Poke, poke. I like any cake that gives me an opportunity to poke my boys or J., and that is what I did every time I said the name of this dessert, which I made for J.’s birthday.
“Poke cake” can be any kind of cake (homemade or from a mix) and any kind of Jell-O type filling (usually gelatin or pudding). The “poke” part is the way they come together: bake a cake (I used a Bundt pan), let it cool, and then poke lots of holes in it with the handle of a wooden spoon. Pour your liquid filling into the holes (mix it up just before you’re ready to pour), and then let it set. Turn the cake out of the pan, and frost or top with whipped cream.
I used a butter cake mix and chocolate fudge pudding for this cake. The boys helped me whip heavy cream as a topping — they were the official tasters, checking the consistency and sweetness of the cream until we got it right.
The flavor combinations for poke cake are endless: white cake and strawberry gelatin, patriotic poke cake, coconut poke cake filled with sweetened condensed milk (be still my heart!), Peppermint Pattie poke cake (my sister would like this one), and even a “Better than Sex” version.
Poke, poke.
January 13, 2011
One summer during college, I worked as an editorial intern at Travel & Leisure magazine, and at the time Stephen Drucker was the book’s executive editor. I never had a chance to speak with him — I was kept busy fact checking stories on travel to Kamchatka and Wisconsin’s apple orchards. But I certainly knew who he was: editors that high up on the masthead were enough to tongue tie me at that point in my life! I finished up my internship, finished college, and never thought about Stephen Drucker again. That is, until I saw him on Food Network many years later.
J. and I have enjoyed watching “Barefoot Contessa” with Ina Garten since its early days. I have never had one of her recipes fail me, and she’s the cook I credit with introducing me to roasted Brussels sprouts. We love Ina in this house. An early episode of the show had her cooking for her dear friend Stephen — no last name given — and in the brief shot of him with Ina at the end of the episode, I sat up straight and shrieked to J., “I KNOW HIM!” But there was no credit to Stephen Drucker, and I couldn’t find anything online about the episode. I wrote an email to Ina Garten through her website, asking if indeed her friend was the former T&L honcho. I really just needed to satisfy my curiosity (J. couldn’t have cared less), but I got more than confirmation. I received an email back from Ina herself, explaining that yes, Stephen Drucker was her dear friend. He’s appeared in more “Barefoot Contessa” episodes since then, and I have to grin when I think about getting that quick note from a cook I admire.
Needless to say, I knew Ina’s Outrageous Brownies would be a winning recipe. I made them at Thanksgiving, and we loved them. These brownies have the same magic ingredient as my favorite chocolate chip cookies: instant espresso powder. They are dark, fudgy, and pleasantly bitter, thanks to the unsweetened chocolate and coffee. J. thinks they are fantastic because you can tell they’re made with real, melted chocolate and not just cocoa powder.
I cut the the brownie sheet into 48 pieces (as opposed to the recipe’s recommended 20 servings) and I still wouldn’t call the squares skimpy. True, you can halve the recipe. But the brownies freeze well and with the amount of work involved, it makes sense to bake a huge batch, give some to friends, and throw any extras in the freezer for another day.
Ina’s Outrageous Brownies
Adapted slightly from her original recipe
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp (or close)
1 lb., plus 12 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
6 oz. unsweetened chocolate
7 large eggs
2 Tbsp. instant espresso powder
2 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
2¼ c. sugar
1¼ c. all-purpose flour, divided (+ more to flour the pan)
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking pan (this about the size of a half sheet baking pan, which is larger than your average cookie sheet).
In a double boiler, or in a large bowl set over a pot with about an inch of simmering water, melt the butter, 1 lb. of chocolate chips, and the 6 oz. of unsweetedned chocolate. Stir occasionally with a flexible spatula. Once melted, remove from the heat and allow to cool.
While those ingredients are melting, combine eggs, espresso powder, vanilla, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir to combine thoroughly, making sure the eggs are fully incorporated. (I like to do this with a fork to help break up the yolks.)
Once the chocolate mixture has cooled slightly, temper the egg mixture by pouring in the chocolate about a half cup at a time, stirring well. (You don’t want the eggs to cook from the residual heat of the chocolate.) Finish incorporating the chocolate into the egg mixture.
