Orangettes

As essential as cookies are, I love trying a candy or confection recipe every holiday season. Whether it be toffee or a nut brittle or marshmallows, it's fun to mix things up and learn something new.  This year, I landed on Orangettes, or candied orange peels dipped in chocolate. 

As someone who loves the combination of chocolate and orange, I adore Orangettes and buy them occasionally as a treat (they do tend to be on the pricey side).  When I stumbled upon a recipe for them, I thought this was a perfect project for me to try right now.  I highly recommend it!

Valentine's Day interlude

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been a long week here at our house and Valentine's Day is a bright pink light I'm focusing on and hanging dearly to!  So I'm having a little Valentine's Day interlude here and savoring the excuse to celebrate love (of all kinds) and eat lots of chocolate today!

We'll be starting the day with some heart-shape buttermilk pancakes (recipe here).  I formed the rough heart-shapes by placing the pancake batter into a piping bag and piping out the shapes onto the griddle.  In all likelihood, these will hit the table with a heart-shaped dollop of chocolate hazelnut spread in the middle.

I plan to make pasta with lobster and shrimp for dinner at home with my fellas tonight.  For dessert, I made chocolate covered ice cream hearts (recipe and idea inspired by the Food Network).  A small word of warning...as with most ice cream projects, it's never quite as easy as it sounds or looks.  It's a reminder that ice cream melts, and melts very quickly.  In other words, it gets messy fast.

Chocolate rugelach

It's always wonderful to try something new in the kitchen and so satisfying when it works out and you discover something delicious to share with your family.  This time, it was rugelach for me!  

I saw Molly Yeh make this recipe for chocolate rugelach on her cooking show recently and I really wanted to give it a try, so I did.  I love it when inspiration hits like that - you see something you think you and your family would like to eat, it looks do-able, and actually turns out to be the case.

I've heard of and seen rugelach before but this was a first taste for me.  Rugelach might be loosely referred to as a cookie but it's really a pastry filled with, in this case, chocolate, but also with many other possibilities such as jam, nuts, cinnamon-sugar, or fruit.  They're a Jewish pastry often made during holidays like Hanukkah but they are surely tasty enough for everyone to enjoy, anytime.  

The pastry is buttery and flaky, unique in that it also includes cream cheese which make it extra tender and adds an extra bit of flavor.  Rugelach are often crescent shaped but these simple rolled pinwheels seem an easier version for me to tackle.  

I tackled it by making a small-batch, which should yield about a dozen rugelach (I ended up with ten but I'll be sure to improve my dough-rolling skills next time because we were clamoring for more).  After making the pastry dough and rolling it out to a thin sheet, it was very satisfying to spread it with a layer of chocolate, then rolling it up tightly and slicing into individual portions that reveal the mesmerizing pinwheel swirl inside.  Prompted by Molly Yeh's love of sprinkles, I decorated some of mine with chocolate sprinkles as well as colorful sanding sugar.  

I had fun making these despite my usual hesitation when it comes to working with pastry dough.  They're fun to look at and so tasty to eat.  If you like hand pies, pastry, chocolate, and having your kitchen smell like chocolate croissants while this is baking - try a batch of rugelach for yourself some time soon!

Chocolate marzipan scone loaf

Watching traditional weekend morning cooking shows (i.e., old-school cooking shows with recipes, not reality or competition-based shows) is still one of the things I like to do.  Recently, I've been watching Molly Yeh's new show, Girl Meets Farm, and spotted a cool recipe I had to try.

It was her chocolate marzipan scone loaf, and I was captivated in more ways than one.  First of all, if there's one thing I really struggle with when it comes to making scones is...cutting and shaping them.  My dough is invariably too dry and it's a high-wire act trying to cut them into individual scones that don't fall apart.  Here was a chance to make scones in an easy loaf cake form!  Not only do I get to skip the shaping and cutting, the result promises to be more moist, and stay that way longer.  

Beyond being technically easy, the flavors drew me in as well.  Because if there's one type of pastry/dessert that I particularly favor, it's got to be ones that include things like chocolate and almond paste.  In this case, the loaf is studded with chunks of marzipan - the sweeter sibling to almond paste (I considered subbing it with almond paste but stuck with the recipe in the end) and bits of dark chocolate chips.  They provide tons of flavor and each bite of this scone loaf is like a treasure hunt for these generous bits.  

