Spork or Foon?

Cinnamon Sugar Topped Chocolate Swirled Pumpkin Biscotti

I was inspired to make these when I saw a tweet from Kayln's Kitchen about The Perfect Pantry's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Biscotti.  I had leftover pumpkin sitting in my fridge from a recent foray into making my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies  and, really, who can have enough pumpkin and chocolate?

I know biscotti is perfect for dipping into coffee, but frankly, I'm not too much of a fan of hard biscotti.  I usually will only eat the harder biscotti if one end is dipped in chocolate.  And then, I'll just break off the chocolate end and put the non-dipped end back in the cookie pile.

Yes, I am totally that person who eats halves of things and leaves the rest. I'm always trying to watch what I eat, but I can't help it, I love dessert. At office cupcake parties, I would cut out a quarter slice of a cupcake and leave the 3/4 on the table. Whenever I go home to my father's house, the first thing I do is open the cookie jar. He usually has oreos. So I eat half a cookie and throw the other half back in the jar. His cookie jar is filled with oreo cookie halves.

You may say, that's ridiculous Teanna! Yes, it is, but at least it's not like I'm taking the part with the Oreo cream and then just leaving the gross top of the outer cookie there!  I'm a sharer and a carer!

That said, when I make biscotti, I usually try to make a softer, lighter kind of biscotti, and these are those kinds of biscotti. Perfectly tender, with just a small crunch to them, topped with Cinnamon Sugar and swirled with semi-sweet chocolate. These cookies have just the right touch of sweetness, perfect for breakfast, lunch, dinner, appetizer, side dish, pre-workout, after-workout, midnight snack. 

And they were really supposed to be chocolate chip biscotti and not chocolate swirl biscotti, but I my have chopped the chocolate too finely, because it created this swirl. But it's all how you sell it! Chocolate chip turns to chocolate swirl and it sounds so fun!  Like the sea of swirly twirly gumdrops from Elf! 

Ok I'll stop now. Check out The Perfect Pantry's great recipe as well! 

Ingredients

• 3-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for cinnamon sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon, divided
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate or mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, 1/2 tsp nutme, 1/4 tsp cloves, 1 tbsp cinnamon and salt together. 

With a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup white sugar together at medium speed for 3 minutes. The sugars will look crumbly. Add the eggs one at a time and continue to beat for another 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. The dough will be soft and sticky.  

In a separate bowl, combine 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 tbsp white sugar.  Set aside.

Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula  work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 3 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.  Sprinkle both logs with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 1 hour.

Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 1-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet standing up and return to the oven. 

Bake the biscotti for another 20 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.

Funfetti Cake

I don't know if all of the other bloggers out there deal with the same thing I do, but whenever someone is tasked with picking out a cake for my birthday, they always try to pick out some fancy, gourmet cake with fruit or some strange flavor combination, when all I really want is a good, Carvel Ice Cream Cake. Extra crunchies.  

My friends and I at my last job would always find a reason to order ice cream cake. National Middle Child Day? Ice Cream Cake.  Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Ice Cream Cake (complete with photoshopped Birthday Hat on MLK and his speech playing in the background). National Speak Like a Pirate Day? Well... we actually didn't have time to get the cake that day, but we wanted to, complete with asking the person at the counter to write "Arrrrrrrr" on the cake. 

Needless to say, I miss those days of wreckless ice cream cake eating. 

A few months back, one of the members of our Carvel Cake Clan (I just made that up), got a new job, and for her goodbye party, we of course got ice cream cake, but then we needed something else. So I offered to make this funfetti cake. 

For some reason, I was very nervous about making this cake. You see, there is a reason why the Funfetti cake box mix is so popular. Because it's freaking AWESOME. Why reinvent the wheel when something is so perfect?

But I wanted to be different. I typically don't ever use box mixes for anything (unless they are cake balls - it allows me to eat them faster) so I didn't want to use a box mix for this. 

I used my go to white cake recipe and then threw a ton of sprinkles in it. Most recipes call for 2 or 3 tbsp, but I went big and doubled that. I knew that was probably a bad idea... but I just couldn't stop myself. I love sprinkles.

I popped the cake in the oven and allowed it to bake.  The smell of sugary sprinkles baking filled the air. I started to get nervous. I've never smelled sprinkles before. I flicked on the oven light and saw a tie dye of rainbow sprinkles atop the top of the cake.  I got nervous that the sprinkles were caramelizing and melting into the cake, but I let the cake finish baking. 

Luckily, although the top of the cake was somewhat frightful, the rest of the cake was wonderful. Light, airy, and speckled with a colorful rainbow of wonderfully bright jimmies. 

