30 Before 30: Chocolate Banana Ice Cream (#6)

It has been a long time since I've made a new ice cream recipe. Aaron and I had some friends come down last week and they have a 2 very precocious daughters. I thought about making cupcakes, mini pies, other small things, when ice cream came to mind. The leftovers would be easier to deal with, it's (slightly) less messy, and like I said, it's been awhile. If I do this again, I might throw peanut butter into the mix because why not.

If you ever get take out pho, keep the containers. They are perfect for homemade ice cream storage.

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream via Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book:

Makes about 1 quart

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate

¼ c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1½ c. milk

2 large eggs

¾ c. sugar

1 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 overripe bananas

Juice from 1 lemon

Melt the unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. Gradually whisk in the cocoa and heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. There's a warning here about the chocolate seizing. It has every time I've done this recipe. Don't worry about it. The milk dissolves the clumps. Whisk in the milk, a little at a time, and heat until completely blended. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and vanilla and whisk to blend.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 1 to 3 hours.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze for 28 minutes.

While the ice cream is mixing, mash 2 overripe bananas and the lemon juice in a bowl, then whisk until smooth. Add the mixture to the ice cream and freeze for 2 more minutes. Transfer to freezer safe containers. Also, eat a lot of it.

This is a pretty darn good ice cream. You should eat it quickly though because it gets a little gritty/grainy the longer it sits in your freezer. So have an ice cream party! 

Recipes Complete: 6

Recipes to Go: 24

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Yesterday I posted about the cheesecake that managed to be. Today are the slightly complicated, but somehow perfect cupcakes I made for the losing team, the New England Patriots. This makes me 2 for 3 for Super Bowl desserts and teams winning that I want. To be fair, I was the only one in NE garb for the Super Bowl and that’s only because I won a free jersey opening weekend at a bar. Everyone else was repping their team…none of which were playing.

But the food! The food was a winner and so was everyone there. So yes, these are a little complicated, but it is Martha Stewart. In the end, you know it’s going to be delicious.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes from Martha Stewart:

Yields 16-18

Cupcakes-

1½  c. all-purpose flour, plus more for tins

1½  tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ c. whole milk

6 Tb. unsalted butter, softened, plus more for tins

3 large eggs

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Vanilla Cream-

2 large egg yolks

¼ c. sugar

2 Tb. plus 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Pinch of salt

1 c. whole milk

½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

Chocolate-Ganache Glaze

2/3 c. heavy cream

6 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 Tb. light corn syrup

The vanilla cream needs to cool for at least an hour, so do this part first. Whisk yolks until smooth. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add milk in a slow, steady stream. Cook, stirring, until mixture begins to bubble and thicken, about 5 minutes. Pour 1/3 of milk mixture into yolks, whisking constantly. Return mixture to saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until thick, 2 to 4 minutes. Stir in vanilla.

Pass vanilla cream through a fine sieve into a bowl. Press plastic wrap directly on surface. Refrigerate until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 2 days. It doesn’t take a lot of work, but give yourself more leeway than I did. I cut it really close to game time!

To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour standard muffin tins. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Warm milk and butter in a saucepan over low heat. Beat eggs and sugar with a mixer on high speed until thick and pale, about 5 minutes. Beat in dry ingredients. Bring milk and butter to a boil. With mixer on low speed, add milk mixture to batter, and beat until smooth. Add vanilla. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each halfway. Bake cupcakes until light gold, about 15 minutes. Let cool in tins for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire racks. Let cool.

While the cupcakes are baking, prepare the ganache glaze. Bring cream to a boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat, and add chocolate and corn syrup. Let stand for 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth. Transfer to a bowl, and let cool, stirring often.

Using a serrated knife, cut each cupcake in half horizontally. Spread 1 tablespoon vanilla cream on each cupcake bottom. Sandwich with top. Spoon glaze over each, and serve immediately.

I had extra ganache and left it alongside so anyone could add more to their cupcakes. It was that good. These are very moist cupcakes with a perfect crumb. They look a little fancy too, which is fun. A little work, but worth it. You know what Martha would say, right?

