Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Oh man this was such a fail I don't even want to post it, but this recipe is so good I'll share it anyways. It all started with a crazy craving for banana cream pie and lo and behold I had a few brown bananas. It was looking good until I made the pastry cream. It looked thick enough in the pan, but it was just messing with me. It was a runny mess. I hoped it would firm up in the fridge - nope! And I made some whipped cream.... which un-whipped itself. And a fat layer of chocolate. But the crust was delicious.

So when I cut the first slice, the cream slid down and so did the whipped cream.... and then the chocolate sort of melted into it. The pie plate was a funky mess of brown, white and pie crust. It still tasted good, but it was the ugliest pie I have ever made/eaten.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ok... sorry again I'm not done with the peanut butter - I had to use almost a whole jar. This might be my new favorite cookie. They're chewy and slightly crunchy and I loovveeee oats. (They look weird in my photo because I flattened them out right when they came out of the oven.)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies

Sorry peanut allergists, I really love peanut butter. I was tasked with getting rid of the "gross" peanut butter, which isn't even "gross" it's just the natural type where the oil separates from the rest of the peanut butter. So I had to make these brownies and I'm really glad I did. It takes the brownie to another level. There's only a slight peanut-ness to them. Delicious and not too sweet.

Ad Hoc Brownies

My sister got me 3 Thomas Keller cookbooks for my birthday, I spent a week (and actually I still do this) reading them before I go to bed. There are a lot of background stories and helpful tips about techniques and equipment. I also found the recipe for the Ad Hoc Brownies online. I've never actually been to Ad Hoc, but it is on my list of places to go.

The brownies were so chocolate-y. I think one slice was enough for most people- it was just so. much. cocoa! (one whole cup!) whew, make sure you share- you will not be able to finish it yourself.

Molten Chocolate Cake

This is a really quick and delicious recipe for molten chocolate cake. You don't need to break out the mixer for this, just stir a few ingredients together and pop it on the oven. Take it out of the oven, let it REST (I was too eager with the first cake and ended up with half a cake on the plate, half in the ramekin).

I made a cinnamon whipped cream while the cake was in the oven- also very easy. Make this the next time you're craving a rich chocolate cake.

and now... all the photos I didn't shoot

I lost my camera for a few weeks (later found thankfully) and here's a quick list of what I made and ate:

Chewy Pretzel Bites. These taste pretty much like Wetzel's Pretzels. They take a bit of time to make, but it makes a LOT of pretzels. Eat the day you make them or else they turn into stale bits of dough, no good.

Chocolate Kettle Corn. I used my leftover popping corn to make this gluttonous snack. There's butter, sugar and chocolate. You can't go wrong. It's good and it's bad.

Breakfast Pizza. bacon + eggs??? So good! Didn't try the dessert pizza, but it looks drop dead delicious as well.

Victorian Sponge Cupcakes. Not quite as light as I expected, but a good simple cake with a jam filling.

Chocolate and Pecan Cookies

This is another recipe to use the huge bag of pecans I bought to make the german chocolate cake. This is Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip cookie. That would be Dorie as in Dorie Greenspan. There's a great group of blogs that makes a new Dorie Greenspan recipe every Tuesday (known as Tuesdays with Dorie). A good way to learn how to bake although sometimes the recipes are beyond difficult.

Now the blogger I got this from tested various resting times and temps for the dough so I decided to pop my cookies in the freezer for a bit before baking. It seemed to work- I didn't have time to freeze the last batch and they spread out into thin (and burnt) cookies.

Chocolate cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

Sorry peanut-allergic friends, it's another peanut butter recipe. This time it's a dark chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting. I had some soft caramel candies left over from the samoa's so I melted it in intervals in the microwave. Be sure to use a very large bowl because the caramel bubbles as it heats up and if you don't use a huge bowl you'll end up cleaning caramel off the bowl sides and the microwave like me.

These were really good- you can't go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter. I also chopped some pecans and sprinkled some on top so you weren't as overwhelmed by all the sugar. The cake was surprisingly not that sweet so you can eat the whole thing without feeling like keeling over from sugar overload.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

Your eyes do not deceive you, this is a whole wheat pizookie. Even though I accidentally dumped in 1/2 a cup of flax seed it still ended up being very moist and delicious. This is a great way to use your cast iron skillet by the way! My skillet is on its way to being very well seasoned so I'm excited to use it for a dessert recipe.

This was good even a week later, toasted briefly in the oven. The texture is a bit cake-y so I guess you can't really call it a cookie, maybe a cookie bar? But it's easy to make, goes in one pan and you can pretend it's healthy because it uses whole wheat flour. Win, win solution!

