Familial Bonds

My brothers and I have an understanding. For gift-giving holidays, they bequeath to me those items of a food-making nature, and rather than expressing my thanks with a Thank You card, I respond with something of a more practical nature (food, I make them food with my new food-making appliances). For my birthday this year I received from them knives of the utmost sharpness; a sleek, black crock pot for lazy - I mean busy - chefs; and (this post brought to you by) a bundt pan which bears a strong resemblance to that opera house in Sydney, Australia (you know the one). The bundt pan surrendured a peanut butter-banana cake with the sharpest corners I've ever been able to eat:

I used this recipe but instead of the accompanying chocolate frosting, I smothered my cake in a simple ganache.

Peanut Butter Banana Cake

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk (or regular milk with a splash of vinegar)
3 medium bananas, mashed
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk to the batter, then stir in bananas (and walnuts, if using).

Pour batter into a greased bundt pan and bake for 35-45 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 15 minutes, then invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.



Chocolate Ganache

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream

Heat chocolate chips and heavy cream in a double boiler, whisking constantly, until chocolate is completely melted. Let cool to room temperature or slightly warmer, then pour over the top of the cake.

Yum.

And yummm.

And have I mentioned, yum?

Up next: When Russians invade!

Why Sometimes You Should Listen to Your Mother

(Sometimes, mom, I said sometimes!) My mother had been systematically weaseling the words "tiramisu brownie" into our conversations for a while when a long-ago friend of her's brought his family over for a visit. Needless to say, my mom jumped at the opportunity to convince me to make this dessert for them. I was reluctant because 1) I had yet to really enjoy tiramisu at any point in my life, 2) I hadn't planned on baking that day and I like a little time for some forethought, and 3) my mother hadn't bought exactly the right ingredients for the job, some major ones were missing completely, others were slightly different, and I was on the verge of throwing a very toddler-esque fit. My mom is a "throw what you have into a bowl and bake" kind of a cook, but I get my method from my very neat, very organized, must-do-things-the-right-way-the-first-time father. Yikes, bad combination. Luckily my mom convinced me to improvise where I needed to and just get the damn things done already, which is where the listening-to-your-mother part comes in: sometimes they know what they're talking about. So I gathered my head and screwed it back on as straight as I could, and got to work.


The original recipe came from this book (which I didn't read. I tried, it's just not my cup of tea):

which called for cutting the brownies into strips, dunking them in a coffee mixture, and layering with the mascarpone mixture a la Legit Tiramisu. I, however, was freaking out enough as it was (not to mention we didn't even have the right ingredients for the dunking) and decided to make the brownies, soak them in weak coffee, and just bury underneath a layer of mascarpone. It worked out quite well.

Tiramisu Brownies
serves a lot and at the same time, not nearly enough

For the brownies:
1 cup shortening
4 1-oz squares unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Melt shortening and chocolate together in a double boiler. Cool to room temperature. In a separate bowl, beat eggs with a mixer on high speed until light. Stir in sugar, then add chocolate mixture and vanilla. Sift dry ingredients over chocolate/sugar mixture, then mix well. Pour into a greased 9-by-13 pan (mixture will be thicker than your typical brownie batter) and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool.


For the topping:
8 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
2 cups whipping cream
16 oz. coffee-flavored mascarpone cheese*
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup weak, freshly brewed coffee, cooled
2 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped or grated
chocolate shavings

*if you can't find coffee-flavored mascarpone, mix a teaspoon or two of instant espresso powder into plain mascarpone


Whisk together egg yolks, sugar, and milk in a 2-quart saucepan until smooth and blended. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. As soon as mixture reaches a boil, remove from heat. Immediately refrigerate until cool (or put it in an ice bath to cool it down faster).

With an electric mixer, beat whipping cream at high speed until it forms very stiff peaks. Set aside in the refrigerator.

Mix the mascarpone cheese and sugar. Stir in the yolk mixture. Fold in the whipped cream.


To assemble:
Poke holes in the top of the brownie with a fork and pour the coffee evenly over the surface. Sprinkle with chopped/grated semisweet chocolate. Spread the mascarpone topping over the brownie and garnish with chocolate shavings. Store in refrigerator and serve chilled.

A Very Merry Unbirthday To Me!

Today is not my birthday (it's probably not yours either) so I'm celebrating my unbirthday in preparation for my real birthday TOMORROW! I turn the big 2-0, which means I am no longer a teenager but an actual adult (yeah, right) and should probably start acting like one (yeah, right). I'm kicking things off by sharing with you a brownie dressed up for grownups: the cream cheese brownie.


I found this recipe from Ev on the Run and have to make them every so often because they are just that good.

Cream Cheese Brownies

For the cream cheese filling:
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the brownies:
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease a 9×9 inch square baking pan.
Combine cream cheese with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 egg in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Stir 1/3 cup chocolate chips into the cream cheese mixture. Set aside.

Place 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/4 cup butter into a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 25 seconds and then stir. Repeat until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth.

Stir in 1/2 cup sugar and 2 eggs, then sift flour, baking powder, and salt over the chocolate mixture and mix until evenly blended. (Don't over mix!) Add the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and stir.

Pour half of the batter into the 9×9 baking pan. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the chocolate layer and top with remaining chocolate mixture (this doesn’t need to completely cover the cream cheese layer). Using a knife, swirl the top chocolate layer into the cream cheese to make a marble pattern.
Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until top is crinkled and edges pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool before cutting and store in the fridge. Makes about 12-16 brownies.


Go on, take a bite.

Now just wait for my next post, where brownies become so classy they're practically middle-aged...

Hey, It's You! Wow! It's Been Ages!

Yeah, I did it again. I'll be surprised if my blog isn't suffering from abondonment issues by now... At least I can say I treat my cat better (although it's not like my blog doesn't have plenty of food). Anyhow, remember this caramel butter I made so long ago? And how it came with a surplus of delicious caramel buttermilk that I came dangerously close to drinking straight up out of the jar? Let me spin a tale of self control: I did not drink the buttermilk; I saved it to make these little orbs of happily-ever-after:


The best part about these pancakes is that they are indeed pancakes, so they're really easy to make and super delicious. You can use any buttermilk pancake recipe and just sub your caramel buttermilk (because I know you all went and made caramel butter and have just been absolutely dying to find out what to do with the buttermlk...) for the regular buttermilk. Alternately (because maybe there might be just one or two people who didn't make any caramel butter), you can whisk a few tablespoons of caramel into the wet ingredients of your pancake recipe. If you don't happen to have a go-to pancake recipe, however, here's the one that I used:

Caramel Buttermilk Pancakes
serves about 4

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
more butter (caramel or otherwise) for frying

Preheat your oven to about 150-200F with a baking sheet in the middle to keep your pancakes warm between the frying and the eating.

Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl and make a well in the center. Whisk the wet ingredients in a different bowl and then pour into the well. Mix until just combined (there will be clumps of flour that you need not worry about).

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add a little butter (you be the judge) and let it melt, covering the surface of the pan. Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the middle of the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface, then flip and cook the other side until it is golden brown. Transfer your pancake to the baking sheet in the oven and continue the process until you run out of batter.




Next, smother in copious amounts of butter and syrup

and watch some X-Files (not pictured). Or if pancakes are too much trouble for you, cut out the middle man and just swig some caramel buttermilk.