Holiday Cookies!

So we had cake, and of course, we had to have cookies, too. Actually, it was a bit of a marathon baking day on the 23rd, but I had help from my sous chef littlest brother who you may remember from my Cupcake Sliders & Cookie Fries post. Of course, Charlie helped out, too!

We made some chewy chocolate chocolate chip cookies based on my stout cookie recipe. We left out the stout, added a tablespoon of water, and divided the batter in half. In one half, we added a bit of coffee extract and regular semi-sweet chocolate chips. In the other half, we left the batter plain chocolatey and broke up a candy cane/peppermint chocolate bar and used that as the chocolate chips. Both cookies were a hit!

As for the other cookies, we wanted to get some rolled sugar cookies happening, but we were running short on time, so we used some from a mix. They actually rolled out better than I expected them to, and then we made up a thicker version of the glaze in Irksome Iced Sugar Cookies. I’m not a world class decorator by any means, but we got a couple of cute ones!

The arthritis in my hands was really bugging me at the end of this. Anyone have any tips or tricks for keeping your hands from hurting with all this piping?

Chocolate Orange Christmas Bundt

Image is of a chocolate bundt cake on top of a red and green quilt. My mom made that quilt, isn’t it lovely?

When my dad and brothers eat out at a restaurant, they always order the “Death by Chocolate” dessert, so when I bake a cake for the family at Christmas, I always try to make something very chocolatey. If I don’t, I’ll get comments like, “This cake is good… but there isn’t enough chocolate.” Last year I made this Deep Dark Chocolate Cake, which was a chocolate layer cake made with black cocoa filled with raspberry jam and topped with both a whipped and poured chocolate ganache.

Chocolate and orange together have always seemed rather Christmassy to me, probably in part due to the seasonal nature of citrus during the winter, and also because my family has sometimes bought those chocolates that are infused with orange that you smack on the table and come away with individual slices of chocolate. This year, I planned a chocolate orange bundt with a poured chocolate ganache on top. (I’m finally ready to face bundt pans again after doing Micah and Casey’s many-bundt wedding cake in September.)

I’ve seen this Cook’s Illustrated chocolate cake recipe talked about all over the internet for ages, and it always seemed like a pain to me. Really? Cocoa and bittersweet chocolate? Boiling water for a cake? But here’s the great thing about using the boiling water – it means that you don’t have to melt down the chocolate in a double boiler, so you don’t have to wash that extra pan, but you still get the lovely richness from the chopped chocolate.

I’ve adapted the recipe to add orange extract and orange zest to add flavor without disrupting the dry/liquid balance of this tried and true recipe. It really came out wonderfully, a cake that wasn’t too sweet and was perfectly complimented by the poured ganache. It looked beautiful on our holiday table and was wonderful with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. If you don’t celebrate Christmas, it would be wonderful for the new year!

Ingredients

3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa (2 1/4 ounces)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup water (boiling)
1 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
2 cups light brown sugar (I used a scant two cups rather than packed two cups to cut back on the sugar a bit)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 teaspoons orange extract
zest of 1 orange
5 large eggs, room temperature

1 batch of poured ganache

Directions

Grease and lightly dust a 12-cup Bundt pan with cocoa powder. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine cocoa, chocolate in medium heatproof bowl; pour boiling water over and whisk until smooth. Cool to room temperature, then whisk in sour cream. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda in second bowl to combine.

In stand mixer fitted with flat beater, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and orange extract on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs one at a time, mixing about 30 seconds after each addition and scraping down bowl with rubber spatula after first 2 additions.

Reduce to medium-low speed; add about one third of flour mixture and half of chocolate/sour cream mixture and mix until just incorporated, about 20 seconds. Scrape bowl and repeat using half of remaining flour mixture and all of remaining chocolate mixture; add remaining flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 10 seconds. Scrape bowl and mix on medium-low until batter is thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds. Add orange zest and stir. Pour batter into prepared Bundt pan, being careful not to pour batter on sides of pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F until wooden skewer inserted into center comes out with few crumbs attached, 50 minutes to an hour. Cool in pan 10 minutes, then invert cake onto parchment-lined wire rack.

Prepare the ganache (Recipe is in a separate post here) and pour it over the cake. Let the ganache set (this could take a few hours). Keep refrigerated until a few minutes before serving. Serve with fresh whipped cream.

Chocolate Ganache

Image is of a wisk in a bowl of chocolate ganache.

I make chocolate ganache often enough now that I figured I should dedicate a whole post to it. It will be short (and sweet!) for now, but I may come back to this in a few days to report back after I use up some leftovers on truffles.

This particular post finally got put up due to my Chocolate Orange Christmas Bundt, but you can use it for all sorts of delicious chocolatey fun.

Nearly every ganache recipe I’ve seen is very, very similar, but I’ll link you to Joy of Baking because it’s got some helpful hints and tips on there, like that you should ideally use a chocolate with less than 58% cacao in it for textural reasons.

