Tag: dessert

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Dark Cherries and Almond Flour

Anya made me birthday cookies! I wanted to save the recipe because they turned out really well.

 
Ingredients:
  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup frozen dark cherries, roughly chopped
Instructions:
  1. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter with the maple syrup until well mixed. The mixture will be looser than a typical creamed butter-sugar mixture due to the syrup.
  4. Mix in the Greek yogurt until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
  5. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. The dough will be a bit softer due to the syrup and yogurt.
  6. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and frozen dark cherries until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
  7. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie to allow for spreading.
  8. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the centers are set but still soft. If you made really big cookies, this may be more like 20 minutes!
  9. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tangzhong Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups (426g) light brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons table salt
  • 16 tablespoons (226g) unsalted butter, cut into 1″ pieces
  • 1/2 cup (113g) milk, whole preferred
  • 2 3/4 cups (330g) flour
  • 2 large eggs, cold from the refrigerator
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 cups (340g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar and salt. Set aside.

  • In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. After several minutes, the butter will sizzle and may spatter. Continue to cook the butter, swirling the pan regularly, for about 5 to 7 minutes, until it’s a dark golden brown color and brown bits start collecting at the bottom of the pan; the butter will have stopped sizzling and may also have a layer of foam on the surface.

  • Once the butter is browned, immediately pour it over the sugar mixture (be sure to scrape out the brown bits at the bottom) and whisk vigorously to combine; this helps dissolve the sugar slightly and creates the shiny surface of the baked cookies. (The mixture will stay lumpy and won’t become smooth at this point.) Set the empty saucepan aside to cool slightly.
  • In the same saucepan used to brown the butter, combine the milk with 3 tablespoons (23g) of the bread flour and whisk until no lumps remain.
  • Place the saucepan over low heat and cook the mixture, stirring regularly with a whisk and then a flexible spatula, until it’s thickened, paste-like, and starts to come together into one mass, about 2 to 3 minutes.

  • Remove from the heat and transfer directly to the bowl with the butter and sugar. Whisk until mostly smooth; some lumps are OK.

  • Add the eggs and vanilla and continue whisking until smooth.

  • Weigh or measure the remaining 2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (307g) bread flour by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Add the bread flour to the bowl with the butter and sugar, then add the baking powder and baking soda. Using a whisk or flexible spatula, stir until well combined and no dry spots remain.

  • Place the bowl, uncovered, in the refrigerator and allow it to cool for 10 to 15 minutes.

  • While the batter is cooling, use a serrated knife to roughly chop the chocolate into coarse pieces. Avoid chopping the chocolate too fine, as small pieces will melt when mixed into the dough.

  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator and fold in the chopped chocolate. Cover the bowl and return to the refrigerator for 24 to 72 hours to allow the flavors to intensify.

  • To bake, remove the chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for about 10 to 15 minutes to allow it to warm up slightly. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the center.

  • Scoop the dough into balls about 2 1/4″ in diameter.

  • Arrange the scooped cookie dough on parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 3″ to 4″ apart. For consistently shaped cookies, roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball before baking.

  • Bake the large chocolate chip cookies for 18 to 22 minutes, until the edges are set and the cookies are browned, rotating the pan halfway through baking to ensure even browning. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them rest on the baking sheets until cool enough to handle, at least 15 minutes.

Anya’s 11th Birthday Cake: Orange Chocolate

This year, Anya wanted an orange cake decorated with pieces of orange … but she also wanted chocolate. So we made an orange chocolate cake with orange chocolate buttercream. Very tasty!

Chocolate Orange Cake

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • zest of two oranges
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup decaffeinated coffee, cooled
  • 4 medium eggs

Preheat oven to 325F. Butter and flour two 8″ cake pans.
Whisk all dry ingredients (including orange zest) together.
Whisk all wet ingredients together.
Slowly stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.
Pour batter into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Remove from oven, allow pans to cool for approx 15 minutes, then turn cakes onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Orange Buttercream Frosting

  • 2 cups unsalted butter
  • 1 Tbsp orange emulsion
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 5 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 10 oz dark chocolate chips

Whip the butter in the blender until light and fluffy. Add orange emulsion and salt.
Heat the whipping cream, remove from heat, and stir in chocolate chips to melt.
Slowly sift powdered sugar into butter while continuing to blend on lowest speed.
Once powdered sugar has been incorporated, add melted chocolate a scoop at a time and continue to blend on lowest speed until it has all been incorporated.

Christmas Cookies

We made lots of maple cookies for Christmas — two different types, each of which has a full cup of maple syrup in it!

Anya cut shapes for the gingerbread.

We have lots of maple leaves, 5’s, cats, and seahorses. And some gingerbread people.

 

Cakey Maple Cookies

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3 cup rolled oats
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together the dry ingredients excluding the oats. In a different bowl, combine eggs, maple, and yogurt. Mix into the dry ingredients, then stir in oats. Put about a tablespoon of batter per cookie on a sheet, and bake for about 25 minutes. Remove from tray and allow to cool.

