Apple Fritters

This is where I start to sound a little crazy, but I woke up at 430 a.m. this Saturday morning because Paul's alarm went off for work (yes he works very early, and yes he had to work on a Saturday). Yesterday, I bought a $5 vegan cinnamon roll from Cinnaholic in Berkeley, because I was really craving one, then decided I would give 2/3 of it to Paul to take to work. So after my few bites were finished, I decided I wanted MORE and proceeded to scrape together everything in my kitchen (walnuts, fruit, sugar, yeast, etc) and make apple fritters (and blueberry, chocolate chip, and glazed doughnuts...)

Four hours later, I had my apple fritter and upon taking the first bite knew it was totally worth it!

My giant breakfast apple fritter

I know, a little crazy, but really I had nothing better to do that early anyway.

blueberry crumble doughnut bites, chocolate chip doughnut,
apple crumble doughnut bites, maple glazed doughnuts and holes

chocolate chip doughnut with vanilla bean glaze

I used Mark Israel's, owner of The Doughnut Plant in NY, basic yeast doughnut recipe and at 4:30 in the morning I only had enough milk for my cup of coffee so I substituted water for milk in the recipe. For the fillings I used either diced apple or blueberries mixed with cinnamon, brown sugar, a bit of melted butter and crushed walnuts.

But the glazes are what I was most excited about! They turned out so good and are what satisfied my craving for more Cinnaholic. I made one vanilla bean frosting, and by adding maple syrup to it, a maple frosting too.

Vanilla and/or Maple Glaze

4 cups confectioners sugar
6-8 tbsp water or milk
2-3 tbsp vanilla paste
~ 3 tbsp good quality maple syrup (if making a maple glaze)

In a bowl, combine confectioners' sugar and 6 tablespoons water or milk; stir well. Add additional liquid to reach desired consistency. Stir in the vanilla paste and or maple syrup. The amount of vanilla and maple syrup can be adjusted to taste.

Mini Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

I made these for a Super Bowl party, but why not make them for your man for Valentines Day? Just tell him it's a "manly cupcake." I'm sure it will go over well and no matter what they are DE-licious, such a fun concept and a great excuse to pair beer with dessert.

I originally saw this on a wonderful blog, Dying for Chocolate and kept the recipe the same except for substituted vanilla paste (which is like a thick vanilla extract but with incredible flavor and beautiful specks from the ground vanilla beans. It can be substituted for vanilla extract or vanilla bean in equal amounts.)

Guinness Cupcakes

Amy Berman, Chef, Co-Owner, Vanilla Bake Shop

Ingredients

• 1 cup Guinness
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened chocolate (4 1/2 Baker's squares)
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 Tbsp baking soda
• 3/4 Tsp Salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup sour cream (I used reduced fat)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake papers in pan and set aside.

Bring stout and butter to a simmer in a large saucepan over medium heat. Do not boil. Add unsweetened chocolate chunks to hot stout/butter mixture. Whisk until chocolate melts. Turn heat off and let cool. Add sugar to chocolate mixture and whisk to combine.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt.

In a mixer with a whisk attachment, combine the eggs and sour cream on medium speed.

Add stout-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and combine on medium-low speed until incorporated.

Slowly add flour mixture in thirds to chocolate mixture with whisk attachment until just combined.

Fill cupcake pan about 2/3 of the cup full.

Bake for 18-24 minutes or until the tops are firm to the touch, and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the cupcake.

Let cool on wire rack before frosting.

Guinness Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 2 1/2 cups sifted powder sugar
• 1/4 cup milk (I used skim)
• 1/2 whole scraped vanilla bean & 1/2 Tbsp vanilla extract (I substituted 1 tbsp vanilla paste, or do 1 tbsp vanilla extract, or 1 whole scraped vanilla bean)
• 1 Cup Guinness

Directions
In a sauce pan, simmer Guinness on low heat for 10-15 min, until stout becomes reduced and thicker in consistency. Similar to a syrup ( Mine boiled down to about 1/4 cup but was not syrup-consistency, it was still very thin.)

In a mixer, cream the butter for 1 minute. Slowly add the powder sugar in thirds, alternating with a little milk each time till mixture is creamy.

Add vanilla. Slowly add reduced Guinness a little at a time. Taste test to desired flavor. You may not use all the Guinness reduction. (I used ALL the Guinness!)

Frost the cupcakes and enjoy them with a cool (but not cold) Guinness!

Cheezy Mix

I am determined to find the ultimate snack that involves Cheez-its, chocolate and peanut butter. And for now, I've found it. I am also sortof determined to find a good name for it. And for now, Cheezy Mix will have to do. This is partly inspired by a very delicious snack, Muddy Buddy Mix, which I always add extra peanut butter and chocolate to when I make it for road trips.

Cheezy Mix

Ingredients

• 5 cups Cheez-its
• 1-2 handfuls peanuts (optional)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 cup powdered sugar

1. Place the cheez-its (and peanuts) in a large bowl
2. Place the white chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter in a large microwavable bowl. Heat for 15 seconds on high. Stir. Heat for another 15 seconds. Stir. As soon as the mix begins to melt, stir it all together until it melts on its own- This may take one more 15-second round in the microwave.
3. Pour mixture over cereal. Stir until evenly coated. Pour the mixture into a large Ziplock bag.
4. Add the powdered sugar to the bag. Seal the bag and mix it all up. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Over the Top Cookie Bars

When I started thinking about creating this I had a clear head, then I woke up Saturday morning with a cold, but preceded to go on with the experiment today. I was inspired by VanillaSugar blog, she always has something super creative coming out of her kitchen, though clearly she has more experience under her belt. My brain was not working at full capacity (from the cold itself and the cold medicine), but I managed to bust it out, though not exactly how it should have been. I knew I would have some issues completing this successfully when I forgot to add the egg in the cookie dough...

