Hello Summer

A gorgeous day in the Bay Area, so we headed out to the Bay Area Discovery Museum with Munch's cousin. At 6 and 7, they are closer to the older side of the kids that visit, but both still had so much fun building, creating, and exploring. When we got home, there was more playtime and bouncing on the trampoline before a delicious dinner of white chicken chili, cornbread, and for dessert, S'mores bars!

S'mores bars- super easy to make!
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
12 oz. chocolate chips (the recipe calls for milk chocolate for authentic s'more flavor, but I prefer bittersweet!
4 cups mini marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, salt, and melted butter. Mix well and reserve 1 cup of the crumb mixture for the topping. Press the remaining crumbs into a lightly greased 13x9 baking pan. Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes, or until golden. Sprinkle the top of the crust evenly with the chocolate chips, then return the pan to the oven for 2 minutes. Remove the pan and turn on the broiler. While the broiler heats, spread the chocolate into an even layer over the crust. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the chocolate, pressing them lightly, and then top with the reserved crumb mixture. Broil about 2 inches from the heat for 30 seconds to 1 minute, watching closely, until the marshmallows are puffed and golden. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

Chocolate Icebox Cake, Take 2

Last Thanksgiving I pulled out my recipe for chocolate icebox cake. We hadn't even been in the new house a full two months and I had just finished repairing the cabinetry and trim and repainting (3 coats plus primer!) the kitchen, entryway, family room, living room, dining room, hallway, and Munch's bedroom. I had unpacked some of our basic kitchen supplies, but had yet to tackle the stacks of boxes in every room of the house. I hadn't yet unearthed half my wardrobe and the majority of my shoes and hoped they'd be found before the cold weather started. Not only that, but I had done all that work on the house late into the evenings AFTER a full day teaching kindergarten. Those first months of school are always the most busy and tiring part of the year because the kids are still SO young at that point and then I even had report cards and parent-teacher conferences as well.

I was nowhere near attaining a comfort level in my new kitchen, nor did I have the confidence (or tools!) in it yet to just whip things up at a moment's notice. An icebox cake, requiring only the effort of my pulling out the mixer to whip the cream and corralling a five year old to put it together, was a perfect solution for a dessert to bring to dinner at my parents'. The cake was a beautiful success- luscious layers of dark chocolate wafers sandwiched between lightly sweetened vanilla whipped cream, which after an overnight refrigeration had softened into thin layers of "cake".

Munch and I had assembled the cake in my favorite cake carrier from my old Williams Sonoma days. It comes with a springform round that clamps onto a stainless steel serving platter with an acrylic lid and carrying handle that fastens the whole thing shut. It's perfect for any type of cake that requires a springform, yet since the serving platter is already incorporated into the design, I no longer end up losing track of my springform bases when I transport desserts. The whole contraption has seen better days though, and there's now a crack in the domed lid. I'm used to its quirks though, but had forgotten that Munch wasn't.

We had arrived at my parents' in a bit of a rush and I remember feeling harried. Munch proudly announced that she would bring the cake in, and as she is so responsible and the cake was in the backseat with her, I didn't think twice. I was steps away from the car when I heard a terrible clatter- and turned around to find the cake upended onto the ground! The carrying handle had jiggled loose and slipped off the cake carrier, sending the dessert, its base, and lid in various directions. Our beautiful layered icebox cake was now a sloppy mess on my parents' gravel driveway. My exhaustion hit me immediately and for once, I had no words of comfort for poor Munch who was horrified at the mistake. My extreme silence left her even more unsettled and within moments, I think we were both in tears in that driveway.

Fast forward a few more months. The kitchen has been unpacked AND its contents rearranged after using it a while. As I'd been assigned to bring dessert to my sister's tomorrow, I figured it was time to revisit the icebox cake. Once again, assembling the layers went quickly and smoothly. Munch even had the chance to operate the mixer and watch the cream as it thickened to soft peaks. The cake is now sitting overnight in the refrigerator, waiting to be taken to lunch tomorrow. And Munch's words of wisdom this time around? "Carry the cake plate from the BOTTOM!"