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting and Mint Oreo Cream

Aaron and I celebrated our fifth (wow!) anniversary on August 4. Clearly this was a very busy time for me and I didn’t actually make these cupcakes on our anniversary. They ended up being presents for that weekend including an amazing trip to the Oregon/Washington Coast with my friends before Adam moved off to NYC to get his PhD. They were well received and I actually ate one this time. It combines several things Aaron and I love: ridiculous chocolate cake (is there one better than North Douglas? Nope. I used a half recipe), Oreos, amazing vanilla frosting, and Star Wars. Did I mention I got these stencils recently? Yeah. Awesome. Eat and share it with someone you love, even if that love is Han Solo.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Frosting and Mint Oreo Cream:

Makes 12 cupcakes

North Douglas Chocolate Cake from The Fiddlehead Cookbook-

½ c. water

½ stick butter

¼ c. oil

2¼ Tb. sifted Dutch process dark cocoa

 1 c. unbleached white flour

1 c. granulated sugar

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 egg

¼ c. buttermilk

½ tsp. vanilla extract

Mint Oreo Cream-

½ -¾ c. whipping cream

12 oreos, crushed

2 drops peppermint extract

Vanilla Frosting from howtoeatacupcake.net-

½ c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1¾ c. powdered sugar, sifted

Pinch of salt

1/3 c. whipping cream

½ tsp. vanilla extract

To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cupcake pan with pretty cupcake liners. Combine water, butter, oil, and cocoa in a small pan and bring to a boil. While butter and water are coming to a boil, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla in a small bowl and set aside.

When butter and water are boiling, pour over sifted flour. Stir until just combined. Add egg mixture and gently fold together. Pour into prepared liners.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to rest briefly in pans and then turn out onto racks to cool completely.

While it is cooling, beat whipping cream until light and fluffy. Add in crushed oreos and then peppermint extract. Set aside.

To make the frosting, mix together butter, powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt until creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Set aside.

To assemble the cupcakes, follow the directions from these amazing cupcakes: core, fill with oreo cream, gently frost. When the frosting has hardened a bit, use your stencils and gently tap cocoa powder to the tops of the cupcakes to decorate.

I loved these! I would add in slightly less peppermint extract as that flavor easily takes over, but otherwise everything was great. North Douglas chocolate cake is always the perfect base for any chocolate based project. These are fantastic and a lot of fun to make.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and Bourbon Chocolate Ganache

What do you do to celebrate finishing the most important weekend of your graduate school career? You make cupcakes, share them with your friends, and then forget to eat one. I love cobbling together recipes and filled cupcakes are one of the easiest ways to put three different things together, including the filled part of these cupcakes that I have never done before (my friends enjoy whiskey). Plus, I love my Settlement cookbook (despite its horribly sexist tag line) because it always turns out great baked goods.

So even though my capstone ended a couple of weekends ago and since grades are officially in and I am officially graduating on Sunday (!!!), I am officially posting these. Officially. And maybe it'll remind me to make them again so I can actually eat one instead of tasting all of the individual parts in the baking process.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream and Bourbon Chocolate Ganache:

Makes 12 cupcakes so good you'll get marriage offers

Vanilla Cupcakes from The Settlement Cookbook -

1 c. sugar

2 c. flour

¼ tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking powder

¼ c. shortening

1 c. milk

1 egg, well beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

Bourbon Chocolate Ganache modified from Dinner & Dessert:

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter, room temperature
3-ish teaspoon bourbon (probably more. I wasn’t measuring and non bourbon lovers might not like this as much)

Rich Vanilla Buttercream Frosting from Baking Illustrated:

Makes 2 cups

2 large eggs

½ c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Pinch of salt

½ lb. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool, each stick cut into quarters

To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together. Add melted shortening to the milk, egg, and vanilla together. Combine mixtures well. Pour into cupcake pans filled about ¾ of the way. Bake for about 20 minutes. What is hilarious about this recipe is that it is supposed to make 24 cupcakes. I didn't want 24, I wanted 12, so I made a half recipe and upon seeing the amount of batter in my mixer bowl, I made the other half. I'm not sure these would have made 24 mini cupcakes!

Anyway, while your cupcakes are cooling, move on to the ganache and frosting.

For the ganache, chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains.) Add the butter and bourbon and stir until combined. It should be creamy, but if not, add a bit more cream and bourbon. It’s okay, it’s delicious.

While the ganache is cooling, make the frosting by combining the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer; place bowl over a pan of simmering water. (Do no let the bottom of the bowl touch the water). Whisking gently but constantly, beat the mixture until it is thin and foamy and registers 160 degrees on an instant read thermometer.

Beat the egg mixture at medium-high speed until light, airy, and cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add the butter, one piece a a time. (After adding half the butter, the buttercream may look curdled; it will smooth out with additional butter). Once all the butter is added, increase the speed to high and beat 1 minute until light, fluffy, and thoroughly combined. It's a deliciously decadent frosting and it will make extra. It can be covered and refrigerated for up to 5 days. This is a half recipe and it made too much for 12 cupcakes, though not the too much I generally seem to experience.

