Prune and Chocolate Rugelach

I messed up.  I was in a hurry, doing 3 things at once, and I mixed the ingredients wrong.  Instead of measuring out the required portion of the fudge sauce, I dumped the whole lot in, which was about a cup.  I wondered why there was so much filling!  Obviously these would have been much tangier and less chocolaty had I done it properly.  You would have gotten more of the rich pastry relative to the filling, and I might have been able to squeeze in more chocolate nibs if I'd had less filling (though I'm not so sure that would have been a good idea.)

For starters, I'd say the original recipe was sloppy.  Who are these people on paid sites would are such poor recipe writers???  Anyway, I made only half the recipe, and I changed the shape.  Rugelach, in my experience, are not sliced logs -- they're rolled crescents.  So that's what I made.  The instructions also called to mix cold butter and cold cream cheese into a chunky mass.  I didn't see why I would want chunks of either in the dough.  All other recipes I looked at called for both to be soft so they would mix together homogeneously, so that's what I did.  Another change I would make for a future version would be to macerate the fruit overnight in the booze, or just leave the booze out entirely and use water.  It wasn't noticeable.  (You certainly don't need Slivovitz.)  I've written the recipe here as it should be, not as I did it.

Here's what I used, with my changes in strikeout and italics (yield 2 dozen cookies):

For the fudge sauce (makes about 1 cup):
3 ounces (3/8 cup) water
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon salt

For the dough, prune jam, and assembly:
1 cup prunes
1/8 cup Slivovitz [Food 52's note: We substituted brandy]
1 stick butter, cut in chunks and kept cold room temperature 
4.5 ounces cream cheese, cut in chunks and kept cold room temperature
Generous pinch kosher fine salt
1 3/8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/6 cup water
1/6 cup fudge sauce (from above)
4 ounces cocoa nibs (or less) or chopped nuts
Melted, cooled butter, for coating cookies
Granulated sugar, for coating rolling cookies

The night before, place the prunes in a small bowl and pour over the Slivovitz, brandy, or whatever liquid you are using.  Mix to coat, cover, and leave to plump.  

In a small pot, bring water, sugar, and heavy cream to a boil. Reduce to simmer and whisk in cocoa powder. Simmer on low until sauce has a fudge consistency, which may take 10 to 20 minutes. (Mine got thick quickly and I had to add quite a bit of water to thin it out to a fudge sauce consistency.) 

For the dough, combine butter and cream cheese in stand mixer. In a separate bowl, sift salt and flour. Add to the butter and cream cheese mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Divide dough into two equal rounds, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour. Meanwhile, in a small pot, combine the macerated prunes and water. Bring to a boil, then cook on low heat for several minutes, stirring often, until prunes are soft. Place in food processor and blend until paste-like. Add the chocolate fudge sauce and combine. 

Preheat the oven to 350° F. On a sugared surface, roll out one chilled dough round into a 9-10" circle about 1/8-inch thick. Spread half of the chocolate-prune jam over it, then sprinkle with half the cocoa nibs (or your desired amount). Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges.  Roll up each wedge, starting from the wide end, making sure the sugar is coating the pastry.  Place on a greased sheet tray, tip down, about 2 inches apart. Repeat with the second dough round. Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.  (Watch that the bottoms don't get too dark.)  Remove cookies from the baking sheet promptly and cool on a wire rack.

I rolled these out on granulated sugar so I didn't have to fuss with brushing them with melted butter and dipping in sugar after they were rolled.  It worked fine, but the sugar browned a lot on the bottom.  It could easily burn.  Using an insulated cookie sheet would prevent that problem.

On an aside, for some reason my chocolate nibs, bought specially for this recipe from a bulk supplier, tasted of banana, and this was detectable in the cookies.  It didn't "go" with the other flavors.  I love the texture of the nibs, but I'll reserve the remainder of this purchase for something more banana friendly.  Nuts would work fine here.

Conclusion:  These needed something. Or maybe less of something.  I'm not sure if less filling would make the difference needed, or if mixing it to the proper ratio would help, or if they just needed a little more salt.  As rugelach go, I've had better.  The filling was tasty, just seemed a little flat.  The prunes could be changed out with another tart fruit, such as apricots or tart cherries.  I think they would also benefit from some lemon zest.  But it's unfair to judge when I didn't make it right.

Recipe:  Prune and Chocolate Rugelach via Food 52.

