Sweet - Cakes - Chocolate Beet Cake (with Strawberries on Top)

This was my first adventure into the mysterious realm of Cakes. I desperately needed to make a birthday gift, you see, and I oh-so-originally came up with cake! Everybody loves cake, am I right? I'd been at a friend's party the week before and she'd served this wonderful mouth-wateringly moist creation of chocolaty goodness, so I figured that's the cake I had to try - with strawberries on top, as per the birthday boy's oblivious instructions. So I begged my friend for the recipe she'd used and she referred me to this site. I gotta say, my first thought was "you put WHAT into the chocolate?"  But I couldn't deny that it had been good, so I gave it a try. The result:

Was pretty good, though I admit, I messed this one up a bit. I completely botched the beets because they count as "real food" in my world - not desserts - and thus something was bound to go wrong. Still, even though it turned out a bit dry, I really want to try this recipe again (and do it right next time!), and thus it's made its way here.

Ingredients (straight from the site):
Cake:
5 medium beets
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup cocoa powder + a pinch for dusting
2 sticks (1 cup) butter at room temperature
1.5 cups dark brown sugar
3 eggs
1 vanilla bean
2 tbsp Bourbon (I think I used cognac, which was very yummy. I'm sure you can replace with rum as well)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Ganache:
5 oz semisweet/dark chocolate
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp honey, corn syrup, golden syrup, or something similar
alcohol of choice, amount of choice (not to exceed a few tbsp's otherwise ganache will be too runny)
    -I macerated a few cut-up strawberries in 1/4 cup cognac and a sprinkling of sugar for a few hrs

*for (super easy) recipe, please see my chocolate ganache recipe

To Make (and Bake):
about 1.5-2 hrs

First off, the beets. To bake them, you want to individually wrap each one in aluminum foil (NOT cut them in half and place on the tray, as I did, because then they'll take ages to bake and dry up like crazy. Live and learn, I s'pose, eh?) and put them on a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 400F and roast for however long you need - usually between 20 mins to 1 hour (I know, that's a crazy range of time, sorry). Just be sure to check on them every 10-20 mins. If they look dry, you can dribble about 1 tsp of water on them and continue baking. They're done when the skin peels (slides) off easily, and skewers or forks can be inserted into the center of the beets very easily. If you want more instructions, this page looks to be fairly good. Or you can Google it, because that's how things get done. Regardless, once done baking, peel the beets and set aside to cool.

Reduce oven down to 350F, and line 2 pans with parchment paper, grease a bit, and dust a little bit of cocoa powder around the bottom.

In a large bowl you want to mix the butter and sugar until it's creamy, and then add eggs (1 at a time), vanilla and alcohol of preference.

In another bowl you want to mix the flour, baking soda and salt.

Once your beets are cool, bust out your blender, and blend the beets, cocoa powder and unsweetened chocolate together into a giant glorious mess.

Then, gradually add the flour and beets to the butter mixture until everything is well combined (you can read the site for more detailed mixing techniques).

Divide the batter in 2 and bake about 20-25 mins, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (as usual).

Then let cool a bit, and top with the (now cooled) ganache! I also added some blueberries and strawberries dipped in chocolate (which is really just melted chocolate, not the ganache, because that doesn't thicken up enough at the end) in attempts to make it pretty, but that's entirely personal preference :) Good luck, and enjoy!

Sweet - Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate ganache is AMAZING! (and thus multicolored)

It is - obviously - a staple of life for any and all chocoholics like myself, and will be showing up in loads of these future recipes (or at least 2). Therefore, I figured it deserved its own little post - pictures to come later. I would put references but honestly I think this is just my mash up of a bunch of different recipes I found online at various websites I've long since forgotten, so apologies in advance. For any specific variations I use in future recipes I'll be sure to add reference to appropriate materials.

