More chocolate. Love baking and creating with chocolate; so diverse. Ok, this is a brand new recipe for me. At first I was a bit skeptical because I am accustomed to shortbread being buttery, crisp and rich. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how you can incorporate chocolate into this. And then I thought, how can you not? You know? This chocolate shortbread is buttery, is crisp and has a different chocolate flavor; different in a good way. It's does not taste like milk chocolate, nor a brownie chocolate (and it does look like a brownie), but more of a rich baking type chocolate with loads of creamy hints to it.
Hard to explain, but really a very tasty type of chocolate indeed. I know the flavor lends itself from the dutch process cocoa that you have to use. (have to being the key word).
These were surprisingly very easy to make. And yet so pretty, delicate too. You could easily make these for a holiday gift which I might just do. If packaged right, they would look gorgeous in a long sleeved plastic bag with a red or silver ribbon wrapped around the top.
The recipe is from: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.
The picture lends itself to looking like a brownie; trust me they taste nothing like a brownie, nor have the texture of a brownie, but rather an enjoyable new type of shortbread taste.
You must try these if you are a choco-connoisseur like myself.
chocolate shortbread fingers
by martha stewart
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3 sticks (1 ½ cups) unsalted butter, room temp, plus more for pan
2 ½ cups plus 2 TB all-purpose flour
4 ½ TB Dutch-process cocoa powder
Heaping ½ ts ground cinnamon
½ ts salt
¼ ts baking soda
1 cup superfine sugar
Granulated sugar, for sprinkling
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 12 by 8 inch rimmed baking sheet and line with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on the long sides; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt and baking soda until combined.
In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and superfine sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 – 4 minutes, scarping down the sides of the bowl. Add flour mixture, and beat on medium speed until just combined.
Using a small offset spatula, evenly spread dough in prepared baking sheets. Chill in the freezer or refrigerator until dough is firm, about 15 minutes. Prick dough all over with a fork; bake until just firm to the touch, about 20 – 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, let cool a bit. Then while still fairly warm, use a large knife to cut shortbread into 4 by 1 inch pieces. Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Cool.
Can be kept in an air tight container for up to 1 week.
Note: I forked the dough before going into the freezer. I let these cool a while before cutting them, and waited for a complete cool before putting the decorative sugar on them since the heat of the bars only melts the sugar.
9/19/08
chocolate shortbread fingers
9/17/08
caramelized onion & bacon quiche
I love quiche. But I like quiche that has flavor to it. Quiche Lorraine is ok, but really low on the flavor meter, unless a good ham was used, not a processed one.
This quiche recipe is full of flavor, so much so that a small slice will satisfy. There is a layer of caramelized onions in this quiche that will have your tastebuds come alive! So tasty, gently rich and the best part? The leftovers get better--meaning when all these flavors have time to sit and meld they taste so good you can even eat them cold. And cold I do! I adore cold leftover quiche.
There is a touch of balsamic vinegar to kick those caramelized onions up a notch (Emeril would be proud and there would be no onion police coming to my house). Gruyere cheese has the best flavor, but I added some strong sharp cheddar to it to enhance it even further.
I also added another notch to this by adding a double crust. I hate quiches that have thin, weak crusts; a strong flavorful, hearty quiche like this one needs a thick and hearty crust to support it.
caramelized onion & bacon quiche
semi-adapted by Simply Recipes
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1 recipe pie dough, pate brisee or you can use store bought pie crust
1 - 2 TB olive oil
3 large sweet onions, chopped in long strips, medium size
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1 TB balsamic vinegar
1 ½ cups half & half
3 large eggs
Pinch nutmeg
1 cup Gruyère cheese, grated
¾ cup of sharp cheddar, shredded
4 - 5 slices of cooked bacon (I used thick sliced), crumbled/chopped
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Fit into a 9 inch pie dish pressing dough into corners and around the edges. Transfer to freezer to chill for 30 minutes. (note, I made a double crust, since I like a thicker crust)
Preheat oven to 350°. Place parchment paper on pie shell then fill at least two-thirds with baking weights - dried beans, rice, or aluminum pie weights. Bake first for 15 minutes, remove from oven and let cool a few minutes. Carefully remove parchment paper and weights. Poke the bottom of the pie pan with the tines of a fork and return to oven and bake an additional 10 minutes or until lightly golden. (Fork holes are for any air to escape.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool while making filling. (Note: I did not poke holes)
Cook bacon to well cooked, place bacon on paper towels to drain. Remove all bacon grease from pan (do not clean the pan) and add in onions (I did not clean the pan as I wanted the onions to absorb some of the flavor of the bacon). Keep pan on medium heat, add on the olive oil then add the onions. Season with salt & pepper. Caramelize the onions, this should take about 45 minutes +/-; stirring onions every 10 minutes
On the last ten minutes of caramelization add in the TB of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pan, combine thru. Remove from heat, set aside.
In a bowl combine the 2 cheeses. Sprinkle half the cheese mixture evenly over the bottom of the crust. Spread onions over the cheese, then the crumbled bacon and then top with remaining cheese.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the half & half and eggs. Season with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Pour over cheese. Transfer to oven, and bake at 350 degrees until just set in the center, 45 - 60 minutes (this all depends on your stove, mine took about 48 minutes).
Cool on a wire rack for about 10-15 minutes before slicing.
Serves 6-8.
9/6/08
Mint Chocolate Crunch Brownies
Chocolate Mint Crunch Brownies
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (top-quality), broken in 10 pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (top quality), coarsely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
minty frosting:
1 ½ cups sifted confectioners sugar
3-6 TB room temp unsalted
2-4 TB heavy cream
¾ ts peppermint extract
A drop or two of green coloring (optional)
About 20 +/- Oreo cookies with filling, coarsely chopped (plain or mint flavored Oreo’s)
To make the brownies:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter and flour a 9x9x2-inch square cake pan.
Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt together onto a sheet of waxed paper. In top of a double boiler melt chocolate and butter over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat.
In an electric mixer mix eggs, sugar and vanilla on high until slightly thickened, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture and mix on medium for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and mix on low 10 seconds, then on medium 10 seconds. Add sour cream and mix on medium 5 seconds.
Scrape around sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula to combine thoroughly. Use spatula to fold in chopped chocolate. Pour batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 40 minutes.
To make the mint frosting: Beat until smooth 1 1/2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3-6 TB soft butter, 2 TB heavy cream, and 3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract. Add a drop or two of green coloring, if desired. Spread filling evenly over the cookie layer, cover, and chill until firm, about one hour. (you can add more of less of the butter & cream as you wish—I like a thicker frosting so I use more butter, less cream). Add in the coarsely chopped Oreo’s and mix well. Then spread over brownies. If desired you can then add a layer of chocolate glaze: Melt 1 ounce of semisweet chocolate and 1 Tablespoon butter. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Drizzle over brownies. Best to chill the brownies to set before cutting.
8/30/08
peanut butter & jelly crumb cake
It's back to school for a lot of my neighbors, clients, friends, and even hubby is back to school this coming week. Another year of grad school; let's just throw another $15K to the ever-growing pile of debt shall we? Seems like we'll be paying student loans for the rest of our lives: mine and his. And now we're buying our first home...are we crazy? No, we're just like every other person on this planet living and breathing debt.
To me the beginning of back to school means peanut butter and jelly. I can't remember the last time I had crumb cake, but I wanted to experiment and make a PB & J crumb cake for the longest time. It came out pretty good. It's really rich, a lot of that has to do with the thick peanut buttery crumb topping. I would love to hear from you on what meals remind you of Fall and what are you excited to bake/cook/experiment with this coming Fall season?
peanut butter & jelly crumb cake
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1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 cup crunchy peanut butter, room temp. (not natural)
for jam drizzle:
1 jar of strawberry or raspberry jam/jelly (I used raspberry: seedless)
Confectioners’ sugar for decoration (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease and flour an 8x8 square baking pan.
In a large bowl mix the flour, brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Using a mixer (or by hand), beat in the softened butter until mixture resembles wet sand. No large lumps. If using a mixer, do not over beat. Remove between ¾ - 1 cup of the mixture to a medium bowl and set aside. (I did about a cup since I wanted a lot of crumb topping and thin cake; just like a crumb cake).
With the remaining mixture add in the buttermilk and egg, mix well. Then pour into the greased pan, spreading evenly. There is not a lot of batter; it does rise when baking so don’t worry. Take the remaining flour mixture that was set aside and add the cup of peanut butter to it. Mix until you have a nice, almost dry crumbly mix.
Then drop or crumble large chunks of this onto the cake. Do not press the crumbs into the batter; just let them sit on top.
Bake for about 30 -35 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. While cake bakes make the jelly reduction. Take a small jar of strawberry or raspberry jam/jelly, and let gently melt in saucepan over low heat. Do not boil. To make the reduction slightly thicker add a bit of cornstarch (a TB or so). But you shouldn’t need to do this as after it’s melted it does thicken a bit.
When slightly cooled drizzle cake with the melted jam. Then dust with confectioners’ sugar if desired. Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
8/26/08
coconut-caramel pecan shortbread bars
For those of you that watch football you know that one saying the announcer says before Monday Night Football. The one where he says "Are you ready for some foooooootbaaaalll!"
I love that part. And then I can change the channel.
Maybe if I understood the game of football I might appreciate it. It just seems all the football players do is get in a nice straight line, shout something out, then all run into a pile.
When I bite into one of these caramel coconut goodies all I can hear is: "are you ready for some shhhhhhortbreaddddd!"
These bars were amazing. They remind me of a samoa cookie in bar form with extra shortbread; if a samoa cookie were to mix with a twix bar. Yes, that's it!
The caramel and coconut melded so nicely together on top of the slightly salty shortbread.
caramel-coconut pecan shortbread bars
print recipe
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp.
1 cup sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus 1/2 teaspoon
¼ cup of toasted pecans
20 ounces soft caramel candies (or make your own caramel sauce)
5 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cups shredded coconut, toasted
1 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
Preheat the oven to 350°. Using a mixer, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt, then add to the butter mixture. Mix on low speed just until the dough comes together.
Press evenly into a 8 x 8 non-stick baking dish.
Then sprinkle the chopped pecans over the dough (do not press into dough).
Bake until lightly golden, 30 – 40 minutes, depending on oven (mine took 35). The shortbread might be a still a little soft, that’s ok. Recipe by Dawn Finicane of vanillakitchen.blogspot.com It hardens when it cools down.
You are looking for a very light golden brown. (this is not a cookie so you don’t want brown edges).
In a medium saucepan, melt the caramels with the cream and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt over medium heat.
Stir in the coconut, then spread over the shortbread. Let this cool before adding the chocolate. (I put it in the fridge to cool).
I put the melted chocolate into a plastic bag, closed it up then snipped off a small tip at corner and drizzled the chocolate on that way.
Let cool completely before slicing.
This is really hard to slice when cooled, so use a sharp knife that is warmed up before slicing (run under hot water).
cook notes: If you don’t have a non-stick pan, then line your pan with foil (plus the edges) as you will need help removing this from the pan; caramel makes it stick. I found that removing this from the pan then slicing it on a cutting board was much easier than cutting it in the pan.
The next time I make this I might want to incorporate a layer of chunky peanut butter somewhere.
You can also make your own caramel sauce for these, I just didn't have time to.
