Chocolate Loaf Cake

I've always been easily influenced. Now now, not by the drugs or the kids on the block but by movies, books and the like. After watching Captain America last night (does not compare to Batman but it's manageable), my mind was set on stepping up the fitness game. Then morning hit and sleep overruled.

I had set up some pretty slices for photos but they were all blurry. My books were due at the library, what could I do? 

Another wave of inspiration hit when all my unused sat cookbooks against the wall staring at me. I made up a list of baked goods and recipes for each month so that it would encourage me to try something new. This month's list had a three layer cake. This is not that three layer cake. Turns out sleep overruled again. Never fear! It's the quick fix for those morning chocolate cake cravings.

Chocolate Loaf Cake

Adapted from Blue Eyed Bakers/Two Peas who retrieved it from the Baked boys 
Side note: this is amazing with caramel sauce. That sauce has become a staple in my fridge, It goes with everything minus raw tomatoes because nothing goes with those.   

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup buttermilk (fat-free not recommended, it dries it out a bit)
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 F with the rack in the center. Butter and flour a loaf pan (or a 9 x 9 square baking pan) and line with parchment paper. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine brown sugar, cocoa, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Turn the mixer on low to incorporate all ingredients. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk until blended, then add the buttermilk,oil, and vanilla. Whisk again until just combined. With the mixer to low, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring just until combined. Fold in the dark chocolate chunks by hand. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 1 loaf.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

I hope these don't seem weird to you but if they do, may I something stranger to make these sound good? For Halloween one year, I dressed up as a cat ballerina. Not a cat or a ballerina, but a cat ballerina.* Talk about compromise at its finest! Compromise can be a beautiful thing. Instead of having to choose between two (awesome) options, you get to have both. Like cats and ballerinas or pumpkin and chocolate. 

This pumpkin and chocolate brownie idea has been floating around for a while but there were mixed reviews for every recipe that came my way. One said that it was too gummy and the flavours did not work, the other said that the pumpkin was too watery and the brownie was too dry. Compromise time. Take my favourite brownie and jack up the pumpkin swirl and voila, we have the perfect mix.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Idea from Martha, brownie recipe from here, filling adapted from Betty Crocker

brownies

1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
2 tsp instant coffee 

1/2 cup + 2 tbsp boiling water
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, very finely chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, browned!
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp canola oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp vanilla 
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

filling

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

3 tbsp brown sugar, packed

1/8 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp cinnamon

a couple big pinches of allspice

1 egg yolk

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350º. Butter (or non-stick spray) a 9" x 13" baking pan then line with foil with an overhang so the brownies can be lifted from the pan. Butter or cover with non-stick spray. 

filling Beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt and spices together until combined. Beat in the egg yolk. Mix in the pumpkin until fully combined, set aside.

brownies Whisk cocoa, instant coffee and boiling water together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in butter and oil. (The mix will look curdled and weird, it's hokay.) Add eggs, yolks and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and combined. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix in with a rubber spatula until combined. Fold in chocolate. Spread about half of the batter into prepared pan. Grab the filling and drop big spoonfuls over the brownie batter. Pour the rest of the brownie batter on top. Run a knife through the batter a few times to marbleize it. Bake until toothpick inserted halfway between the edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1 1/2 hours. Using foil overhang, life brownies from pan. Return to wire rack and let cool completely, about an hour. Cut and serve. Makes 18 brownies.

 

* At least when my future children want to be avocado bats and easter reindeer I will know what is up.

Salted Chewy Brownies

Have I mentioned I like salt? Seriously, it is dangerous. Granted putting salt on desserts is the hip thing right now but it doesn't make it any less valuable! It simply proves how awesome it is. That is why I always use kosher salt in baking (except below) because you can actually taste it. 

These were great. Chewy but not raw fudgy. Nor were they cakey and dry. They are great but so is everything that comes from The Test Kitchen. Ugh. This isn't related to brownies but if you watch Dawson's Creek, read on. Pacey Witter is love. Joey and him should get married and have lots of babies. And Dawson should go jump off a cliff. Season four better turn things around.  

Salted Chewy Brownies

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen Magazine March & April 2010

1/3 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
2 tsp instant coffee
heaping 1/2 cup boiling water
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, very finely chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp canola oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla 
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp table salt*
1 1/2 cup milk chocolate, roughly chopped 
1 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped (optional)
1 tsp fleur de sel

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350º. Line a 9" x 13" baking pan with foil with an overhang so the brownies can be lifted from the pan. Coat with non-stick spray. Whisk cocoa, instant coffee and boiling water together in a large bowl until smooth. Add the unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and combined. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix in with a rubber spatula until combined. Fold in chocolate and pecans (if using). Scrape batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle the fleur de sel over top. Use all of it, if not more than 1 tsp. Bake until toothpick inserted halfway between the edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. ** Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1 1/2 hours. *** Using foil overhang, life brownies from pan. Return to wire rack and let cool completely, about an hour. Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.