Sharing the Kitchen

Munch is now a very grown-up six years old and I have been working on giving her more independence in the kitchen. A couple of years ago, I bought her a set of measuring cups and spoons at Cost Plus; each cup or spoon was a different color, making it easier to give her directions when measuring out ingredients (an orange cupful, rather then 1/2 cup). For the most part, I handled reading the recipes and let Munch practice measuring, pouring, and mixing.
Munch is a much better reader now, and between cooking and baking with me and her aunt, she has internalized a lot of the steps of cooking. She knows to keep the dry and wet ingredients separate when baking, that a pan should be hot enough that you hear a sizzle when something is added. I can trust her to use a paring knife to cut things up. However, recipes as they are written in cookbooks remain a challenge- they are still too wordy for Munch, and often printed in a small enough font that she often loses her place. I have taken to rewriting ingredient lists and simple instructions for her on a separate piece of paper, which helps tremendously. She can now make a batch of chocolate chip cookies on her own, with me handling the oven for her. I do however, let her check on the cookies' progress and determine if they need more time or are ready to come out.
The newest recipe Munch has tackled is a mix-in the pan chocolate cake. All the dry ingredients are sifted and mixed directly in the pan before adding the wet ingredients. It's fun for kids because they also create a hole to place the baking soda in, then pour vinegar over it creating a mini volcano.

Mixing the dry ingredients- flour, cocoa, brown sugar, and salt

Watching the baking soda and vinegar bubble

Sprinkling marshmallows over the cake batter before putting it in the oven

Recipe: Munch's "Moon Mud" cake, also known as a mix-in the pan chocolate cake, or a "craters of the moon" cake because of the way ingredients are added to "craters" in the dry mixture

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Sift the following dry ingredients directly into a 9 or 10-inch round cake pan (I have found it more difficult for kids to mix thoroughly in a square pan due to the corners) and mix carefully until it looks like light brown sand.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cocoa powder

Add 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to the sand and mix in.

Use a spoon to dig out three holes, or "craters", in the sand- small, medium, and large.
In the largest hole, pour in 5 tablespoons melted butter.
In the medium sized hole, spoon in 1 teaspoon baking soda.
In the smallest hole, pour in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

Here comes the fun part- Pour 1 teaspoon white or cider vinegar over the baking soda and watch it foam and bubble!
When the bubbling stops, pour 1 cup milk over the all the sand and mix carefully until it looks like smooth mud.

Scatter about 1 cup of mini marshmallow "rocks" over the top of the batter.

Bake the cake until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out dry/clean- about 40-50 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan, then slice and serve.

You Can't Go Wrong With Chocolate...

The Munchkin has really been something else these last few days. She's just been so chatty, bubbly, and will not stop dancing and singing EVERYWHERE she goes. Truth be told, it's driving me a little bonkers. Her most recent performance took place in the produce department. So when she woke up this morning and insisted on a chocolate breakfast, I gave her the "you're really pushing it" look. But when she responded brightly with, "But mom, you can't go wrong with chocolate", what could I say? I mean, the girl IS right (even though I have no idea where she comes up with this stuff...) so, after I whisked up a batch of hot chocolate on the stove, I popped a batch of our favorite chocolate chip scones into the oven-


After a few sips and nibbles, she danced off to start her day-


Chocolate Chip Scones
2 c. flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. chocolate chips
1 1/4 c. heavy whipping cream

Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar into a bowl. Add the chocolate chips and toss to combine. Add the cream all at once and mix until you have a "shaggy" dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead gently a few turns until dough is smooth. Pat dough into a rectangle and cut into 12 pieces. Bake at 425 degrees for about 16 minutes until golden brown. Plan to enjoy these all the day they are baked- they get stale quickly.

Oh my! Chocolate Cream Pie!

