Mission accomplished!

I did it!  NaBloPoMo success--30 posts in 30 days.  I'm still trying to decide if I want to continue the daily posting into December, but it's really nice to know that I can manage it if I put my mind to it.  My goal is to avoid getting hung up on being perfect, and just write more often than I did before this month.

I was tempted to wait on posting about the Gingerbread Cupcakes until I could get a better picture.  But that would have taken a while, since I would have been tempted to make more cupcakes first.  Since I wanted to take most of them to work but keep a few for us, I increased the recipe by half so I got 18 regular-sized cupcakes.  The only ingredient that was a little tricky was the egg.  I cracked an egg into a small bowl and beat it to combine the yolk and white.  Then I measured out about 25 grams of it to add to the batter along with the other whole egg.  It worked out pretty well.  Other than that, the recipe was pretty straightforward to follow.  My cupcakes took 20 minutes to bake.  For the frosting, I only used 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, since I was using high-oil Vietnamese cinnamon.  I only ended up adding a couple teaspoons of milk to the frosting, since I wanted it pretty thick for piping.  One thing to note is that I didn't have to increase the ingredients for the frosting.  The original amounts yielded more than enough frosting for 18 cupcakes.

The verdict?  These were definitely a hit at work--and a nice change from chocolate.  The cupcakes were quite tasty on their own--nice and spicy--and the frosting was very good, too.  The cinnamon kept it from tasting overly sweet.  Both the cupcakes and frosting are going on the make-again list.

Citrus Sunday - Triple Citrus Bars

I've mentioned before that I love cooking magazines.  It was such a revelation the first time I ever read one (thanks to my wonderful husband who thought it would give me something to do while I was wiped out by the flu 13 years ago).  There are so many enticing new recipes in every issue!  Lots are seasonally appropriate, so sometimes I'm inspired to drop what I'm doing and make a new recipe right away.  That happened with the July/August 2006 issue of Cook's Illustrated.  Amazing that I remember that almost 6 years ago, isn't it?  The recipe that grabbed my attention was for Key Lime Bars.  I immediately made a double batch to take to a 4th of July potluck.  They were a huge hit and several people asked for the recipe.  I made the bars several times shortly after that, but as often happens, I got sidetracked by new recipes after that and have only made them maybe once or twice since then.

When I was trying to come up with a good citrus recipe for my blog event, I considered several ideas.  I even made an orange & vanilla bundt cake that turned out pretty good, but just wasn't quite what I was looking for.  I'm always short on time and frequently indecisive as well, so it really isn't surprising that I was sitting here yesterday (yay for a Saturday off!) still trying to decide what to make.  I turned to Eat Your Books to see what I could find on my bookshelves.  I bought some limes when we were shopping Friday night (to add to the lemons, tangerines & tangelos already in the fridge), so I started off searching that.  Nothing jumped out and grabbed me, so I thought to try searching for "citrus" instead.  Bingo!

Triple Citrus Bars came up a couple times in the list--they're a variation on the Key Lime Bars, and can be found in the magazine (online) as well as in the new Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.  Instead of just lime juice and zest (you can use either key limes or regular Persian limes), you use lemon and orange juice and zest as well.  The zests are used in equal amounts (1 1/2 teaspoons of each), but most of the juice is lime, with just a tablespoon each of lemon and orange.  I actually used tangelo zest and juice instead of orange, since that's what I had.

Rather than graham crackers, the crust is made with animal crackers.  They are pulsed in the food processor along with some brown sugar and a bit of salt and then melted butter is added to bind everything together.  This recipe gave me a change to use a new baking pan that I bought myself for my birthday--a Fat Daddio's 8" square baking pan.  (I love my Pyrex baking pans, but they don't work well for everything.)  The crust is baked for 18-20 minutes, which allows enough time to mix up the filling.  The filling consists of cream cheese, the zests, a bit of salt, sweetened condensed milk, an egg yolk, and the citrus juices.  Once the crust is baked and cooled for a few minutes, the filling is added and the bars are baked for another 15-20 minutes.  The bars are allowed to cool to room temperature, then are refrigerated for at least a couple hours.

