Quick Single Pan Brownies

Quick single-pan brownie recipe.

4 oz (1 stick) butter
2/3 C 100% chocolate mass (5-5 1/2 oz, of Chocoa chocolate liquor buttons).
4/3 C sugar
2 eggs
1/2 t salt
2/3 C flour
1 t vanilla (I enjoy Nielsen Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Paste)


Melt butter & chocolate together. Add sugar & salt, mix.
Add eggs, mix. Add flour, mix lightly. Add vanilla.
Pour into an 8x8 square pan lined with foil.

Cook: 350 for 24 minutes @350.

Mixing the eggs, sugar, salt together in a mixer tends to generate the "crispy" top, where the one-pan technique does not.

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Other Recipes

4 oz butter (1 stick)
7 oz bittersweet chocolate (or about 5.5 oz unsweetened chocolate + 1/3 C sugar)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla


Melt butter and chocolate over a bain-marie. Water should be hot but not boiling. while this starts to melt, Combine eggs, salt, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Stir well together. Go back to the chocolate & butter. when chocolate and butter chunks are small, take off bain-marie and stir until melted all the way. You want the mixture warm, not really hot when you mix into the egg mixture.

Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Whisk or sift the flour and add to all the other ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula until fully mixed.

Bake for 20-24 minutes at 325 F until done.

Skillet Deconstructed Pie

From Skillet in Seattle:

Pudding:
• 1 3/4 C whole milk
• 1/2 C plus 2 T heavy cream

1. Heat milk & cream in double boiler.

• 1/4 C cornstarch
• 3/4 C sugar
• 3 T unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 t salt
  
• 3 large eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 1/2 ounces 70%+ dark chocolate, finely chopped 

2. Mix dry ingredients, then add eggs and chocolate.

3. Whisk a few T of hot milk into chocolate, continue to whisk in the remainder. 

4. Cook pudding over medium heat until it reaches 208 degrees F. 

5. Buzz with an immersion blender or stir (~5 minutes) with wooden spoon until smooth. 

6. Cover with plastic, chill 3 hours.

Crust:
• 4 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 T salt
• 1 C unsalted butter, chilled and diced
• 2 large eggs
• Splash of whole milk

Make crust, bake on a sheet 350 until done.

Top with sea salt, cocoa nibs, or chopped nuts.

Christmas Came Early Cookies

Every year when the weather turns a little cooler, when snow threatens our normally mild climate, when the candy canes begin to appear on store shelves, and when the sun sets by 5 pm, we turn to chocolate for a bit of solace.

Here is one of our favorite chocolate cookie recipies. (Adapted from "Chewy Chocolate Cookies," Cook's Illustrated Jan/Feb 2009).

Ingredients
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 large egg white
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate chunks (or other chocolate pieces)
• 4 candy canes, chopped into small pieces

Directions
1. Spread 1/3 cup sugar on plate or pie dish and set aside.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.
3. Melt half of the butter and mix with cocoa powder.
4. Whisk corn syrup, egg white, and vanilla in small bowl.
5. Using an electric mixer, beat remaining butter, brown sugar, and 1/3 cup granulated sugar.
6. Add cocoa mixture.
7. Add corn syrup mixture.
8. Add flour mixture.
9. Add chocolate and candy cane.
10. Chill dough 30 minutes and preheat oven to 375.
11. Roll balls of cookie dough, coat in sugar, and place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
12. Bake until cookies look puffed and cracked, but the centers are still soft (10 to 11 minutes).

Saturday Night Lamb Curry

As a celebration of winter, and in an effort to clean up the freezer a little more, after spending the day helping L, I spent the evening working on curry. I have to say that this is one of the best lamb curries that I've made. This recipe is also pretty mild so that the kiddies will also enjoy it; feel free to spice it up some more.

Saturday Night Lamb Curry (Most ingredients are approximate):
• 5 lbs lamb shoulder or leg, cut into 1-2 inch chunks. I find that I like smaller pieces.
• 6 medium onions, sliced.
• 6 cloves garlic.
• 6 T ginger.
• 3 14oz cans tomatoes--crushed works well, diced is ok.
• 1 jalepeno pepper.
• 4 bay leaves.

Spice Mixture:
• 2 t Whole Coriander
• 1/2 t Black peppercorns
• 1-2 t fennel seeds (optional)
• 3 t Garam Masala
• 2 t Salt
• 2 t Cumin
• 1/2 t ground tumeric
• 1/4 t cayenne (optional)

Steps:
1. Add tomatoes & bay leaves to the crock pot (on high heat).
2. Brown the lamb chunks in batches in a skillet or two with vegetable oil. When browned, dump into crock pot.
3. Sautee the onions in batches in the skillet, scraping the lamb fond in the first batches. With each batch add a clove of garlic & about 1 T of ginger & cook until aromatic. Reserve 1/3 of the onion / garlic / ginger mixture in a blender or food processor. Add remaining to the crock pot with the lamb.
4. Thinly slice and sautee the jalepeno pepper. Put in food processor with onion & puree until smooth. Add to crock pot.
5. Add large spices to spice grinder & process. Add remaining spices to mixture.
6. Bloom spice mixture in oil until aromatic & add to crock pot.
7. Crack the lid of the crock pot so some of the moisture may escape (I use a toothpick under the lid), and cook for 4-6 hours.

Pretend it's Summer

Even though it's 62 outside, we know that the rest of the country is baking, so we'll pretend it's summer with a lovely iced chocolate. Enjoy!