I adored how this scone-bread baked up...its rustic top with craters of marzipan and specks of chocolate chips on display.  A sprinkle of sanding sugar gives it extra crunch and sweetness.  And true to promise, the scone loaf stayed moist for a few days.  We enjoyed it for breakfast and it's just a fantastic treat for lovers of almond and chocolate baked goods.

I have baked my fair share of almond and/or chocolate treat (from buns/rolls to scones and babka, to name a few) and they rarely disappoint.  This one didn't either! 

Teenager in the house!

When June comes around, my mind is all wrapped up around my son's birthday.  Plus, June is always an exciting time - with Father's Day, the start of summer and the end of the school year.  The days are longer, and there's a different energy in the air around here.  

This year, my son's birthday was actually on Father's Day so it essentially eclipsed the holiday; of course, my husband didn't mind one bit.  And now, after the celebrations and affirmations, we officially have a teenager in the house!  It's hard to believe the infant who wouldn't nap for more than 25 minutes at a time is now nearly as tall as I am and morphing into a young man.  The same goes with his friends, many of whom we've known since kindergarten.  This growth is truly an amazing thing to witness.

I thought my son turning 10 was a big deal but at 13, it really felt like a *moment*.  Not to make it all about me...but I'm now the mom of a teenager and I approach it with equal parts trepidation and excitement.  In all seriousness, every day and every year is a gift and birthdays are a great time to celebrate a person and let them know how important they are and how much better the world is because they're in it.  

When it comes to birthday festivities, of course there's cake involved!  Why have one cake when you can have 3?  We started off with 2 ice cream cakes...because you can't beat that when it comes to kids birthdays, particularly those in the summer.  One came from a local ice cream shop and we picked another fun one from Haagen Dazs.  We cut into one during a cousins pizza party night we had at the house about a week before the birthday; we took the other one to a restaurant where we celebrated the birthday boy on the eve of his day with a few of his friends.

Finally, I had to make a cake, too, because I really wanted to.  I went with chocolate, of course.  The young fella and I are very much in sync when it comes to desserts and our preference for chocolate.  

I decided to make the fabulous Chocolate Heaven Cake from Cheryl Day.  I've adapted the recipe in the past as cupcakes and this time, I divided the original cake recipe in half to make a 6-inch round cake.  We didn't need a huge cake but I thought it would be fun to make it a tall one, 3 layers instead of the typical 2-layer I usually make.  

Having more cakes means more chances to celebrate, to sing happy birthday, and blow out birthday candles.  All the cakes were devoured and while you can never celebrate enough, hopefully the newly minted teenager felt the love in all the little ways we tried to show it.  Here's to our new teenager!  May this next chapter of his life be better and sweeter than ever.  

Fran's truffle brownies (with Vietnamese coffee ice cream)

Could I possibly interest you in another brownie recipe?  In all likelihood, you already have a favorite one of your own but when it comes to things like brownies (things that we like to eat with regularity), I think there's always room to experiment and try one more variation.

That's what I figured when I spotted this recipe for truffle brownies from Fran's Chocolates.  I think I must've first heard about Fran's from Ina Garten, who would rave about the company's caramels on her show.  I've since sampled some of their chocolates but haven't been to Seattle where their boutiques are located to really explore their offering.  The chocolates that I have tasted were delicious so if I ever find myself in Seattle, you can bet that will be a key stop. 

So I trust that Fran knows her chocolate and I wanted to make these truffle brownies I saw online.  I thought they'd make a nice dessert on their own, or paired with ice cream.  

I churned up a batch of Vietnamese coffee ice cream to go with the truffle brownies.  I was inspired by a spurt of warm, sunny weather we were having a couple of weeks ago and while that might have distracted me to the point of baking these brownies a few minutes longer than I wish I had, they were still satisfying.  The truffle brownies are moist and have a texture that's somewhere between cake, brownie, truffle, and chocolate mousse.  How can you not want to try that!

Cut into small squares, I individually wrapped and kept my stash of truffle brownies in the fridge.  I shared some with a friend and the rest, we enjoyed on their own as well as a nice bonus accompaniment with a bowl of ice cream!  There are few things better than brownies and ice cream.  

