Oatmeal Craisin White Chocolate Cookies

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Oftentimes, recipes on the back of boxes / packages can be rather mediocre, having been dumbed down to be accessible to the general public. This one, however, despite its simplicity, is a home run. It’s quick and easy, and most people seem to love the taste, even if they are not particular fans of oatmeal cookies, craisins, or white chocolate.

Adapted from Ocean Spray® Craisins® package:

Ingredients

  • ⅔ cup butter, softened
  • ⅔ cup brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 6 oz. dried cranberries (i.e. Ocean Spray® Craisins®) – Note: I would use 1 to 1 ½ cups.
  • ⅔ cup white chocolate chunks or chips – Note: I would use 1 to 1 ½ cups.

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
  2. Using a mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well. Combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt in a separate mixing bowl. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks.
  3. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. 
  4. Drizzle with melted white chocolate for extra flair and flavor.

Most of the sweetness and flavor for this cookie comes from the dried cranberries and white chocolate, so be liberal with those ingredients. In addition, note that these cookies expand very little in the oven. I would flatten them slightly before baking. No need to worry about the cookies running into each other as they bake.

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Dame Chocolat – Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse Cake

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A birthday cake for my office neighbor!

This bittersweet chocolate mousse cake is another one from Extraordinary Desserts. According to  Extraordinary Desserts’ website:

“This cake is the Grande Dame of chocolate tortes. Dark and intense chocolate mousse sits atop a light layer of flourless chocolate cake creating a richly irresistible chocolate experience.”

I was fairly stressed about all the components to this cake and the execution of the assembly, but I’m happy that it all worked out in the end. Two chocolate genoise cake layers are soaked with a semi-sweet cocoa simple syrup, and topped with bittersweet chocolate-rum ganache and bittersweet chocolate mousse. The surface finish is a chocolate miroir (see description and recipe below), and I used fresh gladiolus flowers for decoration. This is a death-by-chocolate sort of cake (which fortunately was the birthday boy’s wish) that is moist and decadent, and oddly both light and dense at the same time.

The cake layers are flourless, and bake like a giant souffle (including the tendency to collapse). After realizing that I was not going to perfect the souffle in my first couple attempts, I decided to just make two cakes instead of splitting one cake into two halves. Although the cake is flourless, it is actually an airy genoise that holds up well when brushed with a syrup.

The cake is baked in a pan with a removable bottom to allow for easier handling. After baking, the edges of the cake are trimmed to reduce the diameter. Each cake layer is brushed with the syrup, topped with the ganache, and then covered with mousse, which spills over into the outer rim between the trimmed cake and the cake pan. After the cake sets in the freezer, a ganache layer is spread on top, and then a chocolate miroir is poured on to create a glossy, smooth finish.

What is chocolate miroir you ask? I describe it as a chocolate ganache with gelatin added for shine and texture.

Dark Chocolate Miroir

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 gelatin sheet (or about 1/3 packet gelatin powder)
  • 1 tablespoon glucose or light corn syrup

Directions

  1. Combine the sugar, cocoa powder and heavy cream with 2 tablespoons water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Remove pan from heat.
  2. While the sugar is cooking, place the gelatin in cool water to soften and bloom. Squeeze out or drain excess water. Add to hot sugar mixture along with the glucose (or light corn syrup) and mix well to combine.
  3. Use immediately (pour over cake and spread evenly with a large offset spatula).

Dear readers: I no longer possess an SLR camera, so the photography work on this blog will suffer briefly while I use a camera phone and whatever other resources I have within reach during my random baking hours.

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Sesame Caramel Rice Fritters & Tres Leches Cupcakes – Belated Cinco de Mayo

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I didn’t get a chance to make these for Cinco de Mayo like I had planned to, but I made them happen anyway over the past week.

Rice Fritters with Sesame Caramel
(see recipe from Food Network)

If you search for Cinco de Mayo desserts, churros, or variations of fried dough dipped in sugar, are likely to turn up. I thought these rice fritters would be slightly more interesting and challenging, so I decided to give them a try. Delicious, and well-worth the effort! But perhaps no healthier than churros (they are deep-fried afterall) . . .

Tres Leches Cupcakes with Dulce de Leche
(adapted from Saveur Magazine, see also theurbanbaker.com)

Ingredients
Makes 24 cupcakes

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 1 ¼ cups sugar
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • 1 ½ tablespoons dark rum
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 12-oz. can evaported milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream

Directions

  1. Heat ¾ cup of the heavy cream in a saucepan until it boils/simmers. Pour over white chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit for a couple minutes before stirring with a spatula until the white chocolate is melted and smooth.
  2. Preheat oven to 350°. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
  3. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
  4. Beat the egg whites with a whisk attachment until soft peaks form. Continue beating while adding the sugar.
  5. Separately beat the egg yolks until fluffy. Using the paddle attachment, add the flour mixture and whole milk, alternating between the two and ending with the flour.
  6. Add the rum and vanilla and beat briefly until smooth.
  7. Folk in the egg whites.
  8. Scoop batter into cupcake liners, and bake for 16-18 minutes until slightly golden. Be careful not to overbake. Since the cake will be soaked in tres leches, it will ultimately be “moist” in any event, but the cake texture is spongy and can get stiff.
  9. After baking, let cool slightly (~30 minutes), and then poke holes in the top of the cupcakes with a knife, making sure to penetrate to the base.
  10. Peel off the paper liners. Whisk together the sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk, and heavy cream, and spoon the mixture over the warm cupcakes (3-5 tablespoons should do the trick, with the excess sitting in the cupcake pan to ensure that the bottom of the cupcakes are moistened). I wouldn’t worry about oversoaking.
  11. Cover the cupcakes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until well-chilled and the liquid is absorbed (at least 4 hours).
  12. Spread/drizzle dulce de leche on top of the cupcakes, and top with whipped cream.

Home-made dulce de leche is quite easy. It is essentially caramelized condensed milk. Some recipes prepare it directly in the can by placing the can in a boiling pot of water. I decided to go with the oven method (see, e.g. David Lebovitz’s recipe):

Pour a can of sweetened condensed milk into a shallow pie pan or baking pan. Place that pan in a larger roasting dish / baking pan that has a lid. Fill the outer pan with water until near the top of the inner pan. Cover with lid and baking at 425° F for 75-90 minutes. Check occasionally in case you need to add more water. A darker crust/layer will form on the top of the condensed milk / dulce de leche. Whisk the dulce de leche until it is smooth (you may need to strain out pieces of crust). Voila!

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