressed up and nowhere to go

I love vacation time--especially the kind where I get to stay home.  Sure, it's fun to go places and visit people, but traveling can also be stressful.  I'm ready for a break from stress.  It's nice to be able to hang out and relax, and maybe catch up on a few things.  Jamie's vacation time can roll over, but mine is the use-it-or-lose-it variety.  So you can bet I'm going to use it, even if it means staying home by myself.  To be honest, being on my own isn't bad. =)  Brianna is in school, and Jamie is at work.  Gillian stayed home with me yesterday and will probably do that again later in the week, but that's okay.  One child at home with me is peaceful--both would be another story.

Knowing that I had a whole week ahead of me with plenty of time to spend in the kitchen, I was completely lazy this past weekend.  I cooked dinner on Sunday, but that was about it.  But that was okay, since I'd actually made this week's TWD recipe over a week ahead of time.  Anne of Anne Strawberry picked Classic Brownies as this week's selection.  That was perfect, since I needed something to pack in lunches last week.  Only one problem--we managed to polish off the brownies without me taking any pictures of them.  Oops.

So yesterday morning, I set out to make them again.  I actually started off my day by turning a whole bunch of raspberries (I love Costco) into raspberry sauce.  Then I made the brownies.  It's an easy recipe--one bowl, and whisk and a spoon are all you need.  I skipped the nuts and put in chocolate chips instead, since I don't care for nuts in my brownies (and B's school has requested no peanuts or tree nuts if possible, due to a student with a severe allergy).  I baked the brownies for 30 minutes, and was quite happy with the fudgy texture.  Next up was ice cream, since there wasn't any at all in the freezer.  I made vanilla bean (with a splash of rum), figuring it would go nicely with another TWD recipe that I plan to make this week.  Once I was done with that, I realized that I had all the makings of a fabulous brownie sundae.  I also figured a sundae would be a way to make the brownies more photogenic.  And my children now think I'm the best mom ever. =)

The verdict?  We really enjoyed these brownies, both plain and dressed up.  While they don't quite displace my all-time favorite, they are very high on my list.  It certainly wasn't a hardship to make them twice, and I'm sure we'll be making them again.  I'd like to try the recipe with other mix-ins, like peanut butter chips (just for eating at home).  

If you'd like to try these for yourself, head over to Anne's blog for the recipe.  To see how everyone else played around with these brownies, check out this week's Links.  

Sharing the love

Happy Valentine's Day!  I wasn't actually sure we were going to survive the weekend leading up to it.  This isn't really a big holiday for me and my husband.  I like to get a card, at least.  But my birthday is in a week, and I'd much rather have J make a big deal about that. =)  For the kids, however, Valentine's Day is a much bigger event.  This is the first year that Gillian has really been old enough to address the cards herself.  It was an all-day ordeal.  Finally, she was done writing the names, and just had to fold them and put stickers on them.  She commented that she didn't have enough stickers for all of them.  I looked over and discovered that she was only about halfway through, and she'd put anywhere from two to five stickers on the ones she'd completed.  I had to walk away--at that particular moment, I'd had too much of the whole process to find it funny.  But J convinced me otherwise.  After all, she is only four. =)

I thought I was going to end up baking something for Brianna's class party.  But I didn't get the email asking for contributions until after work one day last week, and everyone else had already volunteered.  A couple weeks ago, though, I found some really cool foil heart cups at Target (above), and I really wanted to use them for something.  I decided some teacher gifts were in order, for B's classroom and afterschool teachers, as well as the teachers at the daycare.  The question was what to make.  The insert with the cups suggests that they're good for cupcakes, jello or brownies.  I decided that brownies would be the way to go, since they're my favorite, and are also the thing most likely to survive transport by my kids.  

I generally go for fudgy brownies, like the ones I made last week.  But a few weeks ago, I tried a Cook's Illustrated recipe that I'd been meaning to make for a while, their Chewy Brownies.  Unfortunately, for that batch, I didn't bake the brownies long enough, and they were a bit too soft in the middle.  They were decent when chilled, but I'd been meaning to try again to see if I could get the proper chewy texture.  

