Chocolate Malt Sandwich Cookies

The first week of school has already got me panicking. What does one do when they are panicked? I resorted to baking cookies (lots of cookies), read the Great Gatsby (at least I read something) and organized all my magazines. Turns out that procrastination of school got me to stop procrastinating on cleaning my room. Yay for avoiding!

Sorry for the crap photo. My brother went to Vegas and took the camera with him. Son of a gun. Blackberries do not take the best photos. How could they, they're fruit! Sorry that was not funny.. heh heh. The cookies, on the other hand, are delicious. My Mum loved them but that's because she said her generation was all hopped up on Ovaltine. Whatever floats your boat. 

Chocolate Malt Sandwich Cookies
From Martha Stewart Cookies aka my fav cookie book

cookies
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 cup plain malted milk powder like Ovaltine
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons hot water 
filling
10 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup plain malted milk powder
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons half-and-half
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make cookies: Sift together flour, cocoa powder, malted milk powder, baking soda, and salt. With an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg, vanilla, creme fraiche, and hot water. Reduce speed to low; mix in flour mixture. Space tablespoon-size balls of dough 3 1/2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake until flat and just firm, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool on parchment on wire racks.

Making filling: Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stirring. Let cool. With an electric mixer, beat malted milk powder and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Gradually mix in half-and-half, chocolate mixture, and vanilla. Refrigerate, covered, until thick, about 30 minutes. Mix on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Assemble cookies: Spread a heaping tablespoon filling on the bottom of one cookie. Sandwich with another cookie. Repeat. Makes 1 1/2 dozen sandwiches

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Cheers cheers ol' chap, may we raise our glasses to the sun and the moon, the earth and the water, and to the great abyss. I feel like saying that in a uppity British accent when I eat this. It is my favourite coffee cake. We ate it in one day. Nobody can resist this perfect cake. Whenever I am in doubt as for what to bring to coffee, dinner or to just straight eat in general.

I don't know how else to tell you to eat this but please please do. 

Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake
From smitten kitchen

cake
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick, 4 ounces or 113 grams) at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated sugar
3 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (16 ounces) sour cream
3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

filling and topping
2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan. If not nonstick coated, cover the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Set pan aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together into a separate bowl. Alternately mix in sour cream and then dry ingredients into butter mixture until both are used up and the batter is smooth and very thick. In a medium bowl, beat eggs whites until stiff, then fold into batter. In a small dish, whisk together sugar and cinnamon for filling and topping. Spread half the cake batter in the bottom of prepared pan. Sprinkle with half of cinnamon-sugar mixture and 1 cup of chocolate chips. Dollop remaining cake batter over filling in spoonfuls. Use a rubber or offset spatula to gently spread it over the filling and smooth the top. Sprinkle batter with remaining cinnamon-sugar and remaining chocolate chips. With the palm of your hand, ever-so-gently press the chocolate chips a bit into the batter. No need to submerge them, you just want to make sure they adhere bit. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, rotating halfway through, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Serves 24.

Banana Pecan and Chocolate Muffins

"Do you have to put almonds on all of them?" 

My brothers are great but when it comes to baking, they do not know what is up. Once I had the batter ready to go in the muffin tins, the next step was to place the pecans on top. Now my brothers do not like pecans and any nut for that matter in baking. After all, I too only recently came around. The big one was rolling on by at said point and asked that question. Not to disrespect him but I burst out laughing and proceeded to call him a moron. It's what family does. But to pay him back I only put pecans on half. What a great sister.

Banana Pecan and Chocolate Muffins
Adapted from Ina's recipe

3 large verrrrry ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

1/3 cup pecans, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350º. Butter 14 muffin cups, set aside. In a large bowl, mix the bananas, sugars and maple syrup until combined. Mix in the oil, eggs, sour cream and vanilla until fully combined. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add  to the banana mix until the flour and banana mixture is just combined. Fold in the milk chocolate chips. Fill the muffin tins until about 4/5 full. Top the muffins with three pecans, or as many as desired. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, rotating halfway through or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the muffins in its pan for 5 minutes and then turn them out on a wire rack to cool further.. But I highly recommend eating them warm. Serves 14. 

Lemon Crumb Cake

I am not a parent, nor am I going to be one in the near future. Why? Well I, myself, am still a kid. I live with my parents and I am not old enough to purchase alcohol, smokes or go out gamble. Mind you I don't think the last three are really necessary to raise a child unless all the rumors about sleepless nights are true.

However, one friend of mine, Pumpkin, is like my little child. In the sense that she loves when I bake for her. She also love my scent therefore leaving her clothes at my house and demands that I wash them before giving them back infusing them with said scent. Call her a freak. Two things I know she loves are lemon or peanut butter good, but hates raisins. Anyways, before leaving there was some sour cream in the fridge that needed to be used, like the pumpkin, so came the lemon crumb cake! (P.S. The photo is pre-bakeage.)

