Posts filed under 'Dessert'
Yes, it was as good as it looks! I wound up using Anna of Cookie Madness’ recipe for both the cake and frosting. My only change was that I used dark cocoa instead of regular, because that’s what I had in the house. That difference may have been just enough to totally obscure any Dr. Pepper flavor, but don’t worry:
My dad said this might have been the best chocolate cake he ever ate. J. thought it was delicious. GG mentioned several times how much she enjoyed it. And the boys, well, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you they gobbled it up. The cake itself has just the right density — substantial but not heavy-tasting, and a reserved sweetness that doesn’t overpower the chocolate flavor. A nice crumb that held together, and very moist without being sticky or cloying. The frosting, which is the first I’ve made without confectioner’s sugar, was luscious. Using melted Ghirardelli’s bittersweet chips in it give it an extra dimension — again not too sweet, and very smooth and decadent.
There were really rave reviews all around, and that’s a good thing because I am not joking when I tell you it took me hours to make! It is not a difficult recipe, and it is well-written, but there are a lot of interim steps in both the cake and frosting that just took me a lot of time, such as melting and then letting cool the chocolate chips (in each recipe). For a special occasion I didn’t mind the effort, but it was definitely a more involved recipe that I normally make — I am, after all, a huge fan of desserts where pretty much the instruction is “combine all ingredients in a large bowl.”
Want to see more pictures?
I’d save you a slice, but I think it’ll be finished off within the hour…
June 15th, 2008
G. has been on a self-chosen yogurt-and-applesauce diet lately, eschewing even Annie’s mac and cheese, my go-to, sure-fire emergency meal both boys will (usually) eat. I know it is just a phase. At the same time he is being even more impossible food-wise than usual, A. has been steadily expanding the foods he will eat. He’s started asking for things like Provolone and strawberries, and admonishes his brother for his “junk” food choices.
A. has also become very fond of Gnu’s Flavor & Fiber bars, which have a whopping 12 g of dietary fiber per bar, but G. won’t touch them (even though they are a favorite of a best friend and his brother). With some extra time Friday afternoon I decided to see how much fiber I could pack into a cookie — a delivery vehicle I know G. won’t refuse.
I used a Classic Peanut Butter Cookies recipe, but eliminated the all-purpose flour and used instead 2¼ c. whole wheat flour, and 3/4 c. flax seed meal. With those ingredients, the total dietary fiber between the flour and flax is 60 g, or a little more than 2.5 g for every 2 cookies. Not as impressive as I’d hoped, especially with all that sugar. But if I’d made the original recipe as written, the AP flour would have only provided about 8.5 g fiber, so I did succeed in increasing it 7-fold.
You can see the flax flecks in the cookies, but you can’t really taste them. Aside from a tiny bit of rough texture they blend right in. However, the stiffness of the dough wasn’t quite right: a little loose, and too sticky. I normally reduce the sugar in a recipe, but kept it constant here and they really weren’t too sweet (shocking, with 2 cups of sugar). The finished cookies were a little thin and slightly crumbly.
I wouldn’t bother serving these to company, but my kids were sure happy to eat them. I never get tired of hearing “Thanks, mom!” or “These are so delicious!” when it comes to my cooking.
June 8th, 2008
I’m planning on trying out a new recipe for our Father’s Day barbecue — Dr. Pepper Cake! We’ve always got a bottle of Diet Dr. Pepper in our fridge, since J. loves it. I thought this recipe would be a perfect special treat for him, while still being yummy for the rest of our family (it’s chocolate-based).
Most of the recipes for Dr. Pepper Cake that I found online are similar to this one from Chef Jones, which includes buttermilk. You can see him bake the cake on YouTube.
However, I think Cookie Madness’ version looks like it has frosting that would be more my style (I can’t imagine anything with bittersweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips wouldn’t be delicious). Rhid’s recipe is a little different, with more buttermilk and mini marshmallows added. Patricia Mitchell’s version eliminates the buttermilk and uses oatmeal (but J. wouldn’t like the coconut in the frosting).
If you’re a peanut butter fan, try Angela’s recipe, which has a PB frosting. You can even make a Dr. Pepper Cake using vanilla cake mix.