Topped with some vanilla frosting, decorated with more sprinkles, and then grab your party hats people, it's cake time. 

I didn't get any cut shots of the cake, because I was worried that people would judge me if I was taking photos of my own cake in the conference room, but let me just tell you, it was beautiful. 

And you know what's amazing? Funfetti cake topped with Carvel Ice Cream Cake. Watch out now. Now it's a real party. 

Funfetti Cake 

Cake recipe adapted from Cooks Illustrated (I also made a 3-layer cake, but this recipe is for a 2-layer cake.  To add the 3rd layer, increase ingredients by 1/2)

2 1/4 cups cake flour (9 ounces), plus more for dusting the pans 

1 cup whole milk, at room temperature 

6 large egg whites (3/4 cup), at room temperature 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar (12 1/4 ounces) 

4 teaspoons baking powder 

6 tablespoons rainbow sprinkles

1 teaspoon table salt 

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened but still cool

Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour. 

Pour milk, egg whites, and extract into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended. 

Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining. 

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Add sprinkles. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer. 

Divide batter evenly between two prepared cake pans; using rubber spatula, spread batter to pan walls and smooth tops. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes. 

Let cakes rest in pans for 3 minutes. Loosen from sides of pans with a knife, if necessary, and invert onto wire racks. Reinvert onto additional wire racks. Let cool completely, about 1 1/2 hours.

Layer cakes with vanilla frosting, frost outside and decorate as you wish! 

Vanilla Frosting Recipe

1 cup butter, softened

3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

In a bowl combine butter, sugar and salt. Beat till blended.

Add the milk and vanilla and beat for an additional 3 to 5 minutes or until smooth and creamy.

Caramel Lemon Meringue Cake

I made this cake so long ago, that I can hardly remember anyhting about it besides that fact that it is TOTALLY FREAKING AWESOME.

Like, super awesome. 

Yes, it's time consuming. But man, is it totally worth the work.

I have nothing funny to say about this cake... because I can't remember my experience with it. I do remember that I made it with the full intention of bringing it to work, but for some reason I didn't, which meant that I had this bad boy in my fridge for a few days, which was so bad, because I just kept taking slivers.  That's what I do. I take tiny slivers. So then, for me, it doesn't count in my calories. It makes me feel better about myself. But sometimes, I lose my willpower and instead of taking one sliver, I take 5. (See: Funfetti Cake Balls). But this cake REQUIRES you to cheat. Because it is damn delicious.

I never thought to combine lemon and caramel in a cake, but it totally makes sense.  Creamy lemon curd, complex, sweet rich caramel nestled in between fluffy layers of chiffon cake and a luscious meringue topping that wows. This cake is a total showstopper. 

The best part is torching it with a creme brulee torch. People love that stuff. It's like Beavis and Butthead "Fire, Fire... heh heh... Fire".

Ugh... can we just talk about Beavis and Butthead? I hated it in the 90s and I hate it now. Why must they be back in my life???

 

Check out this great step by step on Crumbly Cookie

Lemon Meringue Cake (from Tartine, by Elisabeth Pruett and Chad Robertson)

Makes a 10-inch round cake

I made ⅓ of this recipe and divided the batter between two 6-inch pans. I cut each layer in half to create 4 even layers. Mark has the recipe amounts for an 8-inch cake.

Chiffon Cake:
2¼ cups (11.25 ounces) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1½ cups (10.5 ounces) sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup vegetable oil
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
½ cup water
¼ cup lemon juice
1½ teaspoon grated lemon zest
10 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 325F. Line the bottom of a 10-inch cake or springform pan with 3-inch sides with parchment paper cut to fit exactly; don’t grease the pan.

Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add 1¼ cups (8.75 ounces) of the sugar and the salt and whisk to combine. In a small bowl, whisk together the oil, egg yolks, water, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Make a well in the flour, add the yolk mixture, and then whisk thoroughly and quickly for about 1 minutes until very smooth.

In another large mixing bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy, then add the cream of tartar and beat on medium-high speed until it holds soft peaks. Add the remaining ¼ cup (1.75 ounces) sugar slowly while beating on medium-high speed until the whites hold firm, shiny peaks. Add a third of the egg whites and fold into the yolk mixture to lighten, then fold in the rest of the whites until just combined.

Pour the batter into the pan, smoothing the top if necessary. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once completely cool, run a thin knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the cake an then release and lift off the pan sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment.

Caramel:
⅔ cup heavy cream
¼ vanilla bean
1¼ cup (8.5 ounces) sugar
¼ cup water
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
¾ teaspoon lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Pour the cream into a small, heavy saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and use the tip of a sharp knife to scrape the seeds from the pod halves into the milk. Place over medium-high heat and bring to just under a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to low to keep the cream warm.