Lemon Crumb Cake
Adapted from the Bon Appetit Cookbook 

2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
4 tsp grated lemon peel
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice  

1 cup sour cream
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Lightly butter and flour 8-inch square glass baking dish. Stir flour, 1 cup sugar, brown sugar, lemon peel and cinnamon in large bowl to blend. Add oil and lemon juice and mix until flour is evenly moistened and mixture forms clumps. Set aside 1 cup of mixture for topping. Whisk sour cream, egg, vanilla, baking powder and baking soda in small bowl until well blended. Using electric mixer, add sour cream mixture to crumb mixture and beat until batter is smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture over top. Bake until tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer pan to rack and cool. Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with foil; Store at room temperature. Sift powdered sugar over top of cake. Cut into squares and serve.

Sweet and Salty Cake

This is too good not to write about. Granted the photo isn't the greatest but bare with me. This is a very labour intensive cake. And yet this is the second time I have made it. When my grandparents asked me to make a chocolate dessert, I searched through all my cookbooks and kept going back to the sweet and salty cake, or anything similar. In the end, I clearly chose to make it again. The first time didn't go so well. I tried to make it all in one day causing burnt cake, melted frosting and a lopsided cake. But despite all of that, it tasted amazing. This was the opportunity to make it actually look as good as it tasted. 

Isn't he cute? Quite the button I thought. If you are searching for a great cake it is here but it is highly recommended that you bake the cake the day beforehand and possibly the caramel and frosting as well. Just in case one were to screw up on the caramel, like myself.

Sweet and Salty Cake

From Baked

cake
3/4 cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (Hersheys)
1 & 1/4 cups hot water
2/3 cup sour cream (light)
2 & 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 & 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
salted caramel
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 cup sour cream (light)
whipped caramel ganache frosting
1 pound dark chocolate (60-70% cacao), chopped
1 & 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 cups unsalted butter, soft but cool, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
garnish + assemble
2 teaspoons fleur de sel, plus more for garnish

cake Preheat oven to 325º. Butter three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each with parchment paper, and butter the parchment. Dust with flour and knock out the excess. Combine cocoa powder, hot water, and sour cream. Set aside to cool. Sift flour, baking power, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and shortening on medium speed until ribbon-like, about 5 minutes. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition. Add vanilla and mix well. Scrape down sides of bowl and mix again for 30 seconds. Add flour mixture, alternating with cocoa mixture, in three portions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Divide batter evenly among prepared pans and smooth the tops. Bake 35-40 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean. Cool cakes in pans for 20 minutes on wire racks. Remove from pans and let cool completely. Remove parchment paper. Can be wrapped in plastic wrap until ready to be used.
caramel In a small saucepan, combine cream and fleur de sel. Bring to a simmer over very low heat until salt has dissolved. Be careful not to let the cream burn. In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water, sugar, and corn syrup, stirring carefully so as not to splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat about 6-8 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer reads 350°/until it is starting to turn golden but NOT dark brown. Remove from heat and let cool for 1 minute. Add cream mixture to sugar mixture. Whisk in sour cream. Let caramel cool to room temperature, then transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until time to assemble the cake.
caramel ganache Put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl and set aside. Bring the cream to a simmer over very low heat. Make sure cream does not burn, but make sure it is simmering. In a medium saucepan, combine 1/4 cup water, sugar, and corn syrup, stirring carefully so as not to splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat for 6-8 minutes until an instant-read thermometer reads 350°. Remove from heat and let caramel cool for 1 minute. Add cream to the caramel. Stir slowly for 2 minutes. Then, pour caramel over chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute. Then, starting in the center of the bowl, and working out to the edges, slowly stir in a circle until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool, then transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix on low speed until the bowl feels cool to the touch. Increase speed to medium-high and gradually add butter, beating until thoroughly incorporated. Scrape down sides and beat on high speed until mixture is fluffy.
assemble Place one cake layer on serving platter. With a toothpick, poke all over the cake. Spread 1/4 cup caramel over the top, letting it soak into the cake. Spread 3/4 cup of ganache frosting over the caramel. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon fleur de sel over the frosting. Top with the second cake layer. Spread with frosting and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon fleur de sel. Top with the third cake layer. Spread with caramel. Crumb coat the cake and put cake in refrigerator for 15 minutes. Frost the sides and top with the remaining frosting. Garnish with a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Cake will keep at room temperature (cool and humidity-free) for up to 3 days. May be refrigerated for up to 3 days. Allow cake to sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours before serving.