SECRET RECIPE CLUB: BUTTERMILK-BLUEBERRY BREAKFAST CAKE

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

This semester is shaping up as one of the busiest for us. I even flirted with the idea of sitting out of the Secret Recipe Club for a month, but I would be miserable watching everyone else posting their tasty recipes and not joining the party. No, not skipping it. My approach then is to jump on the assignment pretty much the day I get the email, on a rapid-fire stalking mode. The blog I got this month was “Making Miracles“, hosted by Rebekah. I urge you to read her About page, she has lived in many places in the US, including Alaska, but also spent a little over two years in Senegal back in 1995. A fascinating experience, even if at times not easy. If the subject of surrogacy interests you, she has a lot of experience with it as a surrogate mom herself, and also from helping families reach their dream of having a baby. That’s what the title of her blog, “Making Miracles” is all about.

I decided to go back to sweets for this month’s assignment, and had blueberries on my mind. Two recipes were begging to be featured, her Blueberry Coffee Cake Muffins, and her Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake. The husband spoke. Breakfast cake won. So here it is!

BUTTERMILK-BLUEBERRY BREAKFAST CAKE
(from Rebekah’s Making Miracles)

½ cup butter, room temperature
2 tsp lemon zest
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, separated
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour, separated
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, lemon zest, and 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour. In a separate bowl whisk together the remaining 1 + 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Remove excess flour from the blueberries, then fold the blueberries gently into the batter. Batter will be thick.

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick to make sure is cooked through. If necessary, return pan to oven for as long as 10 more minutes. Let cool at for 10-15 minutes before serving.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Did I mention we’ve been overly busy these days? At the risk of boring you to death with trivia about growing bacteria, I will share some of the sordid details. For some experiments, we need to start cultures growing around 11pm, and then take care of them again before 5:30am. Usually Phil goes late at night, and I play the early bird. It’s not that bad, these late night and early morning visits to the lab are short, we prepare everything beforehand to make it easier. I can quickly drive back home, swallow a much-needed cappuccino, take a shower and we go back to work on our regular schedule. Soooo, back to food. I decided to bake this breakfast cake in of those hectic mornings and take to the department still warm from the oven.

Knowing I would be sleepy and prone to making mistakes, I lined up all ingredients the night before (the blueberries slept in the fridge, together with the buttermilk). Mis-en-place, mes amis. Mis-en-place.

Before I left for the lab, I turned the oven on. Arriving back, Phil had my cappuccino ready, all I had to do was drink the batter, mix the cappuccino… ooops, I guess it was the other way around… What matters is that our department got a freshly baked blueberry cake. Mission accomplished!

Lots of blueberries make this cake moist and quite crumbly. Make sure to bake it long enough so that pieces will be easy to cut.

Rebekah, I hope you are having a wonderful Reveal Day, I loved cooking from your site!

For all my readers, have fun checking out what the other members of my group prepared for today’s Reveal Day by clicking on the blue frog at the end of my post.

ONE YEAR AGO: Silky Cauliflower Puree with Almond Milk

TWO YEARS AGO: Beef and Broccoli Stir-fr

THREE YEARS AGO: Wheat Germ and Sage Sourdough Bread

FOUR YEARS AGO: Popeye-Pleasing Salad

FIVE YEARS AGO: Summer’s Finale

12Aug2014

BEST THING I EVER MADE: CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

If you don’t watch FoodTV Network, you may think this is my own statement. Not the case. Best Thing I Ever Made is one of the shows I continue to tape, hoping that at some point they will air new episodes. Unfortunately, not much luck in the past year or so. What I love about it is that they ask chefs to share their recipes for the best thing they ever made in a certain category, like Family Recipes, Crowd Pleasers, Cheese, or this particular episode, Sweet Endings. I didn’t know Elizabeth Falkner, but was immediately smitten by her smile, energy and aura. Instead of a super complicated recipe that required you to find beet sugar smoked on the hills of Himalaya, hers was one of the simplest formulas ever. It’s a lot more about technique than anything else.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES STRAIGHT UP OR WITH NUTS
(recipe from Elizabeth Falkner)
.
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) butter, softened but still cool
3/4 cup (6 1/4 ounces) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg (1 1/2 ounces by weight)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons (7 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped the size of chocolate chips, or bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) chopped walnuts, optional
.
In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and brown and granulated sugars until smooth but not over mixed. (I do this by hand, but if you use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a handheld mixer, beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, and then scrape down the sides of the bowl before continuing.) Add the egg, vanilla and salt and stir just until combined.
.
Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder and stir gently just until combined. Add the chocolate and nuts if using and stir just until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight.
.
Position the racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
.
Scoop up 1-inch balls of the dough with a spoon or mini scoop and set them 2 inches apart on the prepared pans. Bake the cookies, rotating the pans after 7 to 9 minutes, for 13 to 17 minutes until the cookies are golden brown. If you like a very soft cookie, bake them for 13 minutes. If you like a crisp cookie, bake them for 17 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool.
.
ENJOY!
.

to print the recipe, click here.

