Do you watch CreateTV on PBS?
Cooks Country show is on there (where this recipe comes from).
That is the show that is like America's Test Kitchen but just has a different name.
Wait is there another show just like ATK? Wasn't there three of them?
There is Cooks Country, America's Test Kitchen from Cook's Illustrated and....?
CreateTV recently added Martha's Cooking School. I get so envious of Martha' kitchen on there; she has every pot and pan imaginable; an All Clad lovers dream to say the least!
Whatever happened to GlobeTrekker? Do they still make new episodes? I loved that show.
Watching it truly made me want to drop everything, check out of life, and just travel.
This pound cake recipe is from America's Test Kitchen. To me, it really is the best pound cake recipe I've ever come across. The use of cake flour in the pound cake truly lends itself to a nice softer pound cake, not as hard and dense.
Of course it's great on its own, but I had a craving, a yearning to put a little nutella in there as well as some crunch. Keep this recipe handy for the summer, as this pound cake (plain) is fabulous with marinated strawberries or blueberries, and freshly whipped cream.
In the recipe they say to place cake in cold oven, I didn't do this, just plum forgot, and it came out fine.
A little puffy and uneven on the top, but with poundcake in a bundt pan you never see the top since it's inverted.
I added a nice layer of nutella to the middle along with some pecans. You can skip the nuts if you want to, but I used them to help keep the nutella from sinking.
At this point, I know it would induce a sugar coma, but I was tempted to get a spoon and dig in.
Even if you don't want to use the nutella, save the pound cake base recipe for future uses, it's a really good recipe. The cake flour makes all the difference in texture-taste wise.
nutella pound cake
pound cake base from Cook's Country
print recipe
3 cups cake flour
1/2 ts baking powder
1 ts salt
1 cup whole milk
2 ts pure vanilla extract
20 TB (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 large eggs
nutella filling:
about ½ cup nutella
couple handfuls of chopped pecans (or walnuts)
glaze:
½ cup powdered sugar
1 TB +/- whole milk or buttermilk
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position. Grease and flour 16-cup tube pan. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Whisk milk and vanilla in measuring cup.
With electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined.
Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of milk mixture. Mix on low until smooth, about 30 seconds. Use rubber spatula to give batter final stir.
Pour half the batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
Sprinkle on a handful or two or chopped pecans, then using two spoons, place a layer of nutella around the entire middle. Make sure not to let nutella go to the edges as it will leak onto the outside.
(I placed this in a preheated oven, 325 degrees and baked it for about 60-75 minutes. They say to place in cold oven, then heat to 325 degrees; I forgot this step.)
Place cake in cold oven. Adjust oven temperature to 325 degrees and bake, without opening oven door, until cake is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 65 to 80 minutes.
Cool cake in pan for 20 minutes, then finish cooling on a wire rack.
Cool completely, about 2 hours.
If you want a glaze: just mix about ½ cup of powdered sugar with 1 TB of whole milk or buttermilk; whisk until smooth, and pour over bundt.
5/5/14
nutella pound cake
4/21/14
coconut melt aways
So I was hoping to have a 'coconut melt away' story to go with the post, but I have none.
My thoughts are with the Boston Marathon today; praying that everything goes just right.
The weather in Boston is perfect for a marathon! We've got blue skies, full sun, about a high of 55-60 degrees, and very little wind--a runner's dream really.
I pray that God watches over every single person at the marathon today.
So excuse me if I don't have a lot to say, my mind is elsewhere....
I've been on a coconut kick lately, so expect more--a lot more coconut recipes to come.
I know I have a few fans that are in love with coconut just as much as I.
As you read through the recipe you'll see a little bit of crushed white chocolate was added.
I did this to help "brighten" the coconut flavor. Just a little bit.
Of course you don't have to do this, you can leave it out.
If you do, maybe add a bit more toasted coconut into the dough (1/4 cup).
I also point out in the cook notes (below) that I made an extra batch of these with the addition of fresh lemon juice. Really good with lemon juice, but not as coconutty (sp?).
Reminded me of the key lime melt aways I made back in 2012.
coconut melt aways
print recipe
13 TB unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
¾ TB pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup crushed white chocolate chips
1 ¾ cups of toasted coconut
2 TB cornstarch
¾ ts salt
cook notes:
Make sure to crush the white chocolate chips into fairly small bits.
Why do this? It makes the chips dissolve into the melt aways better, so there are no large chunks, and it’s not over sweet, letting the coconut really shine through.