But look. Joy of Baking does butter in their ganache. I usually don’t. And then there’s all kinds of confusing crap between cups and ounces when we’re talking chocolate. But in my experience, if you take an average sized bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (they’re usually about 10oz) and put that to a cup of cream, you’ll get a good ganache going. I’ve made it work with a little less. I’ve made it work with a little more. I’ve mixed bittersweet and semi-sweet. And the one time it all went wrong, it still tasted pretty darn good. Experiment a little.

Ingredients

9 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon dark rum (optional)

Directions

Chop the chocolate into small pieces and place it in a large stainless steel bowl.

In a large, high sided saucepan, heat cream over medium high heat, stirring frequently, until it starts to boil. Watch it carefully to ensure that it does not boil over. Remove immediately from heat and pour over the chopped chocolate.

Wisk the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.

For poured ganache, allow the mixture to cool slightly, then pour over the cake.

For whipped ganache, allow the mixture to cool at room temperature for about two hours, then use a stand mixer to whip the attachment into a fluffy frosting.

Store ganache in refrigerator.

Site Design

Trying out a new page design for the first time in a while… What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Is it more organized, or harder to read? Let me know!

An update and some favorite recipes from the past…

Hey Measuring Spoons Readers!

First off, if you celebrate a winter holiday, I hope it’s happy!

Secondly, I wanted to give a sort of general life update post, which I don’t do that often, but you know, sometimes I do particularly when I’ve been slacking off on the blog quite a bit… and I know that I haven’t been posting delicious holiday cookie or cake recipes. Believe me, I want nothing more than to be hanging out, baking cookies lately, but there’s been some stuff going on in my life that’s been keeping me out of the kitchen.

As you might have guessed (if you’ve been following the blog for a while, or you’ve read the About page), part of the reason I haven’t been around much is my health. I have a fancy new diagnosis (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, Hypermobility Type), which is just another explanation for why my joints are all wonky and sore all the time. Plus, I’ve had some flare ups of an old injury, my RA, and my fibromyalgia, so I’ve been kind of achey and tired.

Charlie and I are also in the process of moving, which, as I’m sure you know, can be exhausting! We’re at a stopover for now with some family since we’re still making some decisions about where we’re going to live, what we can afford, and what our long-term plans before we commit to a lease. The great thing about this is that I’ve gotten to spend some time cooking meals for my 12 year old brother, who is way more adventurous with food than I was at his age, and he’s tried things like brussels sprouts and tofu and butternut squash lasagna and lentil soup and for the most part, really enjoyed the food I’ve made.

And here’s another cool thing. I’ve been focusing on my writing a bit. I’ve recently finished my first novel and will soon begin the editing process to see if I can turn it into something that anyone else will want to read! I’ve also been writing short pieces, fiction and nonfiction, and I’m happy to report that I just had a short piece published in an actual book, you know, the kind that you can buy on Amazon and everything. How neat is that?

So those are just a few of the things that have kept me a bit busy. I’m hoping to make some delicious things for the family this weekend, and if that happens, I’ll try to get them posted before the New Year so that you can them out.

In the meantime, here are some favorites that are great for the holidays:

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake
Darling Clementines
Cranberry Sauce Almondies
Irksome Iced Sugar Cookies
Carrot Cake with Bourbon Cream Cheese Frosting
Dressmaker’s Double Stout Cookies
Holiday Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Spiral Herb Rolls

Again, happy holidays, and I hope to be baking and posting more soon!

Cocoa Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins

Oatmeal in the morning on a cool day is an awesome thing, right? But sometimes you don’t make enough, and other times (especially when you set it up in your slow cooker and then people rush out the door without breakfast anyway) there is tooooo much oatmeal. You don’t want to throw it out, but if you save it, do people really eat the leftovers? They will if you turn them into muffins! Say, Cocoa Cranberry Oatmeal Muffins?

I’m not sure that I got a photo of these muffins, but they were really tasty and they’re pretty healthy – I substituted nonfat yogurt for some of the butter and reduced the sugar, used whole wheat flour, and of course, they’ve got the healthy power of oatmeal in there, too! I was surprised at how light and fluffy these came out. I’ll definitely make them again when we have oatmeal leftovers, and if you don’t have cranberries, throw in raisins or chocolate chips or nuts or anything else you can think of!

The basis of this recipe originates here, which was a great help since I wasn’t quite sure how my oatmeal leftovers were going to factor in.

Ingedients

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup nonfat greek yogurt
4 medium eggs (or 3 large)
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups leftover cooked oatmeal (our leftovers were steel cut oats)
1 cup cranberries, sliced

Directions

In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, mix together melted butter, eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, cranberries, and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. The batter will seem thick, but don’t worry. Adding more liquid may make the muffins too crumbly.