I love the fact that the recipe can be made in a single bowl, with a whisk and a spatula.  You start by whisking boiling water into cocoa powder and espresso powder.  The recipe calls for Dutch-processed cocoa, but I prefer the natural (non-alkalized) kind.  Since there isn't any leavening that would be affected, I went with the natural kind (just regular old Hershey's in this case).  Next, unsweetened chocolate is whisked in until melted.  Melted butter and oil are next--the oil helps with the chewy texture.    Also contributing to that are the 2 egg yolks that are added along with 2 eggs.  Vanilla and salt are added for flavor.  Finally, sugar and flour are mixed in.  To add additional chocolate flavor without affecting the texture, chopped chocolate is stirred into the batter at the end.  I used Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips.  

I scooped the batter into 18 of the heart cups that I'd sprayed with cooking spray, filling them halfway.  I had a bit of batter left, so I put that into a 6" round cake pan that was lined with non-stick foil.  The cups were placed on a large baking sheet, and I ended up baking them for 23 minutes.  The round pan wasn't filled as deep, and only took 20 minutes.  I made sure to cool the brownies completely.  I cut the 6" round into quarters so we could all sample it for dessert (with some whipped cream and cocoa syrup).

The verdict?  I was very happy to achieve the proper chewy texture this time.  I really liked the flavor and texture of the brownie we ate.  The espresso taste seemed a bit strong to me.  I'm wondering if that's because I substituted the natural cocoa powder.  I may cut the espresso powder back to just a teaspoon next time.  There will definitely be an next time.  =)  I really hope the teachers enjoy these, too.  

If you'd like to make these brownies for yourself, you can find the recipe here, on the Cook's Illustrated site.  (You have to be a subscriber, which I find to be totally worth the cost.)  It was originally published in the March 2010 issue.  I also found it online at Brown Eyed Baker.  

Sensational

Since July 5th was a federal holiday this year (due to the 4th falling on a Sunday), I had the day off.  The daycare was closed that day, too, so I had both girls home with me, while Jamie had to work.  (UT has its own ideas about holidays sometimes.)  Since I'd already been home with them for Saturday and Sunday, I was really hoping that they wouldn't drive me completely crazy.  I was really brave that morning, and took them to Target in search of new puzzles.  That trip went better than expected, so I was even braver in the afternoon.  I let them both help me in the kitchen.  One at a time is usually just fine, but with both of them, things usually degenerate into arguing and sniping at each other.  But they were really excited at the prospect of helping me with this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Karen of Welcome to our Crazy Blessed Life picked Brrr-ownies for us to make.  I think the girls were intrigued by the idea of putting candy (in this case Peppermint Patties) into brownies.

I've discovered that the key to having both Brianna and Gillian in the kitchen with me is to give them different jobs. Brianna is now at the point where I can let her help measure stuff.  I use my scale for everything these days.  She knows how to tare, and since I use grams most of the time now, that's what she gets to use, too.  Starting her out right!  =)  Maybe this way it'll end up being more intuitive for her that it was for me at first.  

The girls both like to stir, so usually Gillian gets dry stuff (flour, salt, baking powder, etc), while Brianna gets to do the wet stuff (liquids, eggs).  They fight over who is going to get to crack the eggs, which up until now has consisted of tapping the eggs on the counter until they crack a little, then giving them to me to actually break the shell the rest of the way.  This time, though, I let B do the whole thing, and she was quite startled when the shell on one egg separated unexpectedly.  No eggshell in the bowl, though, so it was a success!  G would have been giving me a hard time about letting B do the eggs except that I'd given her the most important job--cutting up the peppermint patties.  Armed with a plastic knife and lots of muscle, she carefully cut each pattie into quarters:  

At least she waited until she was done to lick the knife! 

Once she was done, I stuck the bowl in the freezer to chill the pieces.  A number of people reported on the P and Q this week that they had problems with the peppermint patties melting and bubbling out of the brownie batter, and I thought the chilling step might help.  Once Brianna finished mixing up the batter, I carefully folded in the peppermint patties and spread the batter in a pan lined with non-stick foil.  (That stuff is great!)  We baked the brownies for about 30 minutes. 

Brianna complained that I don't bring treats for her teachers often enough, so I told her that we could take these brownies in for them.  Not knowing how many people would be there, I went for pieces that were bite-sized.  I was looking for something to put them in, and discovered that I still had some snowman mini cupcake papers.  I figured they would be perfect for these minty treats.  Christmas in July, anyone?  =)

The verdict?  These brownies were quite good.  They lasted longer at the school-age building (where B is for the summer) than they usually do with G's teachers, but the container still came back empty.  (I tell them they have to return it so I can fill it up again.)  Brianna and Gillian liked them, too, and were happy to tell Jamie all about how they helped make them.  I wasn't surprised, though, when B asked if the brownie recipe could be made without the peppermint patties.  She tends to like things without add-ins.  I liked the big pieces of peppermint patties, and I think the size helped keep them from melting too much and making a mess.  I would definitely make these again.