I just crushed them in a plastic bag using a hammer or you could use a food processor.
Make sure to really toast the coconut to a nice golden brown.
I also made a batch of lemon-coconut melt aways and they were just as good.
If you want to do this, simply add in the juice of one large lemon into the cookie dough.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl beat butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy (if adding the lemon, this is when to add it in). Add the vanilla and beat the mixture until fluffy. Reduce speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined—once you add the flour do not overmix.
By hand, fold in the crushed white chocolate and toasted coconut.
Ready a two 8"x12" pieces of waxed paper or parchment or plastic wrap—whichever you’re more comfortable using. Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll into two 1.25" diameter logs.
Wrap the dough tightly in the waxed paper or parchment. Once they’re wrapped, I just roll them gently to get them more circular. Chill for at least an hour before baking. If wrapped tightly, they can be left overnight. But I wouldn’t go past 24 hours as the dough might start to dry out.
Heat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment. Slice the cookies ½ -inch thick and place on the baking sheet.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating halfway through baking, until the bottoms take on some color.
The tops of the cookies will not brown, but the bottoms will.
Should make 25-35 cookies depending on how you slice them.
Congrats to the winner of the CakeSpy contest: #17 Colette Joseph!
3/31/14
brownies with caramel & peanut butter
So how's your spring going so far?
Oh mine?
Well here on the cape we've had one storm that gave us a few inches of snow, then we had a blizzard.
Yeah a blizzard just a few days ago. Did we lose power? Of course we did.
Actually we lost power during the blizzard and after because the blizzard had a baby twin called wind-storm that wanted to wreak even more havoc on the cape.
This is the satellite image of the blizzard. Look at the size of that eye!
Had this blizzard moved just a hair more to the west we would have been in trouble.
This was a very powerful storm and had severe wind.
(photo credit NECN--Matt Noyes meteorologist).
We haven't seen the sun in days, just snow, rain, sleet and hail.
Good times.
I truly think spring is not coming, that we are just going to jump right into summer--which is fine by me, I need, no, I would love to have 80 degrees and sunny at any moment now.
How long has our winter been? Five months now?
November, December, January, February, March, ....
Want to see my heating bills? lol
As I type this post, we are still having our wind storm; but before that we had a massive rain storm that gave us 3 inches of rain. Other areas of Massachusetts got more rain. Flooding is a big problem here on the cape, thankfully we don't live near the ocean anymore. When we did, our basement would fill up
with sea water. More good times. I miss the old place, but I don't.
It's truly been a long winter...I miss the sun--badly.
Brownies help, they do.
I've never made a brownie with peanut butter and caramel (I know shocker), but was curious to see if peanut butter and caramel would go together?
No, I tease, I wanted to clean out the cupboards and use stuff up, and the best way is to make brownies and stuff em full of stuff.
The end.
p.s. know any sun dances? ;-)
Brownies make everything better don't they?
Use about 2/3 of the brownie batter for the bottom.
Then put about six 2-inch round'ish dollups of peanut throughout the top of brownie batter.
Then I put a caramel candy on top of each peanut butter dollup.
A handful of bittersweet chocolate on top, optional.
Then cover with remaining 1/3 brownie batter over the peanut butter dollups.
brownies with peanut butter & caramel
print recipe
14 TB butter, plus 1 TB more for greasing pan
1 cup high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips
¾ cup sugar
¾ ts sea salt
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2 eggs, room temp, beaten well
about 6 dollups of peanut butter (maybe ¾ cup?)
9-12 caramel candies, unwrapped (salted caramels even better!)
a handful of bittersweet chocolate chips, optional
extra sea salt for the tops of the brownies before baking
cook notes:
the benefits of using high-quality chocolate really make these brownies.
Choose a chocolate like Ghirahdelli, Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, etc… that has a high cocoa count (50-80% is perfect). I use Ghirahdelli chips.
The sprinkling of the sea salt on top of the brownies is not mandatory and will not make the brownies “salty”; it is meant to enhance the flavor of the chocolates in the batter. This is a deep chocolate tasting brownie and they need a little more salt to truly bring out the chocolate flavor.
When you melt the butter and chocolate, please use a nice low flame so the melting goes smoothly and the chocolate doesn’t get too hot, which will make it taste bitter/burnt. And let this liquid mixture cool a bit before adding to the egg mixture.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Butter up well an 8 x 8 baking pan; set pan aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate chips together in a small saucepan over LOW heat, stirring constantly. When melted take off heat, set aside to cool a bit.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar, beat well, add in the vanilla extract, and mix.
