I came across this recipe some time last year and was waiting for an opportunity to try it out. When someone asked me if I would bring cupcakes to Friendmas 2011, I knew I had the perfect group to experiment on!

Irish Cupcake Bombs (from the Brown Eyed Baker, renamed due to controversy)

Yield: 24 cupcakes
Prep Time: 40 minutes | Bake Time: 17 minutes

For the Cupcakes:
1 cup Guinness stout
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons baking soda
¾ teaspoons salt
2 eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners.
2. Bring the Guinness and butter to a simmer in a heavy, medium saucepan over medium heat. Take off heat and whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl to combine.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sour cream on medium speed until combined. Add the Guinness-chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat just to combine.
5. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour mixture and beat briefly. Using a rubber spatula, fold the batter until completely combined. Divide the batter among the cupcake liners. Bake until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 17 minutes. Cool the cupcakes on a rack.

For the Whiskey Ganache Filling:
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons Irish whiskey

1. Finely chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl.
2. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate.
3. Let it sit for one minute and then, using a rubber spatula, stir it from the center outward until smooth.
4. Add the butter and whiskey and stir until combined. Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped.

For the Baileys Frosting:
2 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature
5 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons Baileys Irish Cream

1. Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, whip the butter on medium-high speed for 5 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally.
2. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until all of it is incorporated.
3. Add the Baileys, increase the speed to medium-high and whip for another 2 to 3 minutes, until it is light and fluffy.

To Decorate the Cupcakes:
1. Using a 1-inch round cookie cutter (or the bottom of a large decorating tip), cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes, going about two-thirds of the way down. Transfer the ganache to a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.
2. Using your favorite decorating tip, or an offset spatula, frost the cupcakes and decorate with sprinkles, if desired. Store the cupcakes in an airtight container.

Notes:
- Used Youngs double chocolate stout because I like it better.
- Used semi-sweet chocolate for the ganache because that’s what I had, but altered the cream slightly based on Carolyn’s research.
- Cut the frosting with a little whiskey because the cream made the frosting extra buttery.
- Made ganache while cupcakes were cooling; made frosting while ganache was cooling.
- Recommend not making a triple batch of these. It’s just too much. Note to self: Never make triple batches of stuff. Just don’t do it.

Congrats to Brandee & Kain who got married this weekend!

And for everyone else, here are the recipes I used for the bridal shower cupcakes:

Oreo Cupcakes (modified from Bakerella)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup hot water
24 Oreos, plus more for crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line tray with baking cups.
Place one whole cookie in each cup or break apart at least 24 cookies and place the broken pieces into each cup.

Mix the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl using a wire whisk.

Add the eggs, oil, vanilla and milk and mix well until thoroughly combined. Add the hot water and mix until combined.

Transfer the batter (it will be very liquid) to a large measuring cup and then pour batter into each baking cup so it’s about three quarters full. You should have a little left over.

Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Notes: For the raspberry cupcakes, I substituted 2Tbl raspberry syrup for the vanilla (could’ve used more). Next time I would use butter instead of oil. This was a little dense to me.

If using whole cookies, err on the low side when filling the cups. Mine came out all lop-sided because there wasn’t enough air flow for the batter to bake completely underneath the cookie and they all had these tumors… which I was forced to break off and eat.

Cream Cheese Oreo Frosting (modified from Cupcake Project)

12 oz cream cheese, chilled
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup crushed Oreos
2 Tbl flavoring

Whip cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy.
Add sugar gradually.
Stir in cookie crumbs.
Add flavoring to taste.

Notes: I definitely would add more flavor to the frosting next time. I thought the flavor was a little weak. I used creme de menthe for the regular cupcakes and raspberry syrup for the raspberry cupcakes.

These are definitely the prettiest cupcakes I have ever attempted. And people liked them well enough, so I’ll be keeping this around to try again!

I finally got a chance to make another batch of white chocolate lemon cookies this weekend and they’re even better now! The recipe I posted before was tasty, but really difficult to work with for rolled cookies. The proportion of liquid to non-liquid ingredients was too high, leaving the dough soft, and there was too much leavening agent, making the cookies spread and not hold the rolled shape.

I decided to start with a well-tested rolled sugar cookie recipe from the Joy of Cooking this time. They came out much more uniform in size and a little less sweet, which I thought worked better with the sweetness of the filling.

