intense flourless chocolate cookies

I made crack pie for Easter dinner dessert and found myself with an insane amount of egg whites left over. Instagrammers suggested meringues or angel food cake, but I wasn't feeling it. These cookies did jump up at me after a quick web search.

A simple one bowl and whisk cookie. Powdered sugar, cocoa powder and salt get combined in a bowl, then egg whites and vanilla get added in. Finally, chocolate chips add another punch of chocolate.

Intense Fourless Chocolate Cookies
recipe via I heart eating

3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
4 large egg whites
1 T. pure vanilla extract
1/2 c. semisweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar with cocoa powder and salt. Whisk in the vanilla and egg whites just until the batter is moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the batter by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheets. Leave enough space between each cookie for them to spread (about 2 ½ ” of space between each cookie).

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked.

Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Comments on the blog post I found the recipe on were mixed. The recipe didn't turn out for some people. They were saying the batter was really thin and the cookies spread out all over the baking sheet. Figuring I would have to play with the measurements to get the batter right I was not very precise with my measuring of dry ingredients but I used precisely 120 g of egg whites, which should be the equivalent of 4 large egg whites. My batter was quite stiff and kept its shape when I scooped out tablespoon-sized mounds on my baking sheet.

My cookies baked in 10 minutes and kinda stuck to the parchement paper but I used a thin spatula to transfer them to a cooling rack. I got 24 cookies out of this recipe.

I personally loved these: they are intensely sweet and chocolaty, with a thin crisp shell, kinda like the top of a brownie, with a chewy/gooey center. My husband wasn't a big fan, had a few bites while the cookies were still warm and threw the rest of his cookie out.

I will make these again and play with flavoring. Mint extract would be awesome, so would espresso powder. I also want to try sprinkling crystallized ginger on top. I think it would cut the chocolate a bit and then, maybe, you'd get to eat more than one!

chocolate chip cookies

Seems I haven't posted a chocolate chip cookie recipe in a while. So this is the Jacques Torres/New York Times recipe I'm currently using! This one uses both cake and bread flour and needs to chill for 24 hours before being bakes, so plan ahead, or keep the portioned dough balls in the freezer for when the craving strikes!

I make my cookies smaller, 2-3 tbsp of dough per cookie, and this recipe yields 4.5 doz. For softer cookies, bake in a 350 F oven for 12 minutes. For a crisper cookie outside with a chewy center, bakes for 12 minutes at 375 F. They get nice and golden brown at this temperature too!

Chocolate chip cookies

An altered version of a recipe by The New York Times adapted from Jacques Torres

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 pound bittersweet chocolate chips

Sift flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt into a large bowl; set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Stir in the vanilla.
Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them.
Scoop cookies into 2-3 tablespoons balls, press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat; set aside.
Place 12 mounds of dough onto baking sheet and bake until pale golden brown but still soft, 12 minutes.

toffee squares

This is one of my favorite super easy treat to make. It's quick, only three ingredients and has that salty-sweetness thing going which I love.

So easy, I let my kids make it! They love to smash an entire box of Ritz crackers. I leave the crackers in the sealed inner bag and let them squish all they want. Next, they get to stir in an entire bag of skor toffee bits and a can of sweetened condensed milk.

I pour the whole thing in a greased 8 x 8 and bake it for about 25 minutes in a 350 F oven, until it's golden brown. Let cool, cut into small squares and enjoy!

Easy-peasy, according to my children.

chewy chocolate mint cookies

Two Baked Sunday Mornings posts in a row: I'm on a roll! And these cookies were crazy good, so I'm really glad I made them!

They remind me of the chocolate cream cheese snacking cookies we made last summer in that they are soft and tender but... refreshing. And I totally didn't expect that. The mint, and there's a lot of it in this recipe, took them to a whole other level.

Instead of the chunks called for in the recipe, I used callebault chocolate chips and I didn't roll them in sugar before baking. These only bake for 10 minutes and stayed nice and soft after cooling.

I had plans to turn these into ice cream sandwiches but I was assured that they wouldn't last long and they didn't.

For the recipe, and to see how the other bakers enjoyed their cookies, click on through to the Baked Sunday Mornings blog.

Cinnamon Roll Cake

I needed a dessert to bring to my parent's house for dinner after the kids had invited themselves over this weekend. I was all set to make Classic Creme Brulée as part of Baked Sunday Mornings, but when I poured the cream in a saucepan, it came out.... not quite liquid.