When the melted chocolate has cooled down a bit (warm ok) slowly add it in to the egg mixture, a little bit at first, mix really well, then more as you go along.
Next dump the flour right on top of the mixture, then sprinkle on the sea salt.
Using a spatula mix until JUST combined, lumps are ok!
Pour 2/3 of batter into greased baking pan.
Place down about 6 separate 2-inch sized dollups of peanut butter on top of brownie batter, making sure not to place them on or near the edges (it will seep out).
No need to spread out the peanut butter, it will melt a bit during baking.
Then place a caramel candy pieces on top of the peanut butter dollup. I used about six pieces of caramel. You can use more.
Then sprinkle a handful of bittersweet chocolate chips on top, optional.
Use remaining 1/3 brownie batter, carefully place on top, and if necessary using wet fingers gently move batter around to evenly coat. There isn’t enough batter to cover entire top, this is fine, just cover up the areas that have the peanut butter dollops.
Sprinkle top of batter with just a little bit of sea salt.
Bake for 30-38 minutes. Mine were done at the 35-minute mark.
I don’t like gooey brownies, so if you want really gooey, then bake for about 30-32 minutes.
After baking, they take a while to firm up, so if you try to remove them from the pan they will break apart. Very very gooey when hot from the oven!
These really need to cool down since the caramel will be very hot.
Makes 9 brownies.
3/23/14
double chocolate cookie bars
Cookie bars obviously one of my baking obsessions.
I've made countless varieties and don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
I haven't made a chocolate version--say what?
I know!
So I took the version that I use all the time, Jacques Torres version and tweaked it a bit to
make it a chocolate--a double chocolate version.
It came out perfect.
And the same rule of thumb applies to this as it does the original version: the longer the dough sits in the fridge to "marinate" the better the flavor. The process is almost like a souring process, but in a good way; think of if you were to add a hint of buttermilk to a chocolate chip cookie recipe--a nice gentle, sour/twangy flavor in the background. So good.
And I'm willing to bet if you find a higher cacao chocolate powder it would be even better.
I used a run of the mill chocolate powder: Ghiradelli, but would love to try it with something better/higher cacao.
Yes, this does look like a brownie, kind of tastes like it too, but very light and far more crisp than a brownie.
For me, this raw version is perfectly fine.
After baking, it truly needs a couple hours to firm up/set up.
(loosely based on jacques torres infamous cc cookie recipe)
2/24/14
chocolate chip cookie pie with graham
The chocolate chip cookie isn't what it used to be.
Now a days it's stuffed, it's fried, it's raw, it veganized, it's gluten free, it's frozen, it's gone molecular, broken down scientifically into chemistry, been made into reverse where the cookie is the chips and the chips are the dough (brilliant!), and it's even been made into air.
So I'm making sure to do my part by keeping the 'stuffing' possibilities strong and alive!
I've always wanted to add in graham crackers, but this time I added in salty graham crackers.
Since the the graham is so sweet, a touch of salt mixed in with it mixes really nicely with the cookie dough.
I also added in a layer of nutella too, you don't have to; I was just craving Nutella, so....
Do you ever wonder what the next trend for the chocolate chip cookie will be?
I do, but don't have an answer.....just yet.
I added in a layer of Nutella, you don't have to; I was just craving Nutella at the time, so in the bowl it goes....
A HUGE congrats to the winner of the CakeLove cookbook giveaway: #29 Lori Stilger.
I'll be emailing you soon!
chocolate chip cookie pie with graham
cookie base recipe from Jacques Torres
print recipe
2 cups minus 2 TB (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 ts baking soda
1 1/2 ts baking powder
1 1/2 ts coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 TB (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 ts natural vanilla extract
4-6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate chips* (see cook notes)
4-6 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips* (see cook notes)
filling:
1/4 – ½ cup crushed graham crackers
¼ to ¾ cup Nutella (all depending on how much you want or don’t want)
Sea salt for sprinkling top of graham crumbs (don’t skip this part!)
cook notes:
The chocolate chip cookie recipe is from Jacques Torres; I use this repeatedly because it truly is the very best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had.
In Jacques recipe he does cookies, you can do cookies if you want, I just was short on time and wanted to do bars as they would hold the Nutella much better.