Mushroom, Spinach, and Rosemary Crostada

I was looking for a hearty appetizer to bring to a friend's Christmas cookie party.  I wanted it to be somewhat healthy, since no doubt we'd be filling up on cookies and mulled wine.

This crostata took some preparation time, about an hour, but was otherwise very easy.  I was disappointed to not come home with any leftovers. The pie crust I used was slightly more than half whole wheat, made with butter.  I also added the cayenne.

Here's what I used:

dough for a single-crust pie, chilled for about an hour

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 medium onion, minced

4 cups sliced mushrooms

1 box frozen spinach (10 oz), thawed, drained, squeezed dry in a towel, and chopped

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

freshly-ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 cup dry French vermouth (see note)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup freshly-grated Parmesan

1/2 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary leaves

Heat butter and oil in a skillet set over a medium-high flame. After the butter melts and foam subsides, add the onions, mushrooms, spinach and rosemary. Season with salt,  pepper, and cayenne. Cover the pan and cook until the onions and mushrooms are soft — about 2 minutes. Then uncover, and toss the ingredients about with a spoon or spatula until the mushrooms have rendered their juices — about 5 minutes. Add the vermouth; stir. When the vermouth has boiled away, remove the pan from the heat. In a medium bowl, add the two cheeses and the rosemary and stir to combine.

Roll the dough into a 12-inch diameter circle, then place onto a buttered, rimless baking sheet. Spread the cheese mixture on the dough, leaving a 2-inch border all around. Spoon the mushroom mixture atop the cheese, then fold the 2-inch border of dough over the filling, making pleats every 2 inches or so. Gently pinch the pleats to seal.  Bake the tart on the lower-middle shelf at 400 degrees until the pastry browns, about 25 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes, then slide the tart onto a platter or wooden board. Dust with freshly-grated Parmesan. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Note:  I couldn't taste the vermouth.  Now granted, I didn't use the fancy French vermouth... I used a cheapo $3.99 bottle of Italian vermouth I got at Trader Joe's that had very little flavor (while packing an 18% alcoholic punch).  The next time I made it, I was liberal with the vermouth, and it still didn't make any difference.  So I say use whatever you've got:  vermouth, dry sherry, white wine, broth... maybe even beer!  Water in a pinch.

Conclusion:  This was delicious and very easy to put together.  I made it again immediately for myself.  I would, however, err on the side of less rosemary, as it was somewhat strong.  The added cayenne gave just a hint of heat.  Lemon zest might also be a nice addition to brighten the flavors.  Don't skimp on the cheese.

Original recipe:  Mushroom, Spinach & Rosemary Tart via A Garden for the House

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

This turned out to be a great little cookie.  I was pleased that it wasn't a hard gingersnap, as gingerbread made with butter tends to be.  But I would definitely decorate them with something else next time, as the sugar pearls were just way too sweet for my taste.  They tasted iced.

Since our brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added back into it, I never see the point of using brown sugar (which is more expensive) when molasses is already in the recipe, so I changed that out.  Otherwise, I prepared the recipe as written.

Here's what I used (yield 36 cookies):

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa
1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed dark brown white sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 cup semisweet chocolate mini chips
5 tablespoons Swedish pearl sugar

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or grease lightly.  Combine the flour, baking soda, spices, salt, and cocoa.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter with the sugar until light and creamy.  Add the molasses and beat until combined.  Beat in the dry ingredients, then stir in the chips.  Scoop the dough a tablespoon at a time; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. Roll the top portion of each dough ball in pearl sugar.  Place the unbaked cookies 1½" apart, sugar side up, onto the prepared baking sheets.  Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until their surface begins to crack. (I baked them for only 10.  They were still VERY soft and puffed, and just beginning to crack.)  Remove from the oven, cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Conclusion:  These were good, easy -- something I would make again, but with a different topping.  (Either that or eliminate the ½ cup of sugar in the recipe.)  Perhaps real chocolate or colored jimmies, or LIGHTLY dusted powdered sugar.  I didn't notice the chocolate chips much -- chocolate lovers will want to use more chips.  These were never crunchy, and after a few days they mellowed to a tough-chewy.  Very nice.

Recipe:  Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies via King Arthur Flour

Cafe Pasqual's Pumpkin Pie... sort of

(Update:  a closer attempt at the restaurant's pie can be found here.)

