Maple Blondies | Fall

Earlier this month Hurricane Sandy swept through the east coast leaving people and their homes devastated. Admittedly I was not in one of the worst areas during the hurricane, but I was definitely affected by it. My heart goes out to those who lost everything because of the hurricane. I only lost power for a week, and it was hard enough living that way, I can’t even fathom what others are going through.

In the end, this experience left me with many things to be thankful this thanksgiving. That includes my parents, my sister, my friends, my home…I suppose I could go on, but I’ll sum it up into one sentence: I’m thankful that I have everything and everyone that I need in my life. Quite honestly, not many are as fortunate as me, and even though I do complain frequently  and face problems, I only deal with a fraction of what others have to go through in life.

I know this post is a little early for a thanks giving post, but this was the only time I could do it, and I’m trying to keep posting frequently! So, dear readers: Happy thanksgiving, I hope you have a wonderful meal with your family and your friends :)

For this post I baked these maple blondies, and quite frankly, I am in love with maple flavored anything right now! It’s just such a wonderful flavor to enjoy during the fall, and I’ve been trying to put maple syrup in or on literally everything. I think I may be a little ridiculous, but it’s just so delicious. These blondies are very sweet, however, not heavy, because the texture is much lighter, so in the end it all balances out.

Maple Blondies

Adapted from Southern Lady Magazine via Baked Bree

• 2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 10 Tablespoons melted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
• optional: 1 cup pecan or walnut pieces [ I didn't include any in the blondies I made in the picture, because I was making these for someone with a nut allergy, however I highly reccommend putting in nuts if you like them :) ]

Instructions

1. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl & set aside.
2. In another, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup, until well mixed.
3. Add the eggs, and the two flavorings, and whisk until combined.
4. Add a half cup of the dry ingredients to the wet and blend until combined
5. Repeat step five, until you’ve added all of the dry ingredients to the wet.
6. If you are adding nuts, stir them in now.
7. Spread into a 9×13 pan that has been coated with cooking spray.
8. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy & happy thanksgiving!

Deepshikha :)

Spider Web Fudge | Halloween

As a teenager, Halloween has definitely changed for me. Being a kid, I remember it being almost equivalent to Christmas, and it actually made me want to go to school whenever it fell on a weekday. Often, I’d stay up the night before, unable to sleep from the excitement, and the next morning I would be just as excited, as if I’d had a full night’s sleep. Next morning would be a fiasco for me, I’d jump out of bed extra early so I could get every aspect of my costume just right, pinned properly to stay in place, with impeccable face paint or makeup. The bus ride there was a pain, being squished in with all those other kids, but I endured it because when I got I would probably have the “funnest”(that was my favorite word as a kid) day of my life. I’d spend all day doing Halloween themed math problems, reading scary stories in English, and watch my science teacher be a mad scientist, and then at the end of the day there would be a party and the all the kids would stuff their faces with ridiculous amounts of Halloween themed junk food. Needless to say, it was a blast for any elementary/middle school kid.

But I was only a kid, and eventually had to face the scary reality of growing up. Upon entering high school, everything became a lot more serious. There were so many aspects of life that changed, but just to sum it it: high school is all work no play. Needless to say, Halloween became toned down, almost to the point of non existence. Nearly everyone is too tired to bother dressing up, or too lazy to do so. The whole day is full of serious, work, with minimal holiday influence. In the end, Halloween has turned into almost a normal day for me. However, this year, I’m definitely attempting to have some holiday spirit, and I made these little spider web fudge bites for a party that I’m attending.

These fudge bites, are super easy to make, and are just a simple variation from my cheater’s fudge recipe. They’re really perfect for parties, because they look cute and Halloween themed, but don’t take much effort to make. I also created gifs demonstrating some of the steps, so that it’s easier to follow!