If you'd like to try this week's recipe for yourself, you can find it on Karen's blog.  And don't forget to head over to this week's Leave Your Links page to see what everyone else did!

Gluten-free Friday

We recently got a new loan officer assigned to our branch. I frequently bring baked goods to the branch to share (so we don’t eat them all at home), and offer them to whoever is around. Several times, I've offered him things that I’ve baked, but he declined. At first I just thought that he was being health-conscious and more disciplined than I am. =)  But then at one point I saw him eating a candy bar and drinking soda, and wondered. Finally, one day when I asked him if he wanted something, he said, “You know I can’t eat wheat, right?” Um, no, I didn’t, or I wouldn’t have kept offering him things that he couldn’t eat!

So that led me to thinking about what sort of things I could make that he would be able to eat. He did clarify for me that it’s gluten that he can’t have, not just wheat (which I pretty much figured). I had an employee a number of years back with the same dietary restrictions. I usually make cakes for people’s birthdays, and for her I ended up making my favorite cheesecake, which doesn’t have any flour in it. Instead of a cookie crust, I made a brown sugar/pecan crust. It worked out quite well. But much as I love that cheesecake recipe, I needed to expand my gluten-free repertoire.

Fortunately, there are lots of great resources out there these days for gluten-free recipes. One great website is Gluten-Free Girl and The Chef. Another place that I looked was the King Arthur Flour website. King Arthur recently introduced a line of gluten-free mixes, including a gluten-free multipurpose flour that you can use in your own recipes. I’m lucky enough to have a fantastic HEB grocery store to shop in that carries quite a few King Arthur products (including their new unbleached cake flour blend, but that’s another post). Even so, I was pretty surprised to find that they’re already carrying a whole bunch of the new GF products, including the flour! It is a little on the expensive side, but worth it to me, since I’m just starting out with GF baking and it’s easier than buying and mixing an assortment of other flours and starches.  (And HEB has great prices, so it costs a bit less than on the KAF website and I don't have to pay shipping.)  The one thing I didn’t find at my local grocery store was xanthan gum--I had to go to elsewhere for that. It can also be a bit pricey at first, but it’ll last me quite a while since most recipes only use a little at a time. Xanthan gum is important because without gluten, you need something to hold things together.

I decided to start simple for my first attempt.  In a blog post back in May, Shauna (the above-mentioned Gluten-Free Girl) mentioned that the recipes in David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert are generally very easy to convert to gluten-free.  Conveniently, one of the recipes he included in the book is a slight variation on my favorite brownie recipe.  The brownies don't have much flour to begin with, so I figured it would be easy to substitute the gluten-free stuff.  That was the only change I made, and I didn't bother adding any xanthan gum since I was using such a small amount of gluten-free flour.  I don't usually put nuts in my brownies, but I did add some pecans to these.  I used El Rey 70% chocolate (which is what I usually use for the Essence of Chocolate recipe) and I baked the brownies for 25 minutes.

The verdict?  Not surprisingly, the brownies were a big hit with all who tried them, including the intended recipient.  I definitely prefer mine without nuts, though.  And I realized after tasting these brownies that the original recipe includes salt, which this one did not.  I definitely think the salt should be added.  Also, the DL recipe is baked in a 9" square pan, while the recipe I usually make uses an 8" pan.  I like the thicker texture of the brownies baked in the smaller pan.  This was definitely a worthwhile experiment, but next time I'll do the flour substitution in the recipe I usually make.