 

Pumpkin pie is one of my favorite foods in the world, especially cold for breakfast.  It is not uncommon for me to consume a whole pie by myself in two days.  For this reason, though, I tend to cut back on the sugar and the cream -- when you're putting away that much pie, you need to take it down a notch.

My all time favorite pumpkin pie was from New Frontiers, a small, organic grocery store.  When they were purchased by Whole Foods, we were told WF would keep the old recipes.  And they did, for a while.  But when I went the next Thanksgiving to get a slice of this seasonal pie, it wasn't available.  And now, I guess, that recipe is lost forever.

My second favorite pumpkin pie is from Cafe Pasqual's in Santa Fe, New Mexico, but a slice of that will set you back $12.

The two are very similar in that they are very dense and not very sweet.  I've always wondered how they get that dense texture.  I thought perhaps the pumpkin puree was cooked down a bit.  Cafe Pasqual's has a cookbook out, and they have a recipe for pumpkin pie in it, so I gave it a try (or at least what I thought was their recipe.  See my second, more successful attempt here.)

This is good, but it's not what they serve in the restaurant.  For one, it's considerably more sweet.  And there was a lot of liquid in it -- not that dense, thick texture I love.  I guess they're not giving away their secrets.

Here's what I used:

1 pre-baked whole wheat pie crust, fitted into a 9.5-inch* pie dish (recipe below)

4 large eggs

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree, 100% pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup dark molasses

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon 1 tablespoon ground ginger**

1/4  teaspoon ground clove

1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 scant teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2  teaspoon fine sea salt

1 scant teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream

Prebake the pie crust and cool crust completely. While crust is cooling, preheat oven to 400 degrees and begin to prepare the filling.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a wire whisk.  Add the pumpkin puree and whisk to combine.  Next mix in the maple syrup and molasses, followed by the sour cream, spices, salt, vanilla extract and finally the heavy cream, mixing with a whisk until thoroughly combined. Pour mixture into baked pie shell crust and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes, until center is almost set and a toothpick or knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  If the crust edges are browning too quickly, fit a ring of foil around the rim. Let pie cool completely on a rack before serving.   Serve with a dollop of freshly whipped cream.

Whole Wheat Pie Crust (for 1 crust pie)

1¼ cup all purpose whole wheat flour (use pastry flour if desired)

1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2 cubes

1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into roughly 1/2-inch cubes

3-4 tablespoons ice water

1 egg

1 tablespoon of water

In large bowl, mix flour, sugar and salt.  Add cold butter and shortening cubes to flour mixture and, with a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut in fat until mixture forms clumps about the size of tiny peas (clumps will be uneven.)  Quickly sprinkle ice water 1 tablespoon at a time over all of the flour mixture, tossing lightly with a spoon until you can form the dough into a ball.  (Don’t overwork dough.)  Flatten the ball into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest refrigerated for an hour or longer. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take the pie disk out of the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften a bit.  Roll into a 12-inch circle about 1/8-inch thick.  Fit dough into the bottom of the pie dish and dedecoratively crimp edges.  Line the shell with a piece of crumpled parchment paper or foil, then fill the pie shell with a layer of dried beans or other pie weights. Bake for about 15 minutes or just until crust starts to brown. While crust is baking, in small bowl whisk together the egg and tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. Remove crust from the oven, take pie weights out and brush the egg wash mixture all over crust (this will seal the crust preventing wet filling from making it soggy.)  Bake for another 8-10 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack before filling.

*The mix fit perfectly in a 9.5-inch pie pan that was 1.5 inches deep.

Conclusion:  This was a little too sweet for my taste, but it's fine if you're having just one piece for dessert.  The sweetness was very tolerable, not candy-like -- I suppose because it came from the maple syrup.  It also had a strong ginger taste, which at first I thought was too strong, but the next day thought it was okay.  I would, however, like to try it again with the Libby's (my third favorite pie) spice mix and perhaps only 2 teaspoons of ginger.

Recipe:   The Best Pumpkin Pie!!! via Jessica Collins TV***, adapted from David's Perfect Pumpkin Pie via Cooking with Cafe Pasqual's: Recipes from Santa Fe's Renowned Corner Cafe .   (1/20 update:  the original link to Jessica Collins TV no longer works, but her current recipe--- without reference to Cafe Pasqual's--- can be found here.)