Spider Web Fudge

makes approximately 24 pieces 

• all ingredients for this cheater’s fudge(click here for recipe)
• a mini muffin tin
• cupcake liners (to fit in the muffin tin)
• a tooth pick
• two piping bags (one medium sized w/ a large tip and the other smaller with a thinner tip) or two zip lock bags(instructions to prepare them are in the recipe)
• 3/4 cup white chocolate
• a spoon

1. Split all the ingredients for the cheater’s fudge in half. We’re doing this because white chocolate tends to cool fast, so it is easier to work with one half of the batch first.
2. Put the baking cups into the muffin tin.
3. So following the instructions for the fudge up to step three, make the first half of the recipe, and mean while, create a double boiler for the white chocolate, by filling a pan halfway with water, putting the while chocolate in a separate bowl, and setting that bowl in the water of the pan. make sure NO water touches the white chocolate, because it will not melt properly.
4. After you’re on step three for the fudge, and the white chocolate is melted, take the fudge base, and scrape it into the bigger piping bag, and pour the white chocolate into the smaller piping bag with the thinner tip. if you are using a ziplock bag: take the smaller bag, and cut a very small amount of the corner off to create a very small hole, be careful not to cut too much, it is very easy to underestimate the size. Then take the larger ziplock bag, create a larger hole, you should be able to put your finger through the hole and still have  small amount of space around your finger. You will put putting the fudge in the larger bag, and the white chocolate in the smaller bag. From this point on begin working quickly, because the white chocolate will harden over time.
5. Pipe the fudge into the cupcake liners, keeping the point of your piping bag/ziplock bag at the center and letting the fudge spread out from the tip and moving the piping bag up gradually until the cupcake liner is almost full. Pipe the fudge into all of the cupcake liners until you have nothing left. Then take a spoon, and even out the surface of the fudge. demonstrated below in the gif…(I apologize for the bad pictures, I was using one hand to take pictures, and the other to demonstrate…).

flatten

• Then, taking the white chocolate bag, pipe a swirl on the surface of the fudge, as demonstrated below in the gif.
  swirl

  
  

• Then taking the tooth pick, drag it through the fudge, starting from the center and pulling outwards, as demonstrated in the gif. I know in the gif, i simply pulled the toothpick through and then immediately went to make another line, but I recommend wiping the tooth pick between every line you draw, because there will be little bits of fudge and white chocolate stuck on there, and if you wipe it off, it will make the fudge look a little bit neater…

Dragging

• Put the tray into the refrigerator to cool, then repeat again for the second half of the batch, or just make one half :) You can remove the cupcake wrappers fairly easily if you want to remove them, or just leave them on there.
• Enjoy!

~Deepshikha

Spelling | Banana Bread

I’ve always had issues spelling banana.

It’s just the fact that I never quite remember when I need  to stop with the na’s.

It’s also the reason I lost my second grade spelling bee, which was really quite embarrassing .

But the good thing was, that my embarrassment eventually made me want learn from my mistake, and I finally taught myself how to spell bananas through a song, which I still sing to this day whenever I need to spell bananas.

Heck, I still sing it when I even hear the word bananas, and it was what I stood around singing while mixing the batter for this banana bread.

In my family banana bread is something that everyone loves.

However it’s very rare that you will ever find a piece in my house, because its consumed

within two days of baking it, and we just love it.

My only qualm with it: its very dense and heavy, which i hated for a while. Until I found this recipe.

This particular recipe is lighter than most banana breads which I absolutely love. It still has a good amount of density in it, so its not very fluffy and cake like, essentially hitting an equilibrium in terms of bread density.