• 3/4 cup (180ml) whole or lowfat milk
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-process
• 4 ounces (115g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups (6 ounces, 175g) ice cubes
• 2 to 3 scoops chocolate ice cream or chocolate sherbet
• Lightly sweetened whipped cream and chocolate shavings, for serving

1. In a small saucepan, heat two-thirds of the milk with cocoa powder, just until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and drop in the chocolates, stirring until the chocolates are melted and smooth. Let mixture cool to room temperature.
2. Using a blender, mix the chocolate mixture and the rest of the milk with the ice cubes and ice cream or sorbet until completely smooth.
3. Divide into two glasses, top each with whipped cream and shaved chocolate.

Grandma Caughey's Chocolate Applesauce Cake

1/2 C butter
1 1/2 C sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
2 eggs
1 1/2 t soda
2T cocoa
2 C flour
1/2 t salt
2 C applesauce

Beat butter, sugar...

Cook in a greased & floured pan. Pat on top:

1/2 C nuts (pecans)
1 C chocolate chips
Bake at 350 for 30-40 min.

Moose Goose Kemperoos Cake

This blog is named after a chocolate cake which we make for birthday celebrations. Here is the recipe, which is adapted from a Cooks Country recipe for Chocolate Blackout Cake. Instead of icing, use a rich chocolate cornstarch pudding. Note that every time I make this recipe it varies a little bit--this time I added orange flavor for extra depth--and I live at sea level, so you may need to adjust.

Pudding:
Make this a few hours before assembling the cake.

Step 1. Mix and set aside. This should be a thick, dark paste.
1/4 cup boiling water
1/4 cup cocoa, I usually use Hershey's Special Dark for a deeper color.

Step 2. Cook pudding in a medium/large saucepan.
(A) whisk together to remove lumps.
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt.
(B) Whisk together, then cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 4 minutes).
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup orange juice (if you want orange flavor, otherwise use milk)
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped.
Chocolate paste (from Step 1).
(D) Remove from heat and stir in, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
zest from 2 small oranges

Cake:
Preheat oven to 325. Prepare 2 8-inch round cake pans by greasing & flouring the pans (add a parchment bottom for easy removal).

Step 1. Mix together & sift:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Step 2.
(A) Melt butter, then mix in cocoa until dark and fragrant
8 Tablespoons butter
3/4 cup cocoa (Again, Hershey's Special Dark, and I usually add about 1/4 cup extra)

(B) Off heat, whisk in, alternating with and dry ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup milk + 1T lemon juice (or 1 cup buttermilk)
1 cup milk and orange juice blended (or 1 cup brewed coffee).
(C) Mix together and add
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla.

Divide batter evenly and bake for 30 - 35 minutes. Use a toothpick.

Cool at least an hour before assembling the cake. We use a bread knife to cut the cakes flat after removing them from the cake pans, and then put a large scoop of pudding in the middle before squashing them together. Finally, frost with pudding as usual.

It's traditional to crumble the cut portion and press it into the sides and top, but we also use shaved chocolate or strawberries, or any thing else that's handy to keep the pudding from sticking to the plastic wrap before storing the cake in the fridge.

Eggplant Parmesan Recipe

This is how you make eggplant Parmesan:

Search for store-bought breadcrumbs, realize you used them up. Tear up last week's hamburger buns and throw in oven.

Teach Katherine an impromptu piano lesson.

Slice eggplant. Salt and place in colander to drain.

Reengineer the angle on a Brio railroad track. Install train bridge.

Change baby. Feed baby.

Supervise cleaning kitchen. This consists of asking Katherine to put away her papers, and asking again, and again, and again...

Give baby to husband.

Clean up husband's wheat-grinding mess to create workspace.

Ask husband to grate Parmesan. (Turns out the rotary grater is quite a kiddie attraction.)

Food-process bread crumbs, ending up with sand-sized grains on bottom and huge chunks on top. Turn job over to husband.

Measure pepper. Debate merits of serving plain spaghetti.

Dress Katherine in jacket and Alex's baseball cap to pick garden lettuce in the rain.

Open door for Katherine, her four soggy lettuce leaves, and her complaint that it's raining. Run out to pick lettuce. Kids follow Dad out to pick beans and peas.

Recruit Katherine to shake eggplant slices in flour in a bag. Dip in egg, roll in bread crumb/Parmesan mixture, place on rack.

Read recipe. Realize you were supposed to heat pans in oven. Heat pans.

Put baby in swing.

Retrieve screaming baby from swing. Give baby to husband.

Switch on food processor with egg-free hand to process tomatoes, while husband holds processor with one hand and baby with other. Crank can opener while he holds can.

Oil hot pans, place eggplant on pans and put in oven. Sigh with relief at near-completion.

Put baby on floor under toy.

Rescue baby from toy, because she has rolled her face into the side of it.

Repeat.

Give baby to husband.

Clean table.

Place eggplant in pan with husband's tomato sauce. Discard shredded mozzarella, which smells funny after being forgotten in an unrefrigerated cooler for a week. Sprinkle instead with Italian mix, which magically appeared in fridge after departure of relatives. Realize you still have to bake the stuff, adding another half hour.

Entertain starving dinner guests.

Clean husband's bread dishes off table. Set.

Decide to eat green beans raw.

Cook and drain Pike Place pasta, serve.

Total time elapsed: 4 hours.