The Fudgy (chai/mocha optional) brownie

In my house chocolate is basically always an appropriate choice. Whether you are celebrating, mourning, or having a stressful or happy day, I think it is hard to go wrong with chocolate.  So it is not surprising I have (at least) two basic brownie recipes in my regular rotation.  I've previously posted the chewy brownie recipe which lives up to its name, yielding a brownie that also gives your jaw a work out.  But more commonly these days I fall back on this fudgy frosted brownie.  I used to think frosting on brownies was unnecessary; but after creating this simple pour on glaze, I've realize my previous opinion was based on me being lazy.  This glaze is fast and easy to make, and increases the deliciousness.  So in today's quarantine kitchen I present to you my fudgy brownie - with optional modifications to add chai or mocha flavors. 

The Fudgy (chai/mocha optional) brownie

Makes 20 x 1 inch brownies

Ingredients:

50 grams bittersweet chocolate (I usually use 72% or 85% - pick something you like to eat!)
113g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs

½ cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flour
Optional chai seasoning: 

2 tsp cinnamon 

1 tsp cloves 

½ tsp all spice and ginger 

Glaze:

¼ cup milk (any percent) or cream

100 grams bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped

2-4 tablespoon hot espresso/coffee to taste (optional, can replace with milk)

Make the brownies:
1. Preheat oven to 175c (350f).  Prepare a 9x9 pan, lining it with a strip of parchment that goes up two of the sides.
2. In a pot (2 quart) melt the chocolate and butter over low heat, stirring frequently to blend and avoid burning.
3. Remove pot from the heat and stir in the sugar till it is well blended.  Mix in the eggs, salt, vanilla and cocoa, followed by the flour and chai spices (if you are using these).
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes.  If you want brownies on the fudgier/decadent side - a toothpick should come out with slightly uncooked crumbs.  For a more traditional brownie cook until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
5. Cool on a wire rack.  

After taking the brownies out of the oven make the glaze:

1.             In a small bowl warm up milk and chopped chocolate in the microwave (in 2 x30 second increments so as not to burn chocolate). 

2.             Add in hot coffee/espresso (optional, can replace with milk).  Let sit for 1 minute to allow chocolate to melt.  Use a whisk and stir till mixture is smooth.  Note initially this looks separated, then if you keep whisking it should come together - but it will be fairly liquidy!

3.             Pour over the hot brownies.  The glaze will partially be absorbed into the hot brownies - this is ok!

Let cool.  Lift from pan by pulling on edges of parchment paper.  Cut into small squares (these are rich!)  

English Muffins

While life has abruptly changed for all of us these days, I'm stuck at home trying to look for the silver linings and to avoid reading more news.  One of the few advantages of social distancing and being stuck in the house is more time for cooking.  So I am aspiring to share some of the recipes we are cooking in our house, in case anyone is looking for inspiration.

This weekend I was craving english muffins and our local stores were sold out, so I decided I might as well just make them myself.  It turns out these are shockingly easy to make and really delicious.  Even a few days after making them they are still fresh and better then the store bought variety.  These are perfect for your quarantine kitchen - as they take a lot of time (two 10-12 hour rises), but pretty minimal effort!  That is if you can find bread flour in the stores these days...  

Spiced apple cake

I have this dream that someday I will post recipes in a timely fashion for various holidays.  In fact I had made this apple cake recipe a few times last summer, in anticipation of sharing it in time for Rosh Hashana 2016, and then somehow that holiday came and went.  However the good news is that means I had pictures and a recipe, ready to go for this year.  Even so, I still am only managing to post this the night before Rosh Hashana, but better than never!  So here is one of my favorite apple loaf/cakes, great to help celebrate a sweet new year, or any time you have some apples that need a new home.  During the year I often make it in two loaf cakes (you can freeze one!), but for the holidays I'll make it in a round bundt tin.

Wishing everyone a sweet and good new year! L'shana tova!

Things I baked: Red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

Red velvet cake is one of those things that is wildly popular, yet I've never really understood the draw.  I've always cared more about taste then looks, so the excessive red coloring seems strange to me.  It also claims to be chocolate flavored, yet allows only a scant amount of cocoa to make sure the red color shines through.  However I find myself making it every few years by request (often for birthdays).  This recipe was very popular last week, especially the cream cheese frosting.  It makes a nice light and fluffy, barely chocolate, flavored cake. For the frosting I go heavy on the cream cheese, giving a tangy frosting that is not too sweet.

A note about the blog: 
When I initially started this blog I aspired to have my own mini-version of the food blogs that had inspired me, like Smitten Kitchen or Orangette.  I aimed to only post recipes that I had adapted myself and that I had made at least 2 or 3 times in that format, to ensure they were high quality recipes accompanied by quality photos to lure you in.  However these goals along with my work schedule, meant that I found myself posting a new recipe every other month or so, even though I bake 2-3 times a week.  As coworkers recently kept asking me if a  recipe was on my blog for my most recent creation, I realized that maybe I should change my blogging habits.