The recipe:

Banana Bread:

adapted from food network

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 overripe bananas
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup walnuts broken into small pieces ( not too small or you won’t be able to taste it, but if you make the chunks too big, you will have trouble cutting the bread into proper pieces later) can also be substituted with other nuts i.e. pecans, or if you don’t want nuts they can be removed or replaced with chocolate or butterscotch chips.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. In a medium size bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3. Mash 2 of the bananas with a fork in a small bowl, and leave them off to the side.
4.  With an electric mixer fitted with a wire whisk, whip the remaining bananas and sugar together for three minutes to make a fluffy/light mixture (in a medium sized bowl)
5.  Add the melted butter, eggs, and vanilla; beat well and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
6. Mix in the dry ingredients.(don’t over blend!)
7. Fold in the nuts and the mashed bananas that were set off to the side before with a rubber spatula.
8. Pour into a greased and lined baking pan, and bake for approx. an hour, make sure to check with a tooth pick(insert a tooth pick into the center and see if it comes out clean).

Note: the bread will develop a crack down the middle, which supposed to happen :)

Cool the bread completely before slicing

~Dee

Almond Cookies | A Tradition

January has passed by in rushed afternoons, studying as the sun crept down the sky. I missed having time to relax, read, or even to bake. As you can see baking hasn’t quite been in my schedule as of late, and I started to miss spending afternoons stirring up ingredients, feeling the warmth of the oven against my face, and biting into my creations just as they came out of the oven. Finally after weekends of studying relentlessly, I finally found myself an hour of time.

With this extra time, I made these familiar little cookies. I grew up with them, watching my mother bake them at nearly every special occasion, however I never quite liked them, or appreciated them. Soon, my family’s life became a lot busier, and my mother stopped baking the cookies for a while and the tradition was forgotten.

But only for a while.

A couple of months ago, in December I had to complete a school project about my family’s traditions, and the very first thing I thought of were these little cookies. I did not have much time that particular weekend, and my mom was more familiar with the recipe, so I asked her to make them for me. When I finally bit into one I realized how much I had missed my mother’s cookies, and remade them for my family.

Almond Cookies

• 16 tablespoons butter at room temperature (I used browned butter, but that’s purely optional)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup of ground almonds

1. Toast the almonds until golden brown.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and the brown sugar together until fluffy, then add in the egg yolk, oil and vanilla, and mix well.
4. Add a half a cup of flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix in well.
5. Repeat step three until all of the flour mixture is mixed in.
6. Add the almonds to the mixture, and mix in well. Scoop 1/2 a table-spoon for each cookie and roll them into a ball and space them out on a cookie sheet evenly.
7. bake at 350 degrees farenheit for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Fudge | Summer

It’s really hard to believe that my first year as a freshman is over. It really feels like I was ranting about my fears of high school years just yesterday. I honestly anticipated this year to take forever, just like everything I don’t like seems to take, but really it just rushed right by. I’m surprised that I’m now a sophomore. I can still remember clearly of how I walked into the high school for the first time as a student, and wondering why school decor was always so drab.

And so sophomore year starts…

On a brighter note: I have a quick and simple recipe to share!

It’s fudge.

A fudge shortcut. Its ridiculously easy to make, and you can make it in ten minutes.

Seriously.

Oh and one last little thing: I made a face book page for the blog! Go and check it out and like it!

Here’s the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Notorious-Experiments/182235575167065?ref=hnav

and here is the recipe:

Simple Fudge

PS: before you start making this recipe, know that it is very, very sweet. I rarely eat more than one or two pieces in a sitting because it is simply that sweet.

Adapted from Baking Addiction

•  3 cups chocolate chips(semi-sweet or dark chocolate is good, in the pictures above I used dark chocolate)
• 14 oz of sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 a tsp of salt(fleur de sel is preferable but i have used regular table salt sometimes)
• 1 1/2 a tsp of vanilla
• if you really want to add some sort of nuts or something go ahead!(i recommend about a cup)

1. Line an 8 x 8 pan with aluminum foil
2. Mix together the chocolate, condensed milk, and salt in a medium pan, until the chocolate is completely melted and blended in.
3. Remove from heat and add in the vanilla.
4. working quickly pour the mixture into the lined pan(or else it will cool and harden, and when you’re smoothing the top, it’ll start cracking[it will look like its cracking], and it will look strange)
5. Cool in the refridgerator for at least 45 minutes or until it is completely cold and firm.
6. To cut it: make sure you use a knife with no ridges, or anything on the blade, other wise the edges of the fudge pieces will look strange. You want a knife like this:

Enjoy!