Comments: I always make cookie dough using my Kitchen Aid mixer, but watching Elizabeth mix hers by hand using just a fork seemed like so much fun, I gave it a try. It was not as hard as I anticipated, and made it easier to judge when the butter and the sugar were properly mixed together. Two things are important in this recipe: cutting the chocolate in uneven sizes, and refrigerating the dough, the longer the better, overnight is perfect. The larger chunks of chocolate will melt in your mouth in a way that no chocolate chip will do. Of course, use the best chocolate you can find and afford.

I made the cookie dough after dinner, left it in the fridge until lunch time next morning, baked the cookies and took them to our department still warm from the oven. They were inhaled quite quickly, which I think is a nice compliment to Ms. Faulkner… 😉

Flour, sugar, egg & butter: $5.00

Trader Joe’s Bittersweet Chocolate: $6.50

Unexpectedly including your dog in a food blog shot: PRICELESS…

ONE YEAR AGO: Farofa Brasileira

TWO YEARS AGO: Thai-Inspired Pork Tenderloin

THREE YEARS AGO: A yummy Brazilian cake: Bolo de Fuba’

FOUR YEARS AGO: Summer’s Tomatoes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Leaving on a jet plane…

30Jul2014

STRAWBERRY COFFEE CAKE

Posted in Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

This is a lovely cake, not too sweet, not too rich. The strawberries more or less melt into the batter, the pecan topping makes the cake more complex, with a nice contrast of textures.

STRAWBERRY COFFEE CAKE
(recipe from food.com)

for the cake:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2-2 cups sliced fresh strawberries

for the topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cold butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans

In a mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt; stir to mix.

In a second bowl, add the egg, milk and butter; stir to mix; add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened.

Pour mixture into a greased 8-inch square baking dish. Place strawberries evenly over the top of batter.

To make the topping: Combine the flour and sugar in a bowl. With a pastry blender, cut in the butter until consistency of coarse crumbs. Stir in pecans.

Sprinkle mixture evenly over the strawberries.

Bake at 375 F (190 C) for 30-35 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

This recipe comes from Meryl, a long time contributor of the cooking forum Eat.at, who recently passed away. Several members of the forum are celebrating her life by cooking her favorite recipes. I chose this cake to do so.

“A balanced diet is equal parts of milk and dark chocolate.”
(Meryl’s signature line)

(comments are shutdown for this post)

27Jul2014

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: MINI-CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE BITES

Posted in Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

August is already knocking at the door, this year is flying by. But before a new month starts, there’s always the excitement of the last Monday of the month, with Reveal Day of The Secret Recipe Club. For those who are new to this concept, bloggers are paired in secret, have a few weeks to stalk their assigned site, and everyone in the club blogs about their recipe on the exact same day and time. Nothing cooler than that, you must admit… This month I was paired with Colie’s Kitchen. Nicole, who hosts the site, is “a full-time college student, with a full-time life of organized chaos.” Ha! I can totally relate… She is married and a “bonus mom”, what a great expression, much better than step mom, I guess I can relate to that too. I had quite a few options selected as possibilities for my assignment, like her Lasagna Rolls, her Parmesan Meatloaf Muffins (great idea!), her Oh My God Macaroon Pie, and her Cauliflower Cheddar Fritters. But, as is often the case with The Secret Recipe, I took the sweet path, and ended up with these super cute single bite (ok, a couple of bites) desserts…

MINI CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE BITES
(from Colie’s Kitchen)

3 Packages of Neufchatel, softened
1 + 1/4 cups sugar
1 (8 ounce) container of dairy sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 eggs
28 Oreo cookies halves, removing the cream center
28 cupcake tins/liners

Heat oven to 300 degrees F.

Beat cream cheese and sugar until blended. Add sour cream and vanilla and beat until fully mixed.

Beat in cocoa and flour. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until well blended.