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

check out the silpat! I love it.

Another whoopie pie, this time chocolate with a peanut butter filling. I really love chocolate + peanut butter. I'm so excited every time a recipe calls for cocoa because instead of Kroger's cocoa, I have VALRHONA COCOA. YES! If you're going to make this- use less butter in the frosting, maybe 3/4 less or even maybe 1/2 the amount- you really don't need it. The full amount makes it too buttery and rich. The cookies are so fluffy and not-too-sweet.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

It took me awhile to find a good recipe for chocolate chip muffins. This one fulfills all the criteria: oil based cake recipe, not too much chocolate, not too sweet. I added whole wheat flour, flax seed, and used 60% cacao chocolate chips. Delicious, although by the 2nd day they were quite dry so eat them quickly!

German Chocolate Cake

This is a very rich cake. I made this for a roommate's birthday, but I don't think he was able to handle more than a small slice because it is so rich. It is also time consuming, but put in the time and you will be happy with a giant german chocolate cake. I had to make this over two weeknights.

For some reason my ganache was clumping up everytime it cooled down. I tried to pipe a decorative border, but that was a big, giant fail so I made this little ridge to keep the pecan/coconut topping from running over.

Speaking of, I now have a bunch of coconut flakes and pecans to use...

Tuxedo Cake

Look at this beautiful cake. It is so beautiful. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but this is the most pristine looking layered cake I have ever made. I didn't accidentally break the cake levels in half (hehe although I did break a few bits off here and there) and I didn't make the frosting curdle. PROGRESS!

I had to do this to protect the cake from saran wrap.

It's been awhile since I've made a cake so I decided to make this beautiful tuxedo cake. In the end though I didn't make the chocolate sauce on top since it was already really good. The chocolate cake is really moist and sweet, even when I used whole wheat flour. The frosting is whipped cream, which I loooveeeee. Asian cakes normally use whipped cream instead of the overly sweet buttercream on regular cakes so I'm used to it's texture and taste. Also it's a lot easier to make than say... strawberry buttercream.


This cake took a really long time to make. I only have 2 cake pans so it took me awhile to just bake the cake. Then I had to let it cool down and then do a crumb coat for each layer and then frost it. I was exhausted (this was a weeknight), but it was well worth the reward of eating cake for breakfast and dinner the next 3 or 4 days. You would do it too and you would love it because this cake is GOOD.

Toffee Saltine Bark

all you need to make delicious toffee

Toffee is one of my favorite guilty pleasures.... unfortunately my previous sugar candy making endeavors resulted in grainy junk, but this is a really easy recipe. You probably have all the ingredients. The addition of saltine crackers was kinda weird, but it fits in the salty+sweet combination. Be sure to eat within a few days or the crackers get stale. I upped the salty+sweet factor by liberally sprinkling sea salt on top, yum.

Chocolate Raspberry Cake and Honey Lavender Ice Cream

the elusive organic lavender

I had dinner at Fraiche a few months ago and the food was very good, but the dessert was mind blowing-amazing-awesome. I had a scoop of honey lavender ice cream- I picked it spontaneously. This ice cream tasted like a savory, subtle honey ice cream infused with flowers. It was so good- almost savory. I thought about that ice cream for a very long time and I found this recipe and made it and guess what... it tastes exactly the same!!! It took me 3 trips to different Whole Foods and Ralphs' to finally find some organic edible lavender, but it was worth it. SO WORTH IT.



And I made a huge chocolate cake. I didn't have raspberry jam so I used strawberry and it turned out pretty well (although I should really listen

Whole Wheat Brownies and Apple Pie Ice Cream

In an attempt to be more healthy I bought white whole wheat flour. I've been using it in regular APF recipes- usually substituting 1/4 of the APF with whole wheat. This recipe is all whole wheat and somehow it's still good- usually you can still feel the difference (like whole wheat pasta vs regular pasta). Also since a brownie doesn't have to be fluffy or tender it's a good place to start with whole wheat flour. I couldn't tell the difference between this brownie and any other brownie even though I ate it right after baking (the recipe has you wait overnight for the wheat germ to soften).


I had apple pie ice cream at Scoops and it started an apple pie obsession. I don't even LIKE pie- the filling is too sweet and goopy. I ate some form of apple pie every couple of days for 3 weeks- including the tasty apple pie from the Apple Pan. Finally my wallet was bled dry and I set out to make my own apple pie ice cream via this recipe. The only thing it's missing is the crust and it doesn't make that much- it was enough for 4 servings.