In a medium, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, water, salt, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then cook, without stirring, until the mixture is amber colored, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat.

The mixture will continue to cook off the heat and become darker, so make sure to have your cream close by. Carefully and slowly add the cream to the sugar syrup. The mixture will boil vigorously at first. Let the mixture simmer down, and then whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

Cut the butter into 1-inch chunks and add to the caramel one at a time, whisking constantly after each addition. Then whisk the caramel periodically as it continues to cool.

Lemon Cream:
½ cup + 2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 egg yolk
¾ cup (6 ounces) sugar
pinch salt
16 tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter

In a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, combine the lemon juice, eggs, yolk, sugar, and salt (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water). Whisk them together constantly until very thick, or 80°C (180°F) on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from the heat and let it cool down until warm to touch (60°C or 140°F on a thermometer). Place the lemon cream in a blender and with the motor running, add the butter in small pieces. Allow to cool completely. (You may refrigerate it, but allow to come to cool room temperature before using.)

Lemon Syrup:
⅓ cup water
⅓ cup (2.5 ouncs) sugar
⅓ cup lemon juice

In a nonreactive saucepan, combine the sugar and water and bring to a boil over medium heat. Transfer to a cool bowl, let cool for a bit, then chill for half an hour. Stir in the lemon juice.

Assembly:
Split the chiffon cake horizontally into four equal layers. Place one layer on your serving plate (which I lined with wax paper around to cake) and moisten evenly with ¼ of the lemon syrup. Spread ⅓ of the caramel over the cake, then ⅓ of the lemon cream. Repeat with 2 more layers, using up the remaining caramel and lemon cream. Top with the fourth cake layer and moisten with the remaining lemon syrup. Cover the cake completely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least four hours or overnight.

Swiss Meringue:
7 egg whites
1¾ cup (12.25 ounces) sugar
pinch of salt

In a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water, combine the egg whites, sugar, and salt and whisk until the whites are hot to the touch, about 120F, about 5 minutes. Beat on high speed until the mixture is very thick and holds stiff, glossy peaks.

Unmold the cake and spread the meringue all over. Use a spatula or a spoon to create dramatic swirls. Using a propane torch if available, scorch the meringue, blackening the tips and swirls.

 

The Most Glorious Brown Sugar Apple Crumble Pie

Please forgive me - I never got a final photo of this pie. So you're getting the "raw" version - quite literally. I'm still trying to work out my blogging kinks.  You'll see why... I have some ridiculously odd posts coming up.

Two ago, I had my family over to our previous apartment. The one with a stove that is the size of half of a stove, that was on a slant and whose temperature was at least 25 degrees higher than what I set it at... and I never quite knew what I set it at because the numbers on the dial were faded.  But that is the beauty of living in Manhattan, right? Crappy rental kitchens?

Well, I wanted to make my family a delicious apple crumble for dessert. It is my father's favorite dessert, and I love it too. I make the crust from scratch and it turns out beautifully. The apples, cooked ever so nice and tender, nestled inside of the crust smelled sweet with brown sugar and cinnamon. I dusted the top with crumble. For some reason, I was never good at making crumble, and this time was no different. It glopped on top and didn't look right. But I forged ahead.

Fast forward to 40 minutes later, and the apartment reeked of burning sugar. I opened the stove only to see my apple crumble crumbled. The crumble somehow melted and crusted over, the crust burned. My father looked at it and laughed. 

"That's apple pan doody!"

I looked at him - "What???"

"Apple pan doody! Haven't you ever heard of apple pan dowdy? Well, that's apple pan doody!" He said, his shoulders bouncing up and down as tears of laughter ran down his face as he cracked himself up (which he does often).

Well, I've never heard of Apple Pan Dowdy, but I got the point.

A few months later, I tried again, trying to prove myself to my father, with the SAME result. Burned crust, atrocious crumble.

He shook his head. "Apple Pan Doody", he said, smiling. 

Well, Jack and I bought our first place back in August.  A beautiful 2-bedroom apartment on the Upper West Side that has a full, albeit narrow, kitchen, with a full stove! A real, live full stove!!! That cooks at the right temperature! Glory of glories!  With a timer on it!  No more setting my iPhone timer! This stove has TWO different timers! HOLLA!

So I tried one last time. If I didn't get it this time, I didn't think I'd ever get it at all.

Well, the pie went in beautifully. And it came out, even more beautiful than when it went in. I never got an "after" photo... but WOW was this good. I decided to serve it with homemade vanilla ice cream.