Ingredients:

-4.5 to 5 oz chocolate of choice (semisweet or dark - under 70% - usually works best)
-1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
-1 tsp corn syrup. honey, golden syrup, or some other form of liquid sweetener - this helps smooth out the melted chocolate and adds a glossy gleam to it

optional: Alcohol of preference, amount to your taste (i usually do about 1 or 2 tbsp)
optional: any extra flavoring; for example, orange shavings, etc

To Make (No Need to Bake):
about 10 minutes, plus cooling time

-coarsely chop chocolate on a cutting board
-heat up whipping cream in a small pot (over low flame) until just bubbling
-add the chopped chocolate and mix until melted
-take pot off of heat and let cool. add any flavoring/fruit shavings/etc
-after about 5 mins of cooling, add the syrup and mix a little until integrated. you can also add any alcohol you wish (a nice idea is letting a bit of fruit - cut up strawberries for example - sit in a bit of booze for an hour or so with a sprinkle of sugar added; this adds an extra bit of fruit flavouring to the ganache at the end!)

and that's it! You're ready to go! It will be runny until fully cooled down, so if you want thicker ganache you can vary the amount of cream/liquid (*cough* alcohol *cough*) you use and/or place in fridge for a bit to thicken.

*This recipe makes enough ganache to lightly top 2 cakes/pies or heavily top 1 insert-large-baked-good-of-choice and feast on the last few spoonfulls remaining at the end (it is soooo yummy). Enjoy!

Sweet - Pies - Apple Pie

I'm not the biggest fan of apple pies, but I have to admit this one's pretty good. It's purely apples between two yummy pie crusts, and the apples turn out neither too firm nor too mushy, so it satisfies pretty much anyone's appetite.

Ingredients:

Crust: 
2.5 cups flour
2 sticks (1 cup) butter or 250 g shortening
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup ice water

*for directions on how to make the crust, please refer to my pie crust recipe

Pie:
1 kg (about 5-6) apples
1 lemon
250 g sugar
25 g starch
-cinnamon to taste (I put around 2 tsp in)
30 g butter
1 egg + 50ml water for egg wash

To Make:
about 45 minutes

*I strongly suggest washing all fruit first; this way you'll have snacking material in case you get the munchies halfway through peeling (trust me, you will)

-Peel apples using a peeler so you waste as little apple as possible but keep most of the pectin
-once peeled, cut off any bruises you see, and then cut each apple into quarters, remove the core, and cut into slices about 1/8 in thickness (don't go too thin).

-once done, grate the lemon on top of the apples (make sure to get mostly yellow, but not much white)
-then squeeze out juice from half of a lemon on top of apples
    - this is easy if you use your palm and wrist to roll the lemon a few times before cutting to get the juice flowing, and then cup the lemon with one hand while squeezing so no seeds fall into the apples and the juice doesn't squirt into your eye
-finally, add the sugar, cinnamon and starch to apples, mix thoroughly so all slices are covered, and let rest for about 30 mins.

To Bake:
about 45 minutes

-preheat oven to about 375F
-roll out the dough into two separate crusts
-take one crust and place in pie pan, and then use the egg wash (scramble egg and 50ml water together) to brush the edges of the crust
-take apple slices and fill the pie
    -make sure to plug up all holes you see with apple slices
    -use your hands to move them around, but don't press down because it can cut into the crust
-take the butter and cut it up into little pieces, and spread it throughout the pie
-take the second crust and first cut out a circle (or whatever shape you want) in the middle to let air out
-then place it on top of the apples and cover them up

-the egg wash you put on the bottom crust's edges will act a bit like glue and help stick the two crusts together.
-use your hands to gently pat down the top crust around the apples
-cut away any excess dough, and crimp the edges (either with your fingers or by pressing down with a fork) to seal the two crusts
-NOW QUICK: did you remember the butter in the (semi)previous step? I always forget it (because I'm just that brilliant), so in case you're scatterbrained like me, don't worry! You can just melt it in a pot or in the microwave, and pour it slowly through the crust opening on top

-finally, brush the egg wash over the top of the pie, and try not to have any puddles forming hear the edge because it may burn in the oven
-for a bit of added crunch, you can sprinkle some sugar over the egg wash once you're done
-bake for 40-50 minutes until it looks done

Enjoy!