White Chocolate Lemon Cookies II

Made 3 dozen sandwiches.

1 cup Unsalted butter, softened
2 oz white chocolate, melted
2/3 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp lemon oil
1 large Egg

In small bowl:
1/4 Tsp Baking powder
1/8 Tsp Salt
2 1/3 cups All-purpose flour

1. Mix melted chocolate and butter. Beat in sugar until well blended. Beat in lemon oil and egg.
2. Stir in dry ingredients.
3. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least an hour.
4. Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), roll out and cut cookies, using 2- or 3-inch cutters, adding flour as needed. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in the upper third of the oven for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

Ian, Jen, and I went to Granville Moore’s last week for dinner. Their special dessert that night was oatmeal pie — described to us as “oatmeal crack pie,” or oatmeal awesome pie. It’s like pecan pie, but with oatmeal on top instead of pecans. It sounded interesting and the waitress really sold us on the crackness of it.

It came out and the crust was like the oatmeal cookie part of oatmeal creme pies and the filling was a mixture of pecan pie filling and oats. Sooo good.

The first thing I did the next day was look up a recipe to try out. My family really loves pecan pie, so this seemed like a good addition to our pie options, especially with the nieces allergic to nuts.

Old Fashion Oatmeal Pie

Ingredients:
1 (9 inch) pie crusts
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1/8-1/4 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal (uncooked)

Prep Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Beat eggs until frothy.
3. Combine sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl.
4. Add eggs; mix well.
5. Add corn syrup, melted butter, and vanilla.
6. Mix oatmeal.
7. Pour into uncooked shell.
8. Bake for 45 minutes.

It came out ok, but I’ll definitely be making some modifications when I try making this again. I added a 1/2 tsp of nutmeg and used regular rolled oats because that’s what I had around. Next time, I’m going to substitute brown sugar in for some of the regular sugar, try the full 1/4 cup of butter, and use dark corn syrup. And I have an oatmeal pie crust recipe to try out as well.

I made these cookies for Alison’s cookie party a couple weeks ago and have made them again 3 times since. This is the closest I’ve come to “inventing” a recipe and they came out pretty much exactly as I had hoped! The flavors are inspired by Sonny & Anna’s wedding cake, the decorating is a style I saw in a Martha Stewart recipe a while back (and tried out on some Valentine cookies), and the recipes are all modified from various sources.

I’ll be making them again next week and I’m going to experiment with the cookie dough a bit. This recipe is really not intended to be rolled and cut, so it’s a little soft and spreads more than other sugar cookies. I’ll update the recipe if I find something I like better.

***********

Lemon Curd Filling

Modified from:
Wedding Cakes You Can Make
Alton Brown

Makes 2 cups

1/3 cup lemon juice
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolks
1 cups sugar
1 sticks unsalted butter
Finely grated zest of 1 lemons, optional

Add enough water to a medium saucepan to come about 1-inch up the side.
Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
Meanwhile, combine egg and sugar in a medium size metal bowl and whisk until smooth, about 1 minute.
Add juice and zest to egg mixture and whisk smooth.
Once water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place bowl on top of saucepan.
(Bowl should be large enough to fit on top of saucepan without touching the water.)
Whisk until thickened, approximately 8 minutes, or until mixture is light yellow and coats the back of a spoon.
Remove promptly from heat and stir in butter a piece at a time, allowing each addition to melt before adding the next.
Remove to a clean container. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

***********
EDIT: Better cookie recipe!
White Chocolate Lemon Cookies II

Made 3 dozen sandwiches.

1 cup Unsalted butter, softened
2 oz white chocolate, melted
2/3 cup Sugar
1/2 tsp lemon oil
1 large Egg

In small bowl:
1/4 Tsp Baking powder
1/8 Tsp Salt
2 1/3 cups All-purpose flour

1. Mix melted chocolate and butter. Beat in sugar until well blended. Beat in lemon oil and egg.
2. Stir in dry ingredients.
3. Refrigerate dough until cold, at least an hour.
4. Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), roll out and cut cookies, using 2- or 3-inch cutters, adding flour as needed. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in the upper third of the oven for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

ASSEMBLY:
1. Dust tops of cookies with powdered sugar.
2. Spread lemon curd on whole cookies.
3. Top with cookies with centers cut out.