~Dee D.

Strawberry Tart | Me

Dear Readers,

I’m sorry I haven’t been around…

I’ve been caught up in some of my business(which involved staring at textbooks and math equations relentlessly)…

If you’re a new reader, hello and welcome :)
Hope are enjoying it :)

This is going not going to be one of my usual posts, it’s going to be somewhat more quick and direct because at the moment I am busy, and I just wanted to post something quickly…

Also, some of you commented and emailed me for step by step pictures of each of posts, and here’s why I don’t want to do this:

I have nobody around most of the time to take pictures for me, so I’ll have to take them myself. No it’s not because I’m lazy, it’s because I will get involved in what I’m making and forget to take pictures, so you’ll probably end up with half of the pictures for all the steps…

I will try however :)

I know I’ve said this before, but just in case you don’t know: if some of you have questions about anything, feel free to email me, or just leave a comment below, and I’ll reply to your email and/or comment! My email is: thenexperiments@live.com. If you want to tweet me as well, go ahead! My username is @thenexperiments (there’s also a follow button on the side somewhere).

Now about this tart I’m supposed to be talking about… I’ve had this recipe, and these pictures for a while now, except I never got around to posting, and I forgot about it, until now when I realized it was strawberry season, and this would be perfect for use!

I really love this tart. Its crust is amazing, and ridiculously flaky and buttery. The pastry cream, isn’t fully solid but it ta

stes great, and it uses a only a little of heavy cream(I’m really attempting to find recipes for things without heavy cream, its notoriously bad for you! How ever I am being a little hypocritical, considering the tart shell, but I cannot not use that shell! its amazing!)…and the topping of the fresh

strawberries really just is great :) It adds a fresh taste to it :)

Hope you try and enjoy it!

Fresh Strawberry Tart

• 1 pack of strawberries(16 oz.) quartered.
• tart shell(recipe below)
• pastry cream (recipe below)

Use this recipe from David Lebovitz for the tart I followed the whole thing exactly, and he has pictures of certain steps as well :)

Pastry Cream

Modified from Barefoot Contessa in Paris via Culinate

• 5 large egg yolks at room temperature
• 3/4 a cup sugar(I didn’t fully fill each of the cups to minimize the sugar content in this  somewhat)
• 3 tbsp. corn starch
• 1 1/2 cups of scalded milk(scald the milk by heating it at a medium, until it develops a skin on top and that skin starts to rise and turn off the heat before the whole thing boils over. note: scald this right before you start the first step of this)
• 3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract.
• 1 tsp. rum
• 1 tbsp.unsalted butter
• tbsp. heavy cream

1. Whip up the eggs and sugar, until it become a very pale, almost white-ish yellow and the mixture will be very thick.
2. If you are using a mixer, lower the speed of the mixer and add in the corn starch. if you are doing this by hand, simply mix in the cornstarch.
3. Then while constantly mixing pour the scalded milk into the egg yolk and sugar mixture. Don’t stop mixing, or the eggs may scramble.
4. Pour all of this, in to a medium pan, and put it on medium heat stirring with a whisk.
5. After a while this will start to look at though it is curdling, so at this point start stirring vigorously with the whisk.
6. after a while it will come together a little bit more and that is when you put in the rum, vanilla extract, butter, and heavy cream. Stir it in and continue to cook for a minute, then remove from heat.
7. Grab a strainer, and put it over a a bowl and strain the mixture.
8. Cover the bowl of the mixture, and put it in the refrigerator until it is cool.

To assemble tart:

1. make sure pastry cream, and the tart shell are cooled down completely.
2. pour the pastry cream into the tart shell. Be careful, the tart shell is a little delicate, and spread it out evenly.
3. top the whole thing with the strawberries, you can simply toss them on there, or arrange them like I did, what ever you like.