To assemble the cupcakes, use your awesome cupcake corer your mom got you (or a slim knife cutting to about 2/3 of the way down) to remove the centers. Eat these since you might not eat a cupcake later. Fill the holes to the top with cooled ganache (it should still be pipe- or spoon-able). Cover in frosting. Try to be gentle about this if you don't want the chocolate mixing in with the vanilla. A big glob of it that you slowly swirl around is a good way to go about this.

These are really good. Well, I know that the the individual parts are really, really good. The ganache isn't too sweet and has a very distinct bourbon taste, which was perfect for the crowd I made them for. The frosting is so ridiculously good and the cupcakes are not too sweet and an a perfect light complement to the heavier filling and frosting. Everyone I spoke with said the cupcakes as a whole were really, really good. And yes, I did get a marriage offer, just in case I need a back up hubby. It is contingent on these cupcakes. So make them! And don't forget to eat one!

Cookie Dough Ice Cream

The semester is over. School is over. I feel really, really good about that, but before it was all over, I was a giant ball of stress. That's how this ice cream came to be. If you combine this (minus the OJ) and this, you get delicious, delicious ice cream. I've made two batches now because it is easy, everyone likes it, and it can take stress down a notch.

Cookie Dough Ice Cream mostly from Ben & Jerry’s Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book:

Makes one quart

Sweet Cream Base #1 -
2 large eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 cups heavy or whipping cream
1 cup milk
and 2 tsp. vanilla

½ recipe peanut butter M&M cookie dough

Make the cookie dough and roll into small balls. Put it on a baking sheet and stick it in your freezer while you work on the ice cream base.

Prep the sweet cream base with vanilla. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. . Pour in cream and milk and whisk to blend. Then whisk in the vanilla. Easy.

Get it going in the ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. About 2 minutes before it is done freezing, add in the cookie dough balls. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 2 hours (overnight is better) to get hard pack. 

And then you eat it and it is good.  I'm really proud of this ice cream and though it can be a bit messy to make, the smiles on the faces of your husband (if you have one of those) and your friends (if you have these...which are really nice things to have) makes it so totally worth the mess. Plus, the smile on your own face because seriously...so good.

PB Chocolate Cupcakes

It’s my birthday, so I’m going to blog about the special extra cupcakes Jamie and I made. I was going to do that after I blogged about the winners anyway, but let’s pretend like this is a special gift to you all because it’s my birthday and not just because I like announcing my birthday everywhere. Moving on…

As part of the cupcake baking deal, Jamie said we had to make some with peanut butter and chocolate as that’s her favorite combo. I scoured some recipes and this one was the winner. Unfortunately, it involves cake mix, which is fine on some occasions, but not usually what I am down with. So I had to find another recipe for the chocolate cake part and it had to be one that was 12 cupcakes. I have a hard enough time getting rid of cupcakes normally and the idea of having 36 cupcakes total was not my idea of a good time. Or at least a healthy one. So I found this one and scaled down the other one…mostly. This happens to me occasionally. I forget I’m scaling down a recipe and one ingredient will stay at full strength. In this case, it was peanut butter, but I think that just made it better. Oh, and we got the wrong kind of Reese’s Cups because they have miniatures (fun size) and minis. We got the minis instead of the miniatures. Don't worry,  it worked out.

My other modification was a ¼ reduction in the frosting recipe. Since I was going for ½ size and because frosting recipes always make way too much, I cut it in half again and I’m glad I did. It was a reasonable amount of frosting.

Check these out because they are a killer combo.

Reese’s Cup Peanut Butter Cupcakes modified from 52 Cupcakes:

Makes 12 tasty cupcakes

For the cupcakes -
1/3 c. Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ c. boiling water
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
6 Tb. unsalted butter, softened
½ c. sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 whole large egg
1 large egg yolk
½ c. creamy peanut butter
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup minis

For the frosting –
¼ stick of butter, room temp
¼ c. shortening (Spectrum makes an awesome organic one)
1 c. confectioners sugar (sifted)
¼ tsp. vanilla
2 Tb. milk
1/8 c. cocoa powder
¼ c. creamy 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 cupcakes cups with paper liners. Place two peanut butter minis on the bottom of each paper liner.