***********
Old Recipe:
White Chocolate Lemon Cookies

Modified from:
Half-Hour Meals

Makes 2 dozen sandwiches

1 cup butter
2 oz white chocolate
1 3/4 cups white sugar
1/2 tsp lemon oil
2 eggs
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Preparation
1.In a large bowl gently melt the white chocolate with the butter in a microwave, remove the chocolate and butter when it’s begun melting and stir it until the melting is complete.
2.Add the sugar to the melted mixture and beat well to dissolve the sugar, add lemon oil, and then beat in the eggs one at a time.
3.In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
4.Mix the dry ingredients in to the butter mixture.
5.Cover bowl or put dough in a plastic bag and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least 6 hours.

WHEN READY TO BAKE:
1.Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2.Roll dough out to about 1/4″ thick.
3.Cut out a tray of circles. Using a smaller cookie cutter, cut out the centers of half the circles.
4.Bake for 6-8 minutes (oven temps vary so check around 6 mins).
5.Cool on the sheet for at least 3 mins and then remove to a wire cooling rack.

Baked Lemon Rice

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 40 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Servings: 6

Ingredients

2 cups uncooked brown rice
1.5 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 zucchini
2 cups frozen spinach
2 cloves Garlic, Minced
1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested
2 cups Sour Cream
Kosher Salt to taste
Plenty Of Grated Parmesan Cheese
Extra Lemon Juice

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook rice in rice cooker.

2. In a skillet, cook zucchini in olive oil until soft.

3. Turn heat to low. Add butter. When butter is melted, add frozen spinach and minced garlic. Squeeze lemon juice into the pan. Turn off heat.

4. Add sour cream and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Taste, then add more salt if necessary. Add rice to skillet and stir together, then pour into an oven safe dish.

5. Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes. (Don’t bake too long or the rice will dry out.)

This was actually a bit too sour/tangy for me, but Ian enjoyed it. I think I might use a milder dairy element next time — maybe ricotta or cottage cheese, or use half sour cream and half something else. The lemon flavor was fantastic though!

It seemed like a good idea at the time. A good value, etc.

So after snowmageddon and snowpocalypse, I decided today was the day. Inspired by my sister-in-law and my future sister-in-law, I made a chickpea curry for dinner tonight, started falafels for tomorrow night, and have containers of chickpeas for other dishes, depending on which recipes we like. I also made about 3 cups of hummus for snacking.

And with all these chickpeas, I figured I would also take a crack at making some pitas. So I found a recipe online that sounded promising and tried it out.

And as it turned out, they were pretty easy to make. So after the first few, I tried making a pocket pita:

TattooGirl was turning 30 and her husband threw a party for her. It was a little hindered by the snow that day, but there was still a good turnout and we had loads of fun! And after driving 45 minutes to MD, I even met one of my neighbors… Go figure.

So, not knowing how many people to expect at this party, I decided an 8″ round cake would not be sufficient (~15 servings). I knew there would be at least 13 people, but didn’t know about the maybes or people who didn’t reply. Unfortunately, I don’t have a 9″ round cake pan, so I had to go with the 10″ cake pan Anna lent me for the second tier of a wedding cake (~30 servings). Everyone likes extra cake… and I figured it would be good practice for me anyway.

Ian’s mom’s birthday was also that weekend, so I made a cake for their Gilmore night dinner. For that one, I made a 6″ cake, which I’ve been using for practice.

I decided to go with the same cake for both just to simplify things: Caramel Chocolate Cake. I attempted to make a caramel syrup, but was a little impatient, so I mostly just made a plain syrup. I was also still intimidated by the meringue buttercream frosting in the wedding cake books, and with my stand mixer out of commission, I went with my old standby simple buttercream. I used a caramel frosting for the filling and chocolate frosting for the top and decorating.

I tried out the star tip on the 10″ cake, which worked out pretty well. But the frosting I made was too liquidy to hold its shape on the side of the cake, so I had to resort to just piping lines around the side. I was going to try out a basket weave on the 6″ cake, but had trouble again because of the consistency of my frosting. So I just went with stripes.