* It killed me not to use kosher and I don't think the table salt made a difference. Kosher would work as well.

** My brownies were finished after 28 minutes.

*** If the brownies were baked in a glass pan, remove them from the pan after 10 minutes and allow them to cool completely on a wire rack. Glass pans with continue to cook the brownies if they stay in the pan.

Maple Pecan Slices

Oh yum. How very Canadian of me, eh? Just hit my pun quota. As a chewy cookie lover, there are a few exceptions. These are one of them. It is similar to a shortbread texture but with a crunch from the pecans and a softness from the glaze. They are the perfect little tea cookies. I just jumped on the tea train, the chai train that is. But lady gray is nice too. Enough about tea, back to cookies.

Maple Pecan Slices

Adapted from Everyday Food

cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 egg yolk

1 tsp maple extract

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 cup pecan halves toasted then finely chopped*

glaze

1 cup maple syrup

fleur de sel

cookies Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the maple syrup, yolk and extract until fully combined. Mix in the flour and salt slowly. It will be pretty stiff. Stir in the pecan pieces. Divide the dough in two pieces. On a clean surface roll the dough into a 1 1/2 inch rope. Wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350º. Taking one of the rolls, slice it into approximately 1/4 inch slices. They won't spread during baking. Bake for ten minutes, transferring sheets halfway through, until they are golden on the edges. They will set afterward a bit. Let them cool for about 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

glaze In a small saucepan, simmer the maple syrup until it is about 3/4 cup which takes about 8 minutes or so. It should be quite a bit thicker. However, I would recommend doing this in smaller batches because it crystallizes after about ten minutes. So do the glaze in 1/4 cup batches. Glaze the cookies with about 1/2 tsp or so. Sprinkle with fleur de sel. Enjoy!

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies/The Revamped Chewy

Alright, these are good. I have to stop naming favourites because it is nipping me in the butt. I don't want to name these my favourite as a result but if I were to hypothetically name a favourite, it would be these. Are they hypothetically better than the Chewy? Yes. However, they are the Chewy! .. so it's not really naming a new favourite. Literally, there are only two different additions, lemon juice and cream, which replace the milk. And the butter is obviously browned. But it makes it that much better. It brings an almost caramel flavour to the cookies. From now on, I will only brown, not melt, butter.

 

The Revamped Chewy

Nearly Identical to Recipe Girl's recipe via Macheesmo

2 1/4 Cups bread flour 
1 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon kosher salt
1 Cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 Cup sugar
1 1/4 Cups dark brown sugar (packed)
1 Tablespoon Half and Half or heavy cream
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
2 Teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk 
2 cups milk chocolate chip cookies 

Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside for later. Start by adding your butter to a medium pot over medium-low heat and let it melt. Once it starts frothing, turn the heat down to low and whisk the butter. As the butter cooks, the water will evaporate from the butter leaving only the oil and the milk solids. Eventually, the milk solids will separate out and start to brown which gives it the distinct brown color and also the delicious nutty flavor. It’ll take about 15-20 minutes for the butter to brown. Just whisk it every minute or so to make sure that it’s heating evenly. Let this cool for a minute and then add all your sugar to the brown butter. Stir it all together. It's okay if your sugar and butter separate out a bit. Let the butter/sugar mixture cool down before continuing since we are going to be adding eggs to them. You don’t want to cook the eggs! From here on out the process is the exact same as making any cookie dough. Add the butter and sugar mixture to a stand mixer or use a hand mixer on medium to cream the butter and sugar together. It should lighten up a bit and turn fluffy. Mine never turned fluffy exactly just not as saucey as before and cooler. Then add your egg and egg yolk and continue to mix. Add the vanilla, half and half, and lemon juice, and eventually you’ll have a very smooth caramel colored mixture. Turn the mixer to low and stir in the bread flour mixture in a few batches just until it’s combined. Then add in all the chocolate chips and stir again until they are evenly distributed. Try not to over-mix the dough. The dough must be chilled for about an hour or two before baking. I kept mine in overnight and let them sit out for a bit before scooping. I made two dozen one night and the next, then only a dozen worth of dough was left the next night. When you’re ready to bake, roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls and add them to a cookie sheet with parchment paper. They don't spread so they don't need to be very far spaced apart, about an inch is recommended. Bake them at 350 degrees for 9 minutes. I love them chewy. Let them cool for a few minutes then move to a wire rack. I highly recommend just digging in right away. Makes five dozen cookies.

* On a side note, I joined the 12 weeks of Christmas cookies! I saw it on Baked Bree, love!, and had to join. Perfect reason to make even more cookies around here.

The Chocolate Chip Cookie.