In a small bowl whisk together the cocoa powder and the water until the cocoa powder is dissolved and let the mixture cool to room temperature. In a bowl whisk together the flour, the baking soda, and a pinch of salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer cream together the butter and the sugar and the vanilla extract and then beat in the whole egg and the egg yolk, beating until the mixture is combined well. Beat in the cocoa mixture alternately with the flour mixture, beating well after each addition, and then add the peanut butter and mix well.

Spoon 1/3 cup of batter on top of the mini peanut butter cups.

Bake the cupcakes until they spring back when lightly pressed with your finger. Check them after 15 minutes. They may take 17 minutes, depending on your oven temperature. Ours came out looking like brownies, which I thought was kind of rad. Let them cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, put all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. We decorated a few with more peanut butter cups. These make for a dense cupcake, most likely because of the extra peanut butter in it. They are very peanut buttery and the minis basically melted into the batter. I’d love to give these a try with the right amount of peanut butter and the right type of peanut butter cup, but overall, I think these were quite the tasty crowd pleaser.

Aaron's Birthday Chocolate-Bacon Cupcakes

Aaron did a 30 day no red meat challenge from mid-January to mid-February. Because of this, he was talking about missing meat a lot. One day at his volunteer shift at the library he mentioned this and was pointed to a cookbook, called simply I Love Bacon!. Yes, the exclamation point is a part of the title. So, with his birthday shortly after the end of his challenge (it was Monday of last week), I decided to make him a bacon themed dessert. What I learned from this? Bacon makes for ridiculous frosting. Just check out the name: maple-brown butter-bacon frosting. Yeah. It’s like that. Another thing I learned? It makes a lot of frosting, so have another plan for it, like turning this cake into a chocolate version and covering it with this frosting.

Oh, and that if you don’t have any crème fraiche (and don’t have time to make any), you can sub in half heavy cream and half sour cream. That’s knowledge you can use for cupcakery.

Aaron’s Birthday Chocolate-Bacon Cupcakes from I Love Bacon!:

Makes 12

For the maple-brown butter-bacon frosting-
8 slices ¼“ thick bacon, diced into ¼“ pieces
1 c. butter
¼ c. milk
¼ c. heavy whipping cream
2 Tb. crème fraiche (or 1 Tb. heavy cream and 1 Tb. sour cream)
1 Tb. vanilla extract
3 Tb. maple syrup
1 tsp. salt
3 c. confectioners’ sugar

For the cupcakes-
8 Tb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c. flour
2 Tb. unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ c. granulated sugar
¾ c. packed brown sugar
½ tsp. salt
2 large eggs
½ c. buttermilk, at room temperature
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3 Tb. old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
To make the frosting, in a large sauté pan over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 10 minutes. Using a mesh sieve, drain the bacon bits by pouring the rendered bacon fat into the bowl of a mixer. Set the bacon pieces aside.

In the same sauté pan, melt the butter and cook until it turns brown and gives off a nutty fragrance, scraping the bottom of the pan occasionally so the butter doesn’t burn. When the butter is dark and begins to burn, immediately remove the pan from the heat, scrape all the browned bits loose, and transfer the contents to the mixing bowl with the bacon fat. Refrigerate the bowl until the butter is cold. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix together the milk, cream, crème fraiche, vanilla, and maple syrup; set aside.

Fit your electric mixer with the paddle attachment. When the browned butter is cold, cream it on medium speed with the salt until blended. Add the confectioners’ sugar and continue to cream at medium speed until fluffy, about 8 minutes. Slowly add the milk mixture and continue mixing until smooth and homogenous. Refrigerate until cold.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with your amazing silicone liners.

To make the cupcakes, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Put the butter, the sugars, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream on medium speed until the mixture is light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the machine running, add the eggs, one at a time, and mix until well incorporated, about 2 minutes.

Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, turn the speed to low, and add ¼ of the dry ingredient mixture. When no traces of flour remain, add 1/3 of the buttermilk and mix until incorporated. Continue evenly alternating the flour mixture and the buttermilk, ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix in the chopped chocolate and oats. Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups; each cup should be ¾ full. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from the muffin tin and cool completely on a rack.

When the cupcakes are completely cool, fluff the cold frosting with a small offset spatula until soft and spreadable but not runny. Place about 3 tablespoons of frosting on top of each cupcakes, then sprinkle on about ½ teaspoon of bacon bits and a pinch of sea salt. Serve immediately or after an awesome birthday dinner.

These are so flipping good! The frosting is one of the best I’ve ever had. I know I say that a lot, but this really is. The flavor combination is out of this world. If you want to go bacon free on this one, it’d be pretty easy to do and I may try it at least for the frosting in future recipes. But if you want to make a different cupcake, I’d highly recommend this one.