This is all that was left- bits of chocolate crumb crust, whipped cream, and chocolate pudding. Like a lot of recipes, I usually forget to make this until the holidays roll around and I need a sure crowd pleaser. I brought this to my sister-in-laws house on Thanksgiving and poor AudioDad almost didn't get a taste. So, I figured I'd bring two pies when we visited them again this past weekend. We joked that next time I may need to bring three!
It's a great dessert. Who can resist the smooth pudding and the sweet cream? For the crust, I use Nabisco Famous wafers, but couldn't find them this year! Chocolate graham crackers work fine, and I also used Trader Joe's chocolate cat cookies this year- also good results. The recipe may look involved, but it's mostly because of all the components. It's actually pretty straightforward once you've done it a couple of times. When I double the batch, the pudding will fit in a 3 qt. saucepan.

Chocolate Cream Pie
Chocolate crust
1 3/4 c. chocolate cookie crumbs (see note above)
1 tbs. sugar
7 tbs. unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate pudding
3 tbs. cornstarch
1 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. half and half
1 1/4 c. whole milk
1 c. sugar
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 tbs. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Whipped cream topping
2 c. heavy cream
2 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9-inch deep dish pie pan with nonstick cooking spray. To make the chocolate wafer crust, place some chocolate cookies in a gallon-size ziplock bag, seal, and crush using a rolling pin or meat mallet. Continue until crumbs are reasonably small (my largest bits are gravel-sized) and you have the amount needed. Combine the cookie crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a medium bowl. Transfer 1 tbs. of the crumb mixture to a small bowl and set aside to garnish the pie. Scrape the remaining crumb mixture into the prepared pie plate and use your fingers to press it evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of the plate. Bake the crust for 8 minutes, or until set. Cool on a rack while you prepare the pudding layer.
To make the chocolate pudding, in a medium bowl, sift together the cornstarch, cocoa powder,and salt. Whisk in about 2 tbs. of the half and half until it is a smooth paste. Whisk in the remaining half and half; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, sugar and chocolate. Place over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a whisk, until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk about 1/2 c. of the hot chocolate mixture into the half and half mixture. Whisk this mixture into the remaining chocolate mixture in the saucepan. Return the pan to the heat and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. When the mixture begins to bubble, continue to cook, whisking constantly, for 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and then the vanilla. Scrape the pudding into the cooled pie shell. Cover and refrigerate the pie until thoroughly chilled, at least 4 hours.
To make the whipped cream topping, beat the cream on medium-low speed for 30 seconds. Increase the speed to medium-high and add the sugar and vanilla. Beat until the cream forms soft peaks. Scrape the whipped cream over the chilled pie and use a spatula to sweep the cream into swirls. Sprinkle the reserved chocolate crumbs over the cream. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Who Needs Yountville?

Whenever Munch and I are headed to St. Helena, we always make a stop at Bouchon Bakery. I usually get an assortment of macarons, a TKO (the Thomas Keller "Oreo") or two, and more recently, a couple of bouchons. Bouchons are made with the same recipe as the delicious dark chocolate brownies AudioDad & I had at our last ad hoc dinner, which I was determined to have the recipe for. After a little research, I found it reprinted from the Bouchon cookbook on the blog, Sunday Nite Dinner. So, no need to reinvent the wheel (Hooray!), and it was just as easy as mixing up a batch of brownies. I used both a muffin top pan (to approximate the mini-cake like brownies from ad hoc- it has 12 molds) and a mini-muffin tin (kinda like Costco brownie bites, but so much better! It had 24 little cups) to make the treats pictured above.