You can find the Ready for Dessert recipe (with wheat flour) on Leite's Culinaria.  I'll definitely be making more recipes from this cookbook (already have, in fact).  And there will be more gluten-free baking, both adaptations and recipes designed to be gluten-free.  At some point, I do want to try other gluten-free flours, not just the premixed blends.  While I'm glad that I don't have to avoid gluten myself, I like being able to make things that all of the people I know can enjoy.  Coming soon, my variation on a gluten-free scone recipe from King Arthur. =)

All's well that ends well

I think this is going to be a short post today, as I'm still feeling under the weather.  Brianna was sick for most of last week, and she was so nice to share her germs with me. =)  So far, I mostly just feel icky and have a sore throat.  Conveniently, I have this lovely ice cream in my freezer that is quite soothing to my irritated throat.  I've been eating it purely for medicinal purposes, of course. =)

At first glance, this wouldn't seem to have much to do with this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  I knew that this week's selection was Rick Katz's Brownies for Julia.  But until I was getting ready to write this post, I hadn't looked at who picked the recipe.  I wasn't surprised to learn that Tanya of Chocolatechic was responsible for this one. =)  I'm hoping that she'll be proud of me when she sees that I've combined the brownies with even more chocolate!

I made the brownies Saturday morning.  Nancy and I were going to bake together via Twitter, but couldn't quite get things coordinated.  I ended up starting mine first.  As I was mixing up the batter, it seemed to me that there was going to be way too much for the 9"x9" pan called for in the recipe.  Plus I had read a number of reports in the P and Q of brownies that were underbaked.  So I went with a 13"x9" Pyrex pan.  (Dorie says in the recipe header that she usually uses Pyrex for this recipe.)  The mixing method for these brownies is a bit unusual, but not difficult.  First you melt together butter and unsweetened and bittersweet chocolates.  (I used Ghirardelli 100% pieces and some El Rey 58%.)  Then you mix in half of the sugar.  The other half of the sugar gets whisked together with the eggs.  Half of the egg/sugar mixture is then stirred into the chocolate.  The other half is whipped until increased in volume, then folded into the batter.  Finally, the dry ingredients are folded in.  I baked my brownies for 25 minutes.  At that point, the edges were definitely done and I didn't want them to go too long.  I thought the middle was done as well.  

After cooling, I discovered that the middle wasn't as done as I thought.  It was set, but rather soft.  The flavor of everything was fine, and there was a nice appealing crust on the top of the brownies, they were just softer than I prefer.  I thought that they might be better cold.  Then I had a better idea--maybe they would be best frozen.  In ice cream!  

I turned to my copy of The Perfect Scoop, which my husband Jamie got me for Christmas.  I knew I wanted chocolate ice cream rather than vanilla.  But I didn't want something that would compete too much with the brownies, either.  Then I found the perfect recipe--Milk Chocolate Ice Cream.  Fortunately, I had just enough milk chocolate (El Rey 41%) left in my pantry from last week's bundt cakes.  The ice cream was pretty quick to mix up.  Cream is melted with the chocolate to make ganache.  Milk is heated with sugar and a bit of salt, then tempered into some egg yolks.  Then the custard mixture is put back in the pot and heated until slightly thickened (I go by temp--just over 170 degrees F).  Next the custard is strained into the ganache and the whole mixture is chilled in an ice bath.  Then you're supposed to add a couple of teaspoons of Cognac.  I had rum, so I went with that.  I misread the measurement and used two tablespoons, though.  Oops.  =)  Still tasted good, though, and I knew that wasn't enough alcohol to cause a big problem.

While the ice cream was churning, I cut some of the brownies into bite-sized pieces and stuck them in the freezer to chill.  Once the ice cream was done to soft-serve consistency, I put it into freezer containers, layering with the brownie pieces.  I ended up with about one and a half quarts.  Once the ice cream was fully frozen, we sampled it.  (For the record, I also sampled the plain ice cream when it was still soft--it tasted just like a Frosty. =)  )

The verdicts?  We did like the brownies by themselves, but I would like to play around with the recipe a bit to make the texture more to my liking.  I think I'll reduce the butter a bit next time, or use a bit more flour, or maybe just try baking in a metal pan.  The taste was good though.  As they turned out, though, they were perfect for the ice cream.  They got nice and chewy when frozen, but not too hard.  And the contrast of flavors in the ice cream was perfect.  The milk chocolate ice cream was delicious, both by itself and combined with the brownies.  I will definitely be making it again soon.  

If you'd like to give the brownies a try for yourself, head on over to Tanya's blog for the recipe.  If you like to make ice cream, you should definitely get a copy of The Perfect Scoop.  But if you want to try the ice cream first, you can also find the recipe here.  And be sure to head over to the TWD blogroll to see what everyone else did this week.

When you least expect it

Okay, it's time to do something about this poor blog post.  It's a shame that I've left it languishing in my drafts folder (with nothing but pictures) because this dessert deserves so much better.  It is without a doubt one of my favorite Tuesdays with Dorie recipes so far.  If you haven't tried it, you need to.  And to think I almost didn't make it...