But unfortunately, my ice cream never froze. There is something wrong with my ice cream maker - and I think because there is something wrong with my freezer (which froze itself shut for 3 weeks because the ice maker made too much ice, creating a glacier in my freezer - something I guess SubZero's do.). So I served my beautiful apple pie with vanilla... sauce?

I guess you can't win them all. 

Brown Sugar Apple Crumble

 For the crust - from Dorie Greenspan's - Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 T sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 sticks (10 T) very cold (frozen is fine) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces
2 1/2 T very cold (frozen is even better) vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces
About 1/4 cup ice water

Put the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade; pulse just to combine the ingredients. Drop in the butter and shortening and pulse only until the butter and shortening care cut into the flour. Don’t overdo the mixing — what you’re aiming for is to have some pieces the size of fat green peas and others the size of barley. Pulsing the machine on and off, gradually add about 3 tablespoons of the water — add a little water and pulse once, add some more water, pulse again and keep going that way. then use a few long pulses to get the water into the flour. If, after a dozen or so pulses, the dough doesn’t look evenly moistened or form soft curds, pulse in as much of the remaining water as necessary, or even a few drops more, to get a dough that will stick together when pinched. Big pieces of butter are fine. Scrape the dough out of the work bowl and onto a work surface.

Shape the dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling. (If your ingredients were very cold and you worked quickly, though, you might be able to roll the dough immediately: the dough should be as cold as if it had just come out of the fridge.)

To roll out the dough: Have a buttered 9-inch pie plate at hand.

You can roll the dough out on a floured surface or between sheets of wax paper or plastic wrap or in a rolling slipcover. (I usually roll this dough out on the floured counter.) If you’re working on a counter, turn the dough over frequently and keep the counter floured. If you are rolling between paper, plastic or in a slipcover, make sure to turn the dough over often and to life the paper, plastic or cover frequently so that it doesn’t roll into the dough and form creases.

If you’ve got time, slide the rolled-out dough into the fridge for about 20 mins to rest and firm up.

Fit the dough into the pie plate and, using a pair of scissors, cut the excess dough to a 1/4- to 1/2-inch overhang. Fold the dough under itself, so that it hangs over the edge just a tad, and flute or pinch the crust to make a decorative edge. Alternatively, you can finish the crust by pressing it with the tines of a fork.

Apple Filling

3 lbs granny smith apples, peeled and cored and cut into 1/4" slices

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

2 tbsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a bowl to coat fruit. Set aside until ready to use. (My apples got a little watery after setting it aside. This is where I'm supposed to give you blogger-ly advice that this is totally fine - I don't know if it is, but it didn't affect my apples that much. So I guess it's fine :)). When ready to use, toss filling in juices and drain before you put on crust. 

 

Crumble Topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup oats (I used Quick Cooking Oats)

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

6 tbsp unsalted butter, cold

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until topping becomes nice and crumbly. 

 

To assemble

Preheat oven to 400 F.

Pile apples in chilled pie crust.  Top with crumbled topping.  Bake in oven for 40 minutes.  After 40 minutes, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for another 20 minutes.

If pie is browning too quickly, tent with aluminum foil. 

Remove from rack and let cool.  Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream (in my opinon :))

 

 

 

Halloween Funfetti Cake Balls! Spooky Scary!

It's Halloween (and today I'm dressed up as Captain Obvious).

I decided to make some funfetti cake balls for a Halloween party that I was supposed to attend on Saturday night. Unfortunately, Jack got sick, and I, like the loving fiancee that I am, stayed home to take care of him and ended up watching scary movies all night. The Exorcist and The Shining, neither of which I've seen. SO SCARY. I screamed a lot. Then I watched Poltergeist right afterwards, a movie I have seen and for years I always kept my closet door closed because my cousin, Desi, told me that if you keep your closet door open, a Poltergeist was going to come into your room. Every night, until I was 26 years old, I did this. I'm not kidding.  And I'm only 29 (and 358 days) old.

To digress for just a short moment, have you ever seen this preview for The Shining, where someone makes it out to look like it's a lighthearted family comedy? It's amazing.

 

The thing that I love about these cake balls is that they are so easy to make, and are so delicious. The thing I hate about these cake balls are that they are so easy to make and are so delicious.  When I make these cake balls, I end up eating about 10-15 of them. No joke. It's really disgusting.  But I'm like, hey, they're small, so they're not too many calories.  5 cake balls later, I'm feeling naseous, but still just can't stop. And I haven't even coated them with chocolate yet. So I coat them with chocolate, let them set, and then eat another. You know, because I have to taste it when it's coated with chocolate.  But what I love so much is actually when they are in the fridge, and you eat them straight from the fridge, and you hear that "crunch" as you bite through the crisp outer chocolate layer and then get to the smooth cake layer inside.  So I need to eat one after I put it in the fridge.  10 cake balls later, I'm feeling sick, contemplating a second trip to the gym, yet still secretly want another. 