Sweet | Savory - Pie Dough

So, pie dough. It's really simple. In fact, it's the very first thing we did in the Intro to Baking 101 class I'm taking this summer (came right after "and that's where the fire extinguisher is, children," so that should tell you something). Last summer when I started baking pies, I actually found another really amazing blog on pie crusts that you should definitely take a glance (at least) at, since this is the main recipe I'll be detailing below (more or less, though mostly more).

I have to say at this point that there's many different ways of making pie dough, but probably the biggest divider is whether you wish to use shortening or butter. I have (now) dabbled in both, and honestly, they're not all that different. If you use shortening it's easier to do for about 5 seconds; when I first saw shortening I thought it was play-dough. It's white and malleable, and you don't have to worry about the temperature as you (constantly) have to with butter. It's also easier to mix with your hands, since it's so soft. At the end of it all, though, it doesn't really provide any added benefit one way or the other. Thus, it's up to you, and I'll provide the ingredients for both types of dough, though I do have to say that I prefer the butter one, mainly because (1) I like butter and (2) I don't like play-dough, and it feels weird putting something resembling it into my food. So, onwards!

Ingredients:

Butter Dough - from the blog above:
2.5 cups flour (either pastry or all-purpose; pastry holds more moisture so packs in more)
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, very VERY cold
~1 cup ice water (feel free to float a cube or 2 in it)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt


Shortening Dough - from my baking class; uses weights, but about the same measurements as above:
375 g (about 2.5 cups) pastry flour (all-purpose works too, though remember it will be lighter when weighing it so use less)
250 g shortening
125 ml cold water
15 g sugar (brown, but white granulated is fine as well)
7 g salt.

both of these make enough dough for 2 crusts

To Make:
about 10 minutes

Assemble all ingredients. If you're using butter - as I am - make sure to keep it as cold as possible throughout the process (don't worry, it's pretty quick). If you're using shortening, you can relax.

First step - as always - is to mix the dry ingredients in a fairly large bowl - I'd suggest one that is wide rather than one that is deep.

Then, cut the butter into smallish cubes (or you can take the lazy way and just cut along the tablespoon lines on the wrapper) and add to the bowl of dry ingredients. If you're using shortening, just plop the whole thing in.

Next, you need to mix the butter/shortening into the flour. This is actually pretty much the only thing you have to do for this recipe (see? told you it's easy), and you can either use a pastry cutter, or a fork & knife (like I use above), or even your hands (especially for shortening, for butter not so much because you want to maintain the temperature) to mix the fat in by making it smaller and smaller. If you're using your hands for the shortening, be careful not to squeeze it; you want to scoop up the dough with your hand and use your thumb to gradually break it up.

IMPORTANT (especially for you perfectionists out there): DO NOT MIX TOO MUCH. That's it. You're done when the chunks of butter/shortening are pea-sized. 

Then, you want to make a little hole in the center and add about 1/4-1/2 cup of your ice water (no ice cubes please). The picture below shows this step, along with your wonderfully-pea-sized blobs of butter:

This is it, pretty much the last step. Knead this mixture in the bowl - not too much; again, this is a very imprecise science - and continue adding ice water 1 spoonful at a time until the dough JUST comes together, but isn't too watery or sticky. This should honestly take about 30 seconds. Please don't sit there kneading it for all eternity.

 Then dump it all out on a flowered surface (I lay out plastic wrap before flowering, which makes clean up a breeze!) 

and collect all the bits and pieces, pat them all together, and then put it in the fridge for at least an hour to firm up. That's it, YOU'RE DONE! Congrats, feel free to pat yourself on the back.

Easy, eh? Yea, I thought so.