Peanut Butter Balls

I was asked specifically before baking to make something with peanut butter and chocolate. And why not? It's a great combination. Corey found these ones and even though we left out an ingredient, it worked out rather well.

Peanut Butter Balls from food.com:

Makes a lot

1 c. sifted powdered sugar
½ c. creamy peanut butter
3 Tb. butter, softened
1 lb dipping chocolate

Stir together powdered sugar, peanut butter and butter until well mixed. Shape peanut butter mixture into 1 inch balls, placing them on a baking sheet covered with waxed paper. It was at this point Corey realized she had forgotten the butter. We decided to roll with it anyway.

Let balls stand for 20 minutes until dry.

Melt the dipping chocolate or confectioners' coating. Drop balls one at a time in melted chocolate. Using a fork, remove from the chocolate, letting excess chocolate drip off. Place back on the waxed paper. Let stand until dry.

These are super rich. I'm not sure if forgetting the butter ended up being a good thing or not, but these were a nice addition to our cookie plates. To wrap up the whole bake day extravaganza, here are the completed plates themselves. I hope you all had a great Christmas!

Thin Mints

To start of baking day, it turns out I started with the most difficult recipe. In the end, everything worked out, but I will never make these again. Well, not like this anyway. They are really good, though, so if you want to see for yourself, give it a try.

Slim Mints modified from Chow:

Makes a lot of cookies

1 large egg yolk
½ tsp. peppermint oil
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1¾ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. powdered sugar
½ c. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
¼ tsp. fine salt
½ c. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
Chocolate chips
Canola oil

Place egg yolk, peppermint oil, and vanilla extract in a small bowl and whisk to break up the yolk.

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment and pulse a few times to aerate and break up any lumps. Add butter and pulse until the mixture looks like sand, about 25 1-second pulses. Add yolk mixture and pulse just until the dough forms into a ball, about 15 1-second pulses.

Turn dough out onto a clean work surface and roll into 2 logs, each about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. It was at this point that I knew something was wrong. It was still super powdery and not at all dough like. So back into the processor it went (well, not all of it. It was a bit messy for a bit) and I added in about 1/3 cup cold water until the powder turned into actual dough. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until just firm but still pliable, about 1 hour. The logs will flatten slightly while chilling. Reshape the logs so they are perfectly round and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour more. I know what they look like.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees (where it was at all baking day) and arrange a rack in the middle. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Remove a dough log from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap, and slice the dough into 1/8” coins. Place the cookies ½” apart on the prepared baking sheet. Rewrap the extra cookie dough in plastic and refrigerate until ready to bake the second batch. Bake the cookies until the edges are firm but the tops are still soft, about 9 to 11 minutes. Ours took closer to 13. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

 Their directions for dipping the cooled cookies into chocolate are ridiculously long and unnecessary. Corey melted some chocolate chips with a bit of canola oil over a double boiler and dipped the cookies in. We then put them in the fridge to cool.

These are tasty, but not worth the hassle. If I do something like this again, I’m going to use a basic chocolate cookie dough recipe, add in more mint (many weren’t very minty at all), and dip them in chocolate the way we did. Corey has a theory that the reason we had issues with this recipe is that the Girl Scouts don’t want us to know how to really make them. She might be right!

Red Fox Brownies with Caramel Swirl and Sea Salt

I got a little crazy for desserts this year. Last year, as you may recall, I made two desserts, neither of which were pie. I made some pretty delicious brownies and since I was having a non-pie eating chocolate lover for dinner, I knew I needed brownies once again. And when I saw the recipe for these brownies in Mix (which gets randomly dropped off on my doorstep. I'm not complaining.), I knew they were the ones. The original recipe has you use store bought caramel sauce and because it was Thanksgiving, that wasn't going to happen, so I turned to Ina Garten's recipe. I made pumpkin-caramel sauce last year for my panna cotta and because that went well, I figured this would be fine too. As it turns out, it was the only mini-disaster of the day and my sister-in-law, a culinary graduate, helped me rescue it. And the brownies? They were amazing.