Things to work on:
- Brushing more syrup on the layers
- Leveling layers
- Making frosting
- Piping

The first night, we baked a double batch of peanut butter oatmeal cookies. This may not have been the best idea, what with never having used this recipe or mixer before. Plus, Ian and my ridiculously bad volumetric estimation skillz. We started mixing around 11:30pm and finished baking close to 1am. Loads of delicious cookies, but also a little bit of a mess. ;)

Next up was a practice cake. I tried out the basic yellow cake recipe from one of the wedding cake books Anna loaned me. Very quick/easy recipe. And I got to practice torting (slicing the cake in half horizontally). The book said to use a ruler to go around the cake and mark off where you’ll cut with a toothpick. I took a chef’s knife and just sliced. For the size cake I made, that worked out ok.

Then, I got intimidated by the buttercream frosting recipe in the book and went with my old stand-by from the Joy of Cooking. Butter, powdered sugar, liquid/flavoring. Mix.

This worked out pretty well, but I added some cocoa and didn’t put enough liquid in. This made it really difficult to spread, so after I got through 2 layers, I decided to add more milk and it whipped up almost immediately! Oh yeah, and did I mention I got to use the whisk attachment for this? So cool.

Then I tried out the cake decorating kit I borrowed from my mom. Piping is way more difficult than I thought! I started over at least 4 times. And once I got halfway through and I started messing up because my hand was cramping, I just went with it. That’s why there are spots where the frosting is falling off. Oh well. It was my first try.

Lessons learned:
- Do not put all the frosting in the piping bag to start. Body heat will soften the frosting.
- Make sure the consistency of the frosting is perfect *before* you start.
- Making line-type patterns are way more difficult than repeated individual patterns. There are seams everywhere and no good place to stop and rest.

Yesterday was time to test out the hook attachment. So, Ian and I made some honey wheat bread.

I bought a huge bag of flour from CostCo this summer and have only used ~5 pounds of it, so I decided I shouldn’t buy all these different kinds of flour for these recipes. I mixed in some vital wheat gluten to make my all-purpose flour glutenier to substitute for bread flour. And I mixed up a container of cake flour mixing all-purpose with corn starch. (I also have some pancake mix pre-made, so I don’t need bisquick anymore!)

My mom shared her stash of CostCo yeast with me, so I made use of that to yeast up some dough and then let Ian punch it.

I hope he continues to find that as amusing as he did yesterday. That’ll save me a lot of work. ;)

We baked up 2 loaves, since I only have 2 loaf pans. And froze the remainder of the dough (after the first rise step) for another day. It was pretty fun to make, but a pain to clean up after. I could picture myself mixing up some dough once a month or so though. And with 3 loaves out of it, that should last us a while… or so I thought.

Got home from work today to find this:

Half a loaf was missing! Guess the recipe was a success! :)

I’ll paste in recipes soon and add in our modifications.

Angeled Eggs
6 hard-cooked eggs, peeled and cut lengthwise
1/4 cup Miracle Whip
1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard

Remove egg yolks and mix with Miracle Whip and mustard. Fill egg whites with mixture.

Yeah, tough recipe, right? This seems easier than egg salad. Especially since I’m not fancy about filling the egg whites. I just use a spoon.

Tried out a new cookie recipe today for Ian’s company outing thing. Modified from Brownie Mix Cookies:

Mint Brownie Cookies

1 package Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie mix
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 Tbsp water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Mix the brownie mix (dry), flour, oil, water, eggs, and peppermint extract. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees just until set, 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand 2 to 3 minutes before removing from cookie sheet and then cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Note: I would recommend a leavening agent, such as 1 tsp baking soda. You’ll get the same brownie flavor, with a cookier consistency. You might also be able to accomplish this by cutting back on the oil by a tablespoon or two to lower the density of the mixture, but that will make them a little cakier.

The batter was kinda liquidy, but was able to hold its shape long enough to get into the oven. They were pretty fragile after taking them out of the oven and letting them cool closer to 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, but did set after some time on the cooling rack.

In any case, the recipe as-is got rave reviews from Ian’s coworkers. So it’s definitely a keeper for me. And with a base that’s a mix I typically have around anyway, that’ll be a convenient backup.

Baked up some strawberry cupcakes yesterday to celebrate my mother’s birthday early (next week). They were a bit sweet, so I didn’t put any frosting on them, but they probably would’ve been good with some unsweetened whipped cream.