To Bake:

Once the dough has chilled at least 1 hour, you can take it out and mess around with it! As mentioned above, the recipe is enough for 2 crusts (normal-sized, 9-10 in pies), so when you take it out, cut it in half and then you're ready to go.

Take one half and knead it 3 or 4 times (molding it into a nice cylinder or ball shape) and then you're ready to roll it out!

For any of you who don't know how to roll dough:

-have plenty of flour, and make sure to put some on the surface and top of the dough before starting
-work from the center out
-roll 1-2 times, then pick up the dough and turn it 90 degrees
-when you're back to the first side, flip it over and continue rolling
-if at any point the dough sticks, dust more flour on the spot
-roll to bigger than the pan size; you want to leave room for shrinking and/or error
-at the end, brush off any excess flour and you're done

*if not using straight away, place back in fridge to chill

It's generally good to work the dough as little as possible. That said, if you mess up, don't be afraid to roll it up and start again.

So that's it. Happy Bakings!

Points to Remember:

-keep butter cold!

-don't overwork the dough; leave pea-sized lumps of fat

-don't over-water; you don't want moist dough

-chill for at least 1 hour before use

-when rolling use dusting flour, and roll from the center out, making sure to move the dough every few rolls so it doesn't stick

Sweet - Macarons

Macarons are amazing. Pure and simple. They're sweet, chewy, crispy, moist, flavorful and all the other words that express awesome in terms of desserts. If you don't agree with the previous statement, then it's quite likely you haven't eaten enough of them yet. I swear these tiny delicacies are the most intricately woven successful evil plan for world domination. It's ingenious, really, how they lure in poor unsuspecting victims with their bright, glossy colors and promises of grandeur - gold flecked exterior! passion fruit filling! - and then entrench in them a desperate need to bake these deceptively-difficult little buggers until they finally do it right. It could take ages. (It often does.)

Better get to baking then.

My absolute favorite blog for the basics of macarons - and the best for troubleshooting - is Not So Humble Pie, the author of which has spent countless hours (well, at least 80, apparently) perfecting the technique (and including awesome pics). The resulting recipe is fantastic as a basis for your macaron adventures. The great (and most evil) thing about macarons, however, is that there's so many countless variations - from the basic vanilla and buttercream or chocolate and ganache, to the crazy early grey, green tea, rosewater - that they're continuously fun (necessary) to make (and eat, of course).

Ingredients:

Macaron:

120 g almond meal

200 g icing sugar

3 egg whites (100 g, preferably aged, room temperature)

35-40 g granulated sugar

optional: ~40g (3 or so tsp, to taste) chocolate powder (preferably dark) if want chocolate flavoring
optional: few drops of food coloring of choice - only if NOT using chocolate powder (otherwise it won't come out well...trust me)

optional: pinch of cream of tartar - it helps the meringue stick together when beating the egg whites

To Make:

Macarons - 30 mins mix, 30 mins rest:

-weigh out all ingredients, and try to be as precise as possible

    - sift ingredients both before and after weighing to insure maximum precision, and get rid of lumps
    - mix all dry ingredients together in separate clean bowl (whisking works best for this)

-in a ridiculously clean bowl (I hear metal is best) add cream of tartar and egg whites, and begin to mix

    - once egg whites are frothy and white, gradually add granulated sugar

    - increase speed after sugar is incorporated, and mix until meringue forms with stiff peaks (this is the hardest part of the recipe. Probably.)

-once meringue is finished, put the mixer away and get a clean spatula. Little by little, add the dry ingredients to the meringue, and mix to incorporate as much air as possible (that means gently moving the spatula around the edge of the bowl instead of through; basically 'folding' the dry ingredients into the meringue)

-the mixing is done when all dry ingredients have been incorporated. The meringue should flow slowly back into the bowl if dropped, and mix in with the rest. It's often described as having the consistency of lava.

To Bake:

-preheat oven. Temperatures vary from 270-320F; I found that 280F works fairly well, but you can experiment to see what works best in your kitchen.