Flourless chocolate almond butter cookies

I'm going to say honestly that I have something of a love-hate relationship with these flourless cookies.  

Despite a few trials with certain flourless cakes and cookies, I still find that I generally don't love them (of course, there are always plenty of exceptions...such as flourless chocolate cake - the kind leavened with eggs - and macaroon cookies, which I do love).  Fortunately, I have no need to avoid gluten so I don't purposely seek out gluten-free baked goods. These flourless double chocolate almond butter cookies intrigued me because they looked wonderful and I was happy to have the chance to use almond butter in baking.  In the last couple of years, I've come to enjoy almond butter almost as much as peanut butter.  

Somehow, I think I was expecting conventional, sturdy, cookies to come out of the oven but these are truly the flourless kind - super moist.  Just beneath the thin, dry crust that develops on top of these cookies, the center is ultimately fudgy and chewy.  And therein lies the love part of the equation.  The moist, chewiness - almost brownie-like texture - is something I adore and find addicting.  As such, these cookies remind me of energy bars/balls made with dates that I am still trying to figure out whether I like or not.

All in, I'm a fan of the chocolaty, salty, rich flavor and the chewy texture of these chocolate almond butter cookies yet I miss the sturdiness of the traditional cookie (clearly, I need to approach it with proper expectations).  They may not be my regular cookie of choice but they were certainly a nice change once in a while.  Since they are so moist, I find it best to store the cookies in a single layer, in the refrigerator.  We actually found we preferred them cold. The fudge factor increases and the cookies were easier to handle/hold.  Serving these cookies with a scoop of vanilla ice cream would not be a bad idea.  

Checkerboard icebox cookies

It goes without saying that the clock ticks on and that seems never more true than during the holidays, around December, when time is precious and it really flies.  That said, I've been making an effort to be organized and realistic in my December plans.  I think I'm doing well this year - I don't feel rushed and I'm savoring the season, which means simple things like family gatherings, an outing or two to see the lights and sights of the city, and time to enjoy all the wonderful seasonal treats.

I love seeing, buying, and enjoying all the festive holiday goodies at this time of year!  I can hardly resist a colorful box or any kind of foil-wrapped chocolates.  I make sure we indulge in plenty of that along with some homemade treats. Holiday baking is a real pleasure and I love days when the kitchen turns into a mini cookie factory and I churn out a batch or two of Christmas cookies.  

Come this time of year, I think of all kinds of cookies but particularly, I think of shortbread and icebox type cookies - the sandy, crumbly cookies that I frankly don't make too often otherwise.  They always seem to hit the spot - a great accompaniment to a cup of hot chocolate or coffee.  The slice-and-bake kind of cookies are also convenient, great for impromptu enjoyment or for gift-giving.   

For fun, I recently tried a batch of checkerboard icebox cookies.  Not only is the pattern fun (like that Battenberg cake I made a while back) but you also get to combine two classic flavors - vanilla and chocolate - in one cookie.  Best of both worlds!

I was afraid the cookie might be tricky to pull off but the recipe comes from The Perfect Cookie book by America's Test Kitchen, which gave me the convenience to tackle it.  It really was easy to do and the cookies came together like a charm.  I'm happy with how my first attempt turned out and the pattern of the cookie is not only fun to see but tasty to eat.  I think we were partial to the chocolate part of these checkerboard cookies but that probably doesn't surprise anyone who knows me.

Celebrating with Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes

These cupcakes!  Oh boy...I could say so much about them but basically, they are just ridiculously good!  Cooks Illustrated calls them "ultimate chocolate cupcakes with ganache filling" and I have to agree...they deserve "ultimate" status.  They are really something else!

Because take a look inside...these intensely-chocolate cupcakes not only feature a sturdy, dark, chocolate cupcake base, they have a dollop of chocolate ganache filling baked within them!  Finished with a top-hat of rich chocolate frosting, it is an ultimate chocolate cupcake experience.  

There are not many things I love more than chocolate and I'm pretty picky when it comes to chocolate treats, and I can tell you I was highly impressed and totally smitten with these.  They also brought back a good personal memory, of chocolate cupcakes my husband used to get for us at a bakery in Tribeca called, Umanoff & Parsons, that's been closed now for over 10 years.  Those chocolate cupcakes, which we still think about, live in my mind as the "ultimate" and this version comes very close (because it's hard to dethrone a memory that can no longer be tested)!

