Sep.
19

Honey Yeast Rolls

Posted by Em at: 8:07 am | 11 Comments


These are pretty much your basic dinner rolls… but the addition of honey in the dough and a brush of warm honey butter on top turns these into something that’s absatively irresistable!!! My family devoured them in record time… and I bet yours will too :)

I found the recipe on the blog …a cookie a day and it has instructions for either hand kneading or using a bread machine. I haven’t seen my bread machine since I moved back to SoCal from the Washington DC area… and I’m far too lazy to made bread by hand so I let my dear Lola do all the work. She’s always happy to do the heavy lifting… and I’m always happy to let her. Lola and I have a great relationship that way – she never lets me down :)

Until recently I had a real fear of yeast. I was afraid I would do something wrong and it just wouldn’t work out right. I’ll admit, yeast can be tricky… but I’ve gotten over my fear in part thanks to my boyfriend Alton Brown (back away, ladies, he’s mine!!! bwaaaaaaahahahaha). In his “Flat is Beautiful” episode of Good Eats, Alton explains it this way:
Alton Brown: dough gets its rise from the gas produced by billions and billions of unicellular fungi called ‘ yeast’ that chomp down on the sugar in flour-based doughs. Have a look. They are real pigs. And once their little feeding frenzy is over …
Yeast: [belching sounds]
Alton Brown:… that’s right. Yeast belch makes bread rise.
I just love that nerd-man :) So there you have it, a deconstructed explanation of the role yeast plays in making bread :)

This recipe uses honey as the “food” for the yeast but it doesn’t get added right away so contrary to following the recipe to the exact letter, I added about 1/8t sugar to the warm water for the yeast. This gives the lil fun-guys (get it.. fungi… fun-guy… I love that one! hahahahaha) something to start munching on right away so they can start burping quickly. In my experience, and this only goes for me, I’ve found that when I add even a tiny amount of sugar to the water, the yeast develop better than when I add none. That’s my little trick, not saying it’s anything scientific or special.

Once you’re done with all the mixing and needing and letting it rise, separate out your dough by weight, roll into balls and let them rise again before baking in the oven. Only take a quick peek at the above photo… okay….?…. cuz the rolls are nekkid ;-) But they’re in the oven and making your house smell M’mmm M’mmm Good. There’s just something about the smell of baking bread that is so warm and inviting. Very comforting to me :)

After about 5 minutes in the oven, brush with some honey butter and they’ll be beautifully browned with a touch of sweetness. I think that’s the part that makes them even more irresistible than your average dinner rolls. But you could certainly omit the honey on top if that’s more to your liking.

The full recipe can be found on …a cookie a day. If you visit and make these heavenly rolls (which I certainly hope you do), please tell her Em sent you!

Have a delicious day!

Posted in alton brown, bread, recipes | 11 Comments »

Sep.
17

Over The Top Brownies

Posted by Em at: 7:44 am | 13 Comments


Some people like their brownies fluffy… and cake-like. But not me :) if I’m going to lust after a brownie it’s gotta be rich and dense and fudgy. These brownies certainly hit the mark on that point… and topped with caramel and chopped peanuts and ribbons of melted chocolate? That just takes them completely over the top!!!

When I made these, I didn’t use enough caramel topping or peanuts. I’ve adjusted the amounts according to how much I’ll use next time since I’d like more of the caramel and nuts. But feel free to adjust and use more or less according to your liking. And yes, I definitely think you’ll like these!

Over The Top Brownies

Ingredients
for the brownies
1 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate (chunks, disks, chips or mini chips)
for the topping
1/4 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate
18 Kraft Caramels
2 tablespoons heavy cream
chopped/crushed nuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F
Prepare a 9×13 baking dish as follows: lightly spray the insides with cooking spray then with the dish horizontally in front of you lay in one sheet of aluminum foil across the length (left-to-right) leaving enough overhang on the sides so that you can use the excess foil as handles and on top of that lay in one sheet of aluminum foil across the width (top-to-bottom). Spray the foil with cooking spray. You want to be sure the insides of the pan are completely covered and you have foil “handles” which you’ll use to lift the slab of brownies from the pan after baking :)

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter, both sugars and the vanilla extract in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition until the liquid mixture is completely blended.