So I am going to try out a new category of blog posts called "things I baked."  These will be recipes that I haven't had time to perfect and maybe only tried once.  They will likely be accompanied by photos from my phone/ipad, in whatever lighting is available as I pull them from the oven.  But it means I will hopefully post more frequently, allowing us to find out if sometimes quantity is better than quality :).


Red Velvet Cupcakes with cream cheese frosting
Mildly adapted from the NYT
makes 2 dozen cup cakes, or 2 round 9' layer cakes

Ingredients for cake:
1 cup milk
1 Tb vinegar
1/2 cup (113 grams) butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
Red food coloring (2 TB of liquid, or about 1 tsp gel)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cup flour

Ingredients for cream cheese frosting:
8 ounces/225 grams cream cheese - room temperature
1/4 cup (56 grams)  - room temperature
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar - sifted

Make the cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350f / 165 c and line two muffin trays with cupcake liners

1. Pour the milk into a small bowl or glass measuring cup, then add the vinegar.  Let this sit and curdle while you start making the batter.  (This is homemade buttermilk).
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl (this takes about 3-5 minutes, even w/ soft butter, longer if it is not soft)
3. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix well, followed by the cocoa.
4. Dissolve your food coloring in a few tablespoons of your milk (prepared above), then add it into the batter.  Add more food coloring if needed to make the desired color.
5. Sift together the baking soda, salt, and flour (you could probably skip this step without repercussions)
6. Add half the dry ingredients to the batter and mix well, then 1/2 the buttermilk (milk/vinegar) and mix well, then repeat with the rest of the dry then wet ingredients.  It may look curdled during this process, but it then should come together.
7. Fill cup cake tins 3/4 full.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the cupcakes spring back when pressed gently with your fingertip.  Cool on a wire rack.

Make the cream cheese frosting:

1. Mix the cream cheese and butter well with an electric beater (or by hand), till soft and will mixed.  
2. Slowly add in the sifted powdered sugar (NB: if you don't sift it, you will likely get a lumpy frosting!)

Once your cupcakes are cooled - frost them generously and enjoy.

Mini Egg Cookies

 Another year is flying by and it is somehow already that time when the grocery stores are filled with delicious tempting easter chocolatey delights.  It used to the cream eggs that would lure me in, however one of my friends in vet school let me in on the Cadbury mini chocolate egg secret (I blame you Hannah!).  Last month I somehow convinced myself I should save money by buying a large bag instead of the smaller snack size bags.  Which shockingly led to me consuming way too many each night after work.  So in my usual logic, I figured I should bake them into cookies to limit my consumption.  While I'm grateful that decision led me to a new delightful cookie recipe, it also led to buying another bag of eggs (research and development!), which doesn't help in my laughable quest to eat healthy.

This recipe is a mild adaptation of my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  (I seem to switch up my recipe each year...).  The recipe is a winner because it has a higher ratio of chocolate chips to batter, and provides a nice thick chewy cookie.  I also added in a dollop of peanut butter - which adds a complexity to the flavor of the cookie without overpowering it.  While you can taste its presence, it is mild enough that even the Europeans at work approved (they tend not to like peanut butter).  Of course it is the baked mini eggs on top that make this cookie amazing and so popular.  I suspect this would be a good cookie base for other candies as well (peanut butter M&Ms sound delicious!), but I doubt I will try that till after the easter season has passed.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread - Gluten Free!

The original version of the recipe, from smitten kitchen, is one of those recipes that instantly becomes a classic.  You take one bite, then just want more and more.  It is a perfect combination of chocolate (in two forms) with the moist banana that makes you addicted.  And before you know it, you end up buying 3 extra bananas each week, let them brown, and make it again, week after week.  I think I made this 4 times the first month I discovered this recipe.

Occasionally one will stumble upon a chocolatey recipe that is so perfect, that even the addition of peanut butter does not improve it (for example slutty brownies).  Well, this is one of those recipes (pictured below with pb).  I predict it will soon become your new standard for pot lucks, book clubs, or anything other event.

Spider peanut butter blossoms

We had a halloween bake sale at work this week, which inspired me to create a spider version of the classic hershey's peanut blossom cookies.  Taste is usually one of my biggest focuses when baking, however with halloween this weekend, I wanted something to fit the theme as well.  When I first googled for halloween baked goods, I found that many of the recipes didn't look very tasty, and seemed like they took way too much effort decoration wise (like complicated iced sugar cookies!).  Then luckily I stumbled upon some pictures of similar peanut butter spider cookies, and knew I had found a winner.

The base recipe for these - the classic hershey's peanut blossom - is delicious, and should be a staple in your recipe book.  I used nerds for eyes (I do not have the time to fashion my own candy eyes!), and just piped on melted chocolate for legs.  The decorating aspect of it only added about 10 minutes to the whole process.  So if you have a halloween party coming up this weekend, get baking!  Happy Halloween!