This is what happened to me yesterday. I didn't eat 10 cake balls... at least I don't think I did, but it was close. I went to bed feeling ashamed of myself. 

And what did I do the first thing when I woke up.

I ate a cake ball.

Don't judge.  I'm signed up for a spin class later. And tomorrow morning.  

The sad thing is, since I couldn't bring them to the party, I wanted to bring them to work. Well, who's got two thumbs and forgot to bring these to work?

This girl.

So now I've got 30 more little funfetti cake balls awaiting me at home. 

Spooky scary indeed. 

LOOK AT THAT! How you can you not eat 100 of these?!

Funfetti Cake Balls

1 Box of Funfetti Cake Mix

1 jar of vanilla frosting

White Chocolate Candy Melts (you can buy these at Michaels or any cake decorating store) in white, orange, green and purple

1/3 cup canola oil

2 eggs

Two 9" cake pans

Bake cakes according to directions on the box. Once baking is completed, allow to cool completely on a wire rack. 

After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

Mix thoroughly with 3/4 can frosting. 

Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. This will be messy, but they will come together. Resist the urge to eat 5 cake balls.

Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)

Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.

Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a fork to dip and roll in chocolate - be careful not to pierce the ball - and then tap off extra.)

Drizzle with different colored chocolate.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes filled with Ligonberry Jam and Topped with Cream Cheese Frosting

Well, that's a mouthful of a title.

And these are a mouthful of a cupcake. In the best way EVER.

When I said something was the JAM the other day, these are TRULY the JAM.  Literally.  (See what I did there?)

Now, some of you may be wondering "What is ligonberry jam?"  

I have no idea.

I was in the supermarket, it was a different, and it was the most expensive jam on the shelf. So naturally I grabbed it. If it's expensive, it HAS to be the best, right? (sorry, Jack). 

But ho!  (Sorry, for the term, but I was a theater major, but sometimes I bust out with words like alas, lo, ho, and others) It looks like Ligonberry Jam has it's own Wikipedia entry (yes, the actual JAM part of it!). And even the entry sounds so poetic: 

"Because lingonberries are plentiful in the forested areas of the inland..."

Don't you just want to say that like you're in Medieval times?  Like you're in Game of Thrones or something (who doesn't love that show? Because if you don't, we can't be friends).

You'll learn in said article, obviously contributed to Wikipedia by Chaucer, that Ligonberry jam is a staple in Scandanavian cuisine prepared with berries, sugar, and just a tad bit of water.  The jam is wonderfully sweet, slightly tart, and has the texture of some whole, tiny little berries that are like a surprise every tie you bite into one.  

And they make a PERFECT cupcake filling. 

Really, these cupcakes are absolutely wonderful. So, so, so delicious. The incredibly moist lemon cake, studded with poppy seeds, filled with this incredibly delicious jam and topped with a sweet, cream cheese frosting.

Do you see what I mean when I say these are THE JAM?

These best eaten day of, BUT, if you save them for future days, I will say, these are INCREDIBLE out of the fridge.  I'm very anti-refrigerating cakes for too long if I don't have to, (I feel like it affects the texture of the cake and, well, I always forget to take it out of the fridge and then I'm serving cold cake), but these are so so so so good out of the fridge, dare I say, I actually like them BETTER cold. 

Dare I say! 

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes Filled with Ligonberry Jam

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 cup whole milk, at room temperature 
6 large egg whites, at room temperature 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar 
4 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon table salt 
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool

2 tablespoons poppy seeeds

Ligonberry Jam (or whatever Jam you would like!)

Set oven rack in middle position. (If oven is too small to cook both layers on a single rack, set racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions.) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9-inch round cake pans with nonstick cooking spray; line the bottoms with parchment or waxed paper rounds. Spray the paper rounds, dust the pans with flour, and invert pans and rap sharply to remove excess flour. 

Pour milk, egg whites, and extract into 2-cup glass measure, and mix with fork until blended.

Mix cake flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in bowl of electric mixer at slow speed. Add butter; continue beating at slow speed until mixture resembles moist crumbs, with no powdery streaks remaining. 

Add all but 1/2 cup of milk mixture to crumbs and beat at medium speed (or high speed if using handheld mixer) for 1 1/2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 cup of milk mixture and beat 30 seconds more. Stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl. Return mixer to medium (or high) speed and beat 20 seconds longer. 