The stuff added to this chocolate chip cookie bar is literally over-the-top with chocolate, peanut butter and crackers. This sweet, salty, cheezy, peanut buttery combo hits the spot, just have to get the ratio of layers right. The issue I had this time around was too much cookie, not enough Cheez-its!

But now that I've tried assembling them and tasting, here are directions that will have them turn out how they should have...

Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer

Get a basic cookie dough recipe ready, even the pre-made stuff and press it into a greased large (6-capacity) muffin tin, or an 8x8 baking dish. It should be about 1/4 inch thick. (mine were too think). You'll have cookie dough left over especially if you only make this in the muffin tins. Bake in oven and let cool in the pan. Loosen the cookies by running a knife around the edge and still leave them in the pan.

Peanut Butter Layer

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter (at room temperature)
  
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• pinch of salt
• salted peanuts (optional)

Mix all ingredients except the peanuts with a mixer until smooth. Gently mix in peanuts. Spread evenly over the cooled cookies. Place in fridge until set (or close to set).

Chocolate Layer

Ingredients

• 1 Cup white chocolate chips (or any type of chocolate you like)
• 2 tbsp butter or vegetable shortening
• 1tbsp light corn syrup
• 2 cups slightly broken Cheez-its and/or pretzels

Melt the chocolate chips (use good quality, melting white chocolate can be tricky), butter and corn syrup in a double boiler with as little heat as possible. Stir vigorously. As soon as my white chips started to melt, I took it off the heat entirely and stirred as hard as I could until it became silky.

Gently mix in the Cheez-its/pretzels into the chocolate. Poor the warm chocolate over the cooled cookies and let set in the fridge until hard.

* I didn't do my layers in this order, but I think it should all stick together better with the hard chocolate on top.

National Chocolate Cake Day

The best part of my Thursday was finding out it's National Chocolate Cake Day.

But what great person decided January 27th was National Cake Day and how long has January 27th been National Cake Day? I've scoured the Web and can't find these answers. I mean even a Baltimore Sun staff blogger couldn't find the origin...

I guess I'll have to get my history-fill with some interesting moments in chocolate's history:

• The name chocolate comes from the Aztec word xocoatl, - a bitter drink brewed from cacao beans
• The Latin name for the cacao tree, Theobroma cacao, means "Food of the Gods"
• In the 17th Century chocolate was a fashionable drink for the elite believed to have health and aphrodisiac qualities
• In 1847 Joseph Fry created the first "modern" chocolate bar

Read more at SmithsonianMag.com: A brief history chocolate

To celebrate this momentous day, I'm posting a recipe for the most delicious Flourless Chocolate...Torte (but we'll just call it a cake today). A Torte is a cake. Tortes have certain characteristics that can set it apart from other "cakes". Some of the least controversial of these characteristics are tortes often use an ingredient to act in place of flour, like ground nuts or bread crumbs. Tortes are often denser and shorter (because of the flour substitute that is used).

I made this cake about a year ago, it is a bit unrefined looking. The chocolate glaze cooled before I could smooth it out with a metal cake spatula or wide knife, but it tasted....perfect to me!

*Disclaimer: This is one of those recipes that takes hours (because of all of the time needed to cool the cake a few times). Otherwise, it's not too tricky- I promise!

Flourless Chocolate Torte Cake 
The William-Sonoma Baking Book (2009)

...isn't flourless chocolate torte a bit redundant?

Important Kitchen Tools

• metal cake spatula or wide-knife
• double boiler or make-shift double boiler
• parchment paper
• beaters
• 8 (or 9)-inch cake pan

Cake Ingredients

• Unsweetened Cocoa Powder for dusting (my new favorite, affordable one is Wondercocoa)
• 10 oz Bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped- be sure to use good quality chocolate
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1/4cup sugar
• and 2 tbsp sugar (keep separate)
• 1 tbsp brewed espresso (or rum, either are optional- but it really enhances the flavor of the chocolate)
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt
• 3 large egg whites, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease bottom of an 8-inch round cake pan, line with parchment paper, grease the paper and sides of pan and dust with cocoa powder (to prevent from sticking).

Over simmering water in a double-boiler, combine the chocolate and butter. Whisk until melted and blended. Set aside to cool a bit.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat together the egg yolks, 1/4 cup sugar, espresso (or rum), vanilla and salt until pale and thick.

Gradually pour in the chocolate mixture and continue beating until well blended.

In a deep, clean bowl using clean beaters, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. Gradually add the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar and continue to beat until medium-stiff peaks form (kind-of floppy peaks).

Using a silicone spatula, scoop the egg whites onto the chocolate mixture and fold them in gently, until no streaks remain.

Pour the batter in the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until the cake puffs slightly and a toothpick comes out moist but not  liquid, about 35 minutes. Let cool 30 minutes in a wire rack.

Rub a knife around the inside edges of the pan to loosen, then invert onto a wire rack. Carefully peel off the parchment. Let cool completely. Cover and refrigerate until very cold. at least 4 hours-overnight.

Chocolate Glaze

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 8 oz chopped, bittersweet chocolate
• 2 tbsp light corn starch

Melt the butter and chocolate in a double boiler, same as above.Remove from heat and whisk in corn starch until smooth and glossy.

Set the cold cake on a wire rack over a large plate or baking sheet (to catch all the glaze run-off). Slowly poor the warm glaze over the center of the cake. The glaze should cover the surface evenly, running down all sides evenly. * Be sure to have that metal cake spatula or wide knife handy to smooth out!

Refrigerate until firm (about 2 hours). To cut the cake, dip the knife in hot water and wipe dry before each cut.

Cheers to National Chocolate Cake Day!

Yum Wondercocoa- also delicious in coffee