So.... Spent a couple of hours trying to decide what to make and waited until the very last minute to make this cake.

It's not real pretty, not fancy and not complicated, but it was so good! It hung out on the stove top while dinner was cooking so was still warm and gooey when we had it for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The cake itself was moist and light and the topping created gooey swirls of cinnamon and brown sugar yumminess.

This is a very simple 3-bowls and no mixer cake. The batter itself is simply flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, eggs, milk and vanilla whisked together like pancake batter. Melted butter gets poured in the batter and gently combined. The resulting mixture gets spread in a greased 9x13 pan.

The butter for the topping was supposed to be room temperature, but mine was fridge cold, so I simply cut it into some brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. Once it seemed combined enough, I poured it on batter and used a knife to swirl the topping into the batter as best as I could.

My cake baked for way longer than the recommended 30 minute average. Maybe, 45 to 50 minutes total.

Once I got around to it, and while the cake was still warm, I made the quick glaze out of powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, and poured it on top of the cake where it quickly seeped into the nooks and crannies to settle.

Not much to look at, but it made for a homey satisfying dessert, that could totally be considered breakfast.... cause you know: cinnamon!

Cinnamon Roll Cake
recipe source: Rumbly Tumbly

Cake:
3 c. flour
1/4 tsp.salt
1 c. sugar
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. milk
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. butter, melted

Topping:
1 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Mix everything together except for the butter. Slowly stir in the melted butter and pour into a greased 9×13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined. Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

While warm drizzle the glaze over the cake.

whoopie pies - daring bakers challenge

I had the pleasure of hosting this month's Daring Baker's challenge for the Daring Kitchen. Each month, a challenge is presented, and the members have until the end of the month to make the recipes and blog about them, starting on the 27th of the month. I've been a member of this monthly "baking club" since 2011 but I've been a pretty absent member in 2013. I blame life. And my job. And life.

So I chose to challenge my fellow bakers to make whoopie pies for my first time hosting. I figured something that was not all that common, easy enough and that wasn't too time consuming because, after all, December is an insanely busy time for us bakers (and non-bakers!).

Whoopie pies are a cross between a cookie and a cake (not a pie!), with two round, mound-shaped halves sandwiching a sweet creamy filling.

According to Wikipedia, Whoopie pies are considered a New England phenomenon and a Pennsylvania Amish tradition. It is also Maine’s official state treat. The traditional Whoopie pie consists of a chocolate cake and a vanilla marshmallow filling, but pumpkin and gingerbread cake is also common enough. Want to know why they are named Whoopie pies? Check Wikipedia for the cute story!

I personally love them because of the infinite flavor combination possible. They remind me of cupcakes, but more portable and easier to eat. So I provided three recipes for the cookie/cake, and three filling recipes, and challenged the bakers to come up with some delicious flavor combination of their own.

CLASSIC CHOCOLATE WHOOPIE PIES WITH MARSHMALLOW CREME FILLING
Recipe source: King Arthur Flour
Servings: 8 large or 16 small whoopie pies

Ingredients

For the Whoopie Pies

1/2 cup (120 ml) (4 oz) (115 gm) butter
1 cup (240 ml) (7 oz) (200 gm) brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) espresso coffee powder, optional
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) baking soda
3/4 teaspoon (4½ gm) salt
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup (120 ml) (1½ oz) (45 gm) Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
2 1/3 cups (560 ml) (10 oz) (285 gm) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) milk

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

2) In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, espresso coffee powder (if using), baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla till smooth. Add the egg, again beating till smooth.

3) Add the cocoa, stirring to combine.

4) Add the flour to the batter alternately with the milk, beating till smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, and beat again briefly to soften and combine any chunky scrapings.

5) Drop the dough by the 1/4-cupful (60 ml) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving plenty of room between the cakes; they'll spread. A muffin scoop works well here.

6) Bake the cakes in a preheated moderate oven for 15 to 16 minutes, till they're set and firm to the touch. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pans. While still lukewarm, use a spatula to separate them from the pan or parchment; then allow to cool completely.

(pictured are mini whoopie pies, using 1 tablespoon batter)

Ingredients

For the Marshmallow Creme Filling

1 cup (240 ml) (6 oz) (175 gm) vegetable shortening
1 cup (240 ml) (7 oz) (4½ oz) (125 gm) confectioners' sugar or glazing sugar
1-1/3 cups (320 ml) (4 oz) (115 gm) Marshmallow Fluff or marshmallow creme
¼ teaspoon (1½ gm) salt dissolved in 1 tablespoon (15 ml) water
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

1) (To make the filling:) Beat together the shortening, confectioners' sugar, and marshmallow until well combined.

