Tiramisu Cake

I have always had issues with tiramisu. It's crunchy, mushy, moist, and dry all in the same bite. It is a confusing dessert in my opinion. That being said, my husband always mentions two things when I ask him what I should make: tiramisu and creme brulee. I still haven't filled my kitchen torch with gas (or whatever it is that goes in there.....), and I think that he's probably okay with that considering I will most likely burn our house down. This cake is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours, and it not only has brought me beyond my issues with tiramisu but has me addicted to the coffee marscapone icing. I will say this...there are a lot of steps. About halfway through I might have wished that I had just used a yellow cake mix, but at the end of it when tasting everything together I knew I had made the right decision sticking with it.

Tiramisu Cake
Source: Baking: From My Home To Yours

For the cake:
2 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk


For the espresso extract:
2 tbs. instant espresso powder
2 tbs. boiling water


For the espresso syrup:
½ cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbs. amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy


For the filling and frosting:
1 8-oz. container mascarpone cheese
½ cup confectioners sugar, sifted
1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbs. amaretto, Kahlua, or brandy
1 cup cold heavy cream
2 ½ oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, or about ½ cup store bought mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 9 inch cake pans.

Making the Cake: In a bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set Aside. In a mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until fluffy, then add the sugar and beat for another 3 minutes. Add in each egg one at a time, beating after each addition for about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer to low and add the flour mixture along with the butter milk alternately, beginning and ending with batches. [Dorie suggests 3 batches of flour mixture and 2 of buttermilk] Pour the batter evenly between the two prepared pans. Bake for between 25-30 minutes (mine was done at 23 minutes), rotating the pans halfway through. They should be slightly brown on top and a knife inserted in the middle should come out clean when done baking. Transfer to a cooling rack. After cooling slightly flip over the pan to release the cake and allow to cool completely.

Making the Extract: Stir the espresso powder and boiling water together, set aside.

Making the Syrup: Add water and sugar to a small saucepan, heat until it just reaches a boil. Remove from heat and add 1 tbl of the espresso extract and the liqueur.

Making the filling/frosting: Whisk the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla, and liqueur in a large bowl until blended. In a stand mixer whip the heavy cream until it holds peaks. Add a spoonful of the whipped cream to the mascarpone mixture and stir until combined. Carefully fold in the rest of the whipped cream so it is light and fluffy. [This mixture as it is will be used as the filling, and along with the addition of more coffee extract is used as the super delicious and creamy frosting]

Assembling the Cake: (Aren't you exhausted just from reading all these instructions??) On one of the layers of cake soak the top with the espresso syrup. (When I was making this I was kind of scared of the syrup, mostly because I used cinnamon schnapps...don't judge me, but this really should be 1/3 of the entire amount of syrup). Smooth about 1 1/4 c. of the filling on top of the cake layer and press chocolate into the frosting. Then, soak the bottom of the top layer of the cake and press the soaked side of the cake onto the frosting (a soaked cake sandwich if you will!). Then use the rest of the syrup to soak the top of the cake. Take the rest of the filling and add the rest of the espresso extract to taste. (I'd like to take this moment to talk about how much I loved this frosting. I could put chocolate chips in it and dip a sugar cookie in it and eat it every day for the rest of my life and be totally happy.) Use this frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake. Refrigerate this cake for at least 3 hours, but preferably up to a day. Dust with cocoa powder shortly before serving.

Enjoy!

-D

Caramel Crunch Bars

Anyone else feeling like the holidays are really just an excuse to eat anything and everything in sight with no shame? I sure hope somebody else out there is shaking their head yes in response to that..... Regardless, with time off from work it definitely means our kitchen is busier than normal and I wouldn't have it any other way (my hips probably would though...).

These Caramel Crunch Bars by the one and only Dorie Greenspan (you need this book) have a crumbly shortbread base with chocolate and heath chunks on top. I was a little concerned by the combination of cinnamon, chocolate, and coffee in the shortbread, but one thing I've yet to learn is to just go with what Dorie says. These aren't the most glamorous or fancy or earth-shattering, but they are simple and delicious with a cup of coffee as you think about how you will definitely shed those 30 pounds this year.... Here is a link to the full recipe, enjoy!

-D

Eggnog Spiced Cookies

To me there are two different types of people during the holidays. Those who love eggnog and those who refuse to drink it, for what reasons, I have no clue. I refer to those in the second category as the grinches of Christmas. Nothing says the holidays to me like a big cup of egg-nog with nutmeg sprinkled on top. Lucky for me you can buy eggnog by the gallon during this time of year and I decided to do a little more than just drink it.....

