triple-chocolate brownie cookies

I'm on a roll!  No, I haven't mailed my taxes yet.  To avoid doing that, I baked these ultra rich triple-chocolate brownie cookies.  They are super moist and rich.  Personally, I think that the chocolate drizzle on the top was overkill.  One cookie set me sailing on a sugar high.  The super richness could be attributed to the ghiradelli chocolate chips I used.  It may sound crazy, but I think they would be better if they were drizzled with a chocolate frosting/glaze rather than the melted down chips.  But if super chocolaty rich cookies are your cup of tea, check these out.

The recipe comes from tasteofhome Cookies

yield 6 dozen

Ingredients

4 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup butter, cubed

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips, divided

2 teaspoons shortening

In a microwave, melt chocolate and butter; stir until smooth.  Cool slightly.  In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar.  Stir in chocolate mixture.  Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to chocolate mixture.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.  Cover and refigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.

 Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. (I used ungreased parchment paper) Bake at 350 degrees F for 7-9 minutes or until edges are set and tops are slightly cracked.  Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

In microwave, melt remaining chips and shortening;  stir until smooth.  Drizzle over cookies.  let stand for 30 minutes or until chocolate is set.  Store in an airtight container.

apple pie

In an attempt to lose some weight, I took a 3 week hiatus from baking.  The break needs to be several months, but lets face it, that's not going to happen.  Baking is such a stress relief for me and considering the time of year it is (TAXES), I definately needed it.  Wednesday, I cleaned out the refigerator and came across some apples that were in need of attention.  You guessed it, I baked my Mom's old fashioned Apple Pie.  It doesn't look fancy, no shiny crust, no fancy lattice work, just good ole apple cinnamon goodness.

This recipe is tried and true:


I'm only listing the ingredients - if you don't know how to assemple a pie.....

For the Crust: (be gentle)

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup crisco
1/2 cup ice water

For the Filling:

Enough apples coated in cinnamon sugar to mound up high in the pie plate.  
A teaspoon of butter dabbed on the top of the apples.  (I find that mac's and courtlands make mushy pie, almost anything else works for me)

Preheated 425 degree F oven for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 325 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Strawberry Cupcakes for Mike's Birthday

It's been a little while since I posted - I was trying not to eat so many sweets and lets face it, when there are fresh baked - well anything - there is just no resisting it.  Certainly, that is no excuse for not posting this one.  I baked these "Real Strawberry Cupcakes" for Mike's Birthday on March 27.  They were just about perfect - moist, flavorful and not to sweet.  The frosting is a cream cheese frosting, and the garnish is nothing other than a slice of fresh strawberry and a little sprinkle of shimmering sugar.  I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, but changed it up just a bit - recipe to follow.

Cupcake Ingredients:

8 large fresh strawberries, or as needed

2 eggs

1 cup white sugar

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon zest

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 Tablespoons instant vanilla pudding mix

Frosting Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Strawberries for garnish
Shimmering Sugar for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  line cupcake pans with cupcake liners (about 15)
2. Place 8 strawberries into a blender, and blend until smooth.  Pour the puree through a strainer to remove seeds.  Puree should equal about 3/4 cup.  Set the puree aside.
3. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, white sugar, vegetable oil, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, lemon zest, and strawberry puree until well combined.  Stir in the flour, baking powder, salt and vanilla pudding mix.  (The recipe called for a drop of red food coloring at this point - I skipped it - the cupcakes came out a light brown color, similar to that of a spice cupcake).  Spoon the batter into the prepared cupcake cups, filling each about 2/3 full.  (This mix should have made more than 12 cupcakes.  I stuffed all the batter into the 12 it called for and obviously, as you can see in the above picture, they overflowed and I had to trim them just to get them out of the pan.)  Next time, I will use better judgement.
4. Bake in the preheated oven until the cupcakes have risen and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 23 minutes.  Allow the cupcakes to cool at least 20 minutes before frosting.
5. To make frosting, beat cream cheese and butter together in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until smooth, and mix in confectioner's sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract to make a lump-free icing.  Frost each cupcake with about 2 tablespoons of icing and top each with a strawberry slice and some shimmering sugar.

