Tag: chocolate

Baking, homebaking

Innocent Cookie or Bribe…or Both.

Sophia Wells

Last month my husband and I made a quick decision to buy a house. This house, however, is not built yet. So we are currently in the process of watching our first home being built. There are a lot of little things we are learning about home construction. Luckily, we know of a couple of friends who are going through the same. One of the tips we were given was to visit the house site often and bring the workers home baked treats. This sounds like a job for me!

I scoured all of my baking resources for the perfect cookie to bring with me and James on our first visit. I settled on an espresso shortbread from Dorie Greenspan’s book Baking: from my home to yours.

I’ve never made shortbread before, but I have eaten plenty of them. To me, shortbread is basically sweetened butter. And who doesn’t love butter?!

The Espresso Shortbread was extremely easy to make. Simple pantry staples like butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and flour is all it really needed to make. The dough was then rolled to the desired shape and thickness in a plastic bag and placed in the fridge overnight.

In the morning, I cut the cold dough into even squares and pricked each square twice with a fork. They then cooked in the oven for 20 minutes. Easily one of the easiest cookies I’ve ever made, and that’s including the basic chocolate chip cookies!

After James’ morning nap, we headed out to our future home. Our house now has the foundation poured and its getting easier to see how the end result will look like. July seems so far away!

I was finally able to flag down one of the workers, who I’m sure was not prepared to talk to me, and I handed him the bag of shortbread. The poor guy then felt obligated to stand with me for a bit and make small talk, when I’m sure he would have much rather hid behind the concrete machine.

We couldn’t stay for long, because the wind was insane and I was afraid it would carry James away from me. So we said goodbye, James even waved, took one last look at hour soon-to-be home and took off.

Now the whole point of this is to build up a good relationship with the people who are building our house. The hope is that if we need something done, we won’t just be strangers in an email thread but instead actual living people who have a face. Plus, you know, it doesn’t kill you to be nice.

These cookies are absolutely delicious. they would be perfect with your perfect hot beverage in the morning. Heck, they’d be great with just about anything! These cookies are the perfect bribe.

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

By: Dorie Greenspan, Baking: from my home to yours

Ingredients

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder

1 tablespoon boiling water

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

1. Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water, and set aside to cool to tepid.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a sturdy rubber spatula.

3. Using the spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9-x-10 1/2-inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t create creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.

4. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

5. Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

6. Bake fore 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the halfway point. The shortbreads will be very pale-they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.

7. If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

Baking

The Jaffa Cake Challenge

Sophia Wells

My husband and I have been having a very exhausting week. Why may you ask? Because of my little baking assistant. Our little boy is going through some major growing, and with that comes a crazy sleep schedule. He wakes up multiple times a night wanting to be fed and held, but as soon as he is put back in his crib after falling asleep, his eyes snap wide open and he starts fussing again. Frustrating. 

I think we can all admit that this has been one crazy week. Tensions are high, and uncertainty is in the air. For my part, I feel extremely anxious and stressed. I’ve been doing my best to stay busy and to keep my mind occupied. I’ve roasted our jack o’ lantern and made about 5 cups of pumpkin puree. This will make many delicious pumpkin breads in the near future! I made a batch of chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I also deep cleaned the oven which desperately needed it. It was so bad that I couldn’t see through the window. I’m telling you, that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment from getting it cleaned was unparalleled. Is this what adulthood is all about? I also made hot and sour soup from scratch one day. This has been something that’s been on my bucket list to make. It was absolutely delicious! Last but not least, I finally made this week’s challenge: Jaffa Cakes. Stress baking, cooking, and cleaning at its finest!

They’re a great British Classic…It’s got to be absolutely perfect” ~Mary Berry

I was pleasantly surprised at how simple the recipe for Jaffa Cake seemed to be. It literally only had 8 ingredients. The first thing to do was to start on the orange jelly. Now apparently the Brits make their jelly by adding boiling water to cubs of jelly concentrate. I couldn’t find anything remotely like that here so I settled for buying an orange pack of Jell-O. I followed the instructions on the box, with one exception. Instead of adding the Jell-O to one dish to harden in the fridge, I split it between two dishes. This was to make sure the Jell-O circles were thin enough to be added to the top of the cakes. With the Jell-O left in the fridge to set, I started on the sponge. 