Finally, and only for those with a serious sweet tooth, try the Dr. Pepper Cherry Marshmallow Cake, which includes cherry Jell-O, cherry pie filling, and marshmallows.
Excuse me, I need to go brush my teeth…
May 29th, 2008
It was rainy and chilly today, and we had no afternoon plans other than a haircut for A. I love having at least one afternoon a week where we are unscheduled, and weather like this pretty much begs for baking cookies. Or wait, maybe it was the boys that were begging…
I didn’t have any chocolate chips in the house, so we searched for a recipe using the cocoa I’d bought for the vegan dark chocolate cupcakes. I really liked the way the cookies turned out — not too sweet (not sweet enough for J. — he thought they needed chocolate chips), simple, and a manageably-sized recipe. The original recipe calls for raisins, which I just left out, but if I made them again I would substitute dried cherries rather than omitting the fruit entirely. That would enhance the sweetness a bit, too.
Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Cocoa Oatmeal Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
1 c. butter, at room temperature
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. unsweetened dark cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. rolled oats
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well-combined.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets (I line mine with parchment paper first). Bake 12-15 minutes, until cookies are almost set and are still slightly glossy.
Cool, and store in a tightly covered container or Ziploc bag.
May 2nd, 2008
I had such high hopes for this recipe. Quinoa is a seed that seems like a grain, and is OK to eat on Passover — I have made it during the year as well. I’ve always found it to have a very mild flavor, a tiny bit nutty but mostly taking on the flavors of the other items with which it was cooked.
That was not my experience with this sweet quinoa pudding, a take on comfort food-favorite rice pudding. I noticed a strong asparagus odor while I was cooking the quinoa in the milk, and the flavor of asparagus was very pronounced even once the pudding had cooled. Asparagus? Yes, I was as confounded as you. I did some searching and found that Heidi at 101 Cookbooks once described quinoa as asparagus-like, too.
Lotus at Good Food Comes from Happy Cows sums it up:
Quinoa? Quin why not? She suggested the black quinoa, saying how yummy it was. As I was cooking it up (only 15 cook time, gotta love it) Thor asked if I was cooking broccoli. Nope. Was I cooking green beans? Nope. Was I cooking asparagus? Nope. Then we realized it was the quinoa. It smells very, uh, green while cooking.
The other times I’ve cooked quinoa it’s been in vegetable stock or water, so perhaps it was the milk that really brought out the aroma of grass. Those were savory recipes, too, whereas this one adds both sugar and honey to the mix. Quinoa is, after all, related to spinach, beets, and swiss chard: I suppose the grassy, plant-like characteristics shouldn’t surprise me.
A., who is a huge fan of rice pudding, wouldn’t taste this quinoa version. I really didn’t care for this sweet asparagus custard I’d inadvertently created, so I won’t be eating any more of it. The consistency was right-on, but I couldn’t get past the off flavor of vegetation in my dessert. I will save some for mom, however, in case she wants to try it — I have a feeling she might like it.
Note that I made a super-plain version of the original recipe, omitting the dried fruit to encourage my kids to taste it, and forgoing any spices because I only bought paprika for Passover this year.
Quinoa Pudding
Adapted from body + soul Quinoa Pudding
3/4 c. quinoa, rinsed
4 c. 1% milk
1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. honey
2 large eggs
In a large saucepan, mix quinoa and 3 cups of the milk together. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer, covered, for 15 minutes or until quinoa is soft and fully cooked.
While quinoa is cooking, whisk sugar, honey, eggs, and remaining cup of milk together in a small bowl. Once quinoa is fully cooked, slowly pour egg mixture into quinoa, stirring constantly.
Raise heat slightly and cook pudding, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes until mixture thickens (it took me 4 minutes to see the thickening begin — be patient!).
Pour pudding into a glass or ceramic dish and let cool slightly. To prevent a skin, cover surface directly with plastic wrap* and refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Pudding will keep in the refrigerator for up to two days.
* Choose a plastic wrap that is free of plasticizers, like Saran, which does not use PVC, BPA, or pthalates in the manufacture of its products.