2) Dissolve the salt in the water, and add to the marshmallow mixture. Add the vanilla, and beat until smooth. If the filling is too thin, add confectioners’ sugar until desired consistency is reached.

Assemble the Whoopie Pies

1) Spread or pipe filling onto the flat side of half the cakes (with the filling). Top with the remaining cakes, flat side towards the filling. Wrap individually, in plastic wrap, until ready to serve.

The whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days on a parchment lined baking sheet covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.

RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES WITH CREAM CHEESE FILLING
Recipe source: Baked Explorations, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Servings: 18 small whoopies

Ingredients

For the Whoopie Pies

2 1/2 cups (600 gm) (10 ½ oz)) (300 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
3 tablespoons (45 ml) (3/4 oz) (22 gm) dark unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon (2½ gm) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2½ gm) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) salt
1/4 cup (60 ml) canola oil
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 ml) buttermilk
2 tablespoons (30 ml) liquid red food coloring
1/2 cup (1 stick) (120 ml) (4 oz) (115 oz) butter, softened, cut into pieces
1 tablespoon (15 ml) (12½ gm) vegetable shortening, at room temperature
3/4 cup (180 ml) (5-1/4 oz) (150 gm) dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup (60 ml) (2 oz) (55 gm) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil, buttermilk and red food coloring.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and shortening until smooth. Scrape down the bowl and add the sugars. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl then mix on low speed for a few more seconds. Do not over mix.

4. Turn the mixer to low. Add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk mixture, in three separate additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture until just combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, then mix on low speed for a few more seconds.

5. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the batter in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

6. While the batter is chilling, preheat the oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Remove the batter from the refrigerator. Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to drop tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets about 1-inch (25 mm) apart. Bake in a preheated moderate oven for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are just starting to crack on top and a toothpick inserted into the center of a cookie comes out clean. Let the cookies cool completely on the pan while you make the filling.

Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Filling

3 cups (750 ml) (13 ¼ oz) (375 gm) confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup (120 ml) (1 stick) (4 oz) (115 gm) unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces (225 gm) cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon (1½ gm) salt

Directions:

1. Sift the confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl and set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is completely smooth. Add the cream cheese and beat until combined.

3. Add the confectioner’s sugar, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth. Be careful not to over beat the filling or it will lose structure.

(The filling can be made 1 day ahead. Cover the bowl tightly and put it in the refrigerator. Let the filling soften at room temperature before using.)

Assemble the Whoopie Pies

1. Turn half of the cooled cookies upside down (flat side facing up)

2. Use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop a large dollop of filling onto the flat side of the cookie.

(cream cheese filling pictured on a pumpkin whoopie pie)

3. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling.

4. Press down slightly so that the filling spreads to the edges of the cookie.

5. Put the whoopie pies in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to firm up before serving.

The whoopie pies will keep for up to 3 days on a parchment lined baking sheet covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator.

(Mini whoopie pies are pictured with standard American buttercream frosting as a filling. Cream cheese filling will be much looser and will not hold its shape if piped.)

VANILLA WHOOPIE PIES
Recipe source: FoodNetwork Magazine
Servings: 8 whoopies

Ingredients

2 ¾ cups(660 ml) (11-2/3 oz) (330 gm) flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking soda
¾ teaspoon (3¾ gm) baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) (4 oz) (115 gm) butter, softened
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) ( (10-2/3 oz) (300 gm) granulated sugar
2 teaspoons (10 ml) vanilla
1 large egg
2/3 cup (160 ml) buttermilk

Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy; beat in the egg. On low speed, beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk in 2 batches; beat until just combined.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 16 mounds of batter onto the baking sheets, about 2 inches (50 mm) apart (about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) batter per cookie); gently form into rounds with damp fingers and smooth the tops. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6. Bake the cookies until they spring back when pressed, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool 5 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

OLD FASHIONED VANILLA FILLING
Recipe source: Baked Explorations, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito
Servings: way more than you actually need to fill the whoopies

Ingredients
1 cup (240 ml) (8 oz) (225 gm) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60 ml) (1 oz) (30 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream (about 35%)
1 cup (2 sticks) (8 oz) (225 gm) unsalted butter, cool but not cold, cut into ½-inch (15 mm) cubes
1 teaspoon (5 ml) pure vanilla extract

In a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the sugar and flour together. Add the milk and cream and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until the mixture comes to a boil and has thickened, 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until cool, at least 7 minutes. (You can speed up the process by pressing bags of frozen berries or frozen corn against the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl.) Reduce the speed to low and add the butter; mix until thoroughly incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy. You can’t overbeat this mixture. Just let it go until it’s nice and smooth.