Chocolate Ice Cream and Salted Chocolate Dipped Caramels

Another ice cream recipe by David Lebovitz- this one is for chocolate ice cream. When choosing between vanilla and chocolate I always go for vanilla. Chocolate isn't as refreshing to me and I rarely eat chocolate ice cream, but for some reason I was craving it. There was a false start- I was stupidly trying to do dishes at the same time and my custard turned into scrambled eggs. Always make sure you pay attention! I need to relearn how to uni-task. The final product? It's good. Like crazy good. It's smooth, creamy and not overly sweet.

I made a smore of sorts- chocolate ice cream, crushed graham crackers and a toasted marshmallow.



I have a big list of things I want to make and one of the things on the list is caramels. I found this recipe for Salted, chocolate dipped caramels from the NY Times. I'm very scared of heating sugar- I've read and heard a lot of stories about sugar burns and I'm already much aware of hot oil and pan burns. I was extra careful- aprons, glasses and oven mitts at all times! In the end, I was probably overprepared. Just make sure to use a very large pan- much bigger than you think you'll need because it bubbles and grows. And a candy thermometer is indispensable for this recipe.


Also, unless you are making wedding favors or plan on eating 10 caramels every day for a month, make half or even a quarter of the recipe. I made this a month ago and I STILL have a tupperware container full of caramels in my fridge (not complaining that much actually...). Just be aware it makes a LOT and caramel is not a stagnant object. My thermometer says I hit all the right temps, but that caramel oozes. I had to refrigerate portions at a time and work at a crazy speed to dip and salt them and then get it back into the fridge. It didn't help that it was a very hot day. In the end it was worth it. I had dozens and dozens of small (and large and oddly shaped) caramels. They taste exactly like the caramel bar from Huckleberry (minus the cookie crust), which is what started my obsession in the first place. They are salty/sweet/chewy/buttery and oh so melty.

Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake

Surprise, a healthy delicious chocolate cake! I skipped their glaze and made a ganache of heavy whipping cream and dark chocolate (2:1 ratio). Delicious. It's a very dense cake and it stayed relatively moist over the next 3-4 days.


This is the first time I've used cayenne pepper and I underestimated exactly how spicy it was going to be. Holy crap. Good thing I followed directions and used only the suggested amount. It was a very interesting cake, sweet and spicy.

Red Velvet Cake Truffles

This one was inspired by a colleague of mine who shares my love of red velvet cake. She sent me this link: http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/ and I couldn't agree more--one of the best ideas EVER. This also happened around Valentine's Day and right before I was sent on a business trip to visit coworkers, so I thought why not make some for everyone? Determined to wow and please my boyfriend, friends, and coworkers (that's just how I am with my food/baking creations), I set myself up for a long and arduous journey. It took me several hours for two days to perfect this one. It's pretty clear from her photos and lack of explaining techniques that Bakerella is obviously a much more experienced baker than I am. So let me just put a disclaimer here: this recipe is not an easy feat... but I'll try to explain everything I did wrong and right so it'll be easier for you. :) Here we go!


Let's start with Trial 1.

I used this cake recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Red-Velvet-Cake-III/Detail.aspx with a box of Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Classic White Cake mix. (I couldn't find the red velvet cake mix.)

I also used this frosting: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Carrot-Cake-III/Detail.aspx, that I made in an old blog post because I love, love the cream cheese frosting recipe and I didn't want to take the pre-made store stuff for an answer.

Tips:

Get a deep mixing bowl or prepare for splatter.

Get a nice mixer. Otherwise I hope you have a good strong spoon... stronger than mine.

When I mixed the two together, I got this:

And immediately I knew something wasn't right. It was too mushy and I PANICKED. I had only so much time to make these and I knew I had screwed something up! (I'm talking about mushiness to the point where the mixture felt like cake mixed with a lot of water.) My thoughts were that maybe the mushiness would settle once I put it in the fridge to cool. I went ahead and let it solidify but even in that state it just looked wrong. I thought maybe I could still salvage it and it could taste good (the cake recipe was pretty good) so made 3 truffles with it anyway, albeit doubting that it would turn out ok.

When I ate them I couldn't bring myself to being satisfied. They tasted pretty good, but the texture was off (too mushy for cake) and they left a horrific aftertaste that I can only describe as being similar to the taste of aspartame (the fake sugar they use in those diet products). And I could not, for the life of me, stand that kind of taste!


So on to Trial 2.

This time I searched and found the red velvet cake mix from Duncan Hines.


