4.22.2007 ::
Strokes, Folks, Etc.
Still exhausted from the bake sale I decided to keep it simple for my department's pot luck tomorrow.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Update: The following week I used the rest of the cereal and marshmallows and tried to mix it up a bit by adding dark chocolate and creme de menthe liquor. If I do this again I'll add the mint, THEN wait till it cools some before I add the chocolate chips. Cause in this attempt I added the chocolate chips and they immediately melted creating chocolate rice krispie treats that were so strong you couldn't taste the mint. Still good, but not what I had planned.
Labels: icecream, snappy
This thread on TABB has gotten me into the habit of taking pictures of my baking progress.
For the second
Team Ellie Night Hawks bakesale:
Red Velvet Cupcakes:
Ingredients1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3½ cups cake flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa (not Dutch process)
1½ teaspoons salt
2 cups canola oil
2¼ cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) red food coloring
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1¼ cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons baking soda
2½ teaspoons white vinegar.
Directions1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place teaspoon of butter in each of 3 round 9-inch layer cake pans and place pans in oven for a few minutes until butter melts. Remove pans from oven, brush interior bottom and sides of each with butter and line bottoms with parchment.
2. Whisk cake flour, cocoa and salt in a bowl.
3. Place oil and sugar in bowl of an electric mixer and beat at medium speed until well-blended. Beat in eggs one at a time. With machine on low, very slowly add red food coloring. (Take care: it may splash.) Add vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk in two batches. Scrape down bowl and beat just long enough to combine.
4. Place baking soda in a small dish, stir in vinegar and add to batter with machine running. Beat for 10 seconds.
5. Divide batter among pans, place in oven and bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pans 20 minutes. Then remove from pans, flip layers over and peel off parchment. Cool completely before frosting.
For the frosting:
Ingredients16 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 pounds 10x powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
DirectionsBeat cream cheese and butter together in a heavy duty mixer until smooth and creamy. Slowly add the sugar 1/2 cup at a time, blending between each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Beat for about 5 minutes until very smooth. Spread between layers of cake and on top and sides.
And then I chopped up a dark chocolate bar to sprinkle on top.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Homemade Oreos (A failed experiment, not for sale, rejects for work)
Ingredients1 1/4 cups sll-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
Directions1. Set 2 racks in the middle and upper third of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a food processor, thoroughly mix together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. While mixing on low speed or pulsing, add the butter, then the egg. Beat or process until the dough is thoroughly blended and massed together.
3. Drop rounded teaspoons of batter onto parchment-lined cookie sheets at 2-inch intervals. With moistened fingers, round out the cookies and flatten them a little. Bake for 9 minutes, turning the pans once for even baking, until the cookies are set. Sit the cookie sheets on a rack to cool.
Vanilla-Cream Filling
Ingredients1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Directions1. Put the butter and shortening in a mixing bowl and, at low speed, gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla, until blended. Turn the mixer speed to high and beat for 2-3 minutes more, until fluffy.
2. To assemble, place teaspoon size blobs of filling onto the tops of half of the cookies. Keeping the smooth bottoms of the cookies facing up, flip the remaining cookies on top of the filling and lightly press to form sandwiches. (You can also pipe filling onto cookies using a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"Supernatural" BrowniesIngredients2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts, optional.
Directions1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.
2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. If using chopped walnuts, stir them in. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -I like this new Red Velvet recipe, it's more structurally sound for cupcakes and everyone seems to agree it tastes better than the
simpler recipe I used before.
The oreos I'll try again some day. The big mistake was scooping too much dough. The recipe rises and spreads quick so they all oozed together and I had to cut the apart. I think I'll double the filling recipe too since it felt like I had to spread them thin.
Everyone liked the brownies better than I expected. I thought they were just a decent thick brownie, but they turned out to be the most popular.
Labels: icecream, snappy