A couple of weeks ago I tried the "it" cookie, the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie by Jacques Torres. I did enjoy that cookie, don't get me wrong, but was it the greatest? Nah. I mean I have made millions of chocolate chip cookies over the years and I really do like plenty of the recipes I  have tried. But the reality there really can be no ultimate when people's preferences are so different. However, this cookie is the cookie for me. I had watched Alton Brown make these on TV a while ago and had wanted to make them ever since. Boy, was I glad I did.

Not only did I find them amazing but my friend, Bacon, claimed they were the perfect chocolate chip cookie. And my picky little brother, whom really can not see beyond Laura Bush cookies and anything with peanut butter cups, said that this could be added to the list of things I can make. What an honour.

The Chewy
Almost identical to the one from Alton Brown

1 cup minus 1 tbsp (15 tbsp) butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups milk chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375º.  Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. Pour the melted butter into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugars. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, yolk,milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill the dough for about 45 minutes to an hour, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets. It says to put 6 to a sheet but I made them smaller and did regular dozens. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

* Check out an even better (who knew that was possible?) way to amp these up.

Vanilla Creme Apple Pie

The zee disaster! This was an all around mistake but here it is and it was good. This was actually supposed to be a tart but that did not work out quite clearly. However it worked out to be a nice pie. I used my mother's amazing pie crust but instead of rolling it out with flour, it was rolled out in confectioner's sugar instead. If you try that with any pie crust it will make it that much better.Vanilla Creme Apple Pie

crust
enough for pie dough for one 9" pie, like a frozen pie crust or if you have some on hand (great instructions, I know)
confectioner's sugar for rolling
vanilla creme
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster/superfine sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup and 2 tbsp milk
1/2 vanilla bean
1 1/2 tsp butter
topping
4 medium granny smith apples, peeled and cored and thinly sliced
2 tbsp honey

Roll out the pie crust in the confectioner's sugar into a circle large enough for a 9" pie dish. Crimp the edges as desired. I was in a hurry and just threw the crust in there. Cover the crust with tin foil and place pie weights/beans/any form of weight over the tin foil. Bake the crust for 10 minutes in a 350º oven.
Now for the creme. Whisk the egg yolks and half the sugar(2 tbsp) until pale and creamy. Add the cornstarch and flour and mix until there are not lumps. Set this mix aside. Bring the milk, remaining sugar and vanilla bean to boil in a small saucepan. Once it is boiling, turn off the heat and strain the mix into the egg yolk mixture, stirring the mix together continuously. Pour the creme into a clean saucepan and bring to boil. Stir constantly! Lumps will appear at first but I promise it will become smooth. Boil it for two minutes then remove from heat. Stir in the butter. Pour the mix into a bowl and place plastic wrap directly on the creme so that a skin doesn't form. Or you can use it right away.
Remove the tin foil from the pie crust and spread the vanilla creme on the crust. Arrange the apples on top of the vanilla creme. Bake the pie for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the apples are golden and the pastry is cooked. Leave to cool. Once the pie is cooled(I did not wait for it too cool, probably 30 minutes tops) melt the honey in the microwave for about 15 seconds or until liquidized. Drizzle the honey over the pie and enjoy!

Little Lemon Tarts

Lovely little lemon tarts, I love. This is not the recipe that I use frequently but this recipe is quicker. The crust is similar to pie crust but with cookie qualities and the filling is creamy but still tart from the lemon. Honestly, I was straight up eating the left over filling. I know, I know, the egg yolks are bad but come on. How could I not?Little Lemon Tarts

crust
2 cups flour
4 1/2 oz. unsalted butter, chopped
2 tsp caster sugar (superfine) sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
1 egg yolk
filling
4 1/2 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. (1/2 cup) caster (superfine) sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

Preheat the oven to 350º. Spray mini muffins tins with cooking spray or you could butter them. Sift the flour and a pinch of salt together in a bowl and rub the butter in until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, zest, egg yolk and 2-3 tbsp iced water and use a pastry cutter, or knives, until a rough dough forms. Gently knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Cover in plastic and chill for 10 minutes.
For the filling, beat the cream cheese, sugar and egg yolks using electric beaters until smooth and thickened. Add the lemon juice and condensed milk and beat until well combined.
Roll out the chilled dough between two pieces of parchment paper until about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 7 cm fluted round cutter, or in my case a glass, cut rounds from the pastry. I kept a bowl of flour on hand so I could dip the glass in the flour before pressing therefore making an easy removal. Gently press the rounds into the muffin tins and lightly prick them with a fork three times. Bake for 10 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden. Remove from the oven and spoon 2 tsp, or until full, of filling into the little crusts. Return the tarts to the oven for another 5 minutes or until the filling is set. Cool slightly before removing from the tins. Enjoy!
Makes 24 tarts