TWD: Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes

It’s been snowing here in good old Northern Virginia. A lot. Or, I should say, a lot more than it usually does. Which, as I’ve mentioned before, means nothing good…no one can drive in it, the streets take days to plow, blah blah blah. Anyhoo, enough complaining. On the bright side of the snow is that it generally makes me want to bake. This means I may actually make ALL of the TWD recipes this month!

These cakes were chosen by Kristin, and I have to say they were a GREAT pick! I made a few little changes along the way based on what I had at home – I didn’t have any milk chocolate so I used about half semi-sweet and half bittersweet (not a problem for me as I lean toward dark chocolate moreso anyway), added a touch of cinnamon (love the chocolate and cinnamon thing), and ended up baking them in my mini-cheesecake pan. That last part is sort of bizarre, even to me, because though I love the mini-cheesecake pan (really, really love it), I also love my very underutilized mini-bundt pans. Problem was that they were a bit on the big size, and I wanted to make smaller treats so that they might last longer.

I skipped the frosting and dusted them with powdered sugar instead – they were especially delicious with a little vanilla ice cream. YUM.

TWD: Coco-Nana Bread

Even though I have the book at home, when I first read about our monthly TWD recipes I Google them – for two reasons, really. One is to run through the recipe and check the list of ingredients in case there is anything I have to pick up, the other is to see reviews. Especially if it’s before the P&Q’s are posted, inevitably there is a food blogger (or many) who have already made these goodies and have some wisdom and insight.

So going into this week’s recipe, chosen by Steph, I was a little concerned. The reviews I had seen weren’t so great, and on top of that? I don’t like bananas. I know it’s odd. And no, it’s not a texture thing (although having to mash two bananas almost put me over the edge…), it’s really the flavor of banana that I don’t like. Nevertheless, I marched on! All in all I will say that it wasn’t too bad – maybe a bit on the dry side, though nothing that couldn’t be remedied by slapping a little butter on it, and it definitely smells good. It seems to be disappearing from the “test kitchen” pretty quickly, but I’m also fairly sure I could make brownies out of dog food and they’d disappear as well. It would be my little Ally McBeal moment. One day.

Looking forward to February’s recipes – some of those have definitely been on my list.

Some Fun with Eggroll Wrappers

I stayed home on Friday night. I did. I’ve been traveling like a maniac and all I could think about all week was making myself dinner, having a glass (um, or two) of wine, catching up on my laundry and watching something sort of mindless on tv. And let me tell you, it was all that and a bag of chips. I’m single and should probably have been out doing something or meeting people, but I promised myself I would save that for Saturday night and I enjoyed every little minute.

So after I watched my first DVR’d episode of “Chopped” (love that show) I ventured into the kitchen. I sort of had this post lingering in the back of my mind (thanks for the inspiration, Katie!) but decided instead to take a Mexican twist on it.

No real measurements here – just mixed up in a little bowl some canned black beans (rinsed and drained), some canned corn, a handful of chopped green onions, some diced up orange bell pepper, salt, and pepper. Then I mixed in some shredded Mexican cheese blend. One at a time, I laid out the eggroll wrapper, put about 1/3 cup of the mixture into each one, wet the edges with water, and folded and wrapped them on up!

I sprayed them with cooking spray (both sides), and set them on a cookie rack on top of a baking sheet (lined with foil for easy cleanup!), popped them into the oven which was preheated to 400 for about 20 minutes. I flipped them over somewhere around the halfway mark. YUM, and super duper easy. As I was slicing them, I thought too that they would be great appetizers sitting open side up around a bowl of salsa or guacamole – perfect for Superbowl Sunday even!

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars

Wow, I feel like I haven’t posted in forever! I’ve been on sort of  a forced hiatus from baking as I was out of town for ten days (Vail and then Tucson), came home and a week later was off to an amazing wedding in New Orleans. What a fabulous few weeks! But alas I am home (for a while at least…) and can get back to some experimenting in the kitchen.