This recipe is for an Eggnog Spiced Cookie with Eggnog Cream Cheese Glaze. Yeah, it's a mouthful, but if you're a fan of all things nutmeg then it's worth a try. The end result is a thick spice-filled cookie with a creamy glaze that will definitely trigger all things Christmas. I'm going to be honest, if these cookies were people then you'd probably say they "have a nice personality". But just because these aren't the cookie equivalent to Heidi Klum doesn't mean they aren't very tasty. Here are the two original links I used for the cookies and the glaze. I'll detail below the couple of changes I made and the changes I will make in the future when I make them again.

First, for the cookies. The recipe calls for all white sugar, but per the comments to the recipe I used 1/2 c. of brown sugar and 3/4 c. of white sugar for a little more taste. Also, again per the comments, I only used 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg. This proved to be more than enough as the flavor comes through in the eggnog, the frosting, and the garnish on top.

For the glaze, I just replaced the milk with eggnog and used probably about 4 tablespoons instead of the 3 in the recipe along with adding another tablespoon of powdered sugar. Note to the wise, make sure your cream cheese is fully creamed in the mixer before adding said eggnog. My end result was less than profesional with some cream cheese chunks still in it.

I hope all the other fellow eggnog lovers out there will appreciate this post, and hopefully you can sway "those other people" to come over to our side with the cookies.

-D

Rustic Strawberry Tart

Summertime has some great qualities, doesn't it? Vacations, lazy days by the pool, a carefree attitude that even catches up with those of us who spend most days (summer or not) inside working. And lets not forget the blessing of the most wonderful assortment of summer fruit in our grocery store. It all makes the heat a little more bearable, for a few seconds anyway.

Rustic Strawberry Tart: easy peasey, just like summer. This is the kind of dessert you can whip up in a jiffy and still impress people. And because there is a heaping mound of fruit on top, you can even pass this off as breakfast. Here we go:

1 pie crust
6 oz cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 to 2 lbs fresh strawberries

Start by mixing together cream cheese, sugar and vanilla until smooth. Set aside.

Roll out your pie crust to about 12 inches round. I used a homemade pie crust I had in my freezer, but store bought or any other kind will also work.

 

Spread cream cheese mixture over pie crust. Leave a 1 inch border around the crust so you can fold the edges over later.

 

Place strawberries on top of cream cheese mixture. This can be as informal or particularly placed as you want it to be.

 

 

Fold over and lightly crimp the edges around the tart.



Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.



Get baking!

~T

"Not so secret" Chocolate Chunk cookies

A good friend of mine from college used to make these chocolate chip cookies every time we went to her house. They were the kind where she’d slave and sweat over an oven for hours, just for us to eat all of them within the first ten minutes. The recipe was a HUGE secret and as long as she supplied us with cookies we were all content with not knowing. However, as a wedding present she gave us a baking stone, a bag of Baker’s Chocolate Chunks, and THE RECIPE. After moving and unpacking I decided the first way to fall into my role as the perfect June Cleaver wife would be to make this classic recipe. Here’s the thing, after years and years of wanting to know the SECRET behind these cookies, I realized the recipe was on the BACK OF THE BAKER’S CHOCOLATE CHUNK BAG! It’s like when you can’t find your keys to your car and they’re right there in your hand…….. Nevertheless, these cookies are classic and delicious and you won’t regret using the recipe, whether from here or the back of the chocolate chunk bag.

Baker’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 ¾ c. flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ c. (1 ½ sticks) butter, softened
½ c. granulated sugar
½ c. packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 pkg (12 oz.) Baker’s Semi-sweet chocolate chunks

The real key to this recipe is the baking stone, it helps the bottom of the cookies crisp up to perfection. Start by preheating the oven to 375 degrees with the baking stone inside. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.

In an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar together until well mixed, add the egg and vanilla, continue beating until blended. Gradually add the flour being sure to mix well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chunks.

Drop by the cookie scoopful onto the hot baking stone. Depending on how big the scoop is they should be baked anywhere from 9-11 minutes and they should come out light golden brown.

To be honest I felt a little silly putting this on the website. With all the other tasty delights this doesn’t really seem like that big of a culinary reach for us. Here’s the thing though, I’ve made these cookies 4 weeks in a row (going for that newlywed weight), if that’s not worthy of a blogpost, I don’t know what is. I hope y’all enjoy it and make thousands of variations on this great classic (I’ve already done butterscotch, heath bar chunks, and soon peanut butter chips!).

-D