Add the vanilla and continue mixing until combined. If the frosting is too soft, put the bowl in the refrigerator to chill slightly, then beat again until it is the proper consistency. If the frosting is too firm, set the bowl over a pot of simmering water and beat with a wooden spoon until it is the proper consistency.

***

At first I was afraid my challenge was too simple, or boring, but the members of this group quickly got on the whoopie pie making bandwagon and created all kinds of delicious combinations of cookies and filling. A huge THANK YOU to everyone who has participated this month, especially after the passing of founding member Lis in November. Also, kudos to Ruth and Shelley who are making sure the Daring Kitchen community stays strong. Thank you guys!

For more information about this community of bakers, please visit The Daring Kitchen.

Brown Butter Snickerdoodles

Still hate to bake cookies. Made the dough on Sunday, thinking I would bring them to a potluck at lunch, but didn't read the line in the instruction that said to let them chill in the fridge for an hour. So I stashed the dough in the fridge and didn't manage to actually bake them until Thursday. And then, all of the sudden, the friggin cookies all disappeared.

Loved these! They baked up nice and thick, and are super chewy.

I only wish I had scooped them before putting them in the fridge. When I got the dough out to bake them, the dough was super hard and it was a huge pain to scoop the cookies and roll them into a ball. Always, always, scoop first, then chill.

For the recipe, and to see how the other bakers enjoyed these cookies, visit the Baked Sunday Mornings webpage.

coconut toffee chocolate chip cookie bars

These bars are super easy, don't dirty too many dishes, and incredibly delicious. It's like a magic bar meets a chocolate chip cookie. The cookie portion acts as base and topping, and there's a caramel layer topped with toffee and milk chocolate between the two layers. We practically inhaled them.

Coconut Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
recipe source: Mom on TimeOut

CRUST:
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
2 cups flaked coconut
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg, lightly beaten
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

FILLING:
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup Karo® Light Corn Syrup
8 ounces toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350°F.

CRUST:
Combine flour, oats, coconut, and brown sugar in a large bowl of electric mixer and mix at low speed.
Add butter and continue mixing until a crumbly dough forms. Add egg and continue mixing well. Stir in chocolate chips.

Reserve 1-1/2 cups of dough for topping. Press remaining dough into bottom of a lightly greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish.

Bake 10 minutes.

FILLING:
Combine sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup in a small bowl and mix until combined.

Pour evenly over hot crust.

Sprinkle with toffee bits.

Top evenly with reserved crust mixture.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Cool and cut into bars.

Not surprisingly, these bars are really, really sweet. I loved them sprinkled with a pinch of salt flakes. So good!

Next time I will be making these in a glass pan instead of the foil in a metal pan route I took this time. The glass pan will allow me to cut these and scrape the sides of the pan without fear of scratching the metal pan, or having to peel away small pieces of foil from the sugary goodness!

lime tarragon cookies with white chocolate lime topping

I loved these cookies! And I totally wasn't going to make them, because when I first spotted them on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule, I thought they were slice and bake cookies, and I just have no patience for that. (And I don't think I like slice and bake cookies.) But a couple of weeks back, I saw these cookies featured on the National Baking Society blog and was super happy to see that they were in fact drop cookies. And it's totally possible to simplify the baking process of drop cookies, so I did just that.

This cookie is kinda reminiscent of a shortbread but not really. It's not a sugar cookie. It's not chewy or crisp or crumbly. It's just different. The ingredients include butter, confectioner's sugar, light brown sugar, salt, tarragon, lime zest, lime juice and flour. They are topped with melted white chocolate.

I chose to bake the cookie dough in a parchment lined 8 in by 8 in baking pan. I baked it for about 30 minutes, if not 40, until the edges were starting to turn golden and the cookies appeared set.

After letting the cookies cool, I cut them into squares and drizzled melted chocolate all over them.

