Twix > Kit Kat

Baking instead of studying for a Hebrew quiz is always a good idea.

It's okay though since I can spell cake in Hebrew, not that these are cake, but close enough.


Take this add 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, king size twix, and king size kit kat. I winged it on the sugar, they were probably too sugar-y.
I'm very okay with that.
-Amanda

Tahini Brownies

Do you ever have dreams of chocolate halvah but fluffy? I do.


Here it is. From here.

They'll be going like ...




The end.

-Amanda

Cupcakes or Beef Stroganoff?

The man at the counter guessed the latter, when confronted with my purchases of a few last ingredients. I understand him--I don't instantly think of cupcakes when I see heavy cream and sour cream, and nothing else.

This is what they were actually for!


I'm so glad I had an urge to make traditional cupcakes. It's fantastic. This blog's photo brought something out of me. I want to use the word nostalgic, because of Mad Men, and I'm close, but I can't. Maybe if my mom made me cupcakes as a child or something. Nostalgic for my food-making childhood? Ok I can buy that! I will! Nostalgic :)

I didn't like buying sour cream, and I hated putting it in my cupcakes. It wasn't yogurt! But I think if I thought about it less, the taste wouldn't have bothered me. These were so moist and delicious. The dough is usually never perfect! It was lightly goldened, up and rounded, delicate, cohesive, filling, scrumptious. The topping was the part that drew fans, but that's the easy part, so it's never the part I focus on.

Oh, and the batter tasted just like cream cheese frosting.

I followed the recipe all the way home, but I did use a bit less cream (237ml) and a few ounces less of chocolate. Oh I also did the chocolate-melting in a double boiler.



I want one more! But it's on to bavarian sugar cookies for me now.

-Anna

A Brownie Comparison

I tried making brownies once. I failed miserably, but that's all right.

The image above is not a picture of my failure, but it is a funny picture. It's of the second type of brownie being compared here today.

So I met this girl, and she's not on good terms with gluten. That was all the impetus I needed for the first brownie.


Gluten-free Almond Chocolate Brownies!

Thoughts: Very VERY moist. Soggy. If you like fudgier brownies, it'll work out well for your mouth. I liked the taste a lot. I could only eat teeny tiny bits though--pretty sweet and filling.

link to recipe

I tried sub'ing agar flakes for xanthan gum (i read it online somewhere, but i think it was a silly attempt.) My friend at trader joe's led me to the gum section near the registers when I asked for xanthan. Maybe next time!

I didn't have--or want to buy--rice flour, so I made some almond meal and used that instead. So much almond! I also used all of the zest of my orange, so it was just jam-packed with flavor.



This second kind has its fair share of flour.

link to recipe I think I used

I remember so little about this. I was in a frenzied state, cramming carboxylic acids and their derivatives into the corners of my brain for the text the following day. Brownies needed to happen. I'm glad they did--they served me well that week. I'm realizing more and more how important it is for me to have something to tea with regularly.



-Anna

Deadly Decadence

I made this for father's day. I didn't let it bake long enough/cool long enough or both so it was like lava when we cut into it.

So be careful. I didn't make the compote since it's not blood orange season and it seemed silly. Grand marnier though takes the cake. I mean it.


Oh and I used nonfat greek yogurt for the sour cream.
La recette, ça c'est ici. J'ai besoin de pratiquer mon français avant que je partie. Je ne sais pas si j'ai oublié toute ma grammaire.

Bien. Ecoutez.
-Amanda

When someone offers you wheat cookies at a party, you say yes

Here's the recipe, folks. So, I used less sugar (as usual), and no almond extract. The only one I have, I bought at some thai store on santa monica blvd, and it does not taste great. I imagine they'd be great with some though--Amanda, get on that!

They were pretty light, definitely not the typical chocolate chip cookie. People gobbled them up, but I don't think I liked them enough to make them again. Depends what you're after!

-Anna

Double the Surface Area

We never blogged these. I don't know why. They were good. Our clabbering was superb, even though Anna said they smelled like apple cider vinegar even after they were baked. My favorite part was the chocolate topping. Usually I just ate the top and threw out the bottom, since the bread part went stale after the day we made them.



So my genius idea was to use the remainders that I hadn't consumed the chocolate topping off of to make conchita bread pudding, conchita chocolate orange bread pudding to be specific.

Mmm, we used this recipe to make the conchitas and I pretty much winged it with the bread pudding. I used an 8 x 8 pan, maybe 10 or so of the conchitas, 2 eggs, some sweetened cocoa powder, some orange zest, a quarter cup melted margarine, 2 cups skim milk, and some raw sugar sprinkled on top.

Bread puddings are pretty flexible, so you never really need a recipe, just stale yeast bread, eggs, and some sort of milk/cream/etc.

The pudding pictures are ugly, so if you make it close your eyes as you eat it.
Rhyme?

Also these are sweet, so here you go.
-Amanda

Madeleine Mayhem (in a bad way)

I still don't understand how to make these. Anna rocked them a lot better than I did. I hope she posts the date earl grey ones she made. Those were bomb.

These are ugly and the fact that I made them at night and took pictures of them at night doesn't help either.



In addition to the recipe here, I added a chopped up Easter bunny.

He was one of three. These are the remainders, waiting for their unfortunates fates and maybe listening to this song in the meantime?




Killing Bunnies,
Amanda

Mexican Chocolate Cake

Definitely adding more cayenne next time.

Fat free/vegan/how did that happen?

Easy peasy.