Fill each muffin cup 2/3 full with batter. Arrange pans at least 3 inches from the oven walls and 3 inches apart. (If oven is small, place pans on separate racks in staggered fashion to allow for air circulation.) Bake until thin skewer or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 10 to 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack until fully cooled. 

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

Frosting 
12 ounces cold cream cheese 
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, firm but not cold 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1 1/2 pounds (1 1/2 boxes) powdered sugar, sifted 
1 teaspoon vanilla

3 teaspoons fresh squeezed lemon

Combine butter, salt, and cream cheese in mixer and beat on medium speed 2-3 minutes. 

Add sugar until just incorporated. Don’t over mix. It should be thick but not fluffy. 

Add vanilla and lemon and incorporate fully. 

To Assemble

Using the open end of a large pastry tip, or just a knife, cut a "cone" in the center of the cupcake (be careful not to go all of the way through to the bottom of the cupcake" (Click here for a tutorial). Fill with one teaspoon ligonberry jam.  Top with cream cheese frosting. Serve immediately. 

 

Fluffy Chocolate Cookies

 

Um... I actually have no recollection of making these.  Because I made them months ago and just uploaded the photos today.

This job really takes up a lot of my time. 

I can't remember what they were. But it looks fluffy and delicious.  Check out some of these seemingly delicious cookie recipes that I'm dying to try.

Milk's Ooey Gooey Chocolate Cookie from the LA Times

Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies from Simply Recipes (I don't care if it's not Christmastime, Peppermint Bark Cookies are good all the year round)

Chewy Chocolate Cookies from My Recipes (actually, it's not even the recipe that I'm interested, I just want to be the person holding that chip-wich)

Turtle Fudge Chocolate Cookies from Baking Junkie. I like caramel. 

Brownie Cookie Dough Sandwiches from Heat Oven to 350. Um. Yes please, thankyouverymuch you're welcome. 

OK I know this isn't a cookie, but this is a Cookies and Cream cupcake with an oreo in it! THERE IS an OREO BAKED INTO THE CUPCAKE PEOPLE!!

 

If anyone has any great chocolate cookie recipes, pass them along! 

 

Brownie Popcorn Bags - I Am No Bakerella

 
 

Just to let you know how far behind I am in posting, I made these little ditties for a friend's Oscar Party. 

Why can't I bake like Bakerella?  Here are her pictures:

 

And here are mine. 

 

Umm?  What happened?

Well, let's start with the fact that I'm impatient.  These brownies require you to carefully cut out the popcorn bag shapes (of which I could not find a popcorn bag cookie cutter, so I used one that was in the shape of a beer mug overflowing with frothy beer and just cut off the handle), spread the top of the brownie with vanilla frosting, use popsicle sticks to create the white lines and sprinkle red sprinkles on top to create the red lines. Of course, I could never get my popsicle sticks to stick well, so red sprinkles went everywhere. Plus, I rush EVERYTHING and just wanted the torture to be over.

These are rich, rich, rich, but extremely tasty. You can only have a bite or two. You may ask yourself, are these worth it just to have a bite or two?  Well, if you are Bakerella, yes they are, because then you would be totally awesome and these would look amazing.  But if you are me?  No. Because I am no Bakerella. 

If you want to be a Bakerella, check her out here. 

But if you want to try the awesomeness that are these brownies, check out her post with instructions! 

Self-Frosted Nutella Cupcakes

WOW I just wrote a whole post and then my computer died! And I have no one to blame but my computer!  Not me for not saving the post as I went along! No, my computer for telling me I had six minutes of battery left and then it DIED. Lies, Steve Jobs, you are full of lies!  You with your incessantly witty press conferences and super sleek genius bars.

Anyways.

These cupcakes are awesome. When I blogged about them way back in February of 2009, this is what I had to say:

You make some cupcake batter. You take a tablespoon of Nutella and swirl it in. You pop it in the oven.

You have the best cupcake in the history of man.

I must not have been feeling very verbose that day. Which we all know is strange for me.

But really. I love nutella. Who doesn't? Except people with nut allergies.

But what I truly love most about Nutella are the commercials that have been airing on television, touting its benefits as a breakfast food. A BREAKFAST FOOD.

Only in America can something with 90 calories and 5 grams of fat per tablespoon be counted as breakfast food. Who needs blueberries, whole grains, or dairy that can get you through the day when you can have hazelnut flavored chocolate!

But I guess if I could have something like this for breakfast every morning, I'd probably do it. Make some batter, drop in some Nutella, and swirl away with a toothpick to incorporate. Breakfast on the go!