In a separate bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually add this into the liquid mixture until it is fully incorporated. Add in the chocolate pieces (chunks, disks, chips or mini chips) and stir to combine. It will resemble fudge frosting at this point… and it will taste delicious!! Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish.

Bake about 40-45 minutes until a few moist crumbs cling to a toothpick inserted in the center. Don’t bake to the point of the toothpick coming out clean or the brownies will be dry. Remove the baking dish from the oven and cool on wire rack for 10 minutes… then… using the foil handles remove the brownie slab from the dish and cool completely on wire rack.

Put the caramels in a microwave-safe bowl and add the heavy cream. Microwave in 30-second increments until the caramels begin to melt and stir to incorporate the cream. Do not over-cook this!

After the brownies have cooled a bit but are not yet at room temperature, pour the melted caramel/cream mixture over the top and let it set up for a little while. Then drizzle on the melted chocolate and top with crushed nuts. Once everything has cooled and set, but the brownies and enjoy… preferably with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Have a delicious day :)

Posted in Chocolate, brownies, caramel, recipes | 13 Comments »

Sep.
16

Chocolate Chunkers

Posted by Em at: 7:02 am | 14 Comments


Yes it’s Tuesday and time again for another Dorie Greenspan recipe. This week it’s “Chocolate Chunkers”… and if you ever thought there’s no such thing as “too much chocolate”, well, check it out cuz **this** is a cookie for you!

This week’s host of TwD is Claudia over at Fool for Food and she chose Dorie’s Chocolate Chunkers. Dorie may call these cookies but there’s more “stuff” than “dough”. The hubs said these had more of a uber-fudgy brownie texture than anything… and seeing as how they’re totally packed with an assortment of chocolates, that makes absolute sense. Let’s see… it’s got bittersweet chocolate… semisweet chocolate… white chocolate… unsweetened chocolate… cocoa powder. Holy chocolate overload Batman – - – this is a true chocoholic’s cookie-dream come true!

The recipe also calls for raisins (which I left out) and nuts (I used almonds). I made a half batch and still got 19 cookies about 2 1/2″ in diameter and they’re so rich that one or two is more than enough. Hey, what am I saying… if you’re a serious chocoholic, one or two would never be enough! LOL. Unbaked, the cookies are Ah-MAYYYYY-Zing – that’s for sure. And while they will come in dead last when competing for the title “Most Photogenic Cookie”, you should definitely make them if you’re looking for something that is sinfully, richly, decadently chocolate.

Chocolate Chunkers
from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking From My Home To Yours

1/3 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. baking powder
3 tablespoon unsalted butter – cut into three pieces
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks or 1 cup chocolate chips
6 oz. milk or white chocolate, chopped or 1 cup chocolate chips
1 ½ coarsely chopped nuts ( I used pecans)
1 cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or finely chopped, moist, plump dried apricots

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon mats.

Sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Add the butter, bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate and heat stirring occasionally, just until melted-the chocolate and butter should be smooth and shiny, but not so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the heat and set on the counter to cool.

Beat eggs and sugar on medium high speed for about two minutes until they are pale and foamy. Add vanilla and scrape down bowl. Reduce mixer to low speed and add melted chocolate, mixing only until incorporated. Add dry ingredients until they disappear into the dough, which will be thick, smooth and shiny.

Scrape down the bowl and mix in the semisweet and white or milk chocolate chunks (or chips), nuts, and raisins. Drop dough by heaping tablespoons leaving about an inch of space between mounds of dough. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes. The tops of the cookies will look a little dry, but the interiors should still be soft


You can check out the rest of the TwD members by clicking here.

Have a delicious day :)

Posted in Chocolate, Dorie Greenspan, Tuesdays with Dorie, cookies, recipes | 14 Comments »

Sep.
15


Weeks and weeks have gone by since I posted this which I thought would be my final post about chocolate chip cookies. Yeah, riiiiight. No such luck! So many people emailed to tell me I simply had to try the chocolate chip cookie recipe posted in the NY Times. Had to. Just haaaaaaad to, otherwise my life would be incomplete. So, like an awkward pre-teen girl trying desperately to fit in, I caved to peer pressure and did.