Red Fox Brownies with Caramel Swirl and Sea Salt from Mix Magazine and Caramel Sauce from Barefoot Contessa:

Serves at least 8 and probably a lot more

For the caramel sauce:
1½ c. sugar
1/3 c. water
1½ c. heavy cream
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the brownies:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1½ c. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, chopped into 1” pieces
6 eggs
1 Tb. vanilla
3 2/3 c. sugar
Pinch of kosher salt
4 1/3 c. flour
Caramel sauce, divided
1½ tsp. sea salt, divided

To make the caramel sauce, mix the water and sugar in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat and boil uncovered until the sugar turns a medium brown, about 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon. Watch it carefully at the end, as it will go from caramel to burnt very quickly. Stand back to avoid splattering, and gradually add the cream and the vanilla extract. Simmer until the caramel dissolves and the sauce is smooth and thick, about 2 minutes. For whatever reason, my sauce was just too thin. Part of the problem may have been that I use all natural sugar, which is already pretty brown and though it smelled done and looked mostly done, it really wasn't. Becca (not me, my sister-in-law) rescued it by just making a lot more and whisking it all in together. It still wasn't as thick as I would have liked, but it worked and that's what's important.

For the brownies, preheat oven to 350 degres. Grease a 9-by-13" baking dish.

Melt chocolate and butter together over a double boiler. Whisk to combine and set aside.

Place eggs, vanilla, sugar, and salt in a stand mixer bowl. Using the whisk attachment, whip on high for 5 minutes or until the batter is thick and holds a ribbon when the beaters are lifted from the bowl. Remove from mixer. Gently sift flour over the top of the eggs mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour gently. Fold the chocolate mixture into the batter quickly, being sure to get all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour half the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Drop half of the caramel sauce over the batter in dollops. Swirl into the batter. Sprinkle with ½ teaspoon sea salt. Pour the remaining batter over the caramel and spoon the remaining caramel sauce in dollops over the top. Swirl into the batter and sprinkle the remaining teaspoon of sea salt over the top.

Bake until the top has a thin, flaky layer, the sides begin to pull away from the pan, and it is slightly domed, about 50 to 60 minutes. A knife inserted into the center will come away with just a crumb or two.

Cool before serving. I realized when starting this post that I only took one picture of the brownies and that was before they baked. I promise you they were amazing and were very well received. So much so that Aaron made a dessert fence. It was partly to stop the dog (there's his cute nose there) from getting to the apple pie and the brownies, but also to stop Amy, Becca, and Aaron from constantly picking at them. Unlike last year, these ones were so big, thick, and rich that there were brownies for quite a few days after, so there's really no excuse for me not getting a picture of them. I guess you'll just need to make it yourself.

I will definitely make this again, but I will probably do a half recipe. These were gigantic! I should have known when I saw that they took six eggs, but just went with it anyway. They are so decadent though that I think a half size will do most people just fine.

Peppermint Bark

So this is part of the baking extravaganza and I swear that at one point during the day not only did I participate, but there was baking. This one was just another to have gotten started early and was also directed by Corey. By directed, of course, I mean she did it all and I helped at the end.

I have always seen peppermint bark around and yet haven’t had much. Why oh why haven’t I been eating this all my life? It’s so delicious! And really simple. It just involves a double boiler, a baking pan, and room in your refrigerator. That’s pretty awesome.

Corey doubled the original recipe (here) so we could have a lot of peppermint bark to go around. Below is what they did as Corey isn’t here and I only watched her do it while working on other things.

Peppermint Bark from joyofbaking.com:

6 oz. semi sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tsp. vegetable oil
6 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 - ½ c. crushed candy canes (Corey put ours into a resealable baggie and crushed them with a rolling pin. It worked really well. Do that.)

Line the bottom and sides of a 9 inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, smoothing out any wrinkles. We used a larger casserole dish for this, like the one I use for enchiladas and the like, as we had so much more. I’d recommend it if you’re going the double route.

Melt the semi sweet chocolate and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a double boiler. Immediately pour the melted chocolate into the prepared pan and tilt the pan so the chocolate makes an even layer. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.

Then, melt the white chocolate and remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a double boiler. Immediately pour the melted white chocolate over the dark chocolate and tilt the pan so the chocolate is in an even layer. I know this part was a little more tricky and a bit of it became more of a swirl than a layer, but for the most part, it looked great. Good job Corey! Sprinkle the crushed candy canes evenly over the white chocolate. Place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes, or until the chocolate has set.



Remove the peppermint bark from the pan by lifting the edges of the aluminum foil. Peel back the foil and break the bark into small irregular pieces (like I could ever make regular shaped pieces anyway).

Super delicious and also super all gone as Aaron really loved this stuff. I must make this myself soon.

Muddy Buddies

Remember when I had the panna cotta at Ciao Vito? That's also when this whole baking extravaganza idea got started. Corey mentioned that she really liked baking and she knew how much I liked baking, so why not have a great big bake day together and give the results to our friends? Why not indeed! So for a few of the upcoming recipes, I’ll be mentioning her a lot as she did a bunch of the work and had a lot of great ideas as well. It was a fun day.