April 26th, 2008
We have a lot of April birthdays in our family, so dessert after tonight’s seder was a good time to do a “Happy Birthday, all the April birthdays!” cake. I decided to doctor up some kosher for Passover cake mixes rather than making a cake from scratch — you can do so out of cake meal (finely ground matzah) and potato starch, but since I wasn’t planning on using those ingredients the rest of the holiday, I thought a mix would be easier.
First I prepared a Manischewitz Extra Moist Yellow Cake Mix and spread it into a greased 8×8 disposable pan. Then I mixed up batter for an Extra Moist Chocolate Cake, which I spread on top of the first layer. Using I knife, I swirled the two mixes together to marble them. (These mixes are smaller than a typical non-Passover cake mix, so two boxes just filled the pan I used.)
Once the cake was baked and cooled, I prepared the chocolate frosting from one of the mixes, and spread it thinly over the cake. Then I topped the cake with Viennese Crunch candies (a praline/chocolate combination) I had crushed by sealing them inside a Ziploc and whacking them with a the bottom of a heavy glass jar.
All the Passover desserts this year were surprisingly good — Lauren made excellent brownies, my mom made chocolate chip cookies the boys loved, and the birthday cake was well-received, too.
After the enormous meals of the past two nights’ seders, I am looking forward to a simple salad.
April 20th, 2008
I’ve seen this recipe floating around for a few months, and kept it in mind more as a pareve option for dessert after a meat meal, rather than for a vegan crowd. I was also just curious about whether all the rave reviews were comparing the quality of this recipe to other eggless, dairy-free desserts or to a traditional cupcake, heavy on eggs and maybe milk or butter.
I was pleasantly surprised to find these dark little gems are delicious. And now I’m going to echo almost every other review I’ve read: if you don’t tell people they’re vegan, they will never suspect it. It’s just a very good moist, dense, not-too-sweet cupcake. They also bake up with a slightly crunchy top, almost as though the sugar has caramelized outside of the muffin liner. Yum.
You know by now that I am not a fussy cook — I like things basic and straight-forward. I did have to sift my cocoa powder today, though, which I simply did by placing it in a chinois (a fine sieve) and tapping it through. Otherwise I don’t think I could have made a lump-free batter.
This is a small recipe, too — it only makes 12 cupcakes — so it’s convenient when you’re just baking for the family and not a big party crowd. Reviews on Allrecipes.com, where I found the original recipe, noted that adding nuts, chocolate chips, and even fruit jams to the batter all turned out well. I just made these straight, plain chocolate. And heard no complaints!
Updated to add: J. thought they were not quite sweet enough to be called a cupcake, and the texture is more like a dark chocolate muffin. I think he’s right. Either way, he agreed they’re really good. The white dots in the photo above are made from a little tube of gel icing.
Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Vegan Chocolate Cake
Makes 1 dozen cupcakes
1½ c. all-purpose flour
1 c. white sugar
½ c. dark cocoa powder, sifted if needed (I use Hershey’s Special Dark)
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. distilled white vinegar
1 c. room-temperature water
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease a 12-muffin tin or line with baking cups (I like the foil kind).
Add all ingredients to a large bowl and beat until well-combined. Batter will be thick, not runny.
Spoon into muffin liners and bake for 20-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
April 14th, 2008
I had plans for the can of pumpkin in my pantry. Add a little whole wheat flour, maybe even some wheat germ, and we’d have muffins for breakfast.
Across the kitchen (OK, just an arms-length away), a lonely container of mascarpone was hanging out in my fridge. I’d bought it to mix in with the vegetarian Bolognese sauce, but then nixed that idea in favor of fresh mozzarella because I thought it would appeal to J. more.
Two random ingredients. And then I stumbled across this: Spiced Pumpkin Mascarpone Cupcakes. I couldn’t resist.
I followed the cupcake recipe to the letter, except that I used 1 cup of all-purpose flour and the rest white whole wheat because that’s all I had on hand. And, after creaming the butter and sugar I just dumped all the other ingredients in and went to town with my hand mixer. I have to say the cupcakes are one of my greatest successes in terms of the texture of the cake — really light and tender, but dense enough that you feel like you’re biting into something substantial. And the spices are perfect — very prominent but expected and delicious at the same time.
