An Experiment....

Firstively, let me start by saying I know I didn't blog yesterday and yet my blog mandate clearly states that I will blog every day with a new recipe. Well, I'm changing it. I'll blog whenever I bake. That's usually at least once a day; sometimes twice, and sometimes every other day. The bottom line is this: If I only post when I bake there will be more creative and rich posts filled with pictures, stories about how I burn myself, slice fingertips off, and all that other fun stuff. Deal?

That said....

I'm attempting to post while baking this morning. It's a new recipe I'm creating on the fly for orange chocolate chip muffins. I've always felt that once you introduce chocolate into a muffin, it becomes more of a cupcake, but hey.... breakfast is breakfast!

Orange Chocolate Chip Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of nutmeg
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 Lg eggs
• zest and juice from 2 Lg oranges
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. combine dry ingredients and mix well, but don't sift
2. combine wet ingredient and mix well
3. combine the dry, wet, and chocolate chips, folding just until incorporated
4. portion into lined muffin tins
5. bake @ 350° F until done (about 25 - 30 minutes)

How it all went down:

The kitchen smells like burnt orange now, but I'll get to that a little later....

Depending on the size of recipe, I usually use a fork or whisk to uniformly blend dry ingredients together. Not necessarily what the tool was designed for, but it works well.

Even though it costs a little more, I always try to use free range and/or organic eggs in my recipes. Once incorporated into baked goods, I don't think there's a real difference in taste but it still makes a difference ethically. The eggs I'm using today however are neither free range or organic, but do have a higher level of omega 3 fatty acids due to the diet of the chicken. It's my first time using these eggs and I'm not sure how I feel about it. If the recipe flops, I'll be sure to look in their direction first.

I got a micro-plane for Christmas. Aside from my french knife, it's probably one of the most used pieces of equipment in my portable kitchen. It's pretty grate. :-)


It already smells good.


For muffins with berries or chocolate chips in them, I often mix the dry and wet part way, then add the fruit or chocolate, and then complete the combining process. This way everything gets mixed evenly without creating those evil gluten strands. (Evil to muffins, anyway)

Into the oven to bake for 30 minutes and.... the tops collapsed. :-(


I think I portioned to much into each muffin cup and they couldn't hold their own structure. Some of the edge muffins even spilled over the side creating the lovely burnt orange smell I mentioned earlier.

The most important thing, of course, is the taste.... which in this case is phenomenal. I'll surely make these again, but also fully intend to mess around with the amounts of leavening agents, portion size, and oven temperature. I like my muffin to have a nice crested top, not some crazy plateau. In the meantime if anybody in blog-land decides to try fixing this recipe or has other ideas, feel free to suggest something.

The perfect chocolate chip cookie

After long and arduous searching, near-endless taste-testing and adapting, combining recipes and adapting some more, (and then much more taste-testing!) I do believe I've finally stumbled upon....

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
(yeild: about 48)

Ingredients:

1. ¾ cup room temperature butter
2. 1 cup packed brown sugar
3. ¼ cup white sugar
4. 1 Lg egg
5. 1 Lg egg yolk
6. 2 tsp vanilla
7. 2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
8. 2 tsp cornstarch
9. 1 tsp baking soda
10. 1 cup 55% cocoa Belgian chocolate chips
11. 1 cup 72% cocoa Swiss chocolate chunks

Method:

1. combine flour, cornstarch, and baking soda and blend with a whisk - set aside
2. cream butter and sugars together with wooden spoon
3. add egg and extra yolk continuing to mix until just absorbed
4. add vanilla continuing to mix until just absorbed
5. add dry ingredients and chocolate, folding until just incorporated
6. drop onto parchment lined pans
7. bake @ 345° for no longer than 10 minutes (cookies will appear undercooked when they come out - they should!)
   

I think they stay chewy past three days, but to be honest they've never lasted that long.

Mojito Brownies

The other day one of my bosses requested that I come up with a few different brownies featuring mint. Of the three varieties I created today, this is the one I like best so far.... (this is a lengthy and involved original recipe, allowing me to feel less guilty about the fact that I posted rice krispie treats yesterday)


There's rum in the brownies, schnapps in the ganache icing, and oodles of chocolate throughout. 100% awesomeness. This can all be done with extracts, of course, but the real booze gives it a nice punch - especially since this brownie attempts to mimic a cocktail.

Chocolate Mojito Brownies
yeild: one 20" x 12" hotel pan

Brownie Ingredients:

• 454 g butter
• 230 g the best dark chocolate you can find
• 125 mL white rum
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 cups white sugar
• 8 Lg eggs
• ½ tsp salt
• 125 mL cocoa
• 750 mL all-purpose flour
• zest from 4 limes

Method:

1. melt butter over medium heat
2. remove from stove and add chocolate (chopped fine) mix until smooth
3. add rum and mix well
4. set aside to cool slightly
5. cream eggs, salt and sugars with beater at medium speed until light and fluffy
6. reduce to lowest mixer speed, then add chocolate mixture and lime zest
7. add flour and cocoa, mixing until just incorporated
8. pour into prepared pan(s) and bake @ 350° F until done (about 25 minutes)

Topping Ingredients:

• 400 g dark chocolate
• 200 mL 35% cream
• 200 mL peppermint schnapps
• 100 g white chocolate

Method:

1. heat cream and 100 mL of the schnapps to almost boiling
2. remove from heat and add chocolate (chopped fine) mix until smooth
3. add remaining schnapps and mix well
4. set aside to cool slightly
5. melt white chocolate in a double boiler
6. set aside to cool slightly
7. pour chocolate schnapps mixture over cooled brownies and allow to set 10 minutes
8. spoon slightly cooled white chocolate into piping bag with 2mm plain tip
9. pipe straight lines across top
10. draw back of knife through lines in opposite directions to create herring bone pattern
11. refrigerate at least 20 minutes to set

If I could do it over again (which I plan to do of course!), I'd omit the chocolate in the brownies and replace the cocoa with as much ground coconut making it a blond brownie, better complimenting the refreshing tropical flavors. For the topping, I would use white chocolate where dark chocolate was used, and melted green molding wafers for the marbled lines.

The end. Sleep happens now.

The way it crumbles....

Today was my first day back at school in a new semester of culinary management. Tomorrow I'll be in the land of cookies as my class and I undertake the arduous task of baking some 2000 cookies for charity. Maybe. Tomorrow also happens to be a scheduled province-wide student walkout protesting a pending teacher strike that has the potential to set students back a full year in their programs.

It's a pretty crap decision to have to make. I love baking cookies, and doubly so for charity; but I also want to voice my opinion on this strike issue, especially if a yes vote on the strike means another year before I graduate.

I already know I'm going to school tomorrow, but I'm not going to learn or even have my attendance taken. I'm going to help make cookies, and that is all. Now, as my title suggested; a cookie recipe (my favorite):

Mayan Chocolate Sparklers

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup shortening
• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 2 eggs
• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1¼ cups cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp pepper
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 cup chocolate chips
  

Method:

1. Beat shortening, butter and sugars until creamy.
2. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
3. Add next 6 ingredients, mixing until incorporated.
4. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Roll in 1” balls, don’t flatten.
6. Roll into cinnamon and sugar topping.
7. Place on prepared cookie sheets, about 2” apart.
8. Bake @ 350° F for about 10 minutes (should still be soft in center)

I made these for the first time this past Christmas and I see no reason why they shouldn't make it into the regular rotation. Despite the title of this post, these cookies are exceptionally soft and moist with no crumbling tendency at all. The pepper gives them a nice little unexpected kick. Truly good food for a picket line. :-)




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