I typically use 3-oz boxes of jello when mixing into a recipe, but the only strawberry jello I had was in a 6-oz box. And for some reason, I really wanted these to be strawberry cupcakes. I guess I was baking too early in the morning or something because I was most of the way through the mixing process when I realized that I should’ve just made a double batch and had more cupcakes. Oops…

Strawberry Cupcakes (modified from here)

INGREDIENTS
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 3-oz box, strawberry gelatin
3/4 cup milk

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9×9 inch pan or line a muffin pan with paper liners (makes 18 cupcakes).

In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine flour and baking powder, add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Finally stir in the milk until batter is smooth. Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven. For cupcakes, bake 20 to 25 minutes. Cake is done when it springs back to the touch.

I made this zucchini risotto a while back and decided that I really like risotto. So I made more tonight, with some added protein and dicing the squash for some added texture.

Turned out pretty well and was quite filling (plus leftovers for tomorrow!).

4 cups water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced shallot (or leek, or spring onion, or whatever onion you have on hand)
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 1/3 cup risotto rice (such as Arborio, Carnaroli, or Violone Nano)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1-2 Tbsp butter (optional)
A squirt of fresh lemon juice
A handful of feta (optional)
2 cans tuna, 9 oz each
Salt

Pour the water into a kettle and bring to a boil.

Set a medium-sized, heavy sauce pan over med-low heat. Add the oil and shallots. Add zucchini and saute until tender.

Cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent and tender.

Turn up the heat to medium, add the rice, and cook, stirring constantly, for 2-4 minutes or until the grains are mostly translucent and only white in the center.

Pour in the wine and cook, stirring constantly, until the wine is absorbed. Add tuna.

Add enough water to cover the rice by 1/2 inch (about 2 cups), 1 tsp kosher salt (or 1/2 tsp table salt), and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the water is absorbed.

Keep adding water 1/2 cup at a time and stirring as necessary. The less water you have in the pot, the more you have to stir.

After 15 minutes of cooking the rice with water, start tasting it. Continue cooking stirring constantly and adding water 1/2 cup at a time as necessary so that the rice doesn’t stick. Taste the rice every few minutes and as soon as it’s almost tender, but still toothsome, turn off the heat.

Add a bit more water if risotto looks stiff. Stir in the butter and a little cheese (if using). Reserve the rest of the cheese to sprinkle on top during serving. Give it a good squirt of lemon, taste and correct seasoning (you might need more lemon juice and/or salt). Cover and let rest 5 minutes. Serve sprinkled with cheese and drizzled with good olive oil. ??????????? ???????????? ??? ??????? ????? ??????? 12 ??? ??????? ?????????? ????? ?????? ??? ????????

I used some of TLD’s home-made strawberry jam for the heart cookies. And Ian had the idea for the fancy spiral cookies. I might try different flavors with those next time. We just used food coloring this time to test it out.

Marble Cake (Derived from Betty Crocker Chocolate Mocha Cake)

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 2/3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

1/2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/2 tbs instant espresso coffee (dry)
3/4 cups water

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well and flour three 8″ round cake pans.
2. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.
3. In medium bowl, cream sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Stir in dry mixture.
4. Split dough between 2 bowls.
5. In first bowl, add 1/2 cup water and extra vanilla. Beat on high until blended, scraping bowl occasionally.
6. In measuring cup or small bowl, mix 3/4 cup water with cocoa and coffee.
7. Pour liquid mixture in second bowl. Beat on high until blended, scraping bowl occasionally.
8. Alternate pouring batter into pans and drag knife through to create marble pattern.
9. Bake 25 minutes.

Frosting
1 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 tsp instant coffee (dry)
3 tbs cocoa
4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate

1. Cream the butter until smooth and well blended.
2. Add vanilla extract.
3. With the mixer on low, gradually beat in the sugar. Scraping bowl often.
4. Mix water, coffee, and cocoa before adding to mixture.
5. Beat on high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 3-4 minutes).
6. Beat chocolate (melted) into finished icing.

Notes: I only used the coffee/cocoa in the frosting because I forgot to halve the coffee/cocoa when I was mixing that part for the cake and had a bunch leftover. Worked out well in the frosting though. I would recommend trying a little more coffee and a little less cocoa next time to bring out the flavor more. I cheated on the chocolate and used 2/3 cup semi-sweet morsels. Definitely should try unsweetened or bittersweet next time. The coloring and flavor in the frosting was a little light and a little too sweet compared to the cake.

And for the adventurous, try a different flavor in the vanilla/plain part of the cake. The chocolate mocha part kind of over-powered the rest, but would probably work well with a white chocolate, caramel, or hazelnut.

