Flourless Chocolate Cake

This cake is chocolate lover's heaven- It feels like a cross between the most decadent, smooth, melt-in-your-mouth truffle, luscious piece of fudge and pure ganache. It is so rich that you only need a thin sliver to satisfy any chocolate craving. It feels like it came from a gazillion star restaurant from the finest pastry chef but in reality there's only six simple ingredients and it's a breeze to make. It will also taste exactly like the chocolate you decide to use so pick carefully and adjust sugar to suit your needs. I halved the recipe and made it in a 9 inch pie tin lined with parchment paper- it made the water bath so much easier with no need to use a bunch of foil to make sure the springform pan is leakproof.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

1/2 cup coffee

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup sugar

18 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate (3 cups chips)

1 cup unsalted butter

6 eggs (room temp)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch round springform pan, dust with cocoa and set aside.
2. If your coffee is hot, stir in the salt and sugar till dissolved. If not, combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat until sugar and salt are dissolved.
3. Either in the top half of a double boiler or in a microwave oven melt the chocolate. Pour the chocolate into the bowl of an electric mixer.
4. Cut the butter into pieces and beat the butter into the chocolate, 1 piece at a time. Beat in the hot coffee mixture slowly so it doesn't slosh. Scrape down sides of bowl occasionally to make sure all chocolate is incorporated. Slowly beat in the eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Have a pan larger than the cake pan ready, put the cake pan in the larger pan and fill the pan with boiling water halfway up the sides of the cake pan.
6. Bake cake in the water bath at 300 degrees F (150 degrees C) for 45 minutes. The center will still look wet. Chill cake overnight in the pan. To unmold, dip the bottom of the cake pan in hot water for 10 seconds and invert onto a serving plate.

Krispy Oatmeal Cookies

There used to be a tiny little shop next to my grandma's house called Kelly's Kookies. My mom always thought it wouldn't last long because any shop who spelled 'cookies' with a "K" was bound to be a fail. Evidently not though! Kelly's Kookies just opened up a new shop in the Westside Pavilion in LA and my family still likes to eat and give the cookies as gifts.

My mom is always talking about the crispy oatmeal cookies from Kelly's Kookies. And I always tell her that NO ONE likes crispy cookies (except her)! But she kept on talking about them so finally I decided to accept the challenge! I took a look at the Kelly's Kookies website and found out that the cookies are called Krispy Oatmeal Cookies- which means they have rice krispies in them. The only crispy oatmeal cookie recipe I could find is one from Cook's Illustrated but there is no rice krispies in them. I divided the dough and did 4 experimental batches. Two had rice krispies and two didn't but all batches yielded crisp, buttery oatmeal cookies that have made me change my mind about crispy cookies. The ones that have rice krispies have an extra crunch to them and a nice texture. They make the cookies feel very light but you still get the wonderful taste of butter and oats. If you leave the krispies out they're just as good ;)

This recipe can be modified to suite your tastes (as long as you think you like crispy cookies!) Throw in a handful of nuts, chocolate chips or pump up the cinnamon spice- anything goes!

Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies
Slightly modified from Cook's Illustrated

Makes 24 cookies

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon table salt
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks), softened but still cool, about 65 degrees
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups rice krispies cereal (optional- if want really really crispy all the way through)
dash of cinnamon (optional)


1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper/wax paper/silpat. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (and cinnamon if using) in medium bowl.

2. In standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter and sugars at medium-low speed until just combined, about 20 seconds. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat until light and fluffy, about 1 minute longer. Scrape down bowl with rubber spatula. Add egg and vanilla and beat on medium-low until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl again. With mixer running at low speed, add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated and smooth, 10 seconds. With mixer still running on low, gradually add oats and mix until well incorporated, 20 seconds. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed. If using rice krispies and/or chocolate chips, stir/fold them in using the spatula making sure they are incorporated into the dough. You've got to really press the krispies into the dough to get them incorporated.

