Chocolate "Gold Coast" Globs

After a foot of snow blanketed Colorado last week, shutting down businesses and schools and with the arrival of snow and sleet, accented by a few cracks of thunder in New York City today, I suggest: Soyez prêtes! ('Be prepared!'). 


In kitchenese: mis en place (pronounced: meeze ehn plahsuh) 


So, when it comes to the baking of these fantastic globs that fall somewhere between a brownie a cookie and a "chunky", the situation is that everything you're going to need is pre-measured and ready, like you had an imaginary apprentice doing all the dirty work while you were in make-up getting ready for the shoot.* 

*You can't tell me that you never forgot something like the sugar or,say, doubled the butter and not everything else (as I just did - I'm serious).


Stay warm and dry. Eat a little chocolate. And wherever you go, "soyez prêtes"! 

Chocolate “Gold Coast” Globs

Adapted from Judy Rosenberg’s Baking book by Blue Heron Kitchen

Here’s another great recipe that I’ve added a couple of my own twists to that originates from Judy Rosenberg’s All-Butter (etc.) Baking Book. I’ve learned from her publicist that she’s about to come out with a new book soon. I can’t wait to get my hands on it!

It is CRITICAL that you allow for the chocolate and butter mixture to cool sufficiently or else you will wind up cooking your eggs.

Use excellent quality chocolate. It matters. I use Scharffen berger unsweetened chocolate and Jacques Torres’ dark chocolate discs, chopped, for my ‘chocolate chips’. These links are suggestions. You can purchase Scharffen berger chocolate in better stores, such as Fairway Markets and Jacques Torres has his own stores in NYC - in DUMBO, Chelsea Market and other locations too. Look for these products and discover your own chocolate treasures in your own necks of woods. Or go online and order through Amazon.

I have used both walnuts and pecans, but you can stick to one. If you love one and hate the other, knock yourself out. Today, I burned my walnuts, so my cookies had only pecans and they were pretty great.

Always toast and cool your nuts before you bake. Toast them at 350º F. for about 6-8 minutes, until you can just smell them. Watch them carefully. If they burn, they’re toast. You can play around and try a combination of chopped chocolate, nuts and even some dried fruit.

The globs freeze very well. So, if you’re starting to panic about Thanksgiving, you can bake these now and freeze them between sheets of parchment or wax paper (I love wax paper) in plastic containers, tins or freezer bags. (For anyone with a chocolate kupf, they’re stupid good frozen.)

Ingredients:

5 oz. semisweet chocolate (Scharffen berger or another good quality chocolate)

3 oz. unsweetened chocolate (same as above)

4 oz. 83%, European style butter, at room temperature (Plugra brand is a good one)

¾ c. all-purpose, unbleached flour (King Arthur or Bob’s Red Mill are fine examples)

1 tsp. baking powder (I use Rumford - sans aluminum!)

½ - ¾ tsp. kosher salt (depending on how much salt you want with your chocolate)

2 eggs, size large, at room temperature

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I use Baldwin’s vanilla – always)

1 Tbsp. instant espresso powder

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ c. semisweet chocolate ‘chips’ (or chopped excellent quality, such as Jacques Torres discs)

1/3 c. chopped pecans (first, toasted and cooled)

1/3 c. chopped walnuts (first, toasted and cooled)

Procedure:

Here is where the mis en place brings you great satisfaction.

Carefully measure out all of the ingredients for this recipe.

You’ll just dump one thing in after another and this recipe will feel like you ripped off the box top of like, a box of Ghiradelli Ultimate Fudge Brownies.

1.                     Put the semi and unsweetened chocolates and butter in a stainless bowl, large enough to accommodate them; and set it atop a barely simmering pot of hot water. Take care that NO steam or hot water gets jiggy with the chocolate/butter mixture. Stir and melt. Remove to COOL.

2          Preheat oven to 325º F. and line 3 baking sheets or ½ size sheet pans or jelly roll pans with parchment paper. If you don’t have parchment paper (you should get some), grease the sheets with melted butter or brush them lightly with vegetable oil. Set aside.

3.         In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

4.         Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs, vanilla and coffee powder until blended.