It's a good thing I gave most of these away, as it was way too easy to keep going back to the kitchen to pop just another square in my mouth. I really enjoyed the flavor, the texture of these. I think I might have preferred them without the white chocolate drizzle, but they were still delicious with it. They came together really quickly, and disappeared just as fast.

For the recipe, click on through to the Baked Sunday Mornings site and see how the other bakers liked this recipe!

chocolate cream cheese chocolate snacking cookies

I had no intention of baking these. From the title, I assumed they were either slice and bake cookies or a dough that needed to be rolled out and cut with cutters. And I'm not the greatest fan of these type of cookies.

But it was my turn to post the recipe on the Baked Sunday Mornings Page, and while doing that, I actually read the recipe and realized that it was a drop cookie. And that it was an easy recipe. And that I had all the ingredients on hand. So I made them. Swaped the regular chocolate chip for mini ones. And drizzled melted chocolate on top.

So turns out, these cookies are amazing. The raw dough is soooo addicting! It's not heavy like chocolate chip cookie dough but not as light as frosting. Weird texture, but so good! Straight out of the oven these cookies are worth burning your tongue for. And cooled, for breakfast the next day? Like crack. They are soft and tender and so delicious! And dangerous to keep around...  

The recipe can be found on the Baked Sunday Mornings site.

rhubarb crumb cake

It's that time of year again... Allergies, I mean, Spring! I got a bunch of rhubarb last week, and found a bit of time to do something with it! Aside from the usual oatmeal muffins, I made this cinnamony Rhubarb Crumb Cake.

Basically, a buttercake flavored with cinnamon, then a layer of sweetened rhubarb, and sweet crumbs. Pretty straightforward and pretty delicious, but doesn't quite beat Baked's NY-style crumb cake.


Rhubarb Crumb Cake
Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart via Pies and Plot

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan. Line it with parchment, leaving an overhand and butter the parchment.Make the crumbs. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, and cinnamon until combined. Pour in the butter and mix together with a fork until all ingredients are moistened and crumbs of various sizes have formed. Refrigerate while you make the cake.

Make the cake. In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, brown sugar, and ¼ cup flour. In a small bowl, stir together remaining ¾ cup flour, baking powder, and cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar by hand or using a hand or stand mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time until once again light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture and pour into prepared pan. Spread into an even layer. Top with an even layer of rhubarb and finally an even layer of crumbs.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, rotating halfway through if necessary, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely in pan before cutting and serving. May be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days or frozen, wrapped in parchment and foil and placed in a zipper bag for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours or in a 350 degree F oven for about 15 minutes.

And I still have enough rhubarb leftover to make blueberry rhubarb crisp! Score!

black and white cookies

Having not traveled at all, it's not surprising that I have never had a Black and White cookie. Let's just say it's not a common cookie at the grocery store near my house. For some reason I thought the Black and White cookie was a cutout cookie recipe, and I expected a rather crisp cookie dipped in two kinds of icing.

Turns out, it's a really nice and light cakey cookie, flavored with vanilla and lemon, with vanilla and chocolate icing spread on each half of the cookie.

I made two batches of Black and White cookies within the span of 3 days. The first batch I made was a Cake Boss recipe, while the second one is the Baked recipe out of the Explorations book. (Pictures are of the Baked recipe.)

The first, the cake boss recipe, the dough didn't spread very much at all and the baked cookies were very domey. The batter was extremely sticky and did not settle while baking. Could have been a mistake on my part. My ingredients were not all room temperature, and the mixture curdled big time.

The texture of the cookie was fine, but the cookie shape was not what I expected.

The glaze was finicky, but once I got the hang of it (working quickly, while keeping the icing warm, and adding water to thin out the icing as needed) it went fairly smooth. I loved the consistency of the vanilla icing, as it coated the cookie nicely without dripping everywhere or pooling around the cookie and set quickly. I see myself using this icing recipe to make petits fours one day. The chocolate icing I liked less. I had a hard time getting it to the proper consistency and it had an unappealing finish once dried.

The cookie itself was good, even plain. Actually, it might have been better plain, as I thought the chocolate icing was just... not so good. But might have been the chocolate I used. I don't know.

I quickly set out to make the Baked recipe while the cake boss recipe was still fresh in our minds, so we could compare.

The batter was much nicer to work with. I used a small 2-3 tbsp cookie scoop, and got large cookies. I wouldn't have wanted to make them any larger. They spread some, a couple of them running into each other on my baking sheet, yet stayed thick and soft. The baked cookies was barely golden around the edges.

