Black Bottom Cupcakes...semi-fail

I have seen black bottom cupcakes pop up here and there over the years, and decided that I would make some for our New Years Eve get together at my sisters. I have come to trust the recipes over at Annie's-Eats, so I decided to see if she had a recipe, and guess what....she did! If you've never had them before, they are basically chocolate cupcakes, with a chocolate chip cheesecakey filling, and should look like this when they are done:

image from Annie's Eats

Unfortunately, mine did not turn out this way. Here is the recipe I used:

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the filling:

8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

For the cupcakes:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

5 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

1 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tbsp. white or cider vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

To make the filling, beat together the cream cheese, granulated sugar and egg until smooth.  Stir in chopped chocolate pieces.  Set aside.

To make the cupcakes, adjust a rack to the center of the oven and preheat to 350°.  Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  In a separate bowl mix together the water, oil, vinegar and vanilla extract.  Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring just until smooth.  Stir any longer and you will over-mix the batter, and end up with less-than-tender cupcakes.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups.  Spoon a few tablespoons of the filling into the center of each cupcake, dividing the filling evenly.  This will fill the cups almost completely, which is fine.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until the tops are slightly golden brown and the cupcakes feel springy when gently pressed.  These will keep unrefrigerated for 2-3 days in an airtight container.

Source: adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, originally from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz

I followed the recipe to a T, and mine ended up like this:

So, they have a cheesecakey top, and not filling. They were really tasty, but I think when I make them next time, I'll try digging a little hole in the chocolate batter before adding the filling.

My Top Secret Beer Bread Stuffing

About 6 Thanksgiving's ago I decided to experiment with stuffing. I had only made Stove Top before this, so I did some research and realized that it really would not be that difficult to make. I came up with this recipe after comparing several different recipes, one of which came from Gourmet magazine, and adapted it to my own liking. Here is my take on stuffing. Yes there are several steps involved, but it is so worth it.

Beer Bread Stuffing

Beer Bread

Ingredients:
3 cups self rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
12oz beer (really anything you have will work, but I prefer a red or brown ale for its flavor)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the flour and sugar until combined. Stir in the beer, and mix until all the flour has been absorbed. Your batter will be very sticky.   Transfer this to a well greased loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until bread is golden brown, and there is a nice hard crust on top.

 Sticky, sticky batter

 Before baking

Perfectly baked bread!

  

For the Stuffing

Ingredients:
1 loaf beer bread
2 cups onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups celery, chopped
2 golden delicious apples, peeled and chopped
1 stick of butter
1 tsp rubbed sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt + more to taste
1/2 tsp pepper + more to taste
dash of nutmeg
2 cups chicken broth

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the bread into small cubes, toast for 8-10 minutes on a baking sheet  in oven until golden brown. Transfer bread cubes to a large mixing bowl add sage, thyme, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Adjust oven temperature to 325 degree. In the meantime, saute the onion and celery in a large pan in 6 tbsp of butter over med-high heat for about 6 minutes, or until soft. Season with salt and pepper. In a separate pan, saute the apples in 2 tbsp butter. Season with a dash of nutmeg and cook over med-high heath until soft, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the apples, celery and onion to the bowl with the breadcrumbs, add chicken broth and stir until well combined. Transfer to a 9x13 baking pan and bake for 25-30 or until golden brown on top.

 All the ingredients

Toasted breadcrumbs

Chopped veg

 Veg sauteing

 Chopped apple

 Apple sauteing with nutmeg

 Combine ingredients

And bake!

I Heart Puff Pastry

I love flaky, buttery pasty, but I hate making it from scratch.  I was inspired to make a version of a cheese danish when I made a trip to Trader Joe's with my mother in-law and found this delicious sweet and slightly tangy blueberry vanilla goat cheese. I decided that since I was buying this cheese, it would be the perfect time to experiment with puff pastry, since Trader Joe's sells ths as well for a very nice price.

After arriving home with my purchases, I scoured the interwebs for a cheese danish recipe that might suit my needs, and came across several that gave me a better idea of where to go with this. So here is my version:

Blueberry Goat Cheese Danish

Ingredients
8oz log Trader Joe's wild bluberry & vanilla chevre
3tbs. sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp water
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted

Directions
Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

In a medium bowl, mix together the chevre and sugar. Add the vanilla and 1 egg yolk, and mix until just combined. Set aside.