5.         Add granulated sugar and blend until thick. 1-2 minutes.

6.         Add the cooled , melted chocolate/butter mixture and blend another minute or two. Scrape down the bowl as necessary. (If you have a silicone beater blade, this won’t be necessary!)

7.         Add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed, until just incorporated. No more than that, please. Fold in the chocolate ‘chips’ and nuts by hand or with the mixer, on low speed.

8.         Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls (I use a small measured scoop), leaving a couple of inches between, onto the prepared sheets.

9. Bake, rotating the sheets,  between the racks, turning them too, about 10-13 minutes, until they rise slightly and form a thin crust. Immediately remove the cookies from the sheets (you can leave them on the parchment) and cool on a rack.       

Yield: 24-36 cookies, depending on how globular you go                 

Cranberry Bread (with ginger!)

Cranberry Bread

Blue Heron Kitchen

            After comparing at least six cranberry bread recipes, I left one out for reference.  That one was Bernard Clayton, Jr.’s Complete Book of Breads.  I’m always happy that I own this book. The original is out of print, but you can get used copies for $.01. Not a bad price.

            Orange is a natural with Cranberries, which are also called Mossberries (I learned that from Bernard). Use organic Valencias (at room temperature, you’ll get a good squeeze out of them). If you don’t have fresh oranges on hand, use store bought OJ. But for gmo’sake, buy organic. Bob’s Red Mill whole-wheat pastry flour is great. If you want to go all out whole wheat, get yourself a five-pound bag of King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat. It’s my new favorite flour. Just be sure that when you measure out, you scoop and level with a light touch. Don’t pack it in. European style butter (83% butterfat makes a difference. It trumps American butter in every way. Look for Plugra or Cabot brand.  In the New York Metro area, find them at Fairway or better markets.  You can use French butter, but it’s a fortune. Save it for the sablés.)  Be confident in your butter. If it’s not fresh, it will ruin your baking. Ask yourself this: would I spread this on toast I’m serving to my convalescing best friend? If the answer is “no”, throw it out. (Truc: freeze butter.  Keep it away from other things in the fridge. Or, pretend you’re European and just leave it on the counter. Nobody’s dead in Europe from leaving his or her butter out.) 

I used pecans and candied ginger in this loaf.  You can use one, both or neither. Try other nuts or other dried fruit. Toast your nuts first (most often in baked goods – it allows the oils to surface and alters the product and taste … really.) Spread them in a single layer and toast them in a preheated oven at 350º F. for about 8-10 minutes or until you can just begin to smell them. Be vigilant when you toast nuts. If you burn them, you’re really out of luck.  Cool them before you chop them. If you toast a larger quantity than is called for in the recipe, store them in a jar. They’re delicious.

Wash and dry the cranberries thoroughly, discarding any funky ones.  I never look forward to chopping them by hand because they’re unruly.  Put them in the food processor and give them about 8-10 quick pulses and you won’t have to go chasing escaped cranberries rolling all over your counter and floor.  Use a medium grate for the orange rind. Microplane Zester has a really high-end box grater.

This recipe uses almost one full bag of fresh cranberries. You’ll have some leftovers.  You can freeze them or throw them into your food processor or blender with a piece of fresh orange, rind and all, (about ¼ to ½  of one), some nuts, currents or raisins or dried cranberries and sweetener (Agave syrup or stevia) for a quick little relish.

Ingredients:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour or King Arthur’s White Whole Wheat Flour

1 ¾ cups granulated sugar

1/4 tsp. orange oil, optional

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground ginger (if you’re adding candied ginger – if not, it’s your call)

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I use Baldwin’s. always)

2 tsp. kosher salt

4 oz. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and frozen for about 10 minutes (or longer)

1 ½ c. freshly squeezed orange juice (no need to strain – but remove any seeds)     (approximately 4-5 juicy oranges will render enough juice)

2 Tbsp. orange zest (zest of one large orange – just the rind, not the white pith)

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

½ cup candied ginger, organic preferred

2 cups (approx. 8 oz.) fresh (or fresh/frozen) cranberries, coarsely chopped

Turbinado sugar for sprinkling on top of loaves (optional)

Procedure:

PREPARE:

Brush 2 large or 1 medium and a mélange of ‘other’ sized loaf pans with melted butter, vegetable oil, or a combination of the two. For an easier release, dust the pans with some flour. Be sure to give a good zetz (do it in the kitchen sink) to remove all flour that isn't lightly clinging to the butter or oil that you just used to prepare your loaf pans. You can do this step last once you see how much batter you have. But do have pans available and at hand so that you can get the batter into the oven asap. Once the dry meets the wet stuff, the rising agents will be activated. Think about how much you hate sitting in the waiting room or how great you looked when you boarded the flight.

