Chocolate Pretzel Success (corrections appended)

A while back, Deb of Smitten Kitchen fame blogged about the shortcomings of Martha Stewart's chocolate pretzel cookie recipe. "Dry, bland, and not chocolatey enough" and more colorful adjectives described a cocopretzel that just didn't cut it. She suggested trying to make pretzels out of Dorie Greenspan's very flavorful and buttery chocolate rollout cookies, which I had been planning to make later that day. I figured what the hell? Chocolate pretzels they would be.

Needless to say, nothing is ever that easy. Dorie's chocolate rollout cookies are awesome cookies, but they make lousy pretzels. In the oven, they flatten out and spread a bit, losing their pretzel shape, and once cooled, they've got the texture of great cookies, not crunchy, crispy pretzels. Pretzels: 1. Rivka: 0.

With disappointment under my belt, I decided to give chocolate pretzels a second chance -- but not without a great deal of research. I googled several different phrasings of "chocolate pretzel cookie" and found total rubbish -- not even one decent recipe came up. I checked all my cookbooks with no luck. Left only to my own devices, I decided to develop a chocolate pretzel recipe.

My strategy was pretty simple (um, amateur?). I wrote out the ratio of butter:flour:cocoa:sugar:eggs in each recipe