3. Use small cookie scoop or your hands, roll balls about 1 rounded tablespoon. Place cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 21/2 inches apart. Using fingertips, gently press each dough ball to 3/4-inch thickness to make flatter.

4. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are deep golden brown, edges are crisp, and centers yield to slight pressure when pressed, 14 to 16 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely on sheet. Cookies will crisp up as they cool.

Caramel Apples

I've been eyeing those caramel apples in the window of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for a few months now. I'm not a big fan of caramel apples myself but they just look so gorgeous! I decided to try my hand at them and they are very very easy to make (even the caramel from scratch!) and very cheap. I'd say the cost of ingredients was about $10 for a dozen "gourmet" caramel apples- You can only get 1 fancy caramel apple for that price at the shop ;)

I used a caramel candy recipe and modified the instructions to make it apple dip-able. I made four different types- stealing two of the most popular ones from the chocolate shop. There is regular with chocolate drizzle, regular with chocolate and peanuts, snickers and apple pie. The snickers caramel apple was made by rolling the apple in chopped up snickers bars and drizzling dark chocolate all over it. The apple pie flavor was made by dipping the caramel apple in white chocolate, then rolling it in a mixture of crushed cinnamon toast crunch cereal, brown sugar and cinnamon.

I got a chance to try the plain flavor, the snickers caramel apple and the one rolled in chocolate and peanuts- now I understand why caramel apples are so popular! The sweet, soft and sticky caramel balances out the granny smith apple perfectly.

Caramel Apples

· 1 cup butter

· 1 pound light brown sugar (2.5 cups)

· 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

· 1 cup light corn syrup

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 Large Granny Smith Apples or 16-20 small ones

12

B Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Dip apples into boiling water briefly, using a slotted spoon, to remove any wax that may be present. Wipe dry, and set aside to cool. Insert sticks into the apples through the cores. (Tip: use a clean pencil sharpener to sharpen thick wooden sticks) Put in fridge.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (112 to 116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour caramel into a metal bowl. Cool until temperature reaches 200 F. Take apples out of fridge one by one and dip in caramel. Place on a silpat or waxed paper. The caramel will drip down the sides of the apple a little. Put the apples back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes. If you have extra caramel,use it to dip marshmallows, pretzels, potato chips or anything else cool in your pantry that would taste good dipped in caramel.

After 10-15 minutes the caramel will have hardened a little. Take the apples out of the fridge 1 by 1 and press the pooled caramel back onto the apple. Now roll in whatever coatings you want or dip in chocolate! Chill for at least an hour and serve.

The Daring Bakers Deep Fry Stuff

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Yah! doughnuts. or donuts. I'm not sure which one is correct? I started off with Alton Brown's recipe for yeasted donuts- they turned out crispy on the outside and very light and airy on the inside! Man homemade donuts are so much better than the ones from the shop! The only downside is watching the big pan of oil you are frying the donuts in...and then eating several donuts, with the picture of the pan of oil in your head. Thinking about all that oil that seeped into the donut...But it doesn't matter. Because they are delicious!

I decided to make several different kinds because I'm crazy. I made a s'mores donut which was a regular donut filled with homemade marshmallow creme and topped with chocolate frosting and graham cracker crumbs. Then I made a coconut cream filled donut topped with toasted coconut. Then there are the standards- cinnamon sugar, regular glazed, powdered sugar and chocolate sprinkle. And FINALLY I made one very special donut. This is the kind of donut that they would have at the county fair (except they would probably find a few other ways to make it

more fattening). This special, lone donut, was an oreo cookie filled donut! I contemplated doing cookies and cream filled but then I figured, why not just put the whole oreo in there? So I did and it was amazing- it tasted like a cookies and cream donut.Now I wish I had

thought of other things I could have stuffed into the donut dough before deep frying but hey there's always the next deep fry session!

