Some Experimenting: Gluten-free Carrot Cake, Tartine Brownies and Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I tried some things. I tried to do a little gluten-free baking, tried a new brownie recipe (one of the peculiar dislikes of mine) and I tried a variation of good old fashioned chocolate chip cookies. Out of the three, I would only make one again.

For the Gluten-free carrot cake, there was a major problem. It came out super dry. It tasted delicious, but the consistency was all wrong. When I made a trip to target and was browsing through the cookbooks, I looked at a few gluten-free recipes and they had a lot more wet ingredients in their recipes than the one I used. (Goes to show internet doesn't know everything). So I won't post the recipe until I tweek it a bit. It did look pretty though:

Next I made brownies, from Divine Baking. Now, you all should know that I do not like brownies. I am picky (as seen from my dislike of oatmeal and peanut butter cookies and brownies). BUT, but, these are delicioussss. I won't say anymore, just that you must make these the next time you think about making brownies:

Tartine Brownies Recipe

Adapted From Tartine

3/4 cup butter
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs (the original recipe calls for five eggs, but I don't like tall brownies)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups nuts, optional for topping

Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate. If the heat from the butter does not fully melt the chocolate, put the pan back over the heat for 10 seconds and stir until melted. Set aside to cool.

Sift the flour into a small mixing bowl. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, salt, and vanilla. Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat on high speed until the mixture thickens and becomes pale in color and falls from the beater in a wide ribbon that folds back on itself and slowly dissolves on the surface, 4 to 5 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, fold the cooled chocolate into the egg mixture. Add the flour and fold it in quickly but gently with the rubber spatula so that you don’t deflate the air that’s been incorporated into the eggs.

Pour the batter into the prepared dish and smooth the top with a spatula. If you are using nuts, evenly distribute them across the batter. Bake until the top looks slightly cracked and feels soft to the touch, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Using a sharp knife, cut into 12 squares, or size desired. The brownies will keep in an airtight container in a cool place for up to 1 week.

*I also added some instant espresso to enhance the chocolate!

Then I made chocolate chip cookies. Instead of the normal cookies, I whipped the butter. This made them a little but more cakey. I don't like cakey cookies, cause they can't be doughy and cakey. But if you like cakey cookies, definitely whip the butter and then follow the original recipe.

But enough of that, I'm returning to my roots and makin some fluffy buttermilk biscuits and gravy! Check back for more recipes!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is one of my go to cookie recipes that I acquired I want to say 8 or 9 years ago, but I can't be sure. A friend of my aunts had come to California for skin cancer treatment and we offered her a place to stay for the weekend for her consultation.

During her visit she told us stories of herself as a kid visiting family in Greece, of her two young boys at home, and about her delicious double chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, the medical treatment was not helpful and Helen passed away shortly after her visit to California. Every time I make these cookies, I think of her and what she taught me about cooking that day. Here is a recipe for some of the best cookies you'll eat:

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cup flour

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teas vanilla

1 12-oz bag of chocolate chunks (if you can find them, but you can use chocolate chips as well)

Directions:

preheat at 350 degrees

In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chunks or chips, and mix until evenly distributed in dough. Plop on greased cookies sheets, (I make them pretty big) and bake for *8 minutes.

*The original recipe says to bake for 9-11 minutes, but I prefer my cookies doughy.

Making these cookies reminds me of home and the comfort of my silver stand mixer and (almost) unlimited supplies. Make and enjoy!

Pumpkin Galore

Before leaving for fall break and heading to New Orleans for my cousins wedding, I mixed up a batch of pumpkin cookies. I was skeptical, because of the beloved pumpkin bread recipe, that it would not measure up, or that they would not be the right consistency or pumpkin-y enough. I got the recipe from Joy the Baker, who I pretty much trust with all baking endeavors. With only two cans of pumpkin to lose I started this risky endeavor. Mixing the ingredients, I was worried that the batter was too thin to make eatable cookies. But behold, they puffed up and looked just liked cookies, but didn't taste like them. Don't get me wrong, they were delicious, (as is anything with pumpkin pretty much), but they had the consistency of a muffin, and looked liked the top of a muffin.