We started out in the morning, went grocery shopping, and came back to my place to bake the day away. And that’s what we did until after 6 in the evening, with only one small hummus break so we wouldn’t die of sugar overload…which I nearly did. Anyway, this was one of the first things to be completed and I only watched it happen. This was all Corey. In fact, I’d never even heard of muddy buddies (original recipe here) before we started this, but I am glad to know what they are now!

Muddy Buddies from chex.com:

Makes 18 ½ cup servings

9 c. Rice Chex
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
½ c. peanut butter
¼ c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1½ c. powdered sugar

In a large bowl, measure cereal and set aside.

The directions then have you microwave the chocolate, peanut butter, and butter, but I know that’s not what she did. Since we already had the double boiler out for other things, she used that to melt the above ingredients and blend together. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag.



Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. She then put them into a bowl and we kind of, maybe, snacked on a bunch of them throughout the day. They are fantastic!

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes

Tastespotting is such a dangerous website. I saw these cupcakes a bit back, just before Thanksgiving, and said “oh, hey, I should make these” and then I mentioned it to Aaron and then to another cupcake fanatic, so I had to do it. And I wish I should have done it sooner because oh my gosh. I didn’t want to use cake mix because that’s not my style. So I used this recipe that my fabulous friend Renai used for her recent cupcake adventure and added in the cookies.

The thing that I thought was really funny is that you have to break Oreos in half with frosting on both sides for the bottom of the cupcakes. I am usually great at not breaking them apart perfectly when I want to, so of course when I needed them to have frosting on both sides, I had all perfect breaks. It was kind of ridiculous. But if ridiculousness leads to deliciousness, I’m okay with it.

Cookies and Cream Cupcakes from Kittencal and howtoeatacupcake.net:

Makes 18 delicious cupcakes

30 Oreo cookies

For the cupcakes:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1½ c. sugar
2½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
½ c. shortening (very soft but not melted. I used Spectrum organic.)
¾ c. milk
1 Tb. vanilla
2 large eggs
1 c. crushed Oreos

For the frosting:
½ c. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1¾ c. powdered sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1/3 c. whipping cream
½ tsp. vanilla extract
Remaining crushed Oreos

Heat oven to 350 degrees.



Line 18 cupcake cups with paper liners. Take nine of the Oreos and split them in half, attempting to have frosting on both sides. Place halves frosting side up in liners. Set pans aside.

Take twelve Oreos and crush them. I broke mine up into pieces, put them in a bowl, and crushed them with the back of a measuring cup. Make sure they aren’t totally ground up. There should be some distinguishable cookie pieces remaining. Set crumbs aside.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour with sugar, baking powder and salt until combined. Add in the shortening, milk, vanilla, and eggs. Add in one cup of the crushed Oreos. Beat on medium speed of an electric mixer scraping the bowl constantly until just blended. The batter will be very thick.



Pour into paper-lined regular size muffin tins filling under just three-quarters full. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the cupcakes test done (do not overbake as they will be dry). Seriously, don’t overbake. I had an issue with some of the cupcakes not being done at about 22 minutes, so I left them in and kept checking. They started to brown when I finally pulled them. So the outsides were a little crunchy, but the insides still very moist. Just watch it.

Immediately remove cupcakes from pans. Cool completely before frosting.



To make the frosting, mix together butter, powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt until creamy. Increase your mixer speed to high and beat until light and fluffy. Add whipping cream and vanilla. Beat until smooth. Fold in crushed Oreos.





Frost cupcakes. Break remaining nine Oreos in half and use as a garnish. Eat, eat, and eat. This frosting is so ridiculously and amazingly delicious, I had to put water in the bowl so I would stop eating it. These cupcakes are pretty much like eating Oreos. They look so pretty too. I will definitely be making these again.

Brownies with Bailey's Ice Cream

As part of my pie free Thanksgiving, I decided that I would need to make two desserts. This is the second of those two. I love brownies. I think they are fantastic. Usually I just go with the regular Baker’s chocolate, but since this was a holiday, I used up the rest of the Ghirardelli I had left over from Amy’s birthday cake. And again, it was a holiday, so I needed some fancy ice cream to go with the brownies.

My guidelines for the ice cream, as always, come from my pals Ben and Jerry. They don’t have a recipe for Bailey’s ice cream, but do provide some ground rules for making ice cream with alcohol. It was of tremendous help to me.

