Molten Chocolate Cake

For Pierce's birthday he asked for Chocolate Lava Cake or Molton Chocolate cake. I have made these before but I always struggle trying to find the recipe that I like - so I'm posting what I made this time. I think Pierce liked them. I liked them too- but I don't know if the rest of the family does- they are a little too gooey they thought. But this recipe I  made makes 6 - which is the perfect number for our family and the other recipes only make 4.

1 and 1/2 sticks butter
9 oz semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate. I used a 4 oz Baker's Semi-sweet chocolate bar, a 3.17 oz Ghiradelli dark chocolate bar (either 72 % or 86% cacao - I don't remember which) and then 2 oz of nestle semisweet chocolate chips.
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
3/8 c sugar (6 Tbsp)
pinch of salt
3 Tbsp flour

Preheat the oven to 450°. Butter and flour six ramekins and put them on a baking sheet. In a Pyrex bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the butter and chocolate. In another bowl, beat the eggs with the egg yolks, sugar and salt at high speed until thickened and pale. When the chocolate is smooth, quickly mix it and the flour into the egg mixture. Spoon the batter evenly into the ramekins and bake for 12 minutes, or until the sides of the cakes are firm but the centers are soft. Let the cakes cool in the ramekins for 1 minute, then cover each with an inverted dessert plate. Carefully turn each one over, let stand for 10 seconds and then unmold. Serve immediately with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and garnish with raspberries.

Breakfast Pizza

Last week, Pierce turned 17! He planned to have his D and D crew hang out in the evening as they usually do on Friday nights. What we didn't realize is that 3 of them were spending the night. He says he told us about it and even his sister remembered he was doing it- but I guess we missed it somehow! So I had 4 hungry teenage boys to feed in the morning and had to come up with something to make. I remembered I had made this breakfast pizza once before and decided to try it again.

20 oz shredded hash browns
1 onion, chopped fine
1/4 to 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tbsp butter
12 eggs
10-12 slices bacon
4 oz diced ham (half a package)
shredded cheddar cheese - about 2 cups
salt and pepper for seasoning

Spray a 14 inch pizza pan with cooking spray. Melt the butter in a pan and add onion. Cook until soft. Mix cooked onions into shredded hash browns and spread onto a pizza pan. Season with salt and pepper. Bake at 425˚F for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile, scramble the eggs and cook the bacon. When crust is done, remove from oven and sprinkle with scrambled eggs. Crumble the bacon and sprinkle over the pizza. Add ham and red bell pepper and any other toppings you want. (My family won't do mushrooms, but I thought they sounded good here.) Top with shredded cheese. Bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes.

While the crust is baking, fry the bacon and cook the scrambled eggs.

Remove the crust from the oven and sprinkle with the scrambled eggs.
Next, crumble the bacon and sprinkle it over the eggs.
Follow the bacon with the diced ham and any other toppings your family loves such as onions, peppers or mushrooms.
Top it all with shredded cheese.
Return the breakfast pizza to the oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.

Fig Newtons

I LOVE fig newtons! In a previous post I mentioned that I made some and since I didn't follow a recipe exactly I better try to put it here before I forget. My kids loved them. Even Adria who hates anything new. I thought they were good- but not quite like the cheap fig newton knock offs I remember. - maybe next time I will try leaving the orange out of the dough- but Adria said they were bettter than the ones from the store. I used 2 different recipes as a base - one for a cookbook called Bravetart by Stella Parks and one from Smitten Kitchen who also used the Stella Parks one and made changes herself. Mine is somewhere in between. Smitten Kitchen put 1/2 tsp orange zest in the filling- I don't think I did that- but she said it was a good way to get orange flavor but without putting it in the cookie.

COOKIE
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 plus 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt - I think I skipped it?
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed orange juice
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Combine butter, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, orange zest and honey. Beat until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add orange juice, then add the egg and yolks, beating between them, and continue beating until smooth. Reduce the speed to low and sprinkle in the flour, mixing until well combined.