One large egg and the sugar were whipped together until light and thick. Then, the flour was gently folded in. That’s it! I couldn’t believe how simple it was. A teaspoon of the batter was then scooped into each muffin tin and placed in the oven for only 9 minutes. Again, I’m telling you this recipe was far simpler than I thought it would be!

The last part was melting the chocolate over a double broiler. I was now ready for the assembly!

The first part was to cut small circles out of the Jell-o. This proved to be simple enough until it came time to actually get them out of the dish. Every time I tried to grab a Jell-o circle, it would fall apart. I finally had enough beautiful orange circles of Jell-o placed on top of the cooled cakes. With the melted chocolate in a piping bag, I carefully covered the tops of the cake and the Jell-o. Once the chocolate cooled slightly, I used the prongs of a fork to make line indentations on the top. They turned out great!

The goal when biting into a Jaffa Cake was to see three layers on the inside, the sponge, jelly, and chocolate. However, when I was able to sample one, I found that my orange jelly was not visible. I’m thinking the chocolate melted them? I honestly don’t know. I could still taste orange, but just without the visual….so who knows. Maybe it’s the American jelly not being as firm and stable as British jelly. 

Next challenge is Viennese Whirls.

Mary Berry’s Jaffa Cakes

(From: BBC Food)

Makes 12

Ingredients:

For the Jelly:

1 x 135g packet orange jelly

150ml/5fl ox boiling water

1 small orange, finely grated orange zest only

For the Sponge:

Unsalted butter, for greasing

1 large free-range egg

25g/1 oz caster sugar

24g/1 oz self-raising flour, sifted

For the topping:

180g/6 ¼ oz plain chocolate (about 36% cocoa solids)

Method:

1. For the jelly, break the jelly into pieces and place in a small bowl. Pour over the boiling water and stir until the jelly is completely dissolved. Add the orange zest, then pour into a shallow 30x20cm/12×8 in tray. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour, or until set.

2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 365° F and grease a 12-hole, shallow bun tin with butter.

3. For the sponge, whisk the egg and sugar together for 4-5 minutes until pale and fluffy, then gently fold in the flour. Fill each well in the bun tin three-quarters full (about a dessert spoonful per hole) and smooth the tops. Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until well risen and the top of the sponges spring back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the tray for a few minutes then finish cooling on a wire rack. 

4. To assemble, break the chocolate into pieces then melt in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water. Remove the bowl from the heat and leave to cool and thicken slightly.

5. Turn the jelly out onto a sheet of non-stick baking parchment. Cut 12 discs from the orange jelly using a 5cm/2in round cutter. Sit one jelly disc on top of each sponge.

6. Spoon the melted chocolate over the jelly discs. Using the tips of the tines of a fork or a skewer, lightly press to create a crisscross pattern on top of the chocolate, then leave to set completely. You may need to reheat the chocolate a little if it starts to set before you have finished all of the jaffa cakes.

Baking

The Chocolate Soufflé Challenge

Sophia Wells

6-Months ago. 6-Months ago we were at the hospital getting to know our little boy. 6 months ago I had gone through several hours of pain, labor, and exhaustion and was now reaping the rewards. I know they always tell you how much time flies once you have children, but I never fully understood.

Every night when James goes to bed, I tend to go through all of the pictures and videos on my phone of him. I marvel at how tiny he used to be. How he would fall asleep after every feeding and how many times during the night we woke up to be with him. I miss him. Even though he’s sleeping in the next room, even though I spent the entire day with him and looked forward to bedtime for a small break, I miss him.

I’m enjoying every moment with him. I refuse to think of the future when one day he won’t need us anymore, when he won’t need me anymore. Our little bubberz. We love him so much. I often find that my chores are neglected because I don’t want to put him down. I’d much rather lie on the floor with him and play.