The cookie itself had a more pronounced lemon flavor than the cake boss recipe, probably because it called for lemon zest (which I did not measure, but I couldn't have been very far off what was called for in the recipe). I also used 3/4 tbsp of lemon juice to make the 3/4 cup buttermilk called for in the recipe. I thought the naked cookie was really good.

The glaze is very simply mixing powdered sugar with milk, cream and vanilla. Half of the vanilla glaze gets over 1/2 cup of cocoa powder added to it to make the chocolate icing. That's where I ran into problems. There was no way all that cocoa powder was getting incorporated into the vanilla icing, even with the added teaspoon of water called for in the recipe. I even took out the hand mixer to make sure I had incorporated all the cocoa in the glaze, but in the end, I had to add a lot of milk for the icing to become the same consistency as the vanilla one. Not a big problem, but I suspect because of all the added milk, the chocolate glaze had issues setting up properly. It was quite delicious though! I used a supersoft red cocoa powder and loved the finish of the glaze on the cookies. Both vanilla and chocolate glaze pooled too much around the cookies for my liking, but were easy to spread on the cookie and gave the cookies a nice look.

Overall, I much preferred making and eating the Baked recipe for the Black and Whites. I'm glad I got to play with the vanilla glaze from the cake boss recipe, but the win in this case is strongly in the Baked boys' book. Very awesome cookie that's dangerous to keep around in the kitchen. It's so light that you'd have no problem eating one after the other without even noticing.

The Baked Black and White cookies recipe can be found on the Baked Sunday Mornings page.

sweet and salty brownies

I haven't blogged in forever! I skipped the last 6 Baked Sunday Morning recipes including this week's Lacy Panty Cakes. But I wanted to post anyway, just to see if I remembered how! Seriously, I did bake a lot in the past weeks, but did not have the energy to take proper pictures and write about the recipes, but I figured I could do a recap post, just so I could come back to the recipes I made.

So this weekend was my sister-in-law's father's 50th birthday, and I was asked to do a dessert bar for the occasion. We went with mini chocolate cupcakes topped with peanut butter cream cheese frosting, and a sprinkle of gold luster dust, Corona blondies with a hint of lime, and Baked's Sweet and Salty Brownies, also my contribution to this week's Baked Sunday Mornings. I rounded out the dessert bar with some red licorice, chocolate covered almonds, sour cherry candies and salty and sweet popcorn.

The group had made the Sweet and Salty Brownies back in December 2010, but I never got around to making them. The first step is to make a salted caramel sauce from sugar, corn syrup, water, cream, sour cream and salt. I might have taken my caramel a tiny bit past dark amber, but it was still delicious. The brownie batter is the standard Baked recipe: Butter and chocolate, melted over a pan of simmering water, white and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, cocoa and salt. Half the batter is spread in a 9x13 pan, then the caramel is drizzled over top, and the rest of the batter covers the caramel. The brownies bake for 30 minutes and need to chill so they can be cut cleanly.

I expected a layer of caramel between two layers of brownies, but the caramel got incorporated in the brownie. The brownies should have been sprinkled with coarse sugar and fleur de sel, but I skipped this step. I cut them into 24 squares, but they revised my plan and cut them in half as I thought they were a bit too big compared to the rest of the desserts on the table.

This last baking project went relatively smooth. Helped that I got almost two weeks to plan and execute it!

Since I last blogged, we celebrated my niece's third birthday with a Dora themed cake. Not a big fan of Dora, but had fun decorating this girly cake! It was a 9-inch cake consisting of two chocolate, two strawberry and one vanilla layer, with homemade honey strawberry jam between the cake layers. It was frosted with standard vanilla american buttercream, a royal icing border and fondant accents.

We also celebrated a coworker's birthday and I made Baked's whiteout cake into cupcakes. The frosting on these cupcakes was a huge hit! It was creamy and fluffy and so tasty! I might have found my new favorite fluffy frosting recipe! I'm pretty mad at myself for not taking pictures as the cupcakes were pretty with their frosting swirl and white sprinkles and non pareil, plus I had wrapped them in pretty cupcake wrappers.

That same week, I made a Skylanders cake for my coworker's son's 7th birthday. Skylanders is a videogame (that I kinda want to play after doing the research for this cake) and the cake was supposed to look like the portal in the game. The cake was an 8-inch chocolate cake filled and frosted with chocolate american style buttercream. If it looks unfinished, it's that they put the Skylanders toys that the birthday boy was getting as a gift on top of the cake.