 

**Cafe Pasqual's recipe contains 1 tablespoon of ginger.  Jessica Collins' recipe contains only 1/2 teaspoon.

***Kudos to The Wayback Machine for helping me find Collins' original post from November 22, 2010 after her site was taken down.

Happy Halloween! Spicy Skull Brownies

I was charged with bringing a pan cookie to a Halloween party.  To make this pan of brownies more festive, I came up with this idea to create a skull face on the pan.  I made a template from an on-line image, pinned it to the brownies with toothpicks, then carefully applied a thin layer of royal icing to fill it in.  When I realized I had a "hatchet" that would add to the image, the blood naturally followed (... so to speak.)

Here's what I used (for the brownies):

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 teaspoons ground ancho chile pepper
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
9 ounces quality dark chocolate (60-72%), coarsely chopped
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into 1-inch pieces
1¼ cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
5 eggs, room temperature

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 3-quart square baking dish or a 13x9x2-inch baking pan; set aside. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, chile pepper, cinnamon, salt, and ginger; set aside. Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler or a large heat-proof bowl. Set over a pan of barely simmering water (the bottom of the pan should not touch the water). Heat and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Remove from heat, keeping pan or bowl over water. Add both sugars; whisk until completely combined. Remove from water. Mixture should be at room temperature. Add three eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Do not overbeat the batter or your brownies will be cakey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold until there is just a trace amount of flour mixture visible. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish or pan and smooth the top with your spatula. Bake the brownies for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Cool completely on a wire rack. (If desired, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder mixed with 1/2 teaspoon ground ancho chile pepper.)

Hmmm... as I re-read this recipe now, I thought I had increased the quantity of ancho chili because it seemed too low.  Now I'm wondering if I was looking at the 1/2 teaspoon at the end of the recipe.  I'm sure I would have thought 4 teaspoons was plenty!  If I bumped it up to 1 teaspoon, then no wonder it wasn't noticeable.  Perhaps it was the ginger I increased.  Well, this is what happens when you wait two months before writing up the blog post.

Conclusion:  I wasn't very pleased with these.  They had the somewhat chalky dryness that I think comes from too much chocolate, and weren't fudgy at all.  (I suppose I might have overbaked them, though I checked them early.)  And even with increasing the spices, the spices still weren't especially noticeable. 

Recipe:  Sweet & Spicy Brownie Bites via Better Homes and Gardens, February 2015

October ABC Challenge: Spiced Apple Cream Cheese Cake

For the cake:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder 
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom
¼ tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
½ cup evaporated milk

For the cheesecake:
1 package (250 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp each freshly grated nutmeg and ground clove
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp all-purpose flour

For the topping:
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 whole cloves
1 ¼ lbs tart apples, such as Granny Smith or Northern Spy (about 4 apples), cored, peeled and chopped into 1/3-inch cubes
2 tbsp granulated sugar 
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg 

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch round springform pan with butter and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

To make the topping, fold together apples, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Heat butter in a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat until the foam subsides. Add whole cloves so they infuse the butter and then add the apple mixture. Toss until they just begin to soften, but not until they’re mushy, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer apples back to the bowl, discard cloves and set aside to cool completely while you prepare the rest of the cake.

To make the cheesecake batter, beat cream cheese in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until smooth and the sugar is mostly dissolved, about 40 seconds. Beat in the cinnamon, nutmeg and clove until combined. Add egg yolk and flour and beat just until incorporated and batter is smooth. Set this aside while you make the cake batter.

In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom and salt. In another medium bowl, beat butter with both sugars until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla until combined. Add egg and beat until well incorporated and batter is fluffy, about 30 seconds. Add one-third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until mostly combined. Beat in half of the evaporated milk until blended. Repeat this step by adding half the remaining flour mixture followed by the last of the milk, beating no more than 15 seconds between additions. After the last bit of milk has been added, beat on medium speed for 3-5 seconds to just make sure the batter is smooth. Fold in the last of the flour mixture by hand using a rubber spatula until evenly combined. 

Scrape batter into prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Spoon dollops of cream cheese mixture over the cake batter and use a butter knife or the back end of a spoon to lightly swirl it in to sort of fuse the two batters together. Gently spoon cooled apples over the batter in an even layer and bake until the cake wobbles ever so slightly in the middle, 45-50 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool completely.