Making these definitely reminded of the Seinfeld episode about muffin tops. I spent so much time watching all the Seinfeld's and that episode was one of my favorites. But these pumpkin cookies are absolutely something I will make again. Yummy! more to come soon :)

Chocolate Mousse PIe

I went to bed friday night after listening to a podcast about different ways to cook and eat oatmeal. I guess listening to opinions on food made me dream about food because I dreamt I ate a whole chocolate mousse pie all by myself. So while grocery shopping I decided to splurge and get the ingredients that I needed for a chocolate mousse pie. I looked up a recipe on epicurious.com and got to work. The recipe calls for sandwich cookies like Oreos, but I'm not a big fan of Oreos, so I resorted to chocolate graham crackers.I liked the crust a lot, though I think it would be better with chocolate wafers, seeing as the mousse and the crust both being pretty sweet. The mousse was really good, but I've made Ina Garten's chocolate mousse that calls for Grand Marnier that is crazy good! But not having those ingredients, I made what the recipe called for but added a little amount of instant coffee granules crushed up. Then I topped it with whipped cream.

The Little Things

(via fashiontoast)

I was browsing some new blogs, looking for some inspiration for something to bake when I came across this. The statement is so obvious, and yet for me it's hard to follow. Sometimes the line between important and unimportant gets a little fuzzy and everyone crosses it sometimes.

On a lighter note, I made some double chocolate coconut cookies from Martha Stewart for my Papa's 92nd birthday and I have leftover coconut. What should I make? Lemme know!

The Big Donut

So any true Los Angelina should know that Randy's Donuts is the all time best donut place around. After dropping my babysitting girl off at her acting class (babysitting consists of her karaoke and reenactments) I stopped by Randy's; I mean it was one block away, how was I not going to stop in for some sweet treats? I got myself a chocolate long john (my personal favorite, if anyone feels like getting me some donuts), a french cruller, a glazed donut and a chocolate cake donut. mmmmmm. I can't believe I stayed away so long! But they were better than I remembered.. I'll definitely have to go back before leaving for school!

Mmmmm... way too good. I'm glad my brother, father and Chiaki helped me eat them or I'd be way obese.

Lemon Drops and Kahlua Cake

Making dessert's for Kenny's graduation got me my next job! Our other neighbor asked me to make some desserts for a Lemon Drop party she was having. So once I called and talked it over I decided to make 4 items. I made lemon bars, lemon ice box pie, mexican wedding cookies and a chocolate kahlua cake. For the lemon bars I used Ina Garten's recipe, from her 1999 cookbook. I absolutely LOVE Ina. Everything that I've made from her has turned out super delicious. I recommend any book of hers. The only thing bad I've heard about her is that her coconut cupcake recipe is pretty bland, but I have my own so no worries! Then for the lemon ice box pie, which is a classic southern dessert, I used a recipe that my family has been using for years. A lot of people have never had lemon ice box pie, which is really strange for me because my mom made it a lot over the years. It's a creamy and tart lemon filling, kind of like the consistency of pudding, inside a graham cracker crust covered with a fluffy meringue. Now my mother loves to have a super big meringue on top because she thinks its more "impressive" but I think that it's better without a huge meringue on top, so I make mine a lot smaller. Anyways I had a little left over so I made a mini pie and it was sooooo good. I want some right now. Next is the irresistible mexican wedding cookies. I tried the recipe from the huge orange Bon Appetite book that we have and is my favorite recipe thus far. They are super moist and just enough cinnamon sugar on the outside so that they aren't too sweet. Then one of the Daly classic desserts, the chocolate Kahlua cake. MMMMMM. It smelled so good while I was making it, but I couldn't sneak a piece, it would have been too noticeable. I put the glaze on while the cake was still a little warm, and then made another batch of the glaze too put on later. I cut the cake into slices so it would be easy to grab a slice at the party. But, alas I have a confession. This is one out of the two cakes I don't make totally from scratch. I got the recipe from my Grandmama Dale and I use a package of cake mix and a package of pudding mix, and the other cake, Rum Cake, is the same situation but with vanilla cake and pudding mix. So I'm always a little ashamed when people tell me how good the cake is because I don't make it from scratch, but I'm making it a mission to figure out how to make it scratch. (I'll keep you updated :)). . Since making desserts for that party, I have made molten chocolate lava cakes and a batch of my favorite double chocolate chip cookies. mmmm.