Maple Gingerbread (Needs more ginger and cinnamon!)

  • 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbps ground cinnamon
  • 1 Tbps ground ginger
  • 1 cup dark maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 egg

Sift dry ingredients together. Combine butter, maple, and egg. Stir into dry ingredients. Form into a ball. Refrigerate for a few hours.

Preheat oven to 350. Roll out dough, cut shapes, and cook for about 15 minutes. Remove from tray and allow to cool

Chocolate Crepe Rolled Cake

This was another video recipe that I tried to transcribe into a list of ingredients

Cake Base

Whip together 2 eggs and 70g sugar
Add 1 tablespoon honey, and whip some more

Stir in 20g butter and 30ml milk

Sift together 65g baking flour and 10g unsweetened cocoa, then fold into egg mixture. Pour thin layer in bottom of cake pan and bake — this is the base of the crepe rolled cake.

Crepes

Whisk together 180g flour and 35g unsweetened cocoa
Add a pinch salt and 10g sugar. Whisk to combine.

Blend in 3 eggs, 260g warm milk, and 160g boiling water. Strain to remove any lumps, then mix in 60g of liquid honey and 25 (g? ml?) vegetable oil.

Cover with cling film and rest for 20 mins, then make crepes in a pan.

 

To make cream cheese filling:

Blend 250g cream cheese, 45g powdered sugar, and 150g Greek yogurt

In a separate bowl, mix 250g cream 33% and 45g powdered sugar. Whip to firm peak state.
whip to firm peak

Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture.

Fold in 20g liquid honey.

Assembly:

Lay out a crepe, coat with whip, and fold in thirds toward center. Repeat with all crepes.

Put cake base on plate, coat with cream mixture. Roll crepes into a big circle, then place on cake layer. Wrap additional crepes around. Chill in fridge for 3-4 hours, preferably overnight.

Dust with powdered sugar. Cut and serve.

Cranberry Crumble

I made a cranberry crumble that Scott found in the local news paper

FILLING:

  • 2 cups cranberries
  • Zest and juice of 1/2 orange
  • 1/2 cup maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

CRUST:

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups almond flour
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • Zest of 1/2 orange
  • 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375F.

Toss cranberries with corn starch and cinnamon. Add orange zest and mix. Then stir in orange juice and maple syrup.

Combine dry crust ingredients. Cut in butter, then add egg whites and vanilla to form a crumble. Press some into bottom of pan. Cover with cranberry mixture, then crumble crust mixture on top.

Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Allow to cool.

Recipe — Walnut Pastry Thing

Walnuts in hard shell — boil in water for for 5 minutes

Pastry:

2 eggs
100g sugar
1 pinch of salt
150g butter
100g sour cream (10%)
600g flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, make into a ball. Split and roll — use additional flour for rolling.

Filling:
1 egg white
100g sugar
120g walnuts

Whip egg whites, fold in sugar and walnuts.

Cut rolled pastry dough into wedges, add dollop of walnut mixture to large end, roll toward pointed end.

Brush with 1 egg yolk

Bake at 180℃ for 40 minutes

Dust with powdered sugar

Anya’s Posting Challenge — Again — And Pie

Anya said I have too much “computer stuff” on my website again — not enough kittens and pie and fun stuff. So I am not allowed to post anything about computers for ALL OF FEBRUARY! And, if I do post about it, I get March added on. And another month for the next infraction, and so on. So  … umm … pie!

Anya made a peach pie — I had extra pie crust dough from making a quiche a few nights ago, and we had frozen sliced peaches over the summer when we picked up a big pile of fresh peaches. I made a maple sugar crumble (maple sugar instead of brown sugar in a crumble recipe) for the topping. Anya used cookie cutters to decorate the pie with maple leaves and a snowflake. It was very tasty!

Recipe – Speculoos

  • 4 cups flour , sifted
  • 1½ cup brown brown sugar
  • 1 cup butter (at room temperature)
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
  • ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon ground anise
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Mix the flour and baking powder together.

Mix the butter with sugar, salt and spices. Add the eggs one by one and mix well.

Gradually add the flour mixture and stir.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 F / 190 C.

Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.

Thoroughly dust the work surface with flour and the rolling pin. Roll the first piece dough to a thickness of ¼ inch

Cut the dough with a knife or a cookie cutter and use the wooden or silicone mold to make some prints on the speculoos.

Place the speculoos on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for about 10 minutes.

Allow to cool for a few minutes, then place on a cookie rack to cool.

Maple Pecan Pie Filling

  • 2 1/2 cups pecan halves
  • 5 Tbsp melted butter, cooled
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup maple syrup

This recipe requires the pie crust to be blind baked — do that first and allow the crust to cool! Preheat oven to 350F.

Lay the pecan halves over the bottom of the pie crust.

Whisk together the butter, brown sugar, flour, vanilla, salt, eggs, and maple syrup. Pour over the pecans.

Put a pie crust shield on to protect the edge of the pie from overcooking. Bake for 45 minutes until the top is browned slightly.