Tag: chocolate

Flourless Chocolate-Prune Cake

I came across the idea for this recipe quite by accident on David Lebovitz’s website. I am always a sucker for a flourless chocolate cake and, being intrigued by the notion of a reduced amount of processed sugar in exchange for the natural sugar of the prunes, I decided to give it a try.  I used the chocolate that I had in the house, some “dark” chocolate from Callebaut (about 7 ounces) and some bittersweet chocolate from Scharffen Berger for the balance.

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Although the original recipe called for the prunes to be chopped finely before being plumped in the rum, I chose to cook the prunes whole in the rum and then purée the cooked prunes and remaining rum juice with an immersion blender. In large measure this was because my household includes a rather fussy eight year old that doesn’t like finding chunks of anything but chocolate in his chocolate cake but I also had a sense that I would prefer the prunes to be more subtle ingredient in the cake.

By accident, I only put in half the butter (6 tablespoons as opposed to 12) called for in the original recipe but fortunately it still produced an acceptable result. My changes resulted in an almost mousse-like texture that I really enjoyed.

The cake is very moist, which makes for a challenge when trying to obtain clean cut slices. By dipping the knife in very hot water and then wiping it between each cut, you can get very good looking slices. I served the cake with unsweetened whipped cream. If I had it on hand, I would love it with creme fraiche.

For the prunes:

6 ounces (170g) pitted prunes

1/3 cup ( 80 ml) rum, or another liquor that appeals to you

1 tablespoon sugar

For the cake:

12 ounces (340g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate coarsely chopped

6 tablespoons (3 ounces, 170g) unsalted butter, cubed

6  large eggs separated

large pinch of salt

3 tablespoons sugar

Additional soft butter and flour, or cocoa powder, for preparing the pan

Preheat the oven to 325ºF (165ºC).

Simmer the prunes with the rum and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a small saucepan for a few minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand until cool.

Butter a 9-inch (23cm) springform pan. Dust the inside with flour or cocoa powder, and tap out any excess. I prefer to use cocoa for this.

In a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the puréed prunes.

Gently beat the egg yolks and stir into the chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl, or using a stand mixer, whip the egg whites with the salt until they begin to hold soft peaks. Continue whipping, adding the 3 tablespoons of sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until the whites hold their shape when you lift the whip.

Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture thoroughly, then gently fold in the remainder a third at a time  just until no streaks of whites are visible. Don’t overfold.

Bake the cake for up to 40 to 45 minutes, or until the cake feels set close to the edges of the pan but the center is still rather soft to the touch and moist-looking. Mine took only half an hour to reach this stage, so keep a close eye on it!

Allow to cool. Run a thin knife around the cake to loosen it from the pan and remove the ring of the springform. The cake will keep for a couple of days, or if carefully wrapped it is suggested that it can be kept for up to 2 months in the freezer. (I can’t imagine getting it off the springform base intact to wrap it.)

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Guinness Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze

This is one of my favourite cakes to make for a grown-up birthday or celebration. It is delicious and sophisticated without all the fuss of icing a cake. What’s even more helpful about it is that, with the benefit of a dense crumb, it cuts well making it easy to serve.

I don’t have a bundt pan, so I use a deep round pan which poses some challenges: I have to cook the cake at 300F for a much longer time period which seems different each time I make it. I also never have the luxury of letting the cake rest for a day before glazing it as suggested in the recipe. What I find works just as well is to make the cake the day before it is needed and glaze it that same day, then allowing it to rest overnight in a cool spot. Consequently, it is ready for me to take into the office the next morning and the chocolate flavour has had the time it needs to develop.

I’ve seen similar recipes from a variety of sources but this is taken from The Hungry Housewife.

Guinness Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze DSC_0013

Cake

1 c. Guinness Stout

1 c. butter

¾ c. unsweetened cocoa powder plus a little for dusting the pan

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 c. sugar

½ tbsp.. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

2 large eggs

¾ c. sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Butter a bundt pan (I use a deep cake pan but it takes about twice as long to cook at I do so at 300 F). Sprinkle some cocoa powder in the pan, hold it over a sink, and turn and tilt the pan to distribute the flour evenly. Then invert the pan and tap out the excess cocoa.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, bring the Guinness and butter to a light boil, add the cocoa powder and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

In another bowl beat together the eggs, sour cream and vanilla.

Add the butter/Guinness mixture to the sour cream mixture and beat until just incorporated. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Then using a rubber spatula, lightly fold the batter to make sure there are no pockets of flour. Pour into bundt pan.

Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only a few crumbs.

Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Salted Caramel Glaze

5 tbsp. butter

½ c. packed dark brown sugar

⅓ c. heavy cream

pinch sea salt

¼ tsp. vanilla extract

⅔ c. powdered sugar,sifted

Pinch of Fleur de Sel (if desired)

In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, dark brown sugar, heavy cream and salt to a rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla extract. Add about ½ cup of the powdered sugar and whisk until smooth. Continue to whisk in powdered sugar by the tablespoon until you reach your desired consistency.

Place on a cake plate and pour the salted caramel glaze over the top.

If desired, sprinkle Fleur de Sel over the glaze.

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Sea Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies

My son loves chocolate chip cookies, so I am perpetually in search of the perfect chocolate chip cookie. He likes these cookies, but I love them. The touch of salt is a perfect foil to the plentiful chocolate. This wonderful recipe is from Savory Sweet Life.

The first time you try this recipe, it is important to watch the cookies carefully as they bake – they are so much better if you can get them out of the oven before they brown too much.  Don’t be distressed when their appearance changes while they cool. They will crackle more as they fall slightly and will look a touch gooey at first.