I’m sorry for the sentimental post.  Now on to this week’s challenge! 

I’ve never made one. Why have I never made a soufflé? Oh wait, because they’re a pain to make.” ~Nadiya

Luckily, my experience in making a chocolate soufflé was much more enjoyable than I anticipated. First however, I went on a mission to find four ramekins since they were not a part of my kitchen inventory. When I got to the store, I found that there were exactly four left. However, only three of them were the same color. So it came down to either having a mismatched set, or to go around town lugging a baby around in search of a complete set. I opted settling with the mismatched set. Call it charming, or quirky, or whatever.

I was able to make the entire sauce base of the soufflé ahead of time since these are best eaten straight out of the oven and I didn’t want to spoil our dinner. I started making the sauce base by breaking up 4 oz of chocolate and melting it down in a small pan with two tablespoons of water and milk. Once the chocolate was completely melted the rest of the milk was mixed in. 

In another pan, I melted the butter and then added the flour which created a soft dough. The chocolate mixture was then added and I combined the two together until it had thickened a bit. With a little bit of vanilla, I left the pan the cool completely. Once cooled, I beat in each of the egg yolks one at a time. I then took the egg whites and whisked them to stiff peaks with the whisk attachment of my new immersion blender. This was a purchase made after a snafu with a homemade mushroom soup and a blender. Let’s just say, I’m still cleaning up after it.

Now comes the hardest part, gently folding in the newly whisked egg whites. As Mary Berry says “If they fold [the egg whites] in too much it won’t rise. If they fold it in too little you’ll have big flecks of beaten egg whites. Not good.” It comes down to finding that perfect medium. Once the egg whites were completely incorporated in, I gently turned the mixture out in the four ramekins. Then in the pre-heated oven they went. 

The recipe I used said that they would take 10 minutes until they were done. After checking, though, I was disappointed to see that they had not risen very much and still looked extremely wet. I made the executive decision to keep them in the oven for a bit longer, which ended up being 20 minutes before I felt they were ready to be devoured. They certainly were. 

The only complaint I have is in the rise itself. While they did rise to a beautiful height, they were also cracked and domed which is apparently not supposed to happen with a soufflé. Apparently this happened because of the texture of the crème pat (the butter, flour, chocolate mixture) combining with the egg whites. As with folding in the egg whites, the texture of the crème pat needed to be just right as well. Not too watery, but also not too thick. With this knowledge in mind, I really would love to attempt making another chocolate soufflé.

With all of its flaws, we absolutely loved the flavor and the texture of the final product. I will definitely make it again. Next time, perhaps with a side of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Next week’s challenge: Jaffa Cakes

Hot Chocolate Soufflés

(Mary Berry’s Baking Bible)

Ingredients:

115g (4 oz) plain chocolate

2 Tablespoons water

300 ml ( ½ pint) milk

40g (1 ½ oz) butter

40g (1 ½ oz) plain flour

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

4 large eggs, separated

50g (2 oz) sugar

Process:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375° and place a baking sheet in it. Grease flour 8 fl oz individual soufflé dishes or a 2 pint soufflé dish.

2. Break the chocolate into pieces and put it in a pan along with the water and 2 tablespoons of the milk. Stir over a low heat until the chocolate has melted, then add the remaining milk and bring to the boil. Remove the pan from the heat.

3. Melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the flour and cook on a low heat for 2 minutes without browning, stirring continuously. Remove from the heat and stir in the hot chocolate milk and bring the vanilla extract and leave to cool.

4. Beat the egg yolks, one at a time, into the cooled chocolate sauce, then sprinkle over the sugar. Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry. Stir one tablespoon into the mixture, then carefully fold in the remainder.

5. Pour inton the individual soufflé dishes or large soufflé dish, run a teaspoon round the edge and bake on a hot baking tray in the preheated oven for 10 minutes for the individual soufflés or about 40 minutes for the large soufflé. Dust with icing sugar and serve at once, with whipped cream.