On another note, I've started babysitting and have a few jobs lined up so I can make some monaayyy! But I'll still be baking :)

Chocoholic

In true Chub fashion, I was craving my daily fix of chocolate. So looking through an old Bon Appetite cook book I saw a recipe for flour less chocolate cake with chocolate glaze. I got up from my comfy chair and started pulling out the ingredients. The recipe is really simple and suppperrrr addicting. All it calls for is chocolate, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, dark corn syrup and eggs (seperated). WOw... I want another slice right now. . My tummy is too full and my mind is too focused to talk about making it so here's the recipe:

Flour-Less Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Cake:
12 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
6 large eggs seperated
12 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Glaze:
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 dark corn syrup
9 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch spring form pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan and set aside. In a large bowl beat egg yolks and 6 tablespoons sugar until thick and very light in color, about 3 minutes. Fold chocolate mixture into eggs, then add vanilla extract. In another bowl beat eggwhites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining sugar to egg whites and beat until medium-firm peaks form. Fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Pour into pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until top is cracked and a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs attached. Then the cake will fall. Let it cool in the pan, then invert onto plate.

For glaze:
cook the cream and corn syrup until it simmers. Remove from heat and mix chocolate in. Mix with a whisk until smooth.
Spread a little of the glaze on top of cake and spread to cover sides. Plac ein freezer to chill for about 3 minutes. Remove from freezer and spread rest of glaze on cake. Let chill in refrigerator for about three hours. EAT.

Foreground: chocolate cake; Background: Mama and Papa Daly

Rayymonnn Back in da Bayouu

Amanda, Brittany and I dressed as the 3 blind mice for a party at UCSD. We were definitely the best dressed there. Anyways, sorry to everyone! I've had a mini-hiatus. Between the fact that my sister was really against me making anything and my bestest friend Brittany coming home, visiting Amanda in San Diego and coming back and making chocolate cupcakes for my sisters' friend Tracey's graduation party, it was a little crazy around here. I made a few batches of cookies since my last post but nothing new. Upon return from my mini get away I went straight to work. I made chocolate cupcakes with caramel filling. I cheated. I've made these before but they were so good, I wanted to make them again. I got back today from San Diego around 4:30-5:00-ish and started, but I was rushing to get them done so that Tara could take them to the BBQ. So instead of being patient and waiting for the sugar water to caramelize for the caramel, I added the cream to early, and seeing that it was too light in color, i returned the pot to the stove, and cooked it until it looked like the right color. It smelled really good, so i figured it was fine, but after I filled the holes I had just hollowed out of the cupcakes, I saw that the caramel had a strange texture. Eeeek. It was pretty much just like straight sugar, but my sister returned home with rave reviews, so I'm guessing they didn't mind. So, I've learned my lesson! You can't rush the baking process, 'cause it'll bite you in the butt. The frosting and cake for the cupcakes are reeeeeaaallly good recipes, I recommend looking into buying Martha Stewart's book on cupcakes. It's def worth it.
Tomorrow, I have a big day. Jack Johnson is playing at Santa Monica Pier for free, so Brittany and I are heading to the beach early in the day to avoid being stuck in the back of the audience. I'm thinking about making a picnic type food for tomorrow! We'll have to see! Until tomorrow, Rayymonnn say good night from the bayouuuu.

Rainy Days

Today it was super gross and sprinkling when I woke up. After my sister took me to a crazy ex-marine kickboxing class, and I almost died, I started my search for another recipe. I decided, against my better judgment to make Banana-Coconut-Date bread, after Tara convinced me it would be a good "rainy day food". It has whole wheat flour, dates and NO butter. Not a very Chubish dessert to say the least. I got the recipe from Food Blogga. And it was sooooooooo goood! uhh, yummaaay!!! heres the recipe:

Banana Coconut Date Bread
1 cup lightly toasted shredded sweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs plus four eggwhites (i just used 4 eggs)
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 canola oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 small ripe bananas (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup pitted, coarsely chopped Medjool dates
1/2 walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used pecans)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees spray loaf pans with Pam, or butter, whichever you have.

To toast coconut, place shredded coconut in dry skillet over medium-low heat for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a medium bowl whisk flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves in a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine brown sugar and agges. Add buttermilk, oil and vanilla, beat until combined. Add bananas and beat briefly.

Add flour mixture to egg mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in dates, coconut, nuts and I added chocolate chips (I needed some chocolate in something I made). Batter should be very thick. I split the batter between to pans and baked them for about 40 minutes; but if using one pan you should bake it for 60-75 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes and enjoy!





uhhh. so delicious.