Old Fashioned Donut Holes

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just dread the thought of another bowl of cereal - BORING!  Well, I had that feeling this morning along with a craving for an old fashioned donut.  After I fed the dogs their same ole bowl of IAMS (talk about boring), I searched my files for a recipe Rich cut out of the USA weekend for Old Fashioned Donut Holes.   I couldn't find it, I started flipping furiously through my binder of torn out recipes asking myself "where is it, where is it - damn, what am I going to make now".  (normal people would get in their car and drive to dunkin donuts)  I pulled out a couple of different recipes and then saw the one I wanted, stuck right to the front of the refigerator.  I immediately got started.  The dough was very simple to mix but you  had to let it sit for 30 minutes in the fridge before actually frying them.  The final results were less than perfect.  The first batch which came out a light golden brown were raw in the middle.  Thinking that I had to cook them longer, I did.  The second batch was cooked all the way through, but a little to dark on the outside.  It was at this point that I thought that it was possible that I made them to big - in fact that was the case.  This recipe is supposed to make 4.5 dozen donut holes.  I made about 15 extra large donut (baseballs).   Even with the less than perfect results, they tasted pretty good.  I filed the recipe in my binder and will try them again soon.  Stay Tuned!

I tried these again last week - made them smaller (like they are supposed to be) and they were delicious.  Keep in mind when frying them to use fresh vegtable oil.  Here is the recipe:

WARM CINNAMON DOUGHNUT HOLES

Cinnamon sugar:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Dough
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted but not hot
1 large egg
1/3 cup buttermilk

Mix cinnamon sugar on a plate; set aside.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.

Whisk sugar and butter in a large bowl.  Whisk in egg and then buttermilk until smooth.  Gently stir in dry ingredients with a spatula to form a soft, pliable dough.  Cover with plastic and refigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

When ready to fry, heat 1 inch of oil in a 10-inch heavy skillet to 325 degrees.  Meanwhile, use a rounded teaspoon measure to scoop all of the dough into balls.  Working in batches, drop dough balls into hot oil.  Fry until golden brown on one side, 1 to 2 minutes.  Flip and continue to fry until golden on remaining side, another 1 to 20 minutes.  I found that they flipped themselves over when the first side was done and fried them for a total of 3 minutes - they came out perfect.

Drain all doughnut holes on a brown paper bag, and quickly dredge in cinnamon sugar, serving warm or at room temperature.

YIELD:  About 4 dozen

Kaiser Rolls

When I got tired of paying 70 cents per roll at stop and shop, I started my search for a good recipe for a hard roll.  My best effort yet is this one titled Kaiser Rolls.  I eliminated the marking on the top because it was a lot of work and the taste is exactly the same.  These rolls are hearty but not to heavy - perfect for a sandwich - especially when you have access to a toaster oven to toast your sandwich in.  I usually make around 15 per batch, an odd number, but Rich likes them to be big enough to fit a slice of provolone on without it hanging over the edge.  They stay fresh for about three days, but they freeze great (unlike the kind you buy from the grocery store) and they only cost about 20 cents to make!

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons dry yeast
2 1/2 cups water (105-115F)
2 tablespoons Crisco
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
6-7 cups flour
3 egg whites

1. Beat egg whites until stiff - set aside
2. Combine yeast and warm water, let sit for about 5 minutes
3. Add shortening, sugar, salt and 3 cups of the flour
4. Beat dough on med speed for 2 minutes.
5. Fold egg whites into yeast mixture
6. Gradually add flour 1/4 cup at a time until dough comes together and begins to pull away from bowl.
7. Turn onto a floured surface
8. Knead, adding more flour as needed, for 8 minutes until smooth and pliable with bubbles.
9. Place in lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, and cover with damp towel.
10. Let rise until double, about 1 hour
11. Punch down, cover and let rise again until double (another hour)
12. Divide dough into 14 equal pieces
13. Shape into rolls - brush tops with melted butter
14. Cover and let rise for about 45 minutes
15. Preheat oven to 425
16. Put a shallow pan on the bottom shelf of oven
17. Place 1 cup of ice cubes in the heated pan in oven
18. Immediately put the rolls in oven and bake 20 minutes until golden brown
19. Remove and cool on racks.