The dough for the yeasted donuts was very very soft- it didn't really come together after adding the amount of flour stated on the recipe. It kind of just poured out but I think that was the key to such a light and fluffy outcome. It was also really hard to keep the donuts a nice shape since the batter was so soft. Next time I might just add more flour anyway so I can get prettier donuts! If you know me, you know I have a dislike of ugly food- I'm sorry ugly food!

In the end, this was a really cool challenge. The amount of oil that I used (and splattered all over the kitchen) was unsettling but you only make donuts once in a while right? :) I got up extra early to make these and so my mom ate a few and I gave the rest of them to my relatives ...along with a coconut cream cake and a mocha cream cake. You see, I had a lot of extra coconut cream filling and I had also made some coffee cream filling (except I decided not to use it to fill any donuts not sure why) so I had to find a use for the extras...But who doesn't appreciate a home made donut and two full sized cakes?! Yummmm scrumptious!

Yeast Doughnuts:

Preparation time:
Hands on prep time - 25 minutes
Rising time - 1.5 hours total
Cooking time - 12 minutes

Yield: 20 to 25 doughnuts & 20 to 25 doughnut holes, depending on size

IngredientsMilk 1.5 cup / 360 ml
Vegetable Shortening 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 70 gm / 2.5 oz (can substitute butter, margarine or lard)
Active Dry Yeast 4.5 teaspoon (2 pkgs.) / 22.5 ml / 14 gm / ½ oz
Warm Water 1/3 cup / 80 ml (95°F to 105°F / 35°C to 41°C)
Eggs, Large, beaten 2
White Granulated Sugar ¼ cup / 60 ml / 55 gm / 2 oz
Table Salt 1.5 teaspoon / 7.5 ml / 9 gm / 1/3 oz
Nutmeg, grated 1 tsp. / 5 ml / 6 gm / ¼ oz
All Purpose Flour 4 2/3 cup / 1,120 ml / 650 gm / 23 oz + extra for dusting surface
Canola Oil DEPENDS on size of vessel you are frying in – you want THREE (3) inches of oil (can substitute any flavorless oil used for frying)

Directions:

1. Place the milk in a medium saucepan and heat over medium heat just until warm enough to melt the shortening. (Make sure the shortening is melted so that it incorporates well into the batter.)
2. Place the shortening in a bowl and pour warmed milk over. Set aside.
3. In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let dissolve for 5 minutes. It should get foamy. After 5 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the large bowl of a stand mixer and add the milk and shortening mixture, first making sure the milk and shortening mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
4. Add the eggs, sugar, salt, nutmeg, and half of the flour. Using the paddle attachment of your mixer (if you have one), combine the ingredients on low speed until flour is incorporated and then turn the speed up to medium and beat until well combined.
5. Add the remaining flour, combining on low speed at first, and then increase the speed to medium and beat well.
6. Change to the dough hook attachment of the mixer and beat on medium speed until the dough pulls away from the bowl and becomes smooth, approximately 3 to 4 minutes (for me this only took about two minutes). If you do not have a dough hook/stand mixer – knead until the dough is smooth and not sticky.
7. Transfer to a well-oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
8. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 3/8-inch (9 mm)thick. (Make sure the surface really is well-floured otherwise your doughnuts will stick to the counter).
9. Cut out dough using a 2 1/2-inch (65 mm) doughnut cutter or pastry ring or drinking glass and using a 7/8-inch (22 mm) ring for the center whole. Set on floured baking sheet, cover lightly with a tea towel, and let rise for 30 minutes.
10. Preheat the oil in a deep fryer or Dutch oven to 365 °F/185°C.
11. Gently place the doughnuts into the oil, 3 to 4 at a time. Cook for 1 minute per side or until golden brown (my doughnuts only took about 30 seconds on each side at this temperature).
12. Transfer to a cooling rack placed in baking pan. Allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes prior to glazing, if desired.

Coconut Cream Cake

This cake came about as an excuse to use up lots of extra coconut cream filling. It's a double layer white cake brushed with a simple syrup, filled and topped with a light coconut cream and sprinkled with toasted coconut.