This is a recipe that certainly has a lot of ingredients: cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder, coarse salt, unsalted butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, natural vanilla extract, bittersweet chocolate disks…

And it’s fussy too… make the dough…

… press plastic wrap against it, refrigerate for 24-36hrs… or up to 72hrs

… and then you’re finally allowed to bake it… but only after you roll them into precisely weighed 3 1/2 ounce mounds making sure there are no chocolate pieces are poking up (turn them horizontally as to make for a “more attractive cookie”)…

Sprinkle with the sea salt (I only sprinkled a few so that I could try it… the rest were sans salt) and then bake for 18-20 minutes. As you can see from the photos… these things spread… they spread *quite* a bit during baking…

… cool the sheet on a wire rack and then transfer to a different wire rack for cooling. Yes, these are among the fussiest chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. But… I won’t lie… these cookies are actually good. I’d go so far as to say they’re VERY good!

But I’ll also be honest and tell you I am not at all a fan of the salt on top. In fact, when I ate just ONE of the salt-topped cookies, the salt mixed with the sweet left me incredibly nauseated. Incredibly :( But that’s okay… there were plenty without the salt and I enjoyed them **thoroughly** :) :) :) I have zero regrets about making these cookies – at least now no one can give me a hard time about liking a chocolate chip cookie so much that I consider it my hands down favorite w/o having tried these famous NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies. Funny little side story… a girl I know who’s made these cookies calls them HER famous chocolate chip cookies. Hmmm… not sure how she can consider them HERS since the NYT put them out there and she made them from the recipe but uhm… okay, whatever works for ya! LOL!

If you still haven’t made these NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies, the recipe can be found here.


I’ve made them… I’ve tried them… and I still like these chocolate chip cookies better. Different strokes for different folks, right? ;-)

Have a delicious day :)

Posted in Chocolate, cookies, recipes | 14 Comments »

Sep.
14

Buttermilk Pancakes

Posted by Em at: 6:41 pm | 10 Comments


Pancakes are among my all-time favorite foods. Morning? Night? Doesn’t matter. I just love pancakes. For me it’s a real treat going out for breakfast or Sunday brunch and enjoying really good, well made, tasty, flavorful pancakes. But until recently, I didn’t enjoy making them because they just never came out “right”. Late last month I spent a weekend trying various recipes and finally… FINALLY… I found a clear-cut winner… one that beat the rest and exceeded my high expectations :)

I admit it, I’m a pancake snob. My family doesn’t share my devotion… my love… my craving for pancakes. That’s okay, I say, more for me!! And OMG when I have pancakes they require a boatload of maple syrup… and preferable a few slices of crispy bacon or a couple of sausage links… or patties. I’m easy ;-) In all honesty, for some reason I’m not a fan of maple flavor… but… when it’s on pancakes (or waffles), I’m all over it. Go figure.

In my private “weekend pancake cook-off” I tested recipes from Mark Bitman, CIA, Betty Crocker, various internet sites, family recipes… and found my absolute favorite was from my old standby Joy of Cooking. I want a pancake that has some flavor to it – a pancake that’s light and fluffy – one that’s simple, basic, not fussy and doesn’t require a dozen prep steps and hours of time. Some recipes I tried had no flavor. Some had no rise. But the Joy of Cooking recipe was a clear winner and it’s the one I’ve added to my recipe file.

Buttermilk Pancakes
Joy of Cooking

Dry Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Wet Ingredients
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients. Mix the wet ingredients quickly into the dry ingredients. Don’t overbeat. Give just enough quick strokes with a whisk to barely moisten the dry ingredients. Ignore small lumps. Cook on hot griddle and serve immediately.

If you’re looking for a good, basic, easy to make buttermilk pancake recipe, try this one. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Have a delicious day! :)

Posted in breakfast, recipes | 10 Comments »

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