The verdict?  These aren't quite as tart as the straight lime ones, but I like the flavor that the mix of fruits brings to the bars.  As the test kitchen cooks determined, the addition of the cream cheese and egg yolk helps firm up the filling so that it can be cut into neat bars.  I'm definitely not going to let so much time pass before I make these bars again.

If you'd like to try the recipe, you can find it here on the Cook's Illustrated website, or in the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook.  And be sure to check out all the other yummy citrus recipes that my blogging friends have made!  If you'd like to join us in the future, leave a comment or email me at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com, and I'll add you to my email list.

Hidden treasure

Is it just me, or do these papers remind you of candy corn?

I mentioned in my last post that I'm happy to be a DBCB (designated birthday cake baker).  Of course, I bake lots of things besides cake, so I bring other things to work as well.  I do want to be respectful of people's nutritional goals, so I try not to bring really decadent stuff too often--not that I get many complaints. =)  So I'll bake things with fruit, or whole wheat flour snuck in, as a way to offset some of the recipes made with lots of chocolate and butter.  Breakfast items are always popular--they get eaten at any time of day.  So I figured these Tuesdays with Dorie Carrot Spice Muffins would be well-received.  This pick was actually supposed to be for last week.  I'm hoping my friend Nancy will forgive me for being late to the party. =)  (And my apologies to Gaye for not making this week's Tropical Crumble.)

On the healthy side of the equation we have carrots, and the fact that these muffins are made with oil rather than butter.  I didn't mess with the flour this time, but I'd like to try these with half white whole wheat flour.  I don't think anyone would even notice, with all the flavor from the cinnamon (I used Vietnamese) and ginger.  The original recipe also called for nuts and dried fruit, both healthy in moderation.  (No chance that these would be made with coconut in this house.)  I left those out--since I knew Brianna and Gillian would complain--but I'd be fine with some raisins or pecans, so I'll have to try that at some point.  

Since I was omitting the fun mix-ins, I figured I needed to come up with something to replace them.  I went browsing on the King Arthur Flour site, and found this recipe for Cream Cheese Carrot Cake Muffins.  I'll have to make the muffins at some point, but for now, I just borrowed the filling.  I actually reduced it a bit--I mixed together 150 grams of neufchatel (2/3 of an 8-ounce package), 35 grams of sugar (about 3 tablespoons) and a couple drops of Fiori di Sicilia (I'd just use a bit of vanilla extract if you don't have that).  I put some batter in the bottom of each muffin cup, added a small scoop of filling, and topped it with more batter, so the cups were almost full.  I baked my muffins for 20 minutes at 375ºF.

The verdict?  Sometimes it's hard for me to predict what the reaction is going to be at work.  Interestingly enough, it's often the non-chocolate goodies that get the best reception, and that was certainly the case with these muffins.  They were a huge hit!  I think we're all ready for fall flavors, and the cinnamon and ginger in these definitely made me think of autumn.  It might be time to find some pumpkin recipes, too. =)   

For the original muffin recipe, head over to Nancy's blog.  To see what everyone else made this week and last, check out the Links for the muffins and crumble.  

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.

TWD: Bill's Big (or Small) Carrot Cake

I've really been enjoying playing around with the Tuesdays with Dorie recipes. Most of them are things I really want to try, but the quantities are just too much for us to eat. Okay, we probably could finish them off, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea. And the people I work with won't thank me if I make them all gain lots of weight. =) Over the past few weeks, I've decided that I like making things in miniature. This week was the first time since I started making smaller versions that the recipe was for a cake. Thanks to Amanda of Slow Like Honey, this week's offering is Bill's Big Carrot Cake. Of course, I used this as an excuse to go buy myself a couple of cute 6" round cake pans.  =)

Even after my purchase of the new pans, I wasn't sure if I was going to make the cake. I like carrot cake, but I don't love it. And I've had a rough few days--I keep thinking about my mom (yesterday was one month since she died). And while I'm glad I made something for A Taste of Yellow, it brought up lots of memories. I'm usually okay with that since so much time has passed, but I've been a lot more emotional lately. And of course my daughters manage to pick up on that and act up in various ways, making it that much worse.  