I really wanted to try out this white cake recipe because the method is different than other white cakes. You are basically cutting in the butter as you would when making a pie crust and then adding the wet ingredients- it turned out great! Moist with a nice crumb. I'll definitely be using it again the next time I need a scratch white cake.

The coconut cream isn't actually made with any coconut- it's flour frosting/filling with coconut extract added to it. Flour frosting/filling is my new favorite thing- it's absolutely amazing! You use butter/margarine/crisco (or any combination of the three) , regular white granulated sugar and paste you make out of flour and milk. It sounds weird but it makes an amazing amazing frosting or filling that is light, fluffy, not tooth achingly sweet and can even pipe well! (It pipes best if you use real butter). You can add extracts or cocoa powder to it to make any flavor you want too! No more worrying about egg whites and butter with Italian Meringue buttercream or the 2 pounds of powdered sugar needed for American buttercream! This one is hands down the best because everyone will enjoy it!

Flour frosting/filling

1/2 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter/crisco/margarine (I used half margarine and half crisco because I left my cake sitting out)

1 teaspoon vanilla (I used about 2 teaspoons of coconut extract in addition to the vanilla for this cake)

1. whisk together the flour and milk in a small saucepan. cook over low-medium heat whisking constantly so there are no lumps. it will get really thick and gloppy- thicker than glue, but thats what you want!

2. if there are lumps, you can press the mixture through a sieve. let the mixture cool to room temperature. you can do this by either sticking it in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, fridge for 20-30 minutes or let it sit on the counter. it must be room temperature though! no warm goop!

3. while your goop is cooling, beat butter/crisco/margarine together in mixer (use whisk attachment if using stand mixer) until super light and fluffy (a couple minutes).

4. add in goop. beat on high speed until the mixture becomes light, fluffy, smooth and delicious! it might look weird and curdled at one point but just keep beating. finally add in your vanilla extract, beat to combine and you're good to go!

Cheesecake Cheesecake!

My grandma gave me a giant block of cream cheese last week for no reason at all...so I agonized over the different cheesecake options for a few days and finally decided on cheesecake brownies and cookie dough cheesecake bars. I used the cheesecake marbled brownies recipe from Smitten Kitchen and the chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake bar recipe thats been floating around the internet on several blogs.

The cheesecake swirl in the brownies balances out the fudgy brownie perfectly! Even my mom liked them- and she thinks everything is way too sweet. But I liked them too! And I love anything sweet! They're super addicting and have the perfect ratio of delicious velvety cheesecake to brownie!

The chocolate chip cookie dough bars were just like everyone has said...out of this world!

Since some people said the cookie dough ended up a bit dry, I added milk to mine. This and maybe the use of margarine caused them to melt seamlessly onto the cheesecake bars making for a better presentation, but still a big, chewy cookie dough texture and flavor! Oh yum these were so scrumptious! The sweet gooey cookie dough balanced out with the smooth cheesecake and it all came together with a great crust and dark chocolate drizzle!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

Crust

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 Tablespoons butter, melted
2/3 cup miniature chocolate chips

Cookie Dough

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Tablespoon milk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Cheesecake Filling

10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Prreheat oven to 325°. Butter a 9″-square baking pan. Line pan with parchment paper, leaving enough to extend over the sides.

To prepare the crust combine graham cracker crumbs and butter until crumbs are moistened. Stir in the mini-chocolate chips.

Press crust mixture into bottom of pan and 1 inch up sides. Bake for 6 minutes. Set pan on wire rack to cool

Prepare the cookie dough. Using an electric mixer, mix butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and milk at medium speed until smooth. Decrease mixer speed to low and add flour Mix just until incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips. Set aside.

To prepare the filling, using an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and sugar just until smooth. Add egg and vanilla extract, beating just until blended. (I used a food processor for this step)

Pour batter into baked crust. Drop cookie dough by teaspoonfuls over the top of the filling.