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, chosen by Lilian of Confectiona’s Realm, was a most delicious way to break the dry spell! I stuck to the recipe which just one exception – I am not a big raisin and chocolate person (nope, never understood Raisinettes), so instead I mixed in just under a cup of sweetened coconut with the chocolate. I did also dig in a wee bit early, and found – just like Dorie said  – that these are better cold right out of the fridge. YUM.

I may consider next time making a thinner layer of chocolate too because I really liked the oatmeal base. But I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.

A Sea of Spritz Cookies

And on top of that, my hundredth post! Wow. Took me a while!

I got home to my parents’ for Christmas on Thursday, and was faced with a whole open afternoon. What better way to spend it than to mess up someone else’s kitchen! I had been meaning to do spritz cookies this year and never got around to it (along with my Christmas cards…woops), so I was happy as a clam to bust out mom’s cookie press and have at it. There’s something so satisfying about creating perfect, uniform little shapes – I just love it.

I used a recipe that called for powdered sugar instead of granulated – I think it made the cookies just a bit more, oh, “pillowy” maybe? Still a nice sweet taste and slightly softer than the others. A quick 5 minutes in the oven is all they need.

There are SO many spritz recipes out there, you might try  this one or this one or this one…or search for more!

A Perfectly Simple Party Appetizer

Winter is officially here. I can tell by looking outside at the remainder of what nearly amounted to 18 inches of snow. For those of you who live in areas where this is normal, it may not sound like that big a deal. But for Northern Virginia? Right outside DC? Utter chaos. The streets are still a disaster, some of the smaller ones not even scheduled to be plowed for the first time until four days after the snow stopped. And street parking? Oh, I can’t even go into it.

Needless to say, this is NOT a regular occurence here, so it figures that it would fall on the very day of our Holiday Cocktail party. A party we’ve had for many years now, that people look  forward to and start asking about even as early as October! More than 50 people had accepted, the possibility was still out there for up to 20 more. But no. Down it came, in buckets, for a whole 24 hours. Thankfully, we have some AMAZING die hard friends who managed to either walk or plow their 4WD vehicles through the snow – we ended up with over a dozen, and a most fabulous time was had by all.

We cut back on much of the food (though I won’t even mention how many empty wine bottles I recycled the next day…woooops), but kept in a new, simple delish recipe for these tomatoes.

No real recipe, just follow something along these lines: 1) hull out a handful of cherry tomatoes, 2) mix about a half a block of cream cheese, maybe 2 TBS pesto (we used store bought from Trader Joes), and maybe 2 TBS grated mixed cheese (we used a three cheese Asiago blend), 3) put the mixture in a piping bag, and 4) pipe away into the tomatoes. Easy breezy, delish, hardly any fancy prep, and they were a big hit.

We’ll keep the recipe for next year. Or the next party we throw…I mean, what else are we going to do with all this liquor??

TWD: Sables

Oh, if ONLY my baked goods came out looking as pretty and perfect as the pictures in the book.

This week Barbara from Bungalow Barbara selected Sables – a lovely buttery cookie that seems to have endless decorating and flavoring combinations. I decided to just stick to the basics, one half rolled in clear sugar crystals, the other in green for the holidays. Apparently I don’t have any idea how big a half inch is because the first roll I sliced a wee bit too thin, and they all sorta spread a little and browned up a bit. So the next set I made sure to cut thicker – they looked much better than the first half, but still not the perfect round, stacked circles that Dorie has in the book. From the side they were more of a, well, trapezoid (as you can see)?

No worries, they still tasted pretty good. I liked Barbara’s tips for making them perfectly round. Not sure if I will tackle these again (something tells me I’m more of a drop cookie girl), but should I roll and slice, that will be very helpful!

Thanksgiving Part 3: The Perfect Pumpkin Cake

Alas, my third and final Thanksgiving post before I start loading up on those of the holiday cookie variety!

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before that I love pumpkin. Pumpkin scones and muffins and donuts and bread, and even the savory varieties in things like ravioli and soup. But somehow I never fell in love with pumpkin pie. I chalk it up to a texture  thing maybe, as I steer clear of cream pies and flan and homemade pudding…but regardless, it’s in the lower half of my favorite pie list. So I decided to take a different approach this year and try my cousin’s sworn by, tried and true, make-your-house-smell-like-heaven pumpkin cake.