Brownies and Bailey’s Ice Cream from Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate box and my brain:

Serves 6 with a ton of leftovers

For the brownies:
4 oz. baking chocolate
¾ c. unsalted butter
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour

For the ice cream:
2 eggs
¾ c. sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 c. milk
2 Tb. Bailey’s Irish Cream

To make the brownies, heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan.

Microwave chocolate and butter in a large microwaveable bowl on high for two minutes or until butter is melted. This is the one-bowl method, so you can melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler if you don’t want to use/don’t have a microwave. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and mix well. Spread into prepared pan.



Bake for 30 to 35 minutes (mine are usually closer to 35) or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool in pan and then cut into squares to serve.



The ice cream is very easy and uses the same base I use for all my ice creams. Beat eggs in a bowl until fluffy, about two to three minutes. Whisk in sugar a little at a time and then for one minute more to fully incorporate. Whisk in cream and milk. Transfer to ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions. Mine mixes for 25 minutes total. About two minutes before complete, add in Bailey’s. Transfer to freezer safe container and freeze for at least four hours. Overnight is preferable. Serve over brownies, seen here with the panna cotta.

Seriously so good. I may have to make a Bailey’s milkshake or the like sometime soon.

Torta al Cacao

What do you do when a dear friend is visiting and it’s going to be their birthday? You make them something totally delicious. But what do you do when you also have a food blog? You take a risk on something new and post about it. And that’s what this is!

My dear, fabulous, oh-so-wonderful bestie Amy was visiting Portland last week after being in New Zealand for seven months. It was also her 25th birthday! A few days before she came down from Seattle, I emailed her about her dessert preferences and this is what she said: “I prefer chocolatey things. Maybe cupcakes would be fun? I don't like desserts that involve fruit, and I don't like pie. But brownies, cake, cupcakes, etc, those are all good.” Now I love desserts that involve fruit, but it wasn’t my birthday and chocolate is fabulous. So I started debating making Mexican brownies or Irish cupcakes again. And then I started looking at Tastespotting and searching desserts on Epicurious.

And just two days before Amy was to arrive, I found it. I found THE birthday dessert. And everything was in grams and such, so I started to convert it and had everything converted when, while beginning to bake, I remembered that I have a food scale…which can measure in grams. Life works out so nicely sometimes, doesn’t it? Or maybe it was just because I was making chocolate cake.

Torta al Cacao from bell’ alimento:

Makes one fabulous cake

200g sugar
50g butter (plus additional to butter pan), room temp
1 c. milk
1 large egg
50g unsweetened baking chocolate - grated finely. (I used Ghirardelli as she suggests using a nice chocolate as it is the star of the dish.)
1 capful of pure vanilla extract
125g of Greek yogurt
1 tsp baking soda
110g flour
Powdered sugar (to garnish)

Preheat oven to 355 degrees.





Using a stand mixer add the sugar, butter and egg to the mixing bowl. Mix until creamy and very light in color (a few minutes of gossiping with the birthday girl will do). Once the mixture is creamy, add the grated chocolate, tell the birthday girl that grating chocolate is proof of how much you love her, and mix well. At this point, it didn’t look chocolate-y enough, so I added some Ghirardelli baking cocoa powder that I was fortunate to have on hand. I think, while doing conversions, that I didn’t grate enough chocolate. In a bowl, combine the yogurt, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to mixing bowl. Stir until incorporated. Add the baking soda to the flour and gradually add to mixing bowl. The gradual part is key, as it is with almost all baking. Mix the flour in slowly and you’ll have a well constructed baked good. Seriously, take your time. Drink some wine with the birthday girl. Stir until well incorporated.





Butter and flour a 10″ round cake pan. I like to butter and sugar my baking pans. It makes cakes taste just a little better. I believe I found the tip on some random recipe on Epicurious. I’m indebted to that anonymous user. Add batter to pan. Tap pan so that air bubbles are released. Give the beater to the birthday girl to eat. Place cake into oven and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test, which for me, was closer to an hour. Allow cake to cool. Move to your serving platter or cake stand and dust with powdered sugar. I actually do have a cake stand and I think this was the first time it was used to hold a cake. It converts into an appetizer tray and a punch bowl and is one of the greatest wedding registry gifts we received. Thanks Lindsay! We had one solitary birthday candle in the house, so that’s what went in the cake.



It was transported, carefully, to my friend David’s house and after dinner, consumed. And it was so good! It is both dense and fluffy at the same time. I am definitely going to make this again. I may even get fruit involved. Happy 25th birthday Amy!