Note: this recipe for this tart can be pretty flexible.

So you say you want lime and coconut tart? Add approximately a teaspoon(taste and adjust) into the pastry cream, and a half cup of coconut, and top the whole thing with shredded coconut.

Or if you want a black forest gateaux inspired one, cut up some maraschino cherries, and mix them into the pastry cream, and replace some of the flour inthe tart dough with chocolate powder, and cover it all with a chocolate glaze perhaphs.

Be creative, and if you have any questions email me.

Hope you enjoy!

Meringue Coffee Cake | Japan

From my childhood, I remember that every few years or so there would be some sort of catastrophe. There was Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, the huge tsunami and Haiti. Now, there’s Japan, and I personally think, that this recent disaster has been one worst ones of them all. It was a huge triple blow to Japan. First the earthquake and its aftershock, then the tsunami, and now the impending disaster of  a possible nuclear explosion.

When I saw the before and after shots, I was astonished by how much Japan had been affected by all of this. It’s absolutely devastating, especially for the people there.  It’s truly heartbreaking. I feel the need to do something, and I’m thinking about doing maybe, a bake sale for Japan? I’m not sure how that will work out, but I’ll try to do the best I can.

On a happier note: I made the daring  bakers challenge, and I loved it!

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

This coffee cake is so delicious soft and most definitely not the way I expected it to be. When I saw the addition of the meringue in this, I was surprised. Usually when baked, meringue turns hard, however when I took it out of the oven and cut myself a piece, I saw that instead of a hard sugary layer inside which I’d expected, there was a warm,  and utterly soft inside with a layer of almond chunks, chocolate and white chocolate.

The texture of the cake was amazing, and it was very similar to the texture of brioche, a cross between a cake, and bread. The chocolate inside added wonderful taste to it and the almonds gave a subtle nutty crunch. This is absolutely amazing, when it was straight out of the oven, and just as good when toasted a little afterwards.

Bon appétit!

Filled Meringue Coffee Cake
Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter
The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:

• 4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour
• ¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar
• ¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt
• 1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast
• ¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk
• ¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)
• ½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature
• 2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue:

• 3 large egg whites at room temperature
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

• 1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) coarsely chopped roasted almonds
• 2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar
• ½ c. white chocolate
• ½ c. semisweet chocolate

Egg wash:

• 1 beaten egg (or if you simply happen to have egg yolks lying about, those work too!)
• Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions:

To Prepare the dough:

1.       In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

2.       In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.

3.       With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended.

4.       Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

5.       Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together.

6.       Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

7.       Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

8.      Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately.

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:

1.       In a clean mixing bowl – ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom – beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds.

2.       Then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque.

3.       Then add the vanilla then start adding the ½ cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Note: I made little individual pockets, but it was hard to fill these and in the end they didn’t have enough filling. So I recommend taking a look at the other shapes the other bakers made here(just click on any link you want and check it out :)). Below I’ve included the instructions for a wreath like shape, which most bakers did.

1.       Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2.       Punch down the dough and divide in half.

3.       On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle.

4.       Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges.

5.       Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

6.       Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

7.       Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

8.      Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

9.       Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

10.   Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

11.    Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

12.    Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks.

13.    Allow to cool.

“Not So Nutella” Brownies | A Craving

I woke up on valentines day with my ears still ringing from my alarm and a utter craving for something chocolaty and baked. The simple answer to that craving? Chocolate cake. But then again it was five thirty and in the morning and the possibility getting any chocolate cake was near impossible, so I rushed off getting myself ready for school, and for the whole week kept this chocolate craving at bay.

Finally on Thursday, I had time. We had a four day weekend ahead, which meant a lot of time to bake, do home work and anything else I fancied at that moment.

After I got off the bus that afternoon, I walked up the icy driveway, fiddling the the worn edges of my scarf and trying to remember where I had kept my go-to chocolate cake recipe. I was quite sure I had either stashed it in one of my desks drawers or I had book marked it. I rushed into the house, pulled off my coat, and scarf and dashed into the study.