Push the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. I hate this part and usually try to skip it. But this dough is so sticky you really can't skip the fridge! Also you will need LOTS for flour for dusting when it comes to rolling them out.

FILLING
12 ounces plump, sticky dried mission figs, stems trimmed - I can only find them at Trader Joe's!
1/3 cup applesauce, any variety
2 tablespoons orange or apple juice

Cut the figs in half and put them in a food processor. Add applesauce and orange juice. Pulse until roughly chopped then continue to process until it makes a thick smooth paste. Scrap the sides occasionally. Put the paste into a freezer bag and cut a 1/2 opening off one of the corners. (Or use a piping bag with a 1/2 tip if you have one - I don't.) It says you can leave them for 24 hours or put them in the fridge for 3 weeks. Who has patience for that?

ASSEMBLE THE COOKIES
This is the tricky part. Check out Smitten Kitchen for some pics if you need help- I did.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pat the dough into an 8 inch square then roll out to a 15 x 15 inch square. REMEMBER TO FLOUR WELL! Using a pizza cutter or bowl scrapper cut the dough into four 3 and 1/4 inch wide strips. (Did you do the math? I did - that doesn't equal 15! Where did the other 2 inches go?? I don't know. I tried cutting it as directed and then I ended up with extra dough- and had to roll stuff again - just cut it into 4 strips - maybe 5)

Holding the bag at a 90-degree angle just above the surface of the dough, pipe a 1 inch stripe down the center of each portion. Holding it this way is supposed to make the filling flatten out. Using a bench scrapper (love those!) fold one side of the dough strip over the filling. Brush off extra flour. Then roll over again with the seam side down. Gently flatten each bar with fingers and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. (YES use parchment not your Silpat mats - you don't want to cut those later!) All 4 should fit on the cookie sheet. I had 5 sections (Remember the measuring problem) and they all fit on 1 sheet, but they did get touch each other during baking.

Bake the bars for 15 to 18 minutes until they are puffed and firm but do not have any significant browning. Immediately cut into 1 inch pieces with the bench scrapper - I did 2 rows at a time. Put the cookies into a paper towel lined airtight container, putting paper towels between each layer and on the top too. This lets the cookies steam so they can get that soft chewy texture - otherwise they are a little dry. They need to steam for at least 6 hours. One recipe said to cool the cookies on the tray and then put them in a container overnight or they were too soft - I wonder if she lived in a more humid climate. We did the 6 hour method and it worked great. I kept them in the same air tight paper towel lined container overnight and they were better the next day. They were gone before I knew it! So sorry there aren't any pictures!

P.S. - There's a bunch of other recipes in the Bravetart cookbook I want to try - I need to get my own copy instead of the library copy- Will anyone buy me a present? :-)

Memorial Day BBQ Grilled Pineapple Slices

I thought I better finish up adding a couple of recipes that are sitting here on my desk. We made these pineapple slices THREE times on memorial weekend- they are delicious!!

1 fresh pineapple - peeled, cored and cut into rings - Epicurious has a great video on how to do this.
1/4 cup canned coconut milk
1/2 cup cinnamon sugar - I used a ton more than this!

I really don't know why this recipe has measurements - they aren't all that accurate.
To make cinnamon sugar mix 3 parts sugar with 1 part cinnamon.
Dip pineapple rings into coconut milk then dip them into the cinnamon sugar. Immediately put them onto a hot greased grill. (To grease your grill, pour a little oil on a paper towl. Using the grill tongs rub the paper towel over the grill)
Grill the  for 6 minutes per side or until they are nicely grilled. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

May Birthday Desserts: Tres Leches Mango cake, Lime Pistachio Angel Food Cake, Lemon Swirl Cheesecake, and Orange Brownies

I couple of weeks ago we celebrated Jessica's and Ashlee's birthday. I volunteered to bring the cake. As usual I found a BUNCH of recipes I wanted to try and couldn't decide which to make. So I made several. We had their party on a Sunday, but I had recipes I wanted to make before then. I started Friday with a Tres Leches cake with mango cream for Ryan. No, it wasn't his birthday, but he loves mango, and I had found this recipe weeks ago and bought mangoes but never got around to it.  The mangoes were getting a little too ripe, but we used them anyway.