Conclusion:  Cake was a little too sweet and not an interesting addition.  Better with cheddar.
Left skins on.
Added salt, about 1/2 t ? To batter, prob could use more.
Baked ~15 min longer for 2.
Cloves ground is fine.

Recipe:  Spiced Apple Cream Cheese Coffee Cake via Scientifically Sweet

Banana Oatmeal (wheat free) Muffins

This is a pretty simple recipe for a basic banana muffin, but the oatmeal makes it more dense and chewy than muffins made with wheat.  I wanted to make these a little more healthy, so I added flax seeds, cut out the white sugar, and reduced the sugar quantity substantially.  I added ginger because I really like the ginger/banana combination.

For 6 muffins, here's what I used:

1¼ cups old fashioned oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 tablespoon whole flax seed
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 egg
3/8 cup sugar 1 tablespoon sucanat
1 ripe banana
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Heat oven to 350F.  Blend the oats with the baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ginger in a food processor for about 10 seconds until fine.  Add the rest of the ingredients and blend until well mixed. Stir in the walnuts and chocolate.  Scoop into muffin tins and bake 30-35 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean and muffins are nicely browned.  Remove from tins and allow to cool for a few minutes; serve warm.

Conclusion:  Good.  Nice nubbly texture from the oatmeal, and also quite moist, with a very mild sweetness.

Original recipes:  Banana Oatmeal Breakfast Muffins via Debbie Reichert Fitness, which was based on Oatmeal Banana Breakfast Muffins via Well Traveled Wife.

June ABC Challenge: Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Not to be trapped in the house over the holiday weekend with a full batch of intensely chocolate cookies, I cut this recipe down by one quarter.  The only other change I made was to reduce the amount of sugar.  Here's what I used:

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 ½ tablespoons sugar
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ teaspoon cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
¾ ounce finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
¼ (about 14 grams) large egg
1/8 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Rub butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in chopped chocolate.  Whisk together egg and vanilla in a small bowl. Add egg mixture to chocolate mixture and stir with a fork until mixture is moistened and combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Shape dough into small heaped teaspoon-sized balls. Roll each in powdered sugar to coat; place on prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just set but still slightly gooey in the dead centers. Let cool on sheets for just a minute before carefully transferring to wire racks to cool completely, or serve warm.  Yield:  5 cookies

These didn't flatten much during baking, which caused me to over baked them slightly (they weren't gooey in the center).  I might not have used quite enough butter, as it's hard to measure out that small of an amount.  I suspected I might be shorting it at the time I was mixing them.

Conclusion:  Not impressed.  I blame myself for the uninteresting texture, which was soft and cake-like.  But they just weren't all that rich or chocolaty.  I can't think of when I might want something just sort of chocolaty; if I want a chocolate baked good, then I'll want it very chocolaty, and the only answer for that is cake or brownies.  I've yet to find a chocolate cookie that's worth the effort. This was no exception.

Recipe:  Tender Loving Crackle Cookies via Scientifically Sweet

May ABC Challenge: Brown Butter Banana Bread

Last February, I made these Chocolate Banana Muffins with Cayenne that called for browned butter, but felt the effort was lost among the other dominant flavors.  I liked the idea, though, so was happy to try this recipe.

I started with half the recipe, then made a few adjustments for personal taste.  The changes I made from exactly half the original recipe are in italics and strikeout.  Here's what I used:

¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 medium) 
½ large egg, at room temperature
¼ cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon lemon juice
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup whole wheat flour 
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon ginger
½ teaspoon ground turmeric
3/8 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 8x4 6x3-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, letting it hang over the long sides.

Brown the butter by cooking it over medium-low heat while stirring frequently until it is fragrant and golden brown with little brown bits throughout. Pour it out into a clean bowl and set aside to cool until just warm.

In a small mixing bowl, mash up the banana with a fork. Add the cooled brown butter, egg, sugar, and lemon juice and whisk until blended.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and ginger. Add to the mixing bowl, then fold the dry ingredients in gently until just barely combined. Do not over-mix. Pour batter into pan and bake until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45-55 35-40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool before slicing. 

Conclusion:  This was a good banana bread recipe, moist, with good banana flavor.  It was a little wheaty, but not surprising since I used more than half whole wheat.  I couldn't detect a specifically "brown butter" flavor, but perhaps it was overrun by the whole wheat flavor.  (Certainly chocolate would have dominated, had I used it.)  I would try this recipe again with 100% white flour to see if I could detect the browned butter, but it would have to be a remarkable improvement to make it worth the extra time and effort.