3/4 c. flour
1 c. dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. plus 3 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
12 oz. unsalted butter, melted
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used the new 72% cacao Ghirardelli chips and chopped them coarsely)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs and sugar and beat on medium speed until light yellow. Mix in the vanilla. Reduce mixer speed to low and add a third of the dry ingredients. Mix then add a third of the melted butter. Continue alternating adding dry ingredients then butter. Scrape bowl and add chopped chocolate. Mix well, then pour into the buttered and floured pan of your choice. Mini muffins took 17 minutes to bake, the muffin top pan took only 15 minutes because of its shallowness. These are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean- but be sure not to overbake! Cool them for a few minutes on a rack before turning them out of the pans to cool completely. Dust the tops with powdered sugar before serving.

Kumbaya

After a recent dinner with our very good friends Monica & Chris (during which we gently ribbed AudioDad over his workplace skillfulness in team building), I knew it was a sign for me to try a recipe I've been curious about and that had been all the talk on the Chow message boards- Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies. Basically, they're a dark chocolate cookie with sea salt. People raved about them during the last holiday season as they're a fairly easy slice and bake recipe, great to have on hand in the freezer. While I used sea salt- more commonly available in grocery stores- the recipe actually calls for fleur de sel. And the extra expense ($26 for 7oz. at Dean & DeLuca) of this specialty salt is supposedly worth it (I'll pick some up on my next visit to Williams-Sonoma or Dean & DeLuca to try it.)
As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been fine-tuning this recipe over the last month. The first batch was nice- a sandy-textured, deep chocolate French sable. In my second batch, I decided to add espresso powder and chocolate extract for a more complex flavor. I also added more salt. But unlike the first batch, this one spread more, making a thinner, crisper cookie. In hunting around my piles of recipes, it turns out I had the original Pierre Herme chocolate-chocolate chip cookie recipe tucked away- the one that the World Peace cookie was based upon. So I used it, incorporating the changes I made with the second batch, and now I've got a cookie I really like. It's definitely a cookie for grown-up tastes, but be sure to have a cold glass of milk handy!

Chocolate-Espresso Sables with Sea Salt
2 2/3 c. flour
2/3 c. unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa (I used Droste)
2 tsp. baking soda
2 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened (I used a European-style butter, but it didn't seem to make a difference)
1 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 heaping tbsp. espresso powder
2 tsp. fine sea salt (2 1/2 tsp. if you use fleur de sel)
3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. chocolate extract
10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used a 9.75 oz. Scharffenberger semisweet bar- using a serrated knife gives you a finer chop with chocolate shavings, so the chilled log will be easier to slice)

Sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda into a medium bowl. In another bowl, cream the butter then beat in the sugars, espresso powder, sea salt, and extracts. Mix in the dry ingredients (the dough will be slightly crumbly), then mix in the chocolate. Divide the dough into 3 batches and shape into logs about 1 1/2-inch thick (about the diameter of a small can of tomato paste). I also dust my board with a little bit of cocoa to keep the dough from sticking. Wrap the logs in plastic or waxed paper and chill a couple of hours until firm.
When you're ready to bake, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the dough logs about 3/8-inch thick (not too thinly, unless you prefer them crisper) and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. Since these don't spread much, you can get another row of cookies (20 total) on the sheet. Cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Happy birthday!

It's AudioDad's birthday- time to celebrate! We kicked off the weekend with Saturday night dinner at Q in Napa. He & I both ordered a delicious beef brisket sandwich topped with some irresistible fried onions.
What's nice this year is that Munch is old enough to have fun helping with the birthday preparations. And, she's slowly learning to keep things a secret. When she picked out this adorable dog

for Daddy last month, I figured I was safe- you usually couldn't drag details of her day out of her without very specific questioning. Unfortunately, she immediately told AudioDad all about the doggies upon returning home- luckily, it didn't make much sense to him at the time. He instead started to worry that I had adopted another puppy from the pound! Within the last week however, we were able to manage wrapping up AudioDad's gifts, hiding them away, and making him a card, all the while Munch is saying, "Ssshh..it's a 'purprise' for Daddy." For breakfast this morning, we made brioche french toast topped with blueberries. Munch put her newly acquired sifting skills to good use:


Munch and I also made a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting which we shared with the family after an impromptu barbecue.


Yum!