Take the puff pastry, 1 sheet at a time and roll out. Place pastry onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Take half of the cheese mixture and spoon out onto the sheet of pastry. Taking a sharp knife, slice the sides of the pastry into 2 inch wide strips and fold the pastry, alternating sides, over the cheese. Repeat this process for the second sheet of pastry and the remaining cheese mixture.

Take the other egg yolk, and whisk with 1 tsp. of water. With a pastry brush, coat the tops of your pastry. Place pastry into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. It should look like this:

This turned out just as I had hoped for, and my husband and I gobbled down one of these danish on Saturday. I decided to gift the other to a friend, but had I not, I'm sure the other would have been devoured on Sunday. Thanks to this experiment, I no longer fear puff pastry, and my mind is full of ideas for future recipes.

First Attempt at Scones = Success!

On weekends, we like to stop by a local coffee shop for pastries and coffee and we almost always get scones. I've had a slight desire to make them, but figured they would be too much trouble and I was terrified that they would be dry and inedible. Well, I recently found a recipe for blueberry scones from Cooks Illustrated, and I'm always a fan of their recipes and knew I would be trying this one out.

I did just that this weekend. I got up early and headed out to the store to pick up ingredients and got started. All in all, it was a pretty easy recipe. The most annoying thing about this recipe was having to grate frozen butter, but I know this step was integral in making these scones so delicious. Also, the dough was very sticky, and I didn't add enough flour when I rolled out the dough, so I'll have to be mindful about this for the next time. Because the dough was so sticky, I also had issues with cutting the dough as the instructions stated, so I just made them drop scones. They aren't the prettiest, but who cares!

These came out crispy on the outside and nice, soft, and moist on the inside. The blueberries were plump, tart, and paired wonderfully with the lemon zest. I will definitely be making these again and will seek out more scone recipes to try.

Scones fresh out of the oven

Blueberry Scones

Makes 8 large scones
Adapted from Cooks Illustrated magazine, Jul/Aug 2007 issue

• 1 stick plus 2 tbsp. unsalted butter, frozen whole
• 1 ½ c fresh blueberries (about 7 1/2 ounces), picked over²
• ½ c whole milk
• ½ c sour cream
• 2 c unbleached all-purpose flour (10 ounces), plus additional for work surface
• ¾ c sugar (3 1/2 ounces), plus 1 T for sprinkling
• 2 tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp table salt
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425°F. Score and remove half of wrapper from each stick of frozen butter. Grate 1 stick of butter from unwrapped ends on large holes of box grater. Place grated butter in freezer until needed. Melt 2 tablespoons of remaining ungrated butter and set aside. Place blueberries in freezer until needed.
2. Whisk together milk and sour cream in medium bowl; refrigerate until needed. Whisk flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest in medium bowl. Add frozen butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated.
3. Add milk mixture to flour mixture; fold with spatula until just combined. With rubber spatula, transfer dough to liberally floured work surface. Dust surface of dough with flour; with floured hands, knead dough 6 to 8 times, until it just holds together in ragged ball, adding flour as needed to prevent sticking.
4. Roll dough into approximate 12-inch square. Fold dough into thirds like a business letter, using bench scraper or metal spatula to release dough if it sticks to countertop. Lift short ends of dough and fold into thirds again to form approximate 4-inch square. Transfer dough to plate lightly dusted with flour and chill in freezer 5 minutes.
5. Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll into approximate 12-inch square again. Sprinkle blueberries evenly over surface of dough, then press down so they are slightly embedded in dough. Using bench scraper or thin metal spatula, loosen dough from work surface. Roll dough, pressing to form tight log. Lay seam-side down and press log into 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle crosswise into 4 equal rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form 2 triangles and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheet.
6. Brush tops with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes before serving.
7. Refrigerate or freeze leftover scones, wrapped in foil, in an airtight container. To serve, remove foil and place scones on a baking sheet in a 375°F oven. Heat until warmed through and recrisped, 8 to 10 minutes if refrigerated, 16 to 20 minutes if frozen.

To make ahead:

After placing the scones on the baking sheet, either refrigerate them overnight or freeze. When ready to bake, for refrigerated scones, heat oven to 425°F and continue with step 6. For frozen scones, heat oven to 375°F, resume with step 6, and extend cooking time to 25 to 30 minutes.