Original recipe:  Brown Butter Banana Bread via Scientifically Sweet

Coffee-infused Semolina Almond Cake

This is more of a European style cake -- not overly sweet or loaded with a lot of frosting.  It's lighter than typical American cakes, but still very satisfying.  It actually comes across a lot like a coffee cake, to some degree because of the heavy dose of cinnamon.  The original recipe contained no salt, also typical of European desserts; I added some to my personal  taste.

This wasn't hard to make at all, just a little fussy because of the separate components.  And then there was the question of what to bake it in...  I have 4 pans all labelled as 8", and 3 of the 4 are all different sizes.  (How do these things happen?)  I finally opted for the only two pans I had that were the same size, which was 8½", resulting in a cake that was slightly flatter than desired.

Here's what I used:

Cake:
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup strong coffee
1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons semolina
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1¹/₃ cups ground almonds

Syrup:
3/4 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup water, approximately (see note)
1/3 cup strong coffee

Halva cream:
4 ounces halva, broken in pieces
3 tablespoons strong coffee
1/2 cup superfine sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

To decorate:
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped, or other nuts

Preheat oven to 425F. Grease and line two deep, 8-inch round cake pans with waxed paper.  To make cake, in a bowl, cream sugar, butter, and salt until light and fluffy.  Gradually beat in eggs and coffee.  Stir in semolina, baking powder, cinnamon, and ground almonds. Divide between prepared pans and bake in oven 10 (8) minutes. Lower temperature to 350F and bake 10 to 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into center comes out clean. Let stand in pan 2 minutes, then turn each out onto a wire rack placed over a plate.

Meanwhile, make syrup. Put sugar and water into a saucepan and heat gently until sugar has dissolved. Boil 4 minutes, remove from heat and stir in coffee. Bring back to a boil, pour over hot cakes, then allow to cool.  To make halva cream, in a saucepan heat halva, coffee and sugar gently until smooth; cool.  In a bowl, beat butter until soft, then beat in halva mixture.  Sandwich cakes together with half of halva cream. Spread with remaining cream and decorate with nuts.

Note:  the cookbook left the water out of the ingredient listing, so I had to guesstimate.  If you have a recipe that uses a similar technique of moistening the cake with liquid, try following those quantities.  Otherwise, you want at least 1 cup of liquid to pour over the cakes, possibly up to 1½ cups.  I think I had about one cup, and my cakes could have been a little more moist, but it's hard to know what's going to be too much when you're pouring it on.  You don't want soggy cake!

The batter is quite thick and the cake initially dry, as there's very little liquid in the recipe, but it's salvaged by the coffee syrup that gets poured onto the hot cakes and immediately absorbed by the semolina.  It's a very effective technique, producing a light but moist crumb with a nubbly texture.  Since my cakes were thinner than the recipe called for, I baked them for slightly less time (noted in parentheses above).

If halva isn't available, you could use any nut butter, but it would have to be very thick.  (Buy a natural nut butter, let it separate, and then use the thick paste that settles out.  Adjust the butter quantity accordingly to achieve the correct texture.)  You would also want to increase the sugar, since halva is quite sweet.  In California, you can't buy truly raw nuts -- they have to be pasteurized.  For that reason, the "raw" pistachios available to me don't have that bright green color (or that fresh flavor), but are more a sort of grey-green-brown.  Not very attractive.  So I opted for almond slices to decorate my cake instead.

Conclusion:  This is an excellent cake for a midday coffee break or a light dessert.  It won't be to everyone's taste, as many people are accustomed to the heavy, rich cakes that are typically served for American desserts.  But it has a wonderful combination of flavors and makes an elegant offering.

Recipe:  Halva Gâteau from A Gourmet's Guide to Coffee & Tea by Lesley Mackley

April ABC Challenge: Fudgy No-butter Brownies (gluten-free, dairy-free... why???)

I'm perfectly happy with buttery, gluten-loaded brownies.  But I'm up for something new...  This is called a challenge, after all.  So, gluten-free brownies, it is.

April fools?  No.  I've been reducing grains and sugar from my diet for a while now, and therefore many of the baked goods I make (like this banana bread or these almond bars) use an almond base -- either almond meal or almond butter -- to replace the wheat.  They're pretty tasty, surprisingly!  They don't go down as easily as wheat-based goods, tending to stick in throat (so no snarfing!), but there's no sacrifice in taste or texture.