Which recipe am I talking about?  The Cherry Fudge Brownie Torte.  Or, in my case, cranberry instead of cherry.  Why?  Because I don't like cherries.  But that's okay, because this torte is fabulous with cranberries--the tartness is a nice surprise inside the sweet rich chocolate brownie base.  And I know that some people left off the mousse layer, but it really makes the cake.  It's light and fluffy and not very sweet and is an excellent contrast to the brownie layer.

The recipe was chosen by April of short + rose, and was supposed to be posted back on October 27th, but I had just returned from a whirlwind trip to Pennsylvania.  And I actually made it the first weekend in October.  When I first read the list of October recipes, I wasn't sure about making the brownie torte.  For one thing, it had cherries, and at first I couldn't think of a good substitute.  And the dessert is quite large, and I wasn't sure I wanted to make it just for us.  I could do a smaller version, like I have for some of the other TWD recipes, but I still wasn't sold on the idea.  But then we had a manager trainee at my branch.  And it was her birthday on the 5th.  I always make birthday cakes at work.  And she said she'd take whatever I wanted to make.  =)

I mostly followed the recipe, but of course made some substitutions.  As I mentioned, I used dried cranberries in place of the cherries.  I used rum to flambe them, and then added raspberry fruit butter instead of cherry preserves.  I used Ghirardelli 72% pieces for the melted chocolate, and folded in 4 ounces of Guittard 63% chocolate chips at the end.  My brownie baked for 45 minutes.  To dress things up a bit, I piped stars of the mousse on top of the brownie base.  It looked a bit plain, though, so I added chocolate shavings to the top as well.

The verdict?  Wow.  Like I said, this is one of my favorite TWD recipes ever, and I've made a lot of them.  It was a hit with everyone else who sampled it, too.  I will certainly be making this again, probably for the holidays (if I can wait that long).  I loved the cranberries with the chocolate (I'm not sure I've tried them together before) and the surprise bits of solid chocolate in the brownie part.  As I said above, I think the mousse is an essential part of the dessert.  It's not much by itself, but it's amazing paired with the brownie.  I really wish I had some more right now...

If you'd like to try this one for yourself, head on over to April's blog for the recipe.  And check out what the other TWD bakers have made this week.  (I didn't make another one of the November selections yet, so I'm playing catch-up with this one.)

Brownies on the brain

I really think that something happens to your brain during pregnancy. And while it may seem to return to normal, it's never quite the same afterwards. I particularly noticed this when I was pregnant with Brianna. My memory had some definite issues. On many occasions I ended up telling Jamie, "I believe that you told me _____. I just have no recollection of it..." (Heck, that one still happens--I do wonder if lack of sleep also kills brain cells...) One big sign of my absent-mindedness was when I was baking. One recipe in particular was a problem on several different occasions.

Quite a few years back, one of my aunts gave me a recipe for Black and White Cheesecake Brownies. I think it must have originally come from the back of a bag of Nestle Mini Morsels. Any time I would make these brownies, everyone would rave about them. I must have messed them up at least three times when making them while pregnant with B. One time I put the salt that was supposed to go in the brownie base into the cheesecake batter. Not good. Another time I set the oven to the completely wrong temperature (I must have had pizza on the brain, because I set it way too hot) and realized it about 20 minutes into baking them. I know I messed them up at least one other time, but I can't remember what I did wrong (see, I told you it doesn't really get better after you have the baby...). Fortunately, I have made them since without incident, so it wasn't a completely permanent sort of thing.

I was reminded of all this by this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell picked Espresso Cheesecake Brownies for us to make. They consist of a brownie layer on the bottom topped with a cheesecake layer (with a bit of swirling the two together) and a sour cream topping. I figured I'd be playing around just a bit with this one. I'm not a big fan of coffee flavored things, but I do keep espresso powder around since it adds a deeper flavor to chocolate desserts. So I decided to go with a vanilla cheesecake on top of espresso brownies. Since there were some reports that the brownies weren't that chocolatey, I figured that would help. I also used 70% chocolate (El Rey) for another flavor boost. Since I planned to take most of the brownies to the daycare, I left off the sour cream part for easier transportation.