After a frustrating ten of searching through dozens of recipes, papers, and a menagerie of my sisters art utensils with no results, I finally set off to sort through my book marks, a scarier prospect, considering I had hundreds of recipes bookmarked. I went through at least two dozen links before finding some: a recipe for Nutella brownies.

I love nutella, and I love brownies, and then finding these two combined while having a craving for something chocolate and baked? It was like finding gold.

With much zest I scribbled down the recipe and rushed off to the kitchen to bake them. A jar of nutella and fifteen minutes later, I had these in the oven. Another half an hour later I had these out of the oven, with one excited sister watching them like a hawk.

After they cooled, I cut into them, and finally tried one. But I was slightly dissapointed. They tasted excellent. But not like nutella, just like really good brownies. The hazelnut taste seemed to have completely vanished and all was left was the chocolate taste.

My sister insisted they did taste a little like nutella but I didn’t see it at all.

You’re probably wondering why I bothered sharing this recipe with you even though it was a dissapointment.

Well, because: Even though they didn’t taste like Nutella they tasted rich and chocolaty, and have the most amazing crinkly  crust on top(which you  saw in the pictures above) with a perfect dense, fudge-y inside, which is my vision of a perfect brownie.

Take a closer look at the inside:

Doesn’t it look absolutely and completely moist and delicious?

“Nutella” Brownies

Adapted From: ricardocuisine.com

• 1/2 a cup of all-purpose flour(unbleached)
• 1/4 a tsp of salt
• 1/2 a cup of butter(melted and cooled slightly)
• 1 1/3 a cup of nutella
• 1/2 a cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 2 eggs(large)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
2. Sift together the salt and the flour in a bowl. Set aside.
3. Then in a different bowl, beat the nutella, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs together until completely smooth.
4. Then add one third of the flour mixture and one third of the butter to the nutella mixture and blend until smooth.
5. Repeat step three until all the flour and butter is used up.
6. Pour the batter into a eight by eight baking pan lined with either foil or parchment paper.
7. Bake until you can put a tooth pick and it comes out with only a couple of crumbs.
8. Cool for a hour, and then cut and enjoy :)

~Dee D.

Chocolate & Strawberries

The past few days have been sleepy. Utterly and completely sleepy. I’ve been sitting around practically doing nothing, except this summer reading project I have from school. So when I found a box of strawberries and a bar of dark chocolate in the fridge I immediately thought, I have nothing to do, so why not chocolate strawberries??

Ahhh, I absolutely love these things…The flavor of the strawberries and chocolate are a perfect combo… But, strawberries and chocolate aren’t the only ingredients. If you just melt chocolate, and dip a strawberry in it, and let that harden, you’ll end up with a very….rough looking chocolate coating. I wish I had a picture to show you what it looks like, but some one already ate my rough-chocolate-strawberry-example. So, if you don’t want that rough chocolate  coating, you need butter. Yes, butter, and just a little bit. It really smooths out the chocolate so nicely!

You can use any chocolate types but I personally think dark chocolate, and semi sweet chocolate taste the best(better contrast with the sweetness of the strawberry!)

And a little tip for strawberries: The darker and the squishier, the sweeter(at least most of the time).

So basically, you simply melt a bunch of chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water, and then you add in some butter, then you take the strawberry and dip it in, then(this is if you don’t mind a flat bottom strawberry(a picture is below) cover a plate in plastic wrap and place the strawberry on that and let it cool for a while in the refrigerator.

A flat bottomed strawberry:

However if you have strong distaste for this kind of chocolate strawberry like me, you can either:

a. grab some tooth picks stick the strawberry on that dip it, and then stick the other end of the tooth pick into something that will elevate the strawberry

b. after you dip the strawberry you can attempt to flip it over on to its top and hope it balances.

After I made these and put them in the refrigerator i think some of them may have dissapeared…

anyway, i hope you enjoy your own :)

~D.D.