Based on: this.
-Anna

Friendly Faces

Spring break was so nice. Eating thirty meals a day on a patio surrounded by my mom's driftwood is very missable. Now it's back to this crud:

"The herbs and spices being investigated in this experiment are: anise, caraway, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, and cumin. Your task is to analyze the volatile oils of some of these botanical products and then identify the adulterant in a sample"

Well I am stressing out quite a lot about all of this chemical nonsense going on all over the tests handed to me. So I decided to try this Chai Cola business today. Didn't like it. At least my two little Red Bull buddies are sitting in the fridge awaiting my desperate plea for their gift of vitality. The Russian ballet on ice is on my television screen. I'm glancing at its reflection in my window, because turning around is too much work when you have a lab report to concoct.

On the bright side Jenny liked the cake I made her !



I finally got to employ the (THE) chocolate painting technique. I'm not going to go into how I made the rest of the cake, but it tasted like chocolate milk. With blueberry on top. Actually I'm a fan of the blueberry sauce I drenched it in, so I'll use that again and it will be posted up here for you all, our droves of fans.

I'd also been waiting since Spain (2005, maybe?) to make a tortilla de patatas. The moment finally came! I modified the wikipedia preparation blurb, using green onions instead of the good stuff, and possibly oversalting. Added some milk with the egg too. Basically I had a really good tortilla de patatas but I was not happy to have to share it.



My posts have been lacking in the recipe department lately, but I'm sure I'll be up to it some day soon. After Thursday. Well after Thursday. If I am still alive Thursday, all is well with the world.

Forevers yours&young,

Anna

Because I like my cookies salty.

So Anna and I really like cardamom and cookies, and together--they're all pretty incredible. And I then I was inspired by Anna's brittle and I had to make snacks for my class last Thursday and snacks for a inspire-people-to-live-in-the-house-that-I-live-in-now-but-next-year fair, so chocolate chip cookies in bar form seemed ideal. And then cardamom is also really fun, these could also be really great with ginger. I want to make gingered pear challah soon, mmmm. My version is adapted from this recipe, but a bit spiced up. (note bad pun) Anyway have fun with them, and they would go well with this song, nice and rich. Yeah I did just do that.

Cardamom-y Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Salt!
2 3/4 c. flour
1 tsp (and then some) kosher sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
1 1/2 c. white sugar
1 TBS molasses (alternatively you could just use 3/4 c. white sugar and 3/4 c. brown sugar, but our kitchen's giant open bag of brown sugar could have broken bones)
3 medium eggs (or 2 large eggs)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 sticks softened Earth Balance (margarine/butter etc.)
20 oz. chocolate chips/chunks whatever (these are veryvery chocolately!)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure butter/margarine is softened!
2. Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, and cardamom together in a bowl.
3. With a mixer, cream the sugars, molasses if using, and butter together. This might take a while, 3 or 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla.
4. Carefully stir in dry ingredients (not too much!) and mix in chocolate chips.
5. Spray a 9 by 13 inch glass baking pan with cooking spray and pour the batter in and distribute evenly.
6. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes.
And these keep well if you put them in tupperware at least!

-Amanda

Brittle Little Chocolate Chip Cookie Bones

Based on this recipe

So my friend had a Liberace/apartment-warming/dessert potluck party. I made chocolate chip cookie brittle! Warning: it is veryy rich so you are going to be satisfied with a very small piece. I had lots left over, brought some to work the next morning.

You will need:
3/4 c room temp unsalted butter
1c sugar
1/2 tsp salt (but remember, less is less)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus some more for drizzling


Preheat the oven to 350, and line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar, then add salt and vanilla. Finally (slowly) add the flour. This dough will look very crumbly. Check it out:


Now, add in chocolate chips. Much better!


Press this dough very firmly onto your cookie sheet, trying to make it level and pretty thin. I've seen some recipes involve another sheet of parchment paper, placing it on top of the goods and using a rolling pin to flatten. Try it?


Bake for approximately 20 minutes. My edges got a bit golden when it was just right. Cut the tip off of a corner of a plastic bag, and fill it with some chocolate you've just melted in a double boiler. Squeeze and drizzle all over the bark. Let it cool so that the brittle is firm enough to break apart, and so the chocolate drizzle is not all over the place. Then hurl it to the ground, causing it to break into a million little pieces. Does this remind any of you of the Russian snow queen story? With the shard of mirror that landed in the little boy's? I think I'd rather have a piece of this brittle lodged in my heart.


Enjoy =)
-Anna

I have cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and four types of vinegar. Can I make chocolate milk?

The answer is yes!

I call my friend Angela with this request; resounding reply: no way Anna.

I then proceeded to go through these seven steps with her on the line, listening in agony as she realized, with the unfurling of each step, just how embarrassing her mistake was.


This is all you need!

2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp granulated sugar
as much milk as your mug can hold
[five types of vinegar]

So here's how this is gonna go down.

Step 1, you're a dream come true.

2, just wanna be with you.

3, girl it's plain to see

mix the cocoa powder and sugar with a bit of milk in a saucepan, heating/mixing until combined to form a smooth&silky syrup.

...that you're the only one for me. ...

Add nice cold milk to the syrup and you have homemade chocolate milk! Don't forget to stir so you don't leave residue at the bottom of your mug.


If the only person to appreciate this post is Angela, I understand.

Oh ! I got my slightly newer copy of Jewish Cookery by Leah Leonard in the mail. Just opened it. Mmmm food.

-Anna