The brownies were easy to make. To start, I lined my 9" square pan with non-stick foil. I find it helps tremendously with getting brownies out of the pan. Then I mixed up the cheescake batter (be sure to have your cream cheese at room temp--helps avoid lumps). Next, I mixed up the brownie batter (oh, forgot to say above that I added some chocolate chips to it, as well) and put it in the pan, reserving some for swirling. I added the layer of cheesecake batter, dropped spoonfuls of the reserved brownie batter on top, and swirled them together. I ended up baking the brownies for 33 minutes.

The verdict? I'm sad to say that these really didn't turn out that great. Brianna and Gillian didn't like them, and they both love brownies. Jamie thought they were okay, but nothing outstanding. They looked really pretty, but the brownie part was rather dry, and just not that chocolatey, even with my modifications. The cheesecake part was pretty good, but overall, this one wasn't a favorite. I definitely prefer my existing cheesecake brownie recipe. When I compared the two, the main difference that I saw was that the brownie base for my usual one has about three ounces more chocolate. Like the brownie buttons, I do like the concept, but I'd like to try again and play around with the brownie base.

If you'd like to give these brownies a try for yourself, head on over to Melissa's blog. When I have a little more time, I'll type up the recipe I usually use, but you can also find it (or something very similar) by googling "Black and White Cheesecake Brownies."

Back to school

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. There's no lime or meringue in these photos. It's Tuesday, so I should be posting the Tuesdays with Dorie recipe here. But I haven't made it yet. And if I do get to it this week, it probably won't be before the weekend. So my apologies to Linda of Tender Crumb, who picked the Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie for us to make this week. I love lime, and I loved this recipe's close cousin, the Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, so I will make it at some point.

Meanwhile, what's been stopping me from making it... First I had to work last Saturday. So I had only one weekend day for baking. I spent it getting ready for Brianna to head back to school (1st grade) on Monday. That meant bread for her lunch (coming soon) as well as cookies for her lunch and for teacher treats. Oh, and the cinnamon rolls for the BBA Challenge, also coming soon.

This is Brianna's second year at her elementary school, so besides sending cookies with her for her teacher, I also dropped some off for her kindergarten teacher. We've been very lucky to build good relationships with many of Brianna's and Gillian's teachers over time. And not just because of the baked goods. =) Gillian still goes to the daycare that Brianna used to be at, and we're very close to a lot of the teachers there. One in particular has become a good friend, and her birthday was last week. When I had asked her a while back what kind of cake she wanted, she just said "something chocolate." I didn't get to cake, but I did make a second attempt at the Brownie Buttons, and I think I've got a real winner now.

For starters, I made my favorite brownie recipe, Robert Steinberg's Fudgy Brownies from The Essence of Chocolate. The recipe was perfect for two dozen minis. I ended up baking them for 14 minutes, and they were nice and fudgy in the middle--not dry at all. After I removed the brownies from the pan and let them cool, I dressed them up with some paper wrappers. But they needed something more. Unlike the ones from Dorie's recipe, they were quite flat on top, so dipping didn't seem like a good idea. Then I realized--they needed frosting! Cream cheese frosting seemed like the perfect way to go. I piped some swirls on top, added some colorful sprinkles, and they looked quite festive. And from what I hear, they were a hit with the birthday girl. Brianna and Gillian helped me eat the extra unfrosted brownies, and we'll definitely be making these again. Soon.

You can find the brownie recipe at the link above. And here's what I used for the frosting:

Cream Cheese Frosting

(adapted from Fine Cooking)

2 ounces (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

4 ounces (1/2 package) cream cheese, softened

1 ounce (1/4 cup) powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. (I used my hand mixer.) Beat in the powdered sugar and vanilla until there are no lumps. Add a bit more sugar for a sweeter frosting. Makes enough for 15-16 minis. Increase the recipe to top a full batch of brownies. I used a 1M tip to pipe the swirls.

Short, but sweet

This week's TWD post* (thanks to Jayma of Two Scientists Experimenting in the Kitchen for her pick of Brownie Buttons; the recipe is on her blog) is brought to you by the number 24 and the letters O and K--I love Dorie's concept of making bite-sized brownies in mini muffin tins (though I thought it was weird that the recipe made 16, so I adjusted the ingredients and made 2 dozen), but next time I will try a different brownie recipe, since these weren't particularly outstanding even though I topped them with the glaze from the Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes and was careful not to over-bake them (though that didn't stop Brianna and Gillian from devouring them).

*See here for more info