Bake about 30 minutes, or until set. Transfer to wire rack.

Drizzle chocolate to decorate after the pan has cooled.

Using the edges of the parchment paper, remove bars from pan. Cut into bars and serve. (I chilled them for a few hours first- I like cheesecake cold and it makes for more gooey and delicious cookie dough on top)

Fluffy Japanese Cheesecake

It was my dad's birthday a few weeks ago and my family is all about "light, NOT TOO SWEET" desserts. It completely rules out most frosted cakes and traditional birthday sweets so I had to do a little digging. My mom told me that my dad really really enjoyed this "thing from the bakeries in Hong Kong that is labeled 'blueberry cheesecake' but it's not a cheesecake, it's more like a sponge cake and is really light". A few years ago I tried a recipe for Japanese cheesecake that I found on Allrecipes.com and it seemed to fit the bill. Light, fluffy, not too sweet but also a 'cheesecake'. I wanted to find a better recipe though, and possibly something that incorporated blueberries, so I searched the food blogs and finally found it- Japanese Cotton Soft Rare Cheese Cheesecake. I just call it Fluffy Japanese Cheesecake though because cheesecake with the words 'cotton' and 'rare cheese' is a little intimidating. I also used google to painstakingly roughly translate all the measurements because I don't own a kitchen scale! In the end, my family really liked it telling me that it was "light and not too sweet". Go figure!!

Japanese Fluffy Cheesecake

• For soft cotton cheesecake
• 
  
• 50 g/2ozs butter (4 Tablespoons)
• 9 ozs cream cheese (1 block plus a little)
• 100 ml/3 fl ozs milk (A little less than 1/2 cup)
• 60g/2 ozs plain flour (1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon)
• 20g/1 oz cornflour (1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 150g/5 ozs fine granulated sugar (3/4 cup)
  • 6 eggs separated
  • 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
  • 
    
  • For Rare Cheese cheesecake (Blueberry filling)
  • 
    
  • 100gm fresh or frozen blueberries (a little less than 1 cup)
  • 125gm cream cheese (1/2 block)
  • 100gm fresh cream (1/2 cup)
  • 3 tbsp fresh milk
  • 30gm sugar (1/4 cup)
  • ¼ tbsp lemon juice
  • 2½ tsp gelatin
  • ¼ cup hot water
• 
  
• 1. Melt cream cheese, butter and milk over a double boiler. Cool the mixture over an ice bath.Add the flour, cornstarch, 6 egg yolks, lemon juice and mix well.
  2. Whisk 6 egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add in the sugar and whisk until soft peaks form.
  3. Place a kettlefull of water to boil. Whisk in one third of the egg white mixture to the cheese mixture to lighten. Then add the rest in third batches and fold in carefully, making sure that the egg whites are thoroughly combined gently. Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan (lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with greaseproof baking paper or parchment paper). Wrap two layers of foil around the tin to prevent water seeping in. Place in a large baking dish.
  4. Carefully pour the boiling water around the cheesecake to make a water bath. Bake cheesecake in the water bath for 1 hours 10 minutes or until set and golden brown at 160 degrees C (325 degrees F). Chill thoroughly.
     
     Makes 1 (8-inch) cheesecake, 12 servings
     
     Instructions for Blueberry Rare Cheese cheesecake
     
     1. Line the same 8 inch springform baking tin with parchment. In a small bowl, mix together gelatin with hot water and stir briskly with a fork until all of the gelatine is dissolved.
     2. Blend all remaining ingredients in a food processor. Add gelatine mixture and pulse until mixed. Scrape into prepared tin and cover with cling wrap and refrigerate until set.
• To Assemble
  
  
• 1. Split cooled cheesecake in half lengthwise. Carefully place the blueberry filling on the bottom half and then
• replace the top half. Garnish with freshly whipped cream and blueberries.
•