Capuccino biscotti

Weird looking, aren't they?  I can explain...

This recipe is similar to the ones I like to use by Lou Seibert Pappas, so I didn't muck with it much other than where necessity called for improvisation.  For the coffee powder, I used a single-serve packet of Taster's Choice hazelnut-flavored instant coffee, which imparted a surprising amount of the imitation hazelnut flavor to the dough, not necessarily in a bad way.  (Made me wish I had hazelnuts to add to the dough.)  As for chocolate, the only "mini" chocolate format I had was mini M&Ms--- not a good choice, in more ways than one.  I also substituted half white whole wheat flour, also perhaps not a good choice.  In short, these cookies were not a raging success.

To make about 3 dozen cookies, here's what I used:

3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1 cup flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Rounded 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 rounded teaspoon instant espresso powder or instant coffee powder3/4 cup granulated white sugar
Rounded 1/2 cup chocolate chips, mini or regular
Cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling (1 tablespoon sugar + 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon), optional

Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C) and place the rack in the center of the oven. Grease and flour a large baking/cookie sheet. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs and the vanilla extract. In a large mixing bowl, soft together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and coffee powder/granules; add the sugar and whisk to combine well. If using mini chocolate chips, blend into the flour mixture now.  Gradually add in the egg mixture and beat until a dough forms. If using larger chocolate chips, stir them in now. Divide the  dough in half and, with a spoon, dollop each half into a log on the cookie sheet about 10 inches long and 2 inches wide. If you like, dust the surface with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until firm to the touch, 35 minutes for more tender biscotti, 40 minutes for crisper biscotti. Remove from the oven – do not turn the oven off – and allow to cool for a few minutes. Transfer the logs to a wooden cutting board, and with a good, serrated knife, cut each log crosswise on the diagonal into ¾ inch-wide slices. Arrange the slices on the lined baking sheet, cut side up, and bake for 10 minutes. Flip all of the slices over and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool.

Note to self:  never use cheap chocolate.  This was just gross.  I've had M&Ms in cookies before and they tasted fine, but not in these cookies.  Maybe the dough isn't rich enough to support a weak chocolate. 

I like hard biscotti for dipping in coffee, but I think the cooking times were a little long here, as they ended up rock hard.  I also think they could have risen just a little big more---perhaps I should have added a tablespoon or two of water to the dough to compensate for the more-absorbent whole wheat flour.  I wish I had thought to use some coffee flour to enhance the coffee flavor (and add nutrients.)

Conclusion:  These were a FAIL.  They were too sweet, tasted too wheaty, and the poor-quality chocolate was apparent.  They had no coffee flavor, and little cinnamon.  They tasted like a cheap breakfast cereal.  (I wonder how much the hazelnut coffee affected the taste.  I couldn't detect it, but it might have added to the overall commercial undertone.)

Recipe:  Capuccino Biscotti via Isolation Baking by Jamie Schler

Steel-cut oatmeal muffins

I've been craving a nubbly, fluffy, steel-cut oatmeal muffin for some time.  I could have sworn it was something I'd made before, but I couldn't find any similar recipe.  So I looked around and settled on this one that sounded like what I wanted, but I did have to make some adjustments.

To make a dozen muffins, here's what I used:

1½ cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 3/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 large egg
1 cup cooked steel-cut oatmeal
1/2 cup whole milk
1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 400°F, and grease a 12-cup muffin tin. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.  In another bowl, lightly beat the egg.  Add the oatmeal to the egg, and mash with a fork to break up clumps.  Add the milk, vanilla, and the butter, and stir or whisk to combine.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and stir briefly to just combine.  Divide the batter evenly between the wells of the prepared muffin tin.  Sprinkle tops with walnuts and press in to secure.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.  The muffins won't brown much on top and might even look a little anemic, but that's okay.