Remove Oreo filling with a butter knife and add one half of a Oreo to each cupcake tin. Fill each tin with one large spoon full of cheesecake filling until you have filled all 28 then go back and top off each tin with any extra filling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.

Refrigerate 4 to 6 hours. Store covered in refrigerator or in the freezer.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I cannot tell you how much fun I had making this recipe! The toughest part was discarding the filling of the Oreo cookies. Part of me wanted to throw caution to the wind and behave like my former self of decades ago: shamelessly open the Oreos, scrape them clean, and try to sneak the cookie halves to the trash can without my Mom realizing. That never had a happy ending. At most, I could get by with a couple of cookies, then pay a price for my behavior. Waste not. Ever. Do you know how many kids in the world went to bed hungry last night? Apparently, I did not. (sigh)

The idea of using Oreos as a base for these cheesecake bites is a strike of genius! Perfect size for cupcake liners. Because the recipe made so many and I only have one muffin baking pan, I got the disposable aluminum pans at the grocery store, and was quite pleased by how well they worked. No difference in quality of baking, although in the name of full disclosure, I confess that I dropped one of the disposable pans while taking them out of the oven. Huge big mess, coupled with language even more colorful than the cupcake liners. I am glad there are no hidden cameras in our home…

If you follow my blog, you know that I never add the caloric content of any of my recipes for the simple reason that I don’t pay attention to it. But, since Nicole provided that info, I will share it with you: one of these babies has only 134 calories, which, as far as dessert is concerned, sounds pretty moderate to me. Keep in mind this interesting linear fit, though. It can be cruel to your waistline.

Nicole, thanks for such a cute recipe that was very appreciated by our colleagues at the department… I hope you had as much fun as I did with my assignment this month.

As usual, if any of my readers would like to see all assignments for my group, click on the blue amphibian at the end of this post, and enjoy the ride through the blogosphere…

ONE YEAR AGO: Whole-Wheat Spaghetti with Grated Tomato Sauce

TWO YEARS AGO: A Taste of Yellow to Honor Barbara

THREE YEARS AGO: Gratin of Beefsteak Tomatoes

FOUR YEARS AGO: Tour de France Final Stage: PARIS

FIVE YEARS AGO: Snickerdoodles with a Twist

13Jul2014

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

I think I should add a new category to my recipes: PLEASE MAKE ME! This one would go right in, without a shadow of a doubt. Of course, if you are part of the team that hates white chocolate and rather goes for statements like “it’s not real chocolate“, and “any chocolate connoisseur should walk away from such abnormality“… then, maybe these cookies are not for you. I am not 100% sure, though. Something about the marriage between white chocolate and macadamia nuts might shake the convictions of even the most stubborn anti-white chocolate being. Please make these. As Mel described them in her post: these are absolute perfection.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES

(from Mel’s Kitchen)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until the mixture is well-combined.

Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color, 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the flour, salt and soda and mix until just combined; a few streaks of flour remaining are not a problem.

Add the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and mix until combined and no streaks of flour remain.

Roll tablespoon (or slightly larger) size balls of dough and place on silpat or parchment lined baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Growing up, I did not like nuts. In those days, back in Brazil, they were awfully expensive, something reserved for special occasions, which in our family meant…. December, with Christmas and New Year’s Eve on the horizon. My Dad would buy walnuts and pecans, still in their shells, and every evening after dinner, would sit at the sofa, patiently cracking them, one at a time. He loved to show off and crack them karate style, much to my Mom’s despair, as pieces of shell would fly everywhere, and sometimes his hand would be hurt in the process. He never admitted to being hurt, instead acted as if he felt no pain whatsoever. If a nut resisted his blows, he would walk to the door that separated the living room from my bedroom, wedge the nut between the frame and the door, and crack it by attempting to shut the door close. Mom would not approve of that either, as it makes a royal mess on the floor. As you can see, anything but a real nut cracker was part of the game. Not that we did not have one, I vividly remember a beautiful silver gadget sitting over the table, neglected to a minor decorative role. Go figure. Dad probably thought that nut crackers were for sissies. After all that hard work, he would dig chunky pieces of walnuts from the shell, and offer me. Silly child that I was, I promptly twisted my nose.

But now that I am older and wiser, I find myself in love with every single type of nut, oddly enough maybe the Brazil nut is the one I like the least. But macadamia, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts… love them all! Roasted, salted, raw, in sweets, in sauces, in pestos… Dad would be proud.