Thursday afternoon was with Ian’s extended family. The big differences from previous years was the musical extravaganza and birthday cake for dessert. We sang happy birthday to Jesus. It was a fun day.

Did Christmas with my family on Boxing Day. There was dancing, more snorking, and bingo! Plus, Anna had a chance to enjoy the activity book I received the day before.

Mac & Cheese (I made this for Thanksgiving too, but forgot to link the recipe. Thanks to Anna for sending this to me!)

INGREDIENTS
For topping
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2 cups panko (coarse Japanese bread crumbs) or 3 cups coarse fresh bread crumbs (from 6 slices firm white sandwich bread)
1/4 pound coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

For macaroni and sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
5 cups whole milk
1 pound coarsely grated extra-sharp Cheddar (6 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 pound elbow macaroni

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle.

Make topping:
Melt butter, then stir together with panko and topping cheeses in a bowl until combined well.

Make sauce:
Melt butter in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-low heat and stir in flour. Cook roux, stirring, 3 minutes, then whisk in milk. Bring sauce to a boil, whisking constantly, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 3 minutes. Stir in cheeses, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until smooth. Remove from heat and cover surface of sauce with wax paper.

Make Macaroni:
Cook macaroni in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 4 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1 cup cooking water and drain macaroni in a colander. Stir together macaroni, reserved cooking water, and sauce in a large bowl. Transfer to 2 buttered 2-quart shallow baking dishes.

Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 20 to 25 minutes.

NOTES: Add a tablespoon of mustard to the roux. I’ve been using progressively more pasta each time and I think for my taste, about a pound and a half of pasta with some ham mixed in was a good cheese ratio (can reduce final baking time to ~15 mins). I mixed whole wheat with regular rotinis and started that when I started the sauce and let it sit in the water to overcook the noodles until the sauce was ready.

So, I made a rookie mistake today while baking. Don’t worry, I used the right amount of butter this time. I checked twice before I started, once as I was mixing, and again after I taste-tested for quality control and was just sitting in my room. I’m that

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paranoid about measuring butter.

Anyway, I took the first cookie sheet out of the oven, put the second sheet in, waited 2 minutes, then moved the first tray of cookies onto the cooling rack. I then rotated the cooling rack to the other counter and moved sheet #1 to the stove to refill so the other cooling rack would be ready for sheet #2 when it came out of the oven. Repeated: sheet #2 out of oven, sheet #1 back in, wait 2 minutes, move cookies. Then, I attempted to move sheet #2 to the stove… with my bare hand. And I whimpered like a dog that’s been kicked.

It felt like a full second that my hand was on the corner of the cookie sheet before my brain registered that I shouldn’t be touching that. It was seconds after I had whimpered, pulled my hand away, and Ian called from the other room to find out what had happened that I realized what a dumb move that was. Whoops. Put some ice on it, good as new.

I haven’t burned my hand baking cookies since junior year in college. And that was because I didn’t have an oven mitt. I grabbed the pan with a potholder and the potholder slipped just enough that my thumb was touching the pan, but I couldn’t do anything until I finished putting it down on the counter. (No way I’m dropping fresh-baked cookies. I’m not that big a wimp.)

The cookie sheets I have now are fantastic. My mom got them for me a few years ago. They’re thick aluminum like I see all the fancy people on Food Network use. Distributes the heat evenly and I have never burned cookies on those pans. But they also hold the heat in really well and I don’t use them often enough to make sure I remember. I guess I’ll remember a few weeks longer now.

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INGREDIENTS
3 cups uncooked egg noodles
2 (6 ounce) cans tuna, drained
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped green onions
1/3 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons prepared mustard
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 small zucchini, sliced
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 tomato, chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 2 quart casserole dish.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add noodles, and cook until al dente; drain.
3. In a large mixing bowl, combine noodles, tuna, celery, and green onion. Stir in sour cream, mustard, and mayonnaise. Season with salt and thyme. Spoon 1/2 of the noodle mixture into the prepared casserole dish. Arrange a layer of zucchini over the mixture. Top with the remaining noodles, followed by a layer of zucchini. Top the entire casserole with cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until hot and bubbly. Sprinkle the casserole with tomatoes before serving.