Talk about 'better late than never'...it took years for me to finally make these cupcakes!  I remember first seeing them in the magazine and then a post from Brown Eyed Baker cemented them in my mind.  But I have to confess that making cupcakes is not my favorite thing to do.  These cupcakes were a bit of a commitment but you'll be happy and thankful you made the effort when you taste it!

Recently, I finally grabbed a good opportunity to make them...in celebration of this blog's 6th anniversary!  Yes - hard enough as it is to believe - I'm still trying recipes, taking photos, and writing about some of them here in this little corner.  It's been a rewarding hobby and a creative outlet, a happy place where I indulge and make delicious discoveries such as these chocolate cupcakes!  

So let's pop a candle on top of one of these ultimate chocolate cupcakes and celebrate!  To those of you who take the time to visit, leave a comment when you can, I really appreciate your encouragement and kind words!  I don't know how much longer or at what pace this little blog will continue for but I hope I'll stay busy and make tasty discoveries for many years to come.  I can't believe the little treasure trove of recipes I've amassed here that my family and I truly love and enjoy over and over again.  It has been a real treat!

To all my fellow chocoholics out there, roll up your sleeves and tackle these cupcakes. You'll wonder if it's worth the effort and when you're done and finally sit down and take a bite of these deep, dark, rich (not particularly sweet), unabashedly indulgent cupcakes, you will think that "yes, they were totally worth it!"

Chocolate mint bars

One thing leads to another...after making revel bars, I thought I'd make another bar dessert that I've had on my list for a long time: chocolate mint bars.  Since St. Patrick's Day is coming up, a touch of green seems appropriate right now.  Clearly, I embrace all kinds of excuses to make treats!

I had my son in mind for these because he is a big fan of the chocolate + mint combination. These 3-layer treats feature a base layer of chocolate cake/brownie, followed by a cooling and sweet layer of mint frosting, topped with (my favorite part) a chocolate glaze. 

The chocolate mint bars I made are a result/collaboration between a couple of recipes. I based them off of both recipes from Hershey's (this one as well as this) and one from Cooking Light.  Typically, you'll see chocolate syrup used for the base layer but I found a Hershey's recipe that used cocoa powder instead, which I preferred.  I scaled the recipes down and made a few tweaks here and there.  In the end, I had an 8x8" pan of these minty chocolate bars that I've been meaning to try for ages. 

It's clearly all about the layers, which marry together so well.  Bite into it and the first thing that hits me, and what lingers, is that creamy chocolate glaze on top...that's my favorite part.  And the minty flavor is always refreshing and works so well with chocolate.  It's a time honored classic for obvious reasons.  So call it frosted mint brownies or mint chocolate cake you can eat with your hands...either way, it's a tasty little treat!

Revel bars (oatmeal-fudge cookie bars)

This has been a bit of an odd winter for us, with abnormally warm temps that suddenly dip into the very low double-digits.  I find that with the swing in temps, my cooking/baking as well as eating habits have been jumping all over the place, too.  So when the weather turned cold this weekend, I took it as an excuse to bake up something hearty.  I turned to my "to-try" list and decided to make a batch of Revel bars.

I never had these cookie bars growing up and I don't know exactly how the name, Revel Bars, came about but I have to assume it's to assure us that we will be very happy eating them.  My knowledge of them comes from having seen them on blogs (including this delectable peanut butter version from Tricia at Saving Room for Dessert, which I would have gladly made if my fellas are as into peanut butter desserts as I've become).  The bars always look drool-worthy and I've had them on my "to-bake" list for some time... 

And how could they not be drool-worthy when Revel Bars are basically oatmeal bar cookies with a chocolate fudge-like center!

You make a relatively basic oatmeal cookie dough, press two-thirds of it into a baking pan for the base, then make a simple chocolate fudge layer by melting sweetened condensed milk with chocolate chips and butter.  The fudge gets spread over the cookie base and then you dollop the remaining oatmeal cookie dough on the surface before baking it altogether for about 25 minutes.  