Two weeks ago was my daughter's school's open house for registration and her teacher had asked if I could provide the snack for that day. Not thinking twice about it, I immediately said I could without fully comprehending what they wanted. Turns out, they wanted 100 cupcakes. Thinking about it now, it doesn't seem that bad, but that week, it was a tiny bit overwhelming. So I made 25 chocolate cupcakes frosted with chocolate frosting and decorated like beavers (inspired by these) and 25 vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting topped with beaver toppers (inspired by these). I made rice krispies squares and chocolate chip cookies to round out the 100 snacks needed. Also mad that the only picture I took of these was a horrible blackberry picture taken at 9 pm.

Then came Valentine's day, with my daughter's expectation that I would bake treats for her friends, for her teacher, for the entire world. I was pretty caked out by that point, so I made the often repinned rolo-stuffed ritz cracker sandwich and drizzled them with white and pink candy melts. Two to a valentine's day treat bag, I was done in under 15 minutes. And by the way, these things rock. The salty-sweet, chocolate + caramel, crunchy treats? Super addictive.

So that's where we are. And just to round out the month, I have a brother-sister birthday party to bake cupcakes for next Saturday, a 3-tiered Strawberry shortcake cake for Sunday and my mom's birthday cake before the days in February run out!

So the next recipe on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule is Vanilla Bean and Milk Chocolate Budino, and I really hope I get to make that one and blog about it next week! See you then, hopefully!

Gevulde Speculaas

It's Daring Bakers' reveal day!

Francijn of Koken in de Brouwerij was our January 2013 Daring Bakers’ Hostess and she challenged us to make the traditional Dutch pastry, Gevulde Speculaas from scratch! That includes making our own spice mix, almond paste and dough!

The only speculaas I ever had is a crisp, buttery cookie made with spices including cinnamon, cloves, mace and ginger, pepper, cardamom, coriander, anise seeds and nutmeg and shaped like a windmill. We were challenged by Francijn to make a stuffed speculaas, which is more like a pastry than a cookie, including the spice mix, the dough and the almond paste.

I hurried to make this before going back to work in early January, and luck was on my side, as I had all the ingredients needed.

As Francijn told us that the different components get more flavorful as they sit before they get assembled, I made them two days before baking the pastry.

For the spice mixture, I used cinnamon, cloves, ginger, white pepper, cardamom and nutmeg, basically, the spices I had on hand. I know that mace is a must, but I couldn't find it in stores.

The dough quickly comes together, basically blending room temperature butter into flour, sugar (I used dark brown sugar), baking powder, salt and the spice mixture. It seemed pretty dry to me, but I formed it into a cylinder using plastic wrap to keep everything together.

The almond paste is quickly made in the food processor. I used almond meal, an egg, sugar and lemon zest, and let that sit for a couple of days. 

I used a 8-3/4 inch springform pan to bake my pastry in, using the removable bottom to cut out two rounds of dough that I had flattened with a rolling pin. 

Our host instructed to roll out the almond paste before layering it between two layers of dough, but mine was soft enough to be spread on top of the dough. The three layers were held together with some beaten egg, that I didn't beat enough, as I could see little bits of cooked egg between my layers.

With my dough scraps, I quickly cut out a small windmill to decorate the top of my pastry, brushed it with more beaten egg, and baked the whole thing for 40 minutes.

I also made some royal icing decorations to pretty it up some. At first, I was only going to use the windmill blades on the cake, to hint at the Dutch origin of the pastry, but the result was not quite what I had in mind. I had some icing leftover, so quickly piped a windmill, not really planning on using it. But when I looked at my work table a little while after, one of my daughters had put the blades on top of the windmill, and together, it looked pretty good! 

The resulting pastry is a lot more like cake like than I would have imagined, and quite delicious. The texture is very addicting, and the spices give a wonderful flavor. It smelled amazing while baking, and I couldn't wait to cut into it while I was taking pictures.

Gevulde Speculaas
Slightly adapted from a Dutch traditional recipe provided by Francijn

Spice mix

1 teaspoon ground cloves

½ teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon white pepper 

½ teaspoon cardamom 

1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 ½ tsp cinnamon

Combine all spices together and store in an airtight container.

Almond paste
1-1/3 cups (320 ml)(125 gm) (4½ oz) ground almonds

5/8 cup (150 ml) (125 grams) (4½ oz) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) lemon zest

Add the ground almonds and the sugar to the bowl of a food processor, and grind for one or two minutes. It must be very fine. Add the egg and lemon zest and let the food processor combine it until a paste forms.