I loved it…good subtle flavor, the frosting was just right (not too sweet), and it looks very pretty with some candied pecans sprinkled on top!

Perfect Pumpkin Cake

Cake:

• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 1 med can pumpkin (15 oz)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 rounded tsps cinnamon

Mix eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin. In a different bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Combine, beat for 2 minutes.

Bake in two round (lightly greased or sprayed with cooking spray – a little tap of flour may help too!) cake pans at 350 for 30 – 35 minutes. Let them cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:

• 8 oz cream cheese, room temp
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 2 ½ cups sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Beat together and frost cake!

Thanksgiving Part 2: A Replacement for Pecan Pie

Not wanting to disappoint the pecan lovers in my family (we all have a few die hards, right?), but wanting to prevent pie overload (yes, I know some of you may think that is nearly impossible), I decided to try a pecan bar recipe instead of the standard pecan pie. Like the apple pie recipe search, I saw quite a few and  many of them were fairly similar – all seemed to produce something that “tastes just like pecan pie” without the extra effort of making a pie crust.

My final decision was a recipe from Southern Living – sounded easy and had some promising reviews. If you like pecan pie and want just a slight change of pace, this recipe is for you. Enjoy!

Pecan Squares (adapted from Southern Living)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup powdered sugar
• ¾ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup honey
• 2/3 cup butter
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons whipping cream
• 3 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Preparation

Sift together 2 cups of flour and 2/3 cup powdered sugar. Cut in ¾ cup softened butter using a pastry blender or fork, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pat mix on bottom and 1 inch up sides of lightly greased 13X9 baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until edges are very lightly browned.

Bring brown sugar, honey, 2/3 cup butter, and whipping cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium high heat. Stir in cinnamon and pecans and pour hot filling into prepared crust.

Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Cool completely before cutting!!!

Thanksgiving Part I: Apple Pie Deliciousness

This year I was happy to be heading to my parents home outside of Philadelphia – my mom was hosting a whole branch of my family, including 9 adults and 5 kiddies (1 only a week old!). I LOVE big noisy holidays and the last few, though lovely for what each was, were a bit on the quiet side. Plus, I do love my mom’s standard fare Turkey Day feast!

I had to contribute somehow, of course, so I volunteered to cover desserts. Shocking, I know. I made three things which I will separate out into different posts to give each its own glory, and not make for an Olympic length post.

In considering my options for dessert, the first one I was sure of was apple pie – the only thing I wasn’t sure of was which kind! Being a sucker for streusel, I found a couple on epicurious.com – one from Gourmet and another from Bon Apetit. As it turns out, I ended up combining them – the crust for one, the filling and topping for another. I loooooved this pie – it had a crispy top and (thanks to a few tweaks recommended by readers) a filling with good flavor and good texture. Definitely a keeper.

Cinnamon Crumble Apple Pie (adapted from Bon Apetit)

Crust (from Gourmet – Apple Pie with Walnut Streusel):
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

To make crust:

In a large bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor blend or pulse together flour, sugar, salt, and butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water and toss with a fork or pulse until incorporated. Add enough remaining ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing or pulsing to incorporate, until mixture begins to form a dough. On a work surface smear dough in 3 or 4 forward motions with heel of hand to slightly develop gluten in flour and make dough easier to work with. Form dough into a ball and flatten to form a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill 30 minutes.

Filling

3 1/4 pounds Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla

Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Topping
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

For filling:

Mix all ingredients in large bowl to coat apples.
For topping:

Blend first 5 ingredients in processor. Add chilled butter cubes; using on/off turns, cut in until mixture resembles wet sand.

On a lightly floured surface roll out dough into a 15-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) and fold into quarters for ease of handling. Unfold dough in a 10-inch pie plate.

Toss filling to redistribute juices; transfer to crust, mounding in center. Pack topping over and around apples. Bake pie on baking sheet until topping is golden, about 40 minutes (cover top with foil if browning too quickly). Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until apples in center are tender when pierced and filling is bubbling thickly at edges, about 45 minutes longer. Cool until warm, about 1 hour.