Notes: I didn’t follow most of the recipe, so that might explain why it wasn’t as awesome as the reviews said it would be. I used regular noodles (whole wheat, actually, for most of it and a handful of regular noodles because I didn’t have enough), frozen veggie mix instead of celery, and no thyme. And I forgot the salt, but I didn’t notice a difference because I don’t salt my food much anyway.

I think next time I would put a layer of cheese between the noodle layers. I think this would also have made a good cold pasta salad.

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1. I had no rolling pin. I thought I had moved it with me, but it turns out I forgot it at Sonny’s place and haven’t had a need for it until now. The first tray, I used a drinking glass, which was ok, but wasn’t the right length, so it left some lines in the dough from the ends. I finally ended up using a wine bottle, which worked out really well.

2. I had no wax paper. You’d think with me planning to make cookies for 2 weeks I would have the necessary supplies when the time came. You’d be wrong. I ended up using freezer paper, which had a plastic coating on one side, so the dough didn’t stick to it. It was thicker than wax paper and not translucent, so it was hard to ensure there was a uniform thickness to the dough.

3. I forgot the salt. I’m not exactly clear on what that does, but I think it means that not all the CO2 that reacted from the baking powder was able to be released. Salt facilitates the release of carbon dioxide because it brings little air bubbles into the mixture that helps diffuse the CO2. Since the baking powder all reacted properly, but the gas couldn’t get out, the cookies didn’t rise and ended up with bubbles in them. (If someone has a better explanation, please share. I had difficulty finding a good explanation on the internet. *gasp*)

End result: not the best texture, but they still taste like regular cookies.

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With the final dough-ball, I made a kind of creepy-looking leprachaun and a gold coin:

Rich Rolled Sugar Cookies

(from The Joy Of Cooking)

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup Sugar
1 large Egg
1/4 Tsp Baking powder
1/8 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
2 1/3 cups All-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Beat in egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Stir in flour.
3. Divide the dough in half and roll out a scant 1/4-inch thick. Keeping the wax paper in place, layer the rolled dough on a tray and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cold and slightly firm but not hard.
4. Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), cut out cookies, using 2- or 3-inch cutters. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in the upper third of the oven for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges. Rotate sheets halfway through baking for even browning. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, Then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

Store, airtight, for 1 or 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 month.
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The dynamic worked out pretty well. People made the effort to mingle for a while and then it kind of split with coworkers in the kitchen/dining room and nerds in the sitting area at the back of the living room. But everyone still close enough that they could overhear things like the Fortran conversation in the other group. Yeah, you’re really cool, guys.

It was a nice evening too. So even though the condo started getting really warm from the food cooking in the kitchen, people were able to go out on the balcony and leave the door open to get a nice breeze coming through.

Food… the usual appetizer stuff. Sonny brought over some Trader Ming’s orange chicken that he cooked up while people were arriving. So there was plenty of hot food for people to snack on. Didn’t get a picture of cakes, but I made a butter cake with vanilla frosting (Fashiongrrl got to frost her first cake!) and a chocolate mocha cake with chocolate frosting.

Lots of fun, but now I just need to clean up… ;)

Betty Crocker Chocolate Mocha Cake and Frosting
(From the Bake’n Fill Cake Pan booklet)

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 cups flour
1 2/3 cups sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup baking cocoa
1 1/4 cups water
1 tbs instant espresso coffee (dry)
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

DIRECTIONS:
1. In large bowl, beat all cake ingredients on low 30 seconds, scraping bowl constantly.
2. Beat on high 3 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally.
3. Bake at 350 degrees, 25 minutes in three 8″ round cake pans.

Frosting:
2/3 cup whipping (heavy) cream
6 oz semisweet baking chocolate, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
1. In 1-qt saucepan, heat 2/3 cup whipping cream over low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot.
2. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate until melted.
3. Let stand about 5 minutes. Frosting is ready to use when it mounds slightly when dropped from spoon.

Notes: Used regular cake pans instead of the tall/dome cake pans. Make sure to grease pans well. Cakes did not want to come out. Filled in between layers with Chocolate Frosting that I used last time

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Substituted 2 tbl dry coffee instead of espresso. Used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of baking chocolate (6 oz ~= 1 cup chocolate chips). Came out kind of syrupy, so I used it as a glaze, refrigerated after pouring some on, and added a second layer after the first had cooled and become easier to spread. I was later informed that I should have added additional chocolate to thicken.

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