Ok wait... I think we're on to something here. I need to contact the people at Nutella.

Self Frosted Nutella Cupcakes adapted from Smitten Kitchen and Baking Bites

Makes 24 cupcakes

4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cake flour (not self-rising)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups buttermilk, well-shaken

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 cupcake trays with paper liners.

Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well and scraping down the bowl after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture will look curdled). Add flour mixture in three batches, mixing until each addition is just Incorporated.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. They should be 3/4 full, if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with 1 tbsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 24.

Junior's Tiramisu Cheesecake, Dr. Death, DDR. and my 400th Post!

 

This is my 400th post! That's crazy!!!

I had my wisdom teeth pulled this past Thursday. I hemmed and hawed, whined and moaned to coworkers. I was scared.  I was convinced – convinced I tell you! – that I was going to wake up during the surgery and discover the evil oral surgeon perched over me with the metal shears of death waiting to rip each tooth out from my mouth slowly as his eyes burned with fire and the dental hygienist cackled in the background.

I know. I’m a huge baby. And a drama queen.

But you see, I had a horrible experience at the dentist.  Take a trip down memory lane with me, shall we?

It was 2001. I was studying in London during my fall semester of Junior year.  My best friend, Tara, and I had taken a weekend jaunt to Amsterdam and were slowly wandering around the Van Gogh museum. I was enjoying a Nip hard candy and Starry Night when all of a sudden I felt a crack. Somehow, my tooth had chipped. I thought, either I have really weak teeth or this is the strongest Nip on the face of the planet.

Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t get a dentist appointment to save my life, so I lived the four months in London with a chipped tooth. When I returned to The States, it was no surprise that I needed to have a root canal. From my evil dentist whom I hated.

He was a dentist who I had been going to for years and he was mean. Just straight up mean. I think he had a drinking problem as well (no joke). But I never tried to change dentists, because I was still under the impression that all dentists were evil.   

He was a round, middle aged man, who stood no higher than 5’8”.  His meaty, clumsy hands always fumbled when picking up the equipment.  I still remember the sound of his labored breathing as he worked on my mouth, no doubt causing greater damage on my teeth rather than fixing them (no joke. I’ve learned I need another root canal because he drilled too close to the nerve on a cavity he filled years back. Dr. Death, DDR.

 So I sat in the chair of his dim blue office with chipping paint walls as I gazed up in terror at the fluorescent lights.  He gave me a few shots of Novocain and picked up an instrument. Wait! I thought. Isn’t he supposed to let it set? Nope. Not Dr. Death, DDR. He went straight to work. I winced in pain and made a feeble sound, letting him know I wasn’t comfortable.

“I can still feel it.” I mumbled in my garbled speak that only dentists can understand.

He huffed as if it were the most ridiculous thing in the world that I could still feel it.  He gave me a few more shots of Novocain and waited five minutes, clearly annoyed that I was inconveniencing him because I could feel the drilling IN MY BRAIN.

I’ll spare you the details, but after an hour of screaming and 8 shots of Novocain later, I left his office looking like someone had hit me in the face repeatedly with a baseball bat, or just stuck a softball in my mouth with tears streaming down my face.

So now, whenever I sit in a dentist chair, I start shaking, become short of breath, and tear up a little bit when I think of Dr. Death, DDR.

However, this oral surgeon was anything but.  He was young, handsome, and extremely charismatic. I immediately was shuffled into a back room and received a cat scan. I was confused as they strapped my head to the chair and asked me to close my eyes as the machine whirled around my face. It was the chamber of death and I was going to die by wisdom tooth extraction.  I prayed that it would be a quick end as the anesthesia pulsed through my body and lulled me to sleep.

An hour later, I awoke to my boyfriend entering the room and lightly kissing me on the forehead.

“Did they start yet?” I asked.

He laughed. “Yes, you’re done.” 

We went home and I surprisingly had no pain. I leered a little bit at the sight of my chipmunk cheeks, but otherwise, I was fine. No pain. No aching. Nothing. But I was instructed to take it easy to not aggravate my mouth.

Well, by the weekend, I was going totally stir crazy and I wanted to eat something good. I was sick of jello. I wanted something delicious. I’ve been eyeing this tiramisu cheesecake recipe for weeks now, and I thought this would be the perfect time. Since I bored you with my dentist story, I’ll keep the cheesecake part short. You know, because this is a blog about dentists, not food.

 
I don't know how many of you have ever visited or heard of Junior's Cheesecake, a New York City historical icon in terms of dessert. They have a cookbook out featuring recipes for many of their famous cheesecakes, and this one just popped out of me. Tiramisu. Cheesecake. Two of my favorite things.  But would it be as delicious as it sounds?