Store the almond paste in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Although the flavor gets better as days pass by, it is not wise to store the paste for too long, as it contains a raw egg. For the same reason you should not eat the paste unbaked.

Speculaas Dough
1¾ cups (250 gm) (9 oz) all purpose (plain) flour
1 teaspoon (5 ml) (5 gm) baking powder
¾ cup (150 grams) (5-1/3 oz) brown sugar, firmly packed
a pinch salt
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (15 gm) (½ oz) speculaas spices
3/4 cup (1½ stick) (175 gm) (6 oz) unsalted butter

Put flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and spices in a bowl.
Dice the butter and add to the dry ingredients.
Mix until smooth.
Feel free to add a little milk if the dough is too dry.
Wrap in clingfoil and put in the refrigerator for two hours.

You can choose to make the dough a few days in advance, just like the almond paste, that will benefit the flavor.

Assembling and baking the Gevulde Speculaas

1 recipe speculaas dough
1 recipe almond paste
1 large egg

Grease a 9 inch springform pan
Preheat the oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas 4
Divide the dough into two portions.
Roll out both portions on a lightly floured surface, until they are exactly as big as the baking pan.
Put one of the layers in the pan and press it lightly to fill the bottom.
Lightly beat the egg with a teaspoon cold water.
Smear 1/3 of the egg over the dough in the pan.
Roll out the almond paste between two sheets of clingfoil, until it is exactly as big as the pan, and put it on the dough in the pan.
Press the paste lightly down to fit in the pan, and smear the next 1/3 of the egg over it.
Now put the second layer of dough on top of the paste, press it lightly, and make as smooth as possible.
Smear the last 1/3 of the egg over the dough.
Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven.
Let cool completely in the pan, then cut it in portions as you like.

If you wrap the stuffed speculaas in clingfoil, after it has cooled completely, you can store it a few days at room temperature. Freezing is possible, but fresh speculaas tastes better.

For the complete challenge and to see how the rest of the Daring Bakers liked this recipe, please visit The Daring Kitchen.

spicy brownies

I worked late one day last week, and although it was past my regular bed time, I was way to wired to sleep. So I made brownies.

I'm a big fan of Haagen Dazs Mayan Chocolate ice cream, so I was pretty sure these brownies spiced with chili powder, cinnamon and ginger would be a hit.

The recipe calls for freshly ground cinnamon and ancho chili powder, but when making brownies at 10 pm... you use what's in the cupboard. In my case, preground cinnamon and mexican chili powder.

I don't often make brownies, although they are simple enough to make. Butter and chocolate are melted together, then sugar gets whisked in, then eggs. Some flour, and, in this cake, a bunch of spices, and the resulting batter goes in the oven. The recipe says to bake it for 30 minutes, but I baked mine for at least 45 minutes. And it was in no way overbaked. Fudgy in the center, a very thin crisp top. The edges were barely crispier than the middle, so I didn't even have to cut them off to get nice squares.

I really like the flavor. Added a bit of kick to the usual chocolate, but it was in no way hot-spicy. The recipe can be found on the Baked Sunday Mornings blog, and while you're at it, check out what the other bakers thought of Baked's Matt and Renato's Spicy Brownies.

joe froggers

This morning's Baked Sunday Mornings recipe is Joe Froggers, or Ginger Rum Molasses Cookies, except without the rum because I didn't have any, plus vanilla, because... just because.

These cookies were supposed to be sprinkled with coarse sugar and baked, then eaten as is. But I couldn't resist prettying them up with some royal icing.

But truth be told, they were much better plain. I baked them for around 9 minutes and they baked perfectly soft, although I wish I had made them a bit thicker. They reminded me of soft gingerbread cookies, or a bear claw cookie.

The dough was quite soft, although probably not as soft as it would have been if I had added the rum the recipe called for. I still rolled the dough between two sheets of parchment, and placed the rolled out dough back in the fridge before cutting it out with cookie cutters. I was lazy and only baked two trays of cookies, stored the rest of the dough in the freezer until the next time I get the urge to bake cookies.

These are perfect for fall and winter. If I had added a thin layer of icing as opposed to three, they would make a great base for a cut out cookie, although they do spread some.

For the recipe and to see how the rest of the Baked Sunday Mornings bloggers liked these, click on through to the Baked Sunday Mornings site.