-line 2 baking trays

-add meringue mix to a piping bag with a round tip (or a ziploc bag and cut the edge off)

    -this is easiest to do if you fold the edges of the bag backwards and rest the bag in a large mug. Then you can use both hands to pour the meringue into the bag from the bowl

-pipe out small uniform circles of meringue (I usually aim  for about 1-1.5" diameter or so, though it's ultimately up to you), spacing them evenly so they don't collide when they spread
        -Many people like to make templates ahead of time to make sure they get uniform circles; you can do this easily by drawing circles of your chosen size on parchment paper in pencil and then flipping it over and piping within the circles
        -I'm lazy, and can never find my compass (do I even own one?), so I just pipe by making small circles of meringue and counting (ie, 4 seconds per circle) to make sure they're about even :D yay for home cooking!

-once done, YOU MUST take the tray and gently bang it against the tabletop a few times (or a lot of times) to get the air bubbles out. You can (should) also use a toothpick or a sharp knife afterwards to pop any remaining bubbles.

-let stand for about 30 mins, until they aren't sticky to the touch

-place in oven and bake 16-20 mins, making sure to flip the tray 180 degrees around halfway through (This is IMPORTANT). If in doubt, bake longer. A few extra minutes results in a dryer macaron initially, but it regains moisture from the filling afterwards.

-once done, let cool for 10-20 mins and then sandwich macarons with filling of choice! Then place in mouth. Enjoy.

Side Note:
-Macarons develop flavor through aging, unlike other cookies (which, as you probably already know, are at their peak fresh out of the oven in all their gooey goodness). That's why a slightly overdone (dry) macaron is preferable to underdone, because it will regain its moisture simply through sitting in the fridge for a day or 2 (up to 2 weeks or so), versus an underdone macaron which will already contain too much moisture and likely fall apart or stick to the tray (or any number of other ghastly misfortunes). This is also why - supposedly - macarons that are left to rest for a bit are more delicious than those ready made; I unfortunately cannot attest to this, however, since mine rarely last more than a few hours (self-constraint definitely is not my strong suit).

Sweet - Macarons - Chocolate Salted Caramel

So, Chocolate Salted Caramel Macarons.

I got the idea from Byron Talbott's youtube channel (I love it!) which provides an awesome recipe for Salted Caramel (well, technically Dulce de Leche) macarons. Then I added chocolate, because that's what self-respecting chocoholics do. The result:

Yummmmmmmm.

The recipe for the macarons themselves is the same as that given in my other post on macarons in general. I'll add the ingredients below, but please refer to that for the instructions (unless you're a pro, then...well, good for you).

Ingredients:

Macaron:

120 g almond meal

200 g icing sugar

~40g (3 or so tsp, to taste) chocolate powder (preferably dark)

3 egg whites (100 g, preferably aged, room temperature)

35-40 g granulated sugar

bit of sea salt

optional: pinch of cream of tartar - it helps the meringue stick together when beating the egg whites

Dulce de Leche:

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

To Make:

Dulce De Leche - 4 hrs - do ahead:

There are numerous ways to do this, but the easiest is:

-place unopened can in pot and fill with water until can is submerged

-then, place pot over low fire and boil for about 2.5 hrs, making sure to top up the water so the can is always submerged.

-when done, cool in fridge for 1.5-2 hrs, or longer

-alternatively, you can open the can and pour the contents into a glass jar, and seal it. This will allow you to see the changing color of the Dulce de Leche, and therefore better judge when it is ready.

Macarons - 30 mins mix, 30 mins rest:

-come on, you know what to do :P if not refer to the link above, just don't forget the chocolate!

To Bake:

-preheat oven to your preferred temperature; usually the range from 270-320F works best. My personal favorite is 280F , but you can experiment to see what works best in your kitchen.