Flan & Whatnot

Last Saturday, I was going through my camera and cleaning out all the pictures, and a came across my Puerto Rico trip pictures, and I came across at least six or seven pictures of flan, and I was instantly reminded why I took so many pictures: I was attempting to remind my self to make it(I have the strangest ways to remind my self of things). And so that very Saturday, I dug out a recipe for flan.

Flan is amazing. It is creamy, soft, caramel-y, dessert that I absolutely love! It’s one of the most kick-butt deserts in South America.

Flan

adapted from the show: Dinner Impossible recipe by Robert Irvine

Ingredients:

The caramel(that liquid-y russet colored liquid around the flan):

• 1/2 a cup of sugar
• 1/8 a cup of red wine(any kind, I used Shiraz, I have no idea what year though)

The Cream Part:

• 1 1/2 (maybe even a bit less) of coconut milk
• 1 of evaporated milk
• 1/2 a cup of 2% milk(and just a bit more) or you can use whole milk(also 1/2 a cup)
• 1/2 a cup of heavy cream(minimize this a little if you use whole milk, it may become too heavy)
• 2 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 a cup of sugar

In the original recipe it says you need specialized flan tins, but you can make it in just about any thing that can be used in an oven, but just a leetle warning, if you use something that has a really high rim and then try to flip it, it wont end all too well…lets just say that a mini explosion occurs…

I used little glass bowls that are just big enough to fit into the palm of my hand, and sometimes a medium sized stoneware pan).

Here is a a picture:

That’s my littles sisters hand and it’s a bit big for her if you can see that. By the way, you’re also looking at the caramel right after you make it.

Firstly, preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Now, we start with making the caramel. First get a small-ish pot and put stove, then fill it with the 1/2 a cup of sugar, and 1/8 a cup of wine. Swirl it around a bit, and make sure the sugar is coated, then turn the stove on. Continue swirling the mixture of sugar and wine around, until the sugar is completely dissolved, but do not let it boil before the sugar is completely dissolved. Finally when the sugar is completely dissolved, place the lid on the pot and let it boil for two minutes on high(or medium, depends on your stove). Then after those two minutes, you can take the lid off, and look at it to see if it has darkened to a deep amber color. Thenquickly pour the caramel into your cups (or whatever you chose to use) and swirl it around to create a thin layer of caramel on the bottom on dish. This must be done quickly or else, the caramel will cool and harden, which is not fun to deal with. After a while the caramel will harden.

Another note: Be really careful with the caramel, don’t go sticking it in your mouth and in between your teeth because if it hardens there, it could take a while to get it out.

Here’s a picture of the caramel held to the sunlight:

It’s such a gorgeous amber!

Okay, now for the creamy part of the flan:

Mix together the coconut milk, evaporated milk, the regular milk, the cream, and the vanilla extract in a sauce pan on the stove. Keep the sauce pan at medium heat, and slowly bring the mixture to a boil. When it starts boiling, turn off the stove, and let it come to room temperature.

Now, in a separate large bowl( a large one) mix together the six egg yolks and 1/2 a cup of sugar(which you gradually add to the eggs), and continue whisking until you see a shade of change in color(i didn’t see much really). Then gradually pour in the cream mixture(which was previously cooling), continuously whisking it as you pour the mixture in.

Next pour the cream mixture into your caramel-ed dish(es) and place them in a pan, and fill the pan until the water level reaches half way up you dish. While you are doing this do not let any water fall into the flan. Then bake them at 325 degrees until you are able to stick a knife in the flan and have it come out clean(this should take approximately forty minutes according to the recipe, but it took me nearly an hour, so it all depends on your oven, and how it is). Then when it finally is able to come out of the oven, take it out, and let it cool down to room tempreture, then refrigerate the flan for about 4 hrs(or longer, i doesn’t really matter). When you take it out of the fridge for serving, let it get a bit warmer, it helps when you flip the flan.

Bon appetit!

~D.D.