*Also, in Jacques original recipe, he uses 1 ¼ pounds of high quality bittersweet chocolate. I did not in this recipe, as I wanted the Nutella flavor to shine through. I just used a small amount of chocolate chips, using a blend of bittersweet and semi sweet. I do not recommend using milk chocolate chips in this recipe—it would be overkill sweetness.
The whole ‘most important step’ of Jacques Torres famous cc cookie recipe is to let the cookie dough sit and marinate for at least a day or more (48 hours). Please don’t skip this step. I have gone as far as 96 hours and the dough was perfect.
Lastly, you all know by now I don't have a mixer so I did this recipe by hand. The dough is very tough and hard to mix, so I used my hands--great workout! But if you have a mixer, please go ahead and use it. This time around I used a large cake pan (10-inch) instead of my 9x13 pan. It came out perfectly!
You don’t have to add in the Nutella; I just did as an after thought.
Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds.
Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them.
Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 10-inch cake pan (or 9 x 13 pan) with non-stick spray.
Divide dough into 2 piles: 2/3 and 1/3.
Take the 2/3 dough and line the bottom of the cake pan with it, making sure to get all the corners, making sure there aren’t any holes or gaps in the dough. Use a spoon to push down all the edges.
Spread a layer of nutella; do not spread it to the edges! (nutella is not necessary).
Then sprinkle on the crushed graham, and put a nice layer of sea salt on top (don’t skip the sea salt—this really brings out the flavor of the graham).
Take the 1/3 remaining dough and in clumps, place on the top.
Don’t push the crumble down into the dough, just leave it on the top—it’s ok to have spaces in the crumble—gaps are good on the top, it will let the nutella show through and the crumbles will bake up nice & crisp.
Bake until golden brown but still soft, roughly 25 – 35 minutes.
Look for golden brown edges, non-jiggly middle.
The middle will be a bit soft, but once it completely cools it won’t be as gooey; it sets up really nice.
You really have to let this cool at least an hour before slicing.
Slice with a sharp knife.
Makes about 12-15 slices, depending on how you cut them.
1/8/14
caramel-coconut pecan brownies (one bowl, no mixer)
After the huge success with the one bowl, no mixer, decadent/borderline gourmet brownies,
I just had to make more. More with add in's, to, well, you know kick it up a notch.
Because once you have a solid base recipe, the next best step any chef will do is to make it even better!
This time I wanted to add in my kind of ingredients:
coconut and caramel to eat all for myself as a recipe creation for you.
I just love that taste of caramel, coconut and pecans all at once.
So needless to say, these brownies were very good.
And just as easy as one bowl.
I'll let the photos tell the rest of the post....
>
Of course you can add in whatever you wish....
If you can use salted caramels even better.
Just keep them away from the edge as it's very hard to remove baked on caramel from metal!
Oh I do hope you can see that nice caramel middle?
Mmm hmm, that's right.
Please make sure to read the cook notes before making.
caramel-coconut & pecan brownies (one bowl, no mixer)
print recipe
14 TB butter, plus 1 TB more for greasing pan
dusting of high quality unsweetened cocoa powder for coating brownie pan
1 cup high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips
¾ cup sugar
¾ ts sea salt
1 1/2 ts vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2 eggs, room temp, beaten well
9-12 caramel candies, unwrapped (salted caramels even better!)
1 cup of roasted pecans, rough chop
couple handfuls of coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
extra sea salt for the tops of the brownies before baking
cook notes:
The benefits of using high-quality chocolate really make these brownies.
Choose a chocolate like Ghirahdelli, Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, etc… that has a high cocoa count (50-80% is perfect). I use Ghirahdelli chips and cocoa powder (Walmart has really good prices of this brand).
The sprinkling of the sea salt on top of the brownies is not mandatory and will not make the brownies “salty”; it is meant to enhance the flavor of the chocolates in the batter. This is a deep chocolate tasting brownie and they need a little more salt to truly bring out the chocolate.
When you melt the butter and chocolate, please use a nice low flame so the melting goes smoothly and the chocolate doesn’t get too hot, which will make it taste bitter/burnt. And let this liquid mixture cool a bit before adding to the egg mixture.
Next time I make these I will use toasted coconut, for that extra ‘crunch’.
I didn’t load on the caramel pieces as they really spread when they melt, so keep that in mind when you want to be adventurous.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Butter up well an 8 x 8 baking pan, then coat with unsweetened cocoa powder. Set pan aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate chips together in a small saucepan over LOW heat, stirring constantly. When melted take off heat, set aside to cool a bit.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar, beat well, add in the vanilla extract, and mix.