My frosting didn’t turn out well, however. To be fair, it was one of the first times I’ve ever made frosting from scratch and I wasn’t thinking the process through. It seemed greasy and a little lumpy, and not very spreadable at all. In retrospect I realize it’s because I was thinking of the confectioner’s sugar just from a sweetening standpoint. I stopped adding it at around 2 cups or because that was sweet enough for me! But the sugar is really acting as a base for the fat and without the additional 2-3 cups that the recipe recommends, it’s like trying to spread butter on your cupcake. Thankfully I did save my original batch — tomorrow I’ll bring it to room temperature and try beating in the rest of the sugar. Then I can try frosting the cupcakes again. Who wants one?
Update: I added the rest of the confectioner’s sugar that the original recipe called for, whipped it up with a hand mixer and a couple of tablespoons of half & half. It was delicious! I’m glad I was able to save the original batch.
March 27th, 2008
The name is a mouthful, no? Unfortunately I thought these cookies were just so-so — too sweet and not enough almond or cinnamon flavor. However, A. came running into the kitchen as I was taking them out of the oven, and with great enthusiasm shouted: “Those smell soooo good!” So that made me beam a bit.
We are still cooped up in the house as the boys recover from croup and whatever gross virus caused it. The baking was a bit of an escape for me today — time alone in the kitchen, listening to my iPod. But truthfully I have been baking way too much lately. Normally I’d give some away, but no one wants baked goods from the Den of Sick. So I just keep telling myself I needed to start using up all my flour before Passover anyway. Yeah, that’s the ticket…
If you want to try this recipe, I’d recommend cutting the brown sugar down by at least a quarter cup, boosting the cinnamon, and using a dark chocolate chip rather than semi-sweet. (Though my boys liked the cookies as is.)
Almond Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
1 c. butter, at room temperature
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 c. almond butter
2 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1½ c. flour
1 c. quick-cooking oats
1 c. chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350° F.
With a hand mixer, beat butter, almond butter, and sugars in a large bowl until creamy. Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT for chocolate chips, mixing on low speed until ingredients are well incorporated. Then by hand, mix in the chocolate chips.
Drop by heaping teaspoonsful onto ungreased baking sheets. (I lined mine with non-stick baking liners, which makes clean-up so easy.) Bake for 15 minutes, until cookies are just golden. Cool before removing from the pan.
March 18th, 2008
My aunt gave me this recipe at my bridal shower, and I always enjoy seeing her handwriting on the recipe card when I make this bread. She is a fantastic cook and I aspire to have the cooking repertoire that she does!
Today I baked the banana bread in a coffee can — we’d just finished a can of Medaglia D’Oro Caffé Espresso (yum!) so the opportunity was there. My mom used to bake zucchini bread in coffee cans every summer when our garden with overflowing with squash. Unfortunately, I overfilled the can and lost quite a bit of the batter as it rose up and over the rim. So I’m not recommending you try that with this recipe! Or, try it and only fill the can about 2/3 of the way full — you’ll need to bake it about an hour and a quarter. Then throw the rest of the batter into muffin tins.
For this dessert bread your bananas should be so ripe that you’re practically ready to throw them out. If they’re about to go bad and you’re not ready to bake just yet, peel the bananas, seal them in a Ziploc bag, and freeze them until you need them. They defrost quickly and although they’re brown and slimy looking when they thaw, they work perfectly for this bread and taste great.
This recipe works best when you use mini chocolate chips — regular-sized chips seem to clump up and fall to the bottom of the pan. (I did not take my own advice in the photo above.) My aunt also recommends adding sliced strawberries to the batter if you have them — I’ve added up to half a cup of them and they’re a nice change.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Adapted from my Aunt Barbara’s recipe
3 very ripe bananas
1/4 c. white sugar
1 egg
1½ c. white whole wheat flour
1/4 c. melted butter, cooled
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 c. mini chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375° F.
With a fork, mash bananas and sugar in a large bowl until they are smooth. Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined.
Pour batter into either lined muffin tins or a load pan coated with non-stick spray. Bake until golden brown on top and a toothpick in the center comes out clean — about 40 minutes for muffins to an hour for a loaf.
March 16th, 2008
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I'm Dara, the chick in the kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two boys, ages 3 and 5, and husband. Trying to feed my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Reach me at .