Toss the remaining chocolate chips with 1/4 c. of flour to coat. Add 1 c. flour, baking powder, salt, and coated chocolate chips to the batter, and stir gently until well-combined. Pour batter into the prepared pan and even it out with a spatula.
Bake for 20 minutes, then (using potholders!) pick up the baking sheet and knock it down evenly against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. (You’ll see the brownies deflate as you do this.) Bake for another 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Do not over-bake! Allow to cool thoroughly on the counter, refrigerate, and cut into 48 squares.
January 7, 2011
I have been mulling over Thanksgiving 2010, a holiday that went smoothly overall, but fell a little short of what I thought I could have put together. I have mentioned various elements that bugged me to friends, acknowledging that I am being a bit of a loon to have been bothered by things like my mismatched but at least color-coordinated (and slightly wrinkly) tablecloths. These things sound so silly coming out of my mouth that I am reluctant to repeat them here and give them more power over me. Still, I think it’s good to make notes of what did and didn’t work for next year. Plus I deeply missed my sister and her husband, who moved to Australia at the end of the summer and couldn’t be with us. Their absence made me think even more about grandparents no longer with us, and especially after our families went home Thanksgiving eve, I was preoccupied with missing people instead of being thankful for what was in front of me. What a mess I am!
The meal turned out well. I was seriously on the ball with prep beforehand, but then made a rookie error: I had no plan for reheating any of it, and had not thought to put my stove top and Crock-Pot into service on the day of the feast. Everything needed to go in the oven all at once to be warmed for the meal, so all my glee at being extra-prepared on Wednesday went out the window. I’ve written notes to myself in the past about including a cold item as a side (such as the Celeriac and Apple Salad I made in 2009), but didn’t do that this year and should have. I also failed to locate infrequently-used items before the holiday, so I was scrambling to find our gravy separator at the last minute (still can’t find it). I would guess none of our guests (we had 20 people in total) had any idea we were flustered, though, and that is fine with me.
So, the meal: (more…)
November 29, 2010
I have been wanting to try making Momofuku Milk Bar’s Compost Cookies ever since Jodi mentioned it to me a month or so ago. The only trick was that the recipe requires a stand mixer, and I don’t have one. Thankfully I do have an awesome neighbor, so I borrowed Sharon’s KitchenAid.
I omitted the corn syrup (others did, too) and used a combination of potato chips and pretzels for the snack food, and a chopped Nestle Crunch bar and Goobers for the candy. I also used a smaller scoop for making the cookies than the recipe suggestion — mine fits a tablespoon of dough, which is definitely a large enough cookie for us. Even though I allowed the dough to sit in the fridge for more than an hour before baking, they spread a lot.
Verdict on the flavor: they are buttery, delicate, and there were none left over after a couple of days. But they had absolutely no hint of the wacky snack food ingredients to me. They were kind of generic tasting — a good chocolate chip cookie with a hint of peanuts (from the Goobers), but not something special to make again. Disappointing!
I also didn’t like the way they spread so thin. I double-checked the recipe to see if I’d done something wrong with the volume of flour, and in the process stumbled across several posts Anna at Cookie Madness had written earlier this year about these cookies: her first post, with lots of comments about problems readers had with the original recipe on the Regis & Kelly site; a second post, where she is thinking out loud about how the recipe might not have been written quite as intended; and a third post, where she bakes these cookies successfully.
I am not a baker, just someone who likes to bake. I am probably a little too fast and loose with measurements, and after reading Anna’s posts I am sure that there were several problems in the batch I made. First, I didn’t use enough flour. Second, the dough would have benefited from an overnight refrigeration. And finally, I think the Nestle Crunch bar was a poor choice, in that it probably made the cookies spread even more than a chocolate chip would have.
I don’t have any urge to try these cookies again and get them right. Both my boys were ambivalent about this cookie, and would have been much happier with a basic chocolate chip, or their favorite cookie, where I use M&Ms instead. Next time I have a Compost Cookie, it’s going to be an original from Milk Bar.
June 11, 2010
I'm Dara, the Chick in the Kitchen. Living in the suburbs of Manhattan with my two school-aged boys and husband. Feeding my family something more diverse than a different shape of pasta each night. Read more 
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