When the melted chocolate has cooled down a bit (warm ok) slowly add it in to the egg mixture, a little bit at first, mix really well, then more as you go along.
Next dump the flour right on top of the mixture, then sprinkle on the sea salt.
Using a spatula mix until JUST combined, lumps are ok!
Add in half the pecans and mix.
Pour 2/3 of batter into greased and cocoa-dusted baking pan.
Place down a couple handfuls of coconut, making sure not to go to the edges.
Then place down caramel candies, making sure not to go to edges.
Sprinkle on remaining pecans--ok to go to the edges.
Use remaining 1/3 brownie batter, carefully place on top, and if necessary using wet fingers gently move batter around to evenly coat.
Sprinkle top of batter with just a little bit of sea salt.
Bake for 30-38 minutes. Mine were done at the 35-minute mark.
They take a while to firm up, so if you try to remove them from the pan they will break apart. Very very gooey when hot from the oven!
These really need to cool down since the caramel will be very hot.
Makes 9 brownies.
1/5/14
My best, very best brownies (one bowl, no mixer)
For me a good solid, I can eat anytime brownie is one that is not gooey, not fudgy, but almost like a deep, rich heavy, dense cake-like texture with flaky, crispy top and edges.
Don't get me wrong I like gooey, but not all the time.
If I'm making brownies with quality chocolate, I want them to taste like a rich cake.
They say a truly good brownie is one that leaves you very thirsty.
I bring you such a brownie.
Get out your ice cold milk.....
This will be your go-to brownie.
Ridiculously easy to make, since we do it all in one bowl.
I stress in the recipe (cook notes) and I have to stress here to use a high-quality chocolate with a high cocoa count--it truly makes all the difference in taste, texture and how it melts.
Follow along with me...it's just so easy to do....
They are seriously the best I've ever made.
Please make sure to read through the cook notes before baking.
my best one-bowl, no mixer brownies
from vanillasugarblog.com (loosely based on Boston Cooking School recipe)
print recipe
14 TB butter, plus 1 TB more for greasing pan
dusting of high quality unsweetened cocoa powder for coating brownie pan
1 cup high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips
½ cup high-quality milk chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
¾ ts sea salt
1 1/2 ts pure vanilla extract
1 cup flour
2 eggs, room temp, beaten well
1 cup chopped walnuts
extra sea salt for the tops of the brownies before baking
cook notes:
the benefits of using high-quality chocolate really make these brownies.
Choose a chocolate like Ghirahdelli, Valrhona, Scharffen Berger, etc… that has a high cocoa count (50-80% is perfect). I use Ghirahdelli chips and cocoa powder (Walmart has really good prices of this brand).
The sprinkling of the sea salt on top of the brownies is not mandatory and will not make the brownies “salty”; it is meant to enhance the flavor of the chocolates in the batter. This is a deep chocolate tasting brownie and they need a little more salt to truly bring out the chocolate.
Please make sure your walnuts have a rough chop; keeping them whole won’t taste as good.
When you melt the butter and chocolate, please use a nice low flame so the melting goes smoothly and the chocolate doesn’t get too hot, which will make it taste bitter/burnt. And let this liquid mixture cool a bit before adding to the egg mixture.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Butter up well an 8 x 8 baking pan, then coat with unsweetened cocoa powder. Set pan aside.
Melt the butter and chocolate chips together in a small saucepan over LOW heat, stirring constantly. When melted take off heat, set aside to cool a bit.
In a large bowl, mix the eggs with the sugar, beat well, add in the vanilla extract, and mix.
When the melted chocolate has cooled down a bit (warm ok) slowly add it in to the egg mixture, a little bit at first, mix really well, then more as you go along.
Next dump the flour right on top of the mixture, then sprinkle on the sea salt.
Using a spatula mix until JUST combined, lumps are ok!
Dump the walnuts and milk chocolate chips on top, and with 3-4 strokes fold into batter.
Pour batter into greased and cocoa-dusted baking pan.
Sprinkle top of batter with just a little bit of sea salt.
Bake for 30-38 minutes. Mine were done at the 35-minute mark.
You know they are done when the center is not runny/jiggly.
If you use a cake tester you will get some crumbs; this is fine.
They take a while to firm up, so if you try to remove them from the pan they will break apart.
Let em cool a bit, before removing from pan.
Makes 9 brownies.