The recipe is from Spicy Perspective. I think I made it pretty much as written but if I make it again I would changes- It made WAY TOO much mango cream and the cake was rather thin- I think I'd make them thicker- there was definitely enough milk to soak more cake- it was oozing out everywhere.
Here's the recipe as originally written:

Tres Leches Cake with Mango Cream
Cake (One and a half times or double this in the future):
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (4 ounces)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans and line with parchment paper.Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Then add the vanilla. Alternate adding the eggs and flour mixture until combined. (I think I did half and half or maybe thirds) Divide the cake batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 20 minutes, until golden on top. Remove the cakes from pans and cool for 20 minutes. Once the cakes are cool, place one on a cake platter and the other on a sheet of foil with the edges turned up to form a shallow bowl. Poke both cakes with a fork thoroughly, to help the milks absorb. Slowly pour half the tres leches mixture over each cake and allow them to sit and soak it all up while you make the Mango Cream.

Tres Leches:
12 ounces can evaporated milk
14 ounces can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup heavy cream
Whisk together and pour over cake.

For the Mango Cream (HALF this!):
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 ripe mangoes
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt

For the Mango Cream: Peel both mangoes. slice one into thin strips and set aside as the garnish. Cut the second off the pit and place in the blender with 2/3 cup sugar and a pinch of salt. Puree until smooth. Pour the puree into a small sauce pan and place over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer. Stir and simmer for 3-5 minutes until thick. (Mine took lots longer.) Then place in the fridge to cool.Whip the heavy cream until firm peaks form. Then gently fold in the chilled mango puree.

To assemble: Scoop about half the Mango Cream on the cake that’s on the platter. Spread the Mango Cream evenly, then carefully flip the second cake layer on top and remove the foil. Spread the remaining mango cream on the top and decorate with fresh mango slices.

Everyone really liked it- even when I took the leftover 2 days later on Sunday.

The next thing I made was a Lemon Curd Marble Cheesecake from Epicurious. Most of the comments said that it tasted better the second day- So I made this on Saturday. It has a recipe for the lemon curd, but I had lemon curd I made last year and sealed in bottles and then froze. (I wasn't sure if I bottled it correctly or not - so it had to get frozen too.) If you have your favorite lemon curd recipe- use that, or use some from the store, or use the original recipe on the Epicurious website. Other than the lemon curd, I used their recipe as written. I did have to bake it a little longer though.

Lemon Curd Marble Cheesecake
For crust:
1 1/3 cups finely ground graham cracker crumbs - about 1 package of crackers
1/3 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt - I think I skipped it.
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For filling:
3 (8-oz) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla - I used extra.

1 pint jar of lemon curd
blueberries for garnish

Make and bake crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Invert bottom of 9 inch springform pan (to make it easier to slide cake off bottom), then lock on side. (This was a GREAT idea. I never thought of it before- but it makes getting the cake off so much easier!). Break the cracker into pieces and put in the food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add the sugar and pulse. Then add butter and pulse to mix well. Press crust mixture into bottom and up 1 inch on side of springform pan. Place springform pan in a shallow baking pan and bake 10 minutes, then cool crust completely in springform pan on a rack.

Make filling and bake cheesecake:
Reduce oven temperature to 300°F. Beat together cream cheese and sugar in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add eggs 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Beat in sour cream and vanilla until combined. Pour two thirds of cream cheese filling into crust, then spoon half of lemon curd over filling and swirl curd into filling with a small knife. (Avoid touching crust with knife to prevent crumbs getting into filling.) Repeat with remaining filling and curd. Bake cheesecake until set 1 1/2 inches from edge but center trembles when pan is gently shaken, about 45 minutes. (Center of cake will appear very loose but will continue to set as it cools.) Mine took about 55 minutes I think.Transfer springform pan to a rack and immediately run a knife around top edge of cake to loosen. Cool completely in the pan, about 2 hours, then chill, uncovered, at least 4 hours. (I chilled mine overnight!) Remove side of springform pan before serving. Garnish with blueberries.