YES.

This cheesecake is OUTRAGEOUS. Perfect for any cheesecake lover.  The creamy, coffee cheesecake layer is pure heaven and is topped with a layer of deliciously soft lady fingers that were soaked in a sweet tiramisu syrup made of coffee, rum, and water. The cheesecake is then encircled with more tiramisu syrup-soaked ladyfingers and finally, the entire cheesecake is topped with the most delicious, billowy, sweet mascarpone cream.

OUT. RA. GEOUS. I could have eaten the whole thing. But then I ate an entire pint of Hagen Daaz Dulce De Leche Frozen yogurt, so I couldn’t justify more than a tiny sliver of cheesecake.

Who’s got two thumbs and gains weight when she can’t eat after wisdom tooth surgery? This girl.

 

 
 

Tiramisu Cheesecake – Adapted from Junior’s Cheesecake cookbook

1 tablespoon hot water

1 tablespoon instant freeze-dried espresso or coffee

Three 8-ounce packages cream cheese (use only full fat),at room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/4 cornstarch

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 extra-large eggs

2/3 cup heavy or whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan. Wrap the outside of the pan will aluminum foil,covering the bottom and extending all the way up the sides.

Stir the water and espresso together in a small cup until dissolved. Put one package of the cream cheese, 1/3 cup of the sugar, and the cornstrach in a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on low intil creamy, about 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down a couple of times. Blend in the remaining cream cheese, one package at a time, scraping down the bowl after each one. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat in the remaining 1 cup sugar, then the vanilla. Add coffee into the cream, add to the cream cheese mixture, and beat just until it's completely blended. Be careful not to overmix! Gently spoon the batter into the springform.

Place in a large shallow pan containing hot water that comes about 1 inch up the sides of the springform. Bake until the edges are light brown and the top is light tan, about 1 1/4 hours. Remove the cake from the water bath, transfer to a wire rack, and let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 2 hours. Then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until completely cold, preferably overnight or for at least 4 hours.

For the Tiramisu Syrup and Ladyfinger Layer:

1 cup hot water

2 tablespoon instant freeze-dried aspresso or coffee

¼ sugar

¼ cup Rum

At least 22 ladyfingers (9 for the layering and 13 for the ring around the edge – I’m sure I used more, though.)

Make the tiramisu syrup. Combine the water and espresso in a small sauce-pan until dissolved. Add the sugar and Kahlua or Rum, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and let simmer, uncovered for 3 minutes, stirring a few times. Top the cold cheesecake (still in the pan) with a layer of ladyfingers,. Transfer the cake to the freezer until completely frozen, at least overnight and/or until ready to assemble.

For the Mascarpone Cream

1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored granulated gelatin

1 tablespoon cold water

1 1/2 cups cold heavy or whipping cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 tbsp rum

One 8- to 10-ounce carton mascarpone cheese

When you're ready to assemble the cake, make the mascarpone cream. Place the gelatin in a heatproof measuring cup, stir in the cold water, and let stand until it swells and thickens. Cook in the microwave on high about 30 seconds or over a pan of simmering water for about 1 minute, until clear and completely melted. In a medium-size bowl, whip the cream with the mixer on high until it thickens and soft peaks just begin to form. With the mixer still running, add the sugar and beat just until the cream stands up in peaks (don't over-mix or the cream will curdle). Beat in the vanilla and rum. Add the melted gelatin all at once and beat until thoroughly incorporated. Gently fold in the mascarpone with a rubber spatula.

Remove the cake from the freezer and let it stand at room temperature about 10 minutes. Release and remove the sides of the springform, then remove the cheesecake from the bottom of the pan. Transfer to a cake plate. To attach the remaining ladyfingers (26 halves) to the outside of the cake, spread a thin layer of the mascarpone cream over the flat split sides of the ladyfingers. Stand them up around the edge of the cake, rounded-side out pressing each one gently in place. Spoon the remaining mascarpone on top of the cake and gently even out with a metal spatula; it will come up almost to the top of the ladyfingers. Since the cheesecake is still very cold, the mascarpone cream will set fast.

For The Topping:

4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate made into Chocolate Curls

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa  powder

To decorate, cover the top of the cake with the chocolate curls, then sprinkle evenly with the cocoa. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until the mascarpone layer is cold and set and the cheesecake layer has defrosted enough to slice easily. Slice with a sharp straight-edge knife, not a serrated one. Cover any leftover cake and refrigerate or wrap and freeze for up to 1 month.