But last night I decided, "What the heck, I'll do it.  I have Tuesday off this week, so it doesn't matter if I stay up late."  And the funny thing was that once I got started mixing, I started to feel better.  Since I was using my new pans, I only made one-third of the batter. Fortunately, most of the ingredients were easy to divide that way (and for the egg, I just beat a second egg a bit and measured out what looked like about a third of it).  Jamie and I both despise coconut (my children will never taste it unless they get it somewhere outside this house), so I left it out and instead just left in the original amount of raisins.  I also did something a bit different with the carrots.  My favorite carrot cake recipe from Fine Cooking uses finely chopped carrots (pulsed in the food processor with the metal blade--really easy) instead of shredded ones.  I like how they blend more evenly into the cake batter that way.  And I already had some finely chopped pecans in my freezer (rather than coarsely chopped ones), so in they went.  Since I was making a small amount of batter, I also skipped the stand mixer and mixed the batter with a whisk and a spatula.  

My cake layers took about 30 minutes to bake.  Once they were done, I let them rest in the pans for 5 minutes and then turned them out onto racks to cool.  I always line my cake pans with parchment (even when the recipe doesn't say to), so they came out of the pans with no problems.  At that point it was almost midnight, so I figured they would be fine overnight and went to bed.

On to the decorating...  I didn't use Dorie's recipe, though the one I used is close.  It just has a lot less sugar, since I don't like really sweet frosting.  I also flavored mine with vanilla rather than lemon.  I decided to cut each of my layers in half so I would have four layers in my cake.  I like piping (even though I don't think I'm that good at it), so I planned to frost the sides as well as the top (unlike in the book) and add a border of some sort.  As I was falling asleep, it occurred to me that the cake would look cute with carrots piped on top (Mary had the same idea--very cute).  I made half a recipe of frosting, and tinted a little bit of it green and orange. However, by the time I finished filling the layers and frosting the sides and top of the cake, I didn't have anything left to pipe with.  So I made a bit more--have you ever tried to make a small amount of something in a stand mixer?  =)  It's not easy--I should have just pulled out my hand mixer, but by the time I realized that, I was pretty much done.  In the recipe below, I've listed the total amounts for everything I used.

I really like how the whole thing turned out.  And it's quite tasty, too.  I usually make carrot cake with currants rather than raisins; I liked the flavor of the raisins in this, but their size made the cake a bit harder to cut neatly.  

Bill's Big Carrot Cake
(Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

Yields 4-6 servings

For the cake:
2/3 cup (3 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped carrots (about 3 carrots--cut them into 1 inch pieces and then pulse in the food processor with the metal blade until finely chopped)
1/3 cup finely chopped pecans
1/2 cup moist, plump raisins
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 large egg + about 1 tablespoon beaten egg (beat a second egg in a small bowl and measure out about 1 tablespoon; discard the rest)

Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two 6-x-2-inch round cake pans. Line the pans with parchment and grease the parchment. Then flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To make the cake:
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, and raisins.
In a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together with a whisk until smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother. Add the flour mixture and mix only until the dry ingredients disappear. Gently fold in the chunky ingredients. Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean. The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.

The cakes can be wrapped airtight and kept at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.

For the frosting (mine, not Dorie's):
11 ounces cream cheese, room temperature, cut into pieces
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until very light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  With the mixer again on medium speed, add the cream cheese a piece at a time, beating well after each addition.  Once all the cream cheese is in, reduce the speed to low and gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla, scraping the bowl as necessary.  Use the frosting to fill the layers, then frost as desired.

Serving:
This cake can be served as soon as the frosting is set. It can also wait, at room temperature and covered with a cake keeper overnight. The cake is best served in thick slices at room temperature and while it's good plain, it's even better with vanilla ice cream or some lemon curd.

Storing:
The cake will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It can also be frozen. Freeze it uncovered, then when it's firm, wrap airtight and freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.