These rolls freeze great - taste almost as fresh when you take them out of the freezer.

Zebra Cake

This was a first effort at this delicious chocolate cake with white chocolate/whipped cream frosting.  My artistic skills when it comes to drizzling the chocolate on top are in need of work however that didn't affect the taste.  The chocolate cake was light, as was the frosting.  I think the secret to making the frosting perfect is to make sure the white chocolate cools enough before you fold it into the Amaretto flavored whipped cream - yum!  The results - plate-licking.

Not So Sweet

It's almost guaranteed that a couple days after making spaghetti and meatballs, I will be making pizza with the leftover sauce and meatballs.  Generally, I like a thin crust, New York style pizza, with a lighter sauce than what I make for pasta.  However, this particular pizza requires a thick crust, not heavy but light and airy.  I top it with my leftover sauce, freshly grated mozzarella, sliced meatballs, freshly sauteed onions and red peppers.  I also threw on a few slices of pepperoni during the last five minutes of baking.  The results:  A hearty pizza packed with intense flavor. 

A salad and two slices of pizza was very satisfying.  Not wanting to feel "stuffed", I cut a third slice in half (sort of like you do with brownies) and downed that.  Fortunately for me, Rich ate the other half of the third slice - saving me from that stuffed feeling while delivering the ultimate compliment.

As I was packing away the leftovers, patting myself on the back of course, I thought I should snap a picture and share it with all of you - even though it's not so sweet.

Filling the Tupperware

Sometimes, I just need a little spark to get me going, so I thank my daughter for providing just that for me.  Funny that she should write about the tupperware today, as I just finished filling it with a couple dozen yummy, shamrock shaped, buttercream frosted sugar cookies.  They don't look quite as pretty as those made with the royal icing, but the soft, creamy taste of the buttercream has a much better flavor.   The nice thing about this recipe is that they are just as good on day 4 as they were on day 1 (thanks to the tupperware). 

Prolouge to a Blog

My Mom has this certain Rubbermaid Tupperware container... it's the real kind of Tupperware from like 30 years ago that was meant to last a lifetime. The kind of Tupperware that required a kidney for deposit if you wanted to take it into school filled with cupcakes on your birthday. It's round, and a very boring opaque white color, with our last name written on it.

If you walked into my Mom's house and saw this container, you would think to yourself, "wow, that's really old and ugly. I can't believe she has this out in the open where people can see it."

But when I see this container out on the island, my heart skips a beat, and I rush over to it and open the lid. Ah yes, the beautiful sound it makes - a sort of "pop".

The sound of fresh cookies. Sour cream cookies, usually. And then I'd go about nibbling the delightful sweets, forgetting for a minute that there is an entire world outside that kitchen that exists without sour cream cookies - those poor suckers.

You see, my Mom loves to bake, and as far as I can tell, she has always loved to bake... more than most other things. Growing up in a house full of cookies, ice cream every night after dinner and plentiful candy dishes around the Holidays, I never realized how lucky I was... until I moved out. Suddenly I realized that while I might only have 2-3 cookies from every batch, there was always another batch on the way! My own house hasn't seen a single fresh baked cookie since December 25th.

Even though my Mom worked 40 hours a week at a job that required an hour commute (each way), and weekends, holiday hours on a night shift... we almost always had those fresh cookies. Because of this, my siblings and I grew up to be cookie snobs of course, never putting a store-bought cookie or cake in our mouths, but that's a whole different story.

Last August my Mom was laid off from her job after 18 years, and she was not really sure what to do next. In fact, she's still not entirely sure what to do. But she knows what she enjoys doing, and that's baking. After many suggestions from family and friends to start a bakery, she has begun her research... and that's where this blog comes in. I convinced her to start doing some baking and some blogging and really figure out what steps she should take next. If nothing else, it's a surefire way to track what she has been up to in her "extended vacation".

So read on, blog world... as one woman's journey for purpose is fueled by her passion and parchment paper.