Try not to eat all of them in one sitting and do share!

Sea Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies - A Pat & A Pinch

1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1½ cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2¾ cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour (If possible, weigh the flour)

¾ tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt (do not substitute with table salt)

1 tsp. baking soda

1½ tsp. baking powder (make sure it is fresh)

2¼ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 360 degrees.

Mix the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour in a bowl.

Cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in a mixer until it is fluffy (approx. 3 minutes on medium-high speed). Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes until the colour lightens and the texture becomes almost icing like.

Add the flour mixture beating until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Chill the batter for at least 30 minutes.

Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving.

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Pumpkin Seed and Chocolate Chip Cookies

My son needed some cookies for his school lunches and I really wanted to make something a little new for a change. With pumpkin season upon us, he has been keen to roast pumpkin seeds, so I thought the addition of pumpkin seeds to a chocolate chip cookie might fit the bill. I came across a recipe for Seeded Chocolate Chip Cookies by Martha Rose Schulman at the New York Times, and adapted it to what I was looking for.

Pumpkin Seed and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love the result; the pumpkin seeds add a lovely crunch to the texture of the cookies, the oatmeal is scant enough that they are not like an oatmeal cookie but still have the benefit in their texture, and there is a lot of chocolate for my little chocolate lover. With my scoop, I got two dozen cookies from this recipe. Next time, I might double the recipe!

Pumpkin Seed and Chocolate Chip Cookies

6 tablespoons/48 grams whole-wheat flour

2 tablespoons ground flax seeds*

½ cup/65 grams all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon/2 grams baking soda

½ cup (1 stick)/ 115 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup/50 grams granulated sugar

½ cup/80 grams packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla/5 milliliters

¼ cup/100 grams pumpkin seeds

½ cup (scant)/50 grams rolled oats

½ teaspoon coarsely ground sea salt

1 cup/225 grams chocolate chips (or more if desired)

* If you don’t have flax seeds on hand, you can substitute with an equivalent amount of whole-wheat flour, hemp hearts, or wheat germ.

Heat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit with racks adjusted to the lower third and middle of the oven if your oven is large enough to take 2 sheets at a time. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Stir the flours, ground flax seed and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

In bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until lemony yellow, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl and paddle. Add the sugars. Continue creaming mixture on medium speed until it is lump free, about 1 minute. Stop mixer and scrape down sides of the bowl and the paddle.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated. Scrape down sides of the bowl and paddle.

On low speed, add sifted flour mixture. Beat slowly until all of the flour mixture is incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add the seeds, oats, chocolate chips and salt and mix in.

Spoon dough by heaped tablespoons or a scoop at least 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake 9 to 14 minutes, depending on your oven, until lightly browned, turning the baking sheets from front to back halfway through the baking. If you cook two sheets at the same time, also rotate them from top to bottom and vice versa.

Remove from oven and slide parchment off the baking sheet and onto a work surface. Allow cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving, or for at least 20 minutes before storing in an airtight container.

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Decadence

My son began first grade this week and I wanted to celebrate with a new treat for his lunch box.  Chocolate is a favourite of his and cookie dough is a highly prized item in his food choices, so these bars seemed like the perfect idea. They are adapted from a contribution to The Food Recipe Critic that was, in turn, adapted the recipe from Lifes Simple Measures, the major difference being that these are nut-free.

These bars were a huge hit, even with my dad who began as a sceptic, but they won’t be going in any lunch boxes as they wouldn’t survive the ordeals that lunchbox items must be prepared to endure.

I was a little concerned that the dough might be too soft, so I was careful about the amount of sweetened condensed milk that I added. In the end, I chose not to scrape out the can of condensed milk, leaving a good tablespoon in the can. Even at that, the dough is quite soft when not fully chilled. Consequently, I wouldn’t serve these bars on a hot day when they had to sit out of the fridge for any time.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Decadence - A Pat & A Pinch

In Canada, sweetened condensed milk comes in 300ml cans.  This is roughly 10 oz in size. Not wanting to have part of a can of condensed milk left over, I adjusted the following amounts by 7/10ths and used a loaf pan approximately 9×5 inches in size. The adjusted amounts are in parentheses.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Decadence

½ c. unsalted butter, softened (5 3/5 tbsp)

¾ c. packed light brown sugar (8 tbsp + 1 tsp)

1 tsp. vanilla extract (I like vanilla, so I used a light tsp)

2 c. all purpose flour (1 c. + 6 tbsp. + 1 tsp.)

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk ( 1 300 ml. can)

2 c. mini chocolate chips (1 c. + 6 tbsp. + 1 tsp.)

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (½ c. + 3 tbsp.)

1 tbsp. cream (2 tsp)

1 1/2 tsp. butter (1 generous tsp.)

Line an 8×8 inch pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until it is fluffy. This takes about 3 minutes. Add vanilla and beat until combined.

Turn the mixer to low and alternate the flour and the sweetened condensed milk until combined. Gently fold in chocolate chips.

Press the cookie dough into the bottom of the 8×8 pan. It will be sticky so lightly flour your hands if needed.

Cover your bars with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight until firm.

To make the topping, combine the cup of chocolate chips, the cream and the butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds and stir. Repeat as needed to obtain a smooth consistency but be very careful to not overheat the chocolate or it will become stiff and grainy. Pour and spread over the top of the chilled dough and chill at least for 1 hour until firm.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Decadence - A Pat & A Pinch

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