The last cake I planned to make was the Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze and Pistachios. I had to make a run to Harmon's at 9 p.m. to find pistachios. It says to use unsalted ones - but I couldn't find them - So I used salted ones like some other people did. It tasted great. I also used more nuts than they suggested. The only draw back with this cake is that is was a little dry and a little too sweet. (And Ashlee doesn't like pistachios - Sorry Ashlee!) I think next time I will skip the glaze and maybe to a strawberry syrup to go over it instead!

Lime Angel Food Cake with Lime Glaze and Pistachios
Cake:
1 cup cake flour - I didn't have any so I used 2 Tbsp of cornstarch in the 1 cup measuring cup and add flour.
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, divided - Didn't have that either- you can make your own by putting the same amount plus a couple of Tbsp of regular sugar in a food processor. Pulse until it feels like fine sand.
1/4 teaspoon salt - probably skipped it. (Ryan's on a low salt diet - Now we just need to get the low sugar diet going too!)
10 large egg whites, room temperature - I bought a 16 oz container of eggs whites - that equals 10 eggs
2 teaspoons finely grated lime peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Lime syrup and lime glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
1/2 cup unsalted raw pistachios (about 2 ounces), finely chopped in processor - I used salted ones and probably more than the 1/2 cup.
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Sift flour, 1/2 cup superfine sugar, and salt into medium bowl; repeat sifting 3 times (I didn't sift again- too lazy.) Using electric mixer, beat egg whites, lime peel, and vanilla on medium speed in large bowl until frothy (mixture may turn neon green but color will change when remaining ingredients are added). Add cream of tartar; increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form. (Don't add too much sugar at once- it makes it so the eggs take FOREVER to get stiff!) Sprinkle 1/3 of flour mixture over whites and gently fold in until incorporated. Fold in remaining flour mixture in 2 more additions just until incorporated. Transfer to ungreased 10-inch angel food cake pan with 4-inch-high sides and removable bottom (do not use nonstick pan); smooth top.
Bake cake until pale golden and tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 38 minutes. Immediately invert cake onto work surface if pan has feet, or invert center tube of pan onto neck of bottle or metal funnel and cool cake completely. Using long thin knife, cut around cake sides and center tube to loosen. Lift out center tube with cake still attached; run knife between cake and bottom of pan to loosen. Invert cake onto rack, then turn cake over, rounded side up. (Mine was fairly flat on top- no rounded side ;-( I struggle with meringue recipes!) Set rack with cake atop rimmed baking sheet. (I just put it on the cake stand!)

For lime syrup and lime glaze:
Combine sugar and 3 tablespoons lime juice in small saucepan; stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Brush syrup all over top and sides of cake. Immediately press pistachios onto top and sides of cake, pressing to adhere.Stir powdered sugar with remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle glaze over top of cake. Let stand until glaze sets, about 10 minutes. (Like I said earlier - skip the glaze- some of the comments said the same thing!)

When I got up Sunday morning, I thought about the desserts I made and thought maybe the kids would not be impressed with fancy desserts and might like something more "traditional." I suggested cupcakes or brownies to Adria and she decided to make brownies from a box. Sunday afternoon I made fig newtons - I had seen a recipe awhile about, but it needed dried figs. NO ONE has dried figs except Trader Joe's. Even all the recipes I found said to get Dried Mission Figs at Trader Joe's. Ryan and I had gone over there Saturday morning after dropping Adria off at Olivia's house to help watch her girls while she ran a race. And since she lives close to Trader Joe's and World Market we had to stop at both places. So I made fig cookies and had some leftover orange zest and fresh orange juice from the cookies. I wondered if I could make orange flavored brownies- and YES! you can. They taste just like a chocolate orange that we all get a Christmas time. YUM! They were the first dessert to go! I think we have a new favorite way to do brownies!