-Line trays, pipe out meringue and get rid of air bubbles
    - to make them Salted, sprinkle some coarse sea salt on about half of the cookies (or all if you wish)
    - then let stand for 30 mins or until not sticky to touch

-place in oven and bake 16-20 mins, making sure to flip the tray 180 degrees around halfway through. If in doubt, bake longer.

-once done, let cool for 10-20 mins and then sandwich macarons with the Dulce de Leche! Then place fridge (especially if the sauce is a bit runny) for a few hours to firm up. When ready to eat, take out, let rest for a few minutes and then enjoy!

Sweet - Cookies - Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies

This little gem is from my mother's cupboard, specifically a beautiful book entitled Absolutely Chocolate - irresistible excuses to indulge (yep, no kidding!) that's going at the top of my "Books to Liberate From Unsuspecting Victims" list. It's quite tasty.

So anyways, page 16, Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies. I hope the name makes your mouth water - it should. It's a delectable cookie recipe, using mainly butter, sugar and flour as the main ingredients (no eggs). This produces a chewy, moist cookie with a rich espresso/dark chocolate taste. The sugar sprinkled on top also melts and makes the cookies crispy - especially around the edges (yumyum).

Ingredients:
9oz (2 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp table salt
10oz (1.5 cups, or 3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 tbsp instant espresso powder (or 4 tbsp instant-coffee granules, crushed)
1 cup confectioners' (icing) sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips
extra granulated sugar for dipping - about 1/4 cup should suffice

Assembling the dough (takes about 15 mins):
-The simplified steps:
-Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together in a bowl (whisking is usually the best).
-Then mix the butter and espresso powder until it's smooth (electric mixer is great for this).
        -To have room temperature butter you can (obviously) leave out the butter for an hour or so until it       softens, or, if you're in a hurry you can microwave it for about 30 seconds, making sure to check every 5 sec or so to make sure it hasn't melted.
-Add both sugars and mix again until smooth.
- get yourself a spoon or spatula, and start mixing in the flour-mix, about a quarter at a time, until fully incorporated
-add the chocolate chips and make sure they're evenly distributed
-and voila, you're done

Baking (about 12 mins):
-preheat oven to 350F
-if you have a cooling rack, take it out and line it with paper towels
-place some granulated sugar in a bowl (flat bottom is good)
-line 2 baking trays
-scoop out bits of dough - if using a tablespoon, you'll get about 24 cookies, 12 on each pan, whereas with teaspoon sized scoops you'll likely get twice as many
-BEFORE putting them on the trays, mold them into a flat(ish) disk and press the top into the sugar, then place sugar-side up on the trays. These cookies SPREAD to about twice their size so be sure not to crowd them!
-bake 12-14 mins, until the edges begin darkening (this time it took 12 minutes for me, so be sure to check nearing the end)
-once done, take out of oven, and once cool enough (the book says 2 mins, I waited at least 5 else the cookies were prone to breaking) move to cooling rack. The paper towels are important, because these cookies are very buttery, so it's necessary to soak out as much excess butter as you can, else they'll be oily when cooled.

And that's it. Super easy recipe, and so far quite delish.

Points to Remember:
-cookies are very buttery - need to drain excess fat by cooling on paper towels after baking.
-cookies spread to twice their size in the oven - make sure to leave room on the trays for that!
-start checking on them at the 12-minute mark to make sure they don't burn.

Quick Notes, Disclaimer, etc etc

Hi all! Or probably just future me. Either way, welcome to my very badly named blog! (I was really uninspired that day...)

This 'blog' is really just so I can make note of recipes I've tried and liked/ haven't tried but would like to/liked but not tried/whatever else strikes my fancy (quite possibly some pictures of owls). Regardless, I'm fairly new to baking, so it's quite unlikely that ANY of these future recipes will be my own (then again, who knows eh?), so I'll try and make note of where in the outer reaches of the internet (or my mother's cookbook cupboard) I've dredged them up from. Please don't sue me (especially you, future me), but if I do forget something, feel free to remind me in a comment :D

Ok, that's quite enough. Happy Bakings!

-Pip