These brownies are no exception.  The lack of added fat (there is some in the almond meal -- 15g in 1/4 cup versus 12g in 1 tablespoon of butter) makes them less gooey and heavy-sitting, but does not detract from their richness.  They are VERY dense -- that would be the only giveaway that there is something unique about them.

I thought about making these entirely sugar-free, but ended up just reducing the sugar quantity.  I also halved the recipe.  Changes from the half recipe are in italics and strikeout.  Here's what I used:

1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
100 g (about 1 cup) almond meal
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon espresso powder
1 large egg, at room temperature
½ large egg white
1 tablespoon water
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
2.5 oz (about 1/3 cup) best quality dark chocolate chips
¼ cup walnut pieces

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, letting it hang over the edges of pan.

Sift icing sugar and cocoa into a large mixing bowl. Add almond meal, salt, and espresso powder and stir to combine. Add whole egg, egg white, water and vanilla extract and stir until smooth. The batter will be thick. Stir in the walnuts.  Scrape batter into your prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake until a shiny crust forms and a skewer inserted into the center comes out with a few moist sticky bits, about 10-15 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool slightly. For neat slices, let cool completely before slicing.

These whipped up very easily -- I love one-bowl bakes.  Since there's no flour, you don't need to worry about over mixing the batter, so beat away.  My oven went a little hot, and by 15 minutes the skewer came out completely dry.  Slightly overbaked by the originator's standards, I suppose, but by no means a detraction.  (It might have caused them to rise slightly less if the egg cooked before it had time to do its magic.)

Conclusion:   Dense, very chocolatey, good.  Using half the sugar made them semi-sweet, which was still perfectly acceptable.  They were definitely better the next day, when the moisture seemed to have soaked in and melded.  There was only the slightest of powdery texture from the almonds -- if they'd been made with flour and were this dense, they'd be creamy.  If one wanted to eliminate the added sugar entirely, they could probably be made with ground up raisins or dates as a substitute.  I'll keep this recipe handy for when I want something decadent but don't want to cheat too badly.  (And I might throw in a little oil.)

Original recipe:  Fudgy No-Butter Brownies via Scientifically Sweet

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Irish Soda Bread Cookies

Irish soda bread purists will have a fit.  Okay, so Irish soda bread isn't sprinkled with green sugar.  They were supposed to be shamrocks, but I didn't have a clover shape.  Think of each as a clover bunch.  Extra lucky.

While I'm not sure I'm diggin' this combination, I think there's hope for these cookies.  They do taste like soda bread, but the caraway with the sweetness makes the cookies taste a little toothpastey.  And, after all, soda bread isn't sweet.

These actually taste quite a lot like scones.  In fact, if cut thick enough, they could probably be served as such, though I would want the sugar reduced.  They were a tad too sweet for such a mild cookie.  After sampling a few, though, I started to imagine flavors that would suit this cookie well.  The two that immediately came to mind were lemon (sprinkled with powdered sugar) and almond (with sliced almonds.)

These were easy to make, but the dough was pretty sticky.  I chilled it for about 30-45 minutes, and then rolled it out in bits, keeping the rest of the dough in the freezer while I worked.  That helped.

My changes are in italics and strikeout.  Yield:  about 2½ dozen cookies.  Here's what I used:

2 1½ cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon caraway seed
1/2 cup salted butter
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup dried currants

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Combine dry ingredients in a food processor. Add the butter in slices and process until mixture resembles coarse meal. On low speed, mix in beaten egg and then the milk to make a soft dough. (May need a little more milk).  Stir in currants.  Dump onto a floured surface and knead lightly 5 or 6 times to bring together. Chill until firm if dough is unmanageable.  Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick and cut into desired shapes (approximately 2 inches in diameter).  Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned.

Conclusion:  This is not something I'll make again as is, but I will probably play with the recipe.  They were so easy and the texture was really nice -- very light and airy.  Even as is, if the sugar were reduced they would be nice as a late morning or afternoon snack with a cup of tea.  They're also nice dipped quickly in coffee.  And they'd be delicious with a spot of clotted cream.

Original recipe:  Irish Soda Bread Cookies by Laria Tabul for Allrecipes