Chocolate Orange Brownies
1 fudge brownie mix
oil called for on the mix
eggs called for on the mix
1 orange

Zest the orange and then juice the orange. Mix the brownies as directed on the package with 2 changes- Use the amount of juice instead of water called for on the directions and add all the orange zest. Bake as instructed. They are SO easy and SO yummy!

Creme Brulee Cake

I really like creme brulee - that crunch browned sugar on top of a thick custard. It's yummy. A couple of days ago at work, Jenny brought a creme brulee cake she had made. I asked her for the recipe. It came from the same Chef in Training blog where the lemon cake came from that I made for Adria's birthday last year.  Maybe I should start looking at that blog more often. I googled several other recipes to see how they differed. It looks like it's just a "Texas sheet cake" with a vanilla custard on top. It turned out well, so I'm posting the recipe I made. Once again, I made changes to make is easier and to get rid of the shortening. Yes, I have shortening in the pantry, but I try to avoid using it. It's gross.

VANILLA TEXAS SHEET CAKE
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup water
½ cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

Spray a 15x10x1 inch sheet pat with cooking spray. Mix the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Then in a sauce pan melt the butter and water and bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute stirring constantly. (This is to get rid of some of the water.) Pour the butter into the flour and mix well. Stir in buttermilk. Add baking soda and mix (I think next time I will sift this in with the dry ingredients.) Add eggs 1 at a time and mix after each. Stir in the vanilla bean paste. Pour into the greased sheet pan and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. Cool completely - so it only feels slightly warm to the touch before adding the topping. Mix the topping while it cools.

CREME BRULEE TOPPING
1 large box (approx 6 oz) vanilla instant pudding
2 ¼ cups heavy cream
¼ cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste

Combine all the ingredients and mix until smooth and thickened. Place in the fridge while cake cools completely. When cake is cool, spread the topping evenly over the cake and put the cake in the fridge for at least 1 hour to make sure it is chilled all the way through.

SUGAR CRUST
½ cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar

Put sugar into a food processor and pulse to make very fine sugar (OR just use 1/2 cup very fine sugar if you can find it at the store - I couldn't) Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the cake and Place under a preheated broiler until sugar bubbles and turns golden brown. Watch closely and rotate pan frequently. The middle of mine was done before the edges, so I had to hold the edges under the broiler. (This is when I REALLY REALLY want a kitchen blowtorch! It's on my birthday wish list!) Chill the cake for at least 2 hours- I chilled mine overnight- Serve cold.

The family liked it. So even though it's noon on a Saturday and I should be doing chores, we all had cake for lunch and I thought I better write it down before I forgot about it.

Swedish Rice Pudding - New and improved version?

Several weeks ago (Maybe months - my days all blur together) I wanted to make rice pudding, with some leftover rice and for whatever reason, I decided not use my mom's recipe. I think the problem was that I didn't have the 3 cups of rice her recipe needs and I wanted something with  less rice anyway. So I searched for a recipe and found one on Genius Kitchen. Genius Kitchen is one of our new favorite recipe websites. We have found several good recipes there. At Christmas time we made a gingerbread recipe we found there. I made this one with a few modifications. I'm hoping to remember what they were as I type it out. Adria told me it was MUCH better than the other rice pudding recipe I usually make. I think I'd have to agree with her. I like cinnamon- but the change to nutmeg and cardamom was really nice in this version.  I think I will go make this again and see what I ended up using (Yes I have left over rice. Again...)

4 eggs
3⁄4 cup sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon nutmeg
1⁄2 teaspoon cardamom
1 cup cooked rice (do not use minute rice)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated Milk
1⁄2 cup low-fat milk

In a 2 quart bowl or dish, beat 4 eggs lightly, add 1 cup sugar and beat a little. Stir in nutmeg and cardamom.Add cooked rice and evaporated milk and low-fat milk. Stir. (You can sprinkle cinnamon on top - but I skipped it) Bake in a 325 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours or until the pudding's top moves a little in the center if you push it gently.

I made it. I think it is a little too much cardamom - so next time just use 1/4 teaspoon!