Although the tester came out clean after 15 minutes, I think these could have used a few more minutes in the oven.  I'd also knock the sugar down to 1/2 cup and try that.  (I wanted them sweet enough to eat alone, but they were  slightly too sweet.)  Considering some muffin recipes add up to 1½ cups of sugar (gah!), these were still only mildly sweet.

I tend to cook oatmeal fairly dry and perhaps a little "al dente," which might explain why my batter was VERY thick.  I added another splash of milk, but I wish I hadn't.  Perhaps extra time in the oven would have fixed the texture, but these were ever so slightly gummy, rather than fluffy.  It could have been that extra milk, though.  Perhaps they could have used another 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, maybe a little nutmeg, and a little less vanilla.  I meant to use brown sugar in them but forgot---I think that would be a nice addition.  A touch more salt would be an improvement as well.  So, like, basically a whole different recipe.

Conclusion:  These were good, but didn't quite hit the mark.  I wanted something more nubbly, more hearty, and with a more satisfying flavor. 

Recipe:  Left-over Oatmeal Muffins via epicurious (adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

June ABC challenge: chocolate birthday cake

It was my chocolate-loving friend's birthday, so in May I made her a chocolate cake.  There are several chocolate cake recipes on the GBBO website.  I ruled out one because it called for "cake margarine," whatever that is.  I compared chocolate quantities amongst the others and this had the most.  It also was the only one that didn't call for self-rising flour, so I didn't have to be hassled with working that out.  (Most called for additional rising agent anyway.)

I made a half recipe and used 5 3.5-inch cakelet tins, but the batter rose so much I wish I had used 6.  (I filled the tins about 2/3-3/4 full.)  I greased them all, but then dusted some with cocoa powder and some with flour to see if one looked better.  They both performed equally well.  The ones with cocoa were very dark (that would have been the Dutch cocoa) while the one with flour was dry cocoa-colored.  I'm not sure the darker color, which wasn't even noticeable at first, is worth the trouble of using cocoa.

I started out with Imperial volume measurements, having converted them from the original metric, but I tested them against the weights and they were way off, so I switched to metric.

Here's what I used:

For the cake:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
200g plain flour
45g Dutch cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
230g caster granulated sugar
1 1/2 medium eggs, at room temperature
150ml (5 ounces) full-fat milk
112ml (4 ounces) strong hot coffee (or 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee dissolved in 112ml hot water)

Heat the oven to 350°F.  Melt the butter and leave to cool.  Grease and flour (or line) baking tins.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl.  Add the sugar and mix together.  Break the eggs into the milk and whisk until thoroughly combined, then mix in the melted butter and hot coffee.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; pour the milk mixture into the well and stir everything together with a wooden spoon.  When smooth and thoroughly combined, pour the mixture into the tins about half way.  Bake for about 20-25 minutes until each is well risen, starting to shrink away from the sides of the tin, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.  Run a knife around the inside of the tins to loosen the cakes.  Leave to firm up for 3 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool upside down with the tins loosely on top.

For the ganache:
2 ounces 56% dark (semi-sweet) chocolate, roughly chopped
2 ounces double whipping cream

Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream gently until hot, then pour over the chocolate.  Leave for 5 minutes, then gently stir to make a smooth sauce.  Allow to cool until thickened, then drizzle over completely cooled cakes.

 

These cakes practically doubled in size while baking.  For the coffee, I used one of those singles tubes of Taster's Choice French roast, which was just slightly more than 1/2 tablespoon.  The ganache quantity was just enough to do three cakes--- definitely need more of that.

Conclusion:  The texture was really good, moist but firm.  The flavor could have been more decadent and I'm going to blame the Dutch cocoa powder.  It's not as potent as natural cocoa, and it was probably poor quality as well.  But overall I think a good chocolate cake recipe, and with chocolate chips added it would be a nice snack cake.

Recipes:  Benjamina's Winter Wonderland Cake for the cake and Steph's Raspberry Chocolate Fudge Cake for the ganache.  (Also consider Steph's Black Forest Chocolate Cake frosting recipe.)