Spoon batter into 24 greased muffin cups.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes, or until the muffin centers are slightly firm.

Slow-Cooker Seitan Pot Roast

I don’t have the best picture of this because of low lighting, but it did come out pretty nice looking! Photo is of a vegetarian roast with a few slices taken out, surrounded by veggies.

I’ve been wanting to make Vegan Planet’s Slow-Cooker Seitan Pot Roast since the moment I heard about it, and that was ages ago. Over a year ago, for certain. It just sounds so delightful – pretty much, the part of Thanksgiving that’s been missing for me the past 15 or 17 odd years, namely, the turkey, but more importantly, the ridiculous sandwiches of turkey and cranberry sauce and whatever else you could cram between two pieces of lovely bread the next day.

Finally, finally, Bo and I took on this project. It really wasn’t hard to put together at all. In fact, the wheat gluten worked in quite magical ways, as one minute it was this powdery dry stuff, and the next, when you poured the liquid in and stirred maybe two or three times, it had become a solid-ish, bouncy sort of object. SCIENCE!

Anyway, I’ll be totally honest here. This seitan roast was not the seitan roast of my dreams. It came out pretty darn rubbery, and I can’t say whether we overmixed it in trying to get it to look sort of like a roast (or at least one contiguous blob) or if we left it in for too long or not long enough. Slow cookers are a little wonky as you’re never quite sure if yours is the same as the person’s who wrote the recipe, and times can vary quite a bit. There’s even a note to that effect in the recipe.

But hey. This blog is subtitled “recipes and experimentations,” right? I’ll give this another chance, and if that still doesn’t work out, I might try it in the alternate/oven method, especially since our veggies that roasted in the oven came out far superior to the ones in the slow cooker. But you know, we had a veg*n Thanksgiving roast, and we had leftover sandwiches (albeit rubbery ones) and that was pretty cool.

Note: Since we were roasting a whole tray of veggies separately, we did not put the full amount of veggies in.

Ingredients

1 yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 pound carrots
1 pound small red-skinned potatoes, halved or quartered
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 cup vegetable stock
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
2 cups wheat gluten flour
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 cup water or vegetable stock, or more as needed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon ketchup or tomato sauce

Directions

Note: You may need to adjust your cooking time according to the quirks of your own crockpot. The one I used for this recipe cooks fast — if I had used one of my other slow cookers, it would have taken nearly twice as long.

Arrange the onion, carrots, and potatoes in the bottom of a lightly oiled slow cooker. Season the vegetables to taste with salt and pepper and add the stock, garlic, and 1/2 teaspoon each of the thyme and marjoram.

In a large bowl, combine the wheat gluten flour, onion powder, garlic powder, the remaining 1/2 teaspoon each of thyme and marjoram, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper. Add the water or stock, soy sauce, and ketchup. Mix well, adding a little more water if the mixture is too dry, then knead for 2 minutes until smooth. Shape the gluten to fit inside your cooker and place on top of the vegetables. (You can place it on top of a piece of aluminum foil or wrap it in cheesecloth, if desired, to keep its shape). Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours (or longer, depending on your slow cooker – we did about six), or until the seitan and vegetables are cooked.

To serve, remove the vegetables and seitan from the slow cooker. Cut the seitan into slices and arrange them on a serving platter. Surround with the vegetables and spoon the cooking liquid over all or transfer the cooking liquid to a saucepan and thicken into a gravy.

Serves 4, more when you’re making Thanksgiving dinner with lots of sides!

Red (Purple!) Sweet Potato Pies

Charlie and I went shopping at the Ramsey Farmers Market the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We were looking for veggies and picking up our eggs from Farmer Matt. We got our eggs and wandered around tasting yummy things, and then we buckled down and bought some veggies and fruit.

The sweet potato bin at one of the veggie stands was getting very empty, but the bin next to it was labeled “Red Sweet Potatoes” and it had some of the largest sweet potatoes I’d ever seen in my life in it. “What’s the difference?” I asked the farmer. He told me that the red ones weren’t really orange on the inside – that they had a deeper color – but that they were good. I decided we’d try them out.

I googled them when we got home, and I kept finding results that looked very purple. I was very delighted when we peeled the sweet potatoes and found that they were bright purple!

Photo is of a large sweet potato with a bit of skin peeled away, revealing the purple flesh.

Photo is of the peeled and cut purple sweet potatoes.

We cooked and mashed them, following the recipe for Mom’s Sweet Potato Pie. We couldn’t wait to see what they’d look like, cute and tiny and purple!

Bo began to decorate the mounds of sweet potato with nuts and marshmallows.

Photo is of one of the mini red sweet potato pies.

Isn’t it amazing?

Photo is of Bo holding a tray of mini sweet potato pies.

And here they are, fresh out of the oven. They were delicious! I’d definitely get these red/purple beauties again. Yay for trying something new!