1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, coarsely chop the cranberries (or chop them by hand if you’re adventurous.) Set aside.
3. Chop the candied ginger into ½” pieces and mix with the chopped pecans. Set aside.
4. In a separate bowl mix orange zest into the measured out sugar. If you’re using the orange oil, add that too. Set aside.
5. In a large liquid measure cup, measure out the orange juice and crack the eggs directly into the orange juice. To this, add the vanilla extract. Whisk together. Set aside.
6. In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer, or in a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground ginger (if using) and sugar that has been infused with orange zest (and if you’re using it, orange oil).
7. With the paddle attachment (or using two knives or your fingers) add the very cold butter and mix until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.
8. Dump in the orange juice/egg/vanilla extract mixture and mix only until the ingredients are wet.
9. Add cranberries, nuts and candied ginger all together. Mix, either by hand or with the paddle attachment, folding in very quickly, until just incorporated. Less mixing means better cake.
10. Pour a little more than ½ way into each prepared pan.
11. Bake anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending upon the size of your loaf pan and the heat of your oven, until a wooden toothpick or a metal cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
12. Cool on rack before releasing from pans. You may have to run a sharp knife around the edges.
13. After releasing from pans, cool completely and wrap well.
14. Try to wait until the next day to eat these. The flavor will develop and improve.
15. These refrigerate and freeze well.

Happy autumn!

peace and love,

jane

Apple Cake

Apple Cake

Adapted from Judy Rosenberg’s Baking Book by Blue Heron Kitchen

This cake recipe is for my son and his fabulous friends and colleagues at Oxford University. The apples, now available at the farmers market in Oxford and here, in the U.S., are peaking now. 

You can bake it in a tube pan, but it works as a loaf too. I’ve even made it in a fluted deep-dish quiche pan. Just be sure to bake it all the way. It’s moist and it freezes really well. It'll keep for weeks in the fridge, but it won't last long. It's far too good.

Use firm apples. 

Cheers!

Ingredients:

3 c. all-purpose flour (or 2 c. all-purpose and 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour)

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. kosher salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. mace (if the only kind of mace you keep is for self-defense, you can use some nutmeg.)

¼ tsp. allspice

8 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature (European style, 83% butterfat is best - try Plugra or Cabot brand.)

¼ c. vegetable oil (canola oil is good)

2 cups granulated sugar

1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract

3 eggs, size large, room temperature

1.5# apples (4 cups), or about 3-4 large, peeled, cored and cut into ½-inch cubes

cinnamon-sugar or even better and simpler: plain Turbinado or "raw" sugar for topping (1 tsp. cinnamon, mixed with 1 Tbsp. sugar) (double this and use lots - and if you have leftover, use it on other things.)

Procedure:

1.         Lightly grease tube pan or ‘other’ pans with melted butter or vegetable oil. Preheat oven to 350º F.

2.         In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, spices, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3.          In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, oil, sugar and vanilla on medium speed until blended. Scrape down the bowl, as needed.

4.         Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix on medium speed after each addition, until blended and creamy. Scrape the bowl each time. Mix again for fun.

5.         Add ½ the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Scrape down and add remaining dry ingredients until just incorporated. Don’t overbeat.

6.         Add the apples with a few turns of the mixer’s paddle, or by hand, folding them in with a wooden spoon.

7.         Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s) and sprinkle generously with raw Turbinado or cinnamon sugar.

8.         Bake in center of pre-heated oven until the top of the cake is firm and golden and a tester (wooden toothpick or wooden skewer is best) comes out clean). For a tube pan – close to an hour, perhaps. But, this depends on your oven and your pan and the density of your apples and how you measure out your flour.

Recipe claims to serve 12-16 (portions are not my forté)

peace, love and hope to meet y'all for cheesy chips soon!

jane