I figured since I loved the cream cheese frosting from the carrot cake recipe, it had to be something in the cake recipe that was causing the terrible taste and texture. (Vanilla pudding, maybe??) And here are the results of the cake:


Just looking at that beautiful red color in comparison to the terrible pink, I could already tell that I had done it right this time.

When I mixed it with the cream cheese frosting this time, it didn't turn mushy. I also opted to use only about 8oz of cream cheese frosting, perhaps less. I was careful with the amount I put into the cake because I didn't want to make it too sweet or mushy. I don't agree with Bakarella's 16oz of cream cheese frosting, but that might be a difference of her using store-bought and me using homemade.

I also bought all three types of chocolate chips (white, milk, and dark) for every type of chocolate fan (I had in mind serving about 20+ different people). Bakerella used chocolate bark, but I couldn't find this at my local grocery store. (I used Guittard dark and milk, and Ghiradelli white chocolates, by the way. Delicious San Francisco Bay Area local chocolates. :D) First attempt was white chocolate, and from my next mistakes I messed up most of the white chocolate that I had bought.

I used a double boiler set-up in my kitchen to melt the chocolate, but somehow it seemed to have dried out the chocolate. I started adding heavy whipping cream to it, and it made it a little clumpy. (My bad, I forgot you're not supposed to add cold liquids to heated chocolate.) With the curdle-y chocolate I somehow thought water would thin it out, but it didn't. Complete disaster. It was hard clumps of chocolate now. And to top it off, I threw it in the microwave to try to melt it again. I don't know why I was so stubborn with this one to try to get it to work, but in the end it only led to burnt chocolate. I suspect that white chocolate, because of its contents, has a different temperament than the others. Double boiler using dark chocolate has never given me such a hard time, as proven again with my "truffitizing" (yes, I made that up) my earlier messed up cake.


On to Trial 2.5.

See those pretty criss-cross chocolate lines Bakarella used on her truffles? I wanted to do that, and I was going to try with a some melted chocolate in a ziploc bag with a small bit of the corner cut off. Unfortunately, after messing up I didn't have enough white chocolate and ended up using the remainder to instead be melted for truffitizing. This time, instead of melting in a double boiler, I decided to do it the right way: read the instructions on the back of the package. I went with the microwave option and I'm pretty glad I did--this is WAY simpler than trying to use a double boiler, and I'd recommend it for anyone using chocolate chips.

Next was getting down the right technique. First, it's easier to handle the cake balls in chocolate when they are small, so make sure yours are relatively small and bite-sized. I ended up resizing twice before I got the final rendition. Bakarella says she made about 40-50, but I made probably around 60. Besides, you want to keep them small so your guinea pigs--I mean, friends, keep wanting more. :)

Second, I used two spoons to coat the cake in the chocolate. I coated both spoons with chocolate, generously, and used the spoons to toss the cake ball back and forth between spoons, evenly coating each ball and only picking up more melted chocolate as necessary. This step requires a lot of patience. If you're too hasty you'll want to try to coat quicker, but that will pull the cake away from itself and into the chocolate. I tried to let the cake gently fall into the other spoon as it wished, and it made a very even/smooth coating. Don't overcoat because it'll drip off and make a large, flat base for your truffles. I like to think of the most perfect truffles as round, without a base. :)


After they set a bit, I took it off the wax paper and put it into ziplocs and into the fridge. The ones I wanted to keep longer I froze. I found that, at least for ~65 degrees (maybe higher) indoors, these don't sit too well at room temp. I also found that they're best served right out of the fridge for a crispy chocolate coating. So recapping, was all this trouble worth it in the end? Yes. They were so delicious that I ate plenty (and I rarely do that with my own baking)! And unless people find pleasure in lying to me, I'd say it was a very successful hit all-around. Enjoy!

Pictures courtesy of my borrowed Nikon D90 (with the exception of the first & last photo, taken with a Canon 870IS point & shoot.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate chip cookies, but I've given up trying to find the "best." There is no best- there are just different kinds. The NY Times cookie is good, it's a sweet-savory satisfying cookies with slivers and chunks of chocolate. This cookie recipe is a buttery, crispy at the edges, chewy towards the middle type of deal. It's not fancy, it's just delicious.

I like more dough to chocolate, so I typically only put half of the amount of chocolate in a cookie. I had a few macadamia nuts leftover so I added chopped, toasted macadamia nuts to this batch.



Compare that cookie with "The Chewy" recipe by Alton Brown. It's a very similar recipe, but the portions are different. The first recipe is chewier, this one is a bit puffier.