I suggest starting these early in the morning because you need to allow time for cooling.  The cookie bar needs to cool completely in the pan so the fudge layer sets up and the bars are easy to slice.  When they're finally ready, I think you will revel in these as much as we did.  

The cookie bars may be rich but they aren't achingly sweet.  I adore the texture - the oatmeal cookie portion is chewy while the fudgy layer adds an extra dimension of richness, creaminess, as well as chewiness of its own.  These are fudge oatmeal cookies in bar form and great for a crowd, for sharing in general.  

There's something about bar cookies/desserts...somehow, they're almost always good and generally rich.  These Revel bars were aptly named and were a hit with us and friends we shared them with!

Easy chocolate hazelnut cookies - small batch, in a flash

It's the day after Valentine's Day and I found myself in the kitchen making chocolate cookies.  We seriously don't need more chocolates or treats after indulging (more than usual) the day before but I couldn't help myself.  I got my hands on Christina Lane's latest book, Sweet & Simple, and these chocolate hazelnut cookies were just too easy and promising to resist.  In my defense, it takes hardly any work and results in a very reasonable 6 cookies, which are sure to vanish quickly.

I hope you had a sweet Valentine's Day!  I loved seeing all the expressions of love and chocolate everywhere leading up to it.  And speaking of things I love - I'm a big fan of small-batch baking and while I often just scale down recipes/divide them in half, I adore so many of Christina's recipes from her books and her blog, Dessert for Two! I've made many of her recipes - both sweet and savory, often on repeat. So I was eager to dig into her latest book, and it didn't disappoint.  It's got all the straight-forward, simple recipes for small-batch baking that I've come to love.  

So despite our tummies being sufficiently filled with chocolates and biscuits (and with more standing by in our cupboards), I made room for these cookies, which are seriously easy and fast to make.  Follow the recipe exactly and you only need 6 ingredients (Nutella/chocolate-hazelnut spread, sugar, egg, flour, chocolate chips, and salt for sprinkling), a few minutes to mix everything up, and 10 minutes in the oven. I had time to "complicate" matters slightly...

I decided to add some chopped toasted hazelnuts into the dough along with the chocolate chips (I used miniature ones).  I always keep a jar of mixed nuts in the kitchen to snack on everyday so I just went and pilfered some of the hazelnuts for these cookies (I was in the mood for some extra texture and I think nuts help balance the sweetness).  Instead of all-purpose flour, I used white whole wheat flour (these cookies are so moist, they can take it) and rather than sprinkling the baked cookies with sea salt on top, I added a pinch into the dough. 

In a flash - I had 6 fudgy, moist, chocolate-hazelnut cookies on my counter. They are chewy and sticky (my husband likened it to marzipan), and on the sweet side so the hazelnuts were a welcome addition of texture and flavor as a bit of a contrast. Because these cookies are so fudgy in the center (thanks to the chocolate-hazelnut spread), you might want to be a little patient and allow the cookies to cool and firm up fully before removing them from the baking sheet.  

My husband brought home some sweet strawberries for me on Valentine's night (incidentally, I took a few and dipped them in dark chocolate; they were so good and easy to do, making me wonder why I'd never done it before!).  And so I thought a few strawberries with one or two of these cookies would make a well-balanced snack/dessert.  I hope you agree.

Simple s'mores dip

Have you had s'mores dip?  I might be late on this but I made my first recently and my-oh-my, it was delicious!  I hadn't planned on posting it (as evidenced by the paper plate of graham crackers and filtered Instagram photo shown here) but I felt I had to help spread the word.  So here's my quick public service announcement: please make s'mores dip as soon as possible!  

I had the chance to do a good amount of cooking and baking during the weekend I made beignets for my family.  I think we gained a couple of pounds during those 2 days but it was totally worth it.  I tried a recipe for chicken with 40 cloves of garlic (it was great) and made risotto for another dinner.  We not only had beignets but also French toast that weekend and in between all that, there was this easy-peasy s'mores dip for dessert.  We loved it so much, and with the cold winter nights ahead, this is the kind of treat to make and dig into with your family.

So let me give s'mores dip a shout-out and encourage anyone who hasn't tried it to do so.  If you don't have a crowd to feed, it's totally worth going out and buying a small 6-inch cast iron skillet just to make s'mores dip!  And this is a wonderful "recipe" with just 3 ingredients!  You need chocolate chips, marshmallows and graham crackers, for dipping!  Some recipes call for heavy cream or butter but this super simple recipe from Dessert for Two worked beautifully - just place chocolate chips into the skillet (you don't even need to grease it) and stack some marshmallows on top. Put it in a 450 degree oven for 7 minutes or so until the marshmallows are browned (there is no need to broil or to torch them).  Then just take it to the table (with oven mitts, of course) and grab your graham crackers and be in for a treat!

Two-tier pistachio-orange-chocolate cake

Birthdays and anniversaries require cake so we're having cake today for this little Blog's 4th Anniversary!  

When I realized this anniversary was coming up, I started thinking about cake. Surprisingly, I didn't have a queue of cakes I wanted to make sitting on the sidelines so I kept it simple and just asked myself: what kind of cake do I want to eat?  And pistachio cake popped into my mind.  I've been on a pistachio kick lately and, to me, they're kind of like pears in that I'll go for a while without eating them and forget how good they are until I eat them again. 

So pistachios it was!  In the back of my mind, I was seeing this chocolate pistachio cake of Martha's that I always found alluring.  I stuck with the torte idea (which I tend to think of as nut-based, European-style, cakes) but instead of making a chocolate-pistachio cake, I made it a pistachio cake with chocolate.  I wanted the bright, nutty flavor of the pistachios to shine.  I based the cake on a recipe from epicurious and added the chocolate elements.  Pistachios and orange with chocolate is one of my favorite combinations so that's what we have. 

I didn't give this cake a lot of pre-thought before making it and wow, I was very pleasantly surprised by the cake I ended up with!  It was totally scrumptious, really moist and full of nutty citrus flavor, capped off by that coating of chocolate ganache. I will be making this one again and again.

The cake is made with ground pistachios but since it's not propped up solely on ground nuts (there's flour in it, too), the texture is moist and dense but also stands firmly in traditional cake territory as well.  I find cakes made entirely with ground nuts can be too rich and moist for my taste so this was a great balance.  There's a lovely chewiness to it also that I adore.  Orange zest works so well with pistachios and while I already have chocolate well represented in the coating, I couldn't resist adding another hint of chocolate in the cake itself.  So I grated an ounce of dark chocolate and folded it into the batter at the last moment.  You might not be able to detect the shaved chocolate within the cake but I'm comforted to know it's there.  

I attempted to make this a little more special by creating a two-tier cake, a 4-inch on top of an 8-inch base.  As you can see, I swaddled the cake in chocolate ganache, which is like an irrepressible reflex for me.  I am exploring my new interest in water ganache so it was made with just dark chocolate and water.  I'd use a little less water next time for a thicker consistency but I'm so far very happy with the water ganache option.  I topped the cake with a little decoration of chopped pistachios and cocoa nibs.  I would say this cake is a good representation of the kind of cake I love to eat - a moist, flavorful cake featuring nuts and chocolate!

I'm so glad I made cake to celebrating four years tapping away on this blog!  When I first started here, I didn't know how long I'd keep at it, and I still don't.  I'm almost surprised I'm still plugging away here but the truth is this continues to be a fun outlet for me and a motivation for learning.  I love thinking, talking, reading, writing, cooking, and eating food and that hasn't changed.    

I've learned to be comfortable in this space and I enjoy the freedom to make and show what I want without being pinned down to anything.  For a non-creative person like me, I really love the act of creating these pages - seeing these posts come to be with a recipe, some time in the kitchen, and then some words and a few pictures. There is a great sense of satisfaction in it that I'm very grateful for.  

If there's one thing that I feel a little sad about in the last four years of joining the food-blogging world (in my own very amateur, minor way) is the exiting of blogs that I got to know and enjoy.  While many blogs I started visiting four years ago are still going strong, some have stopped blogging altogether or reduced their posting significantly.  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed their words, recipes, inspiration until they were gone and I miss many of them.  I trust that those who have stopped blogging are happy and busy, and I'm sure they continue to eat well.  So I'm having a piece of cake and celebrating food blogs of old, the ones that continue to go strong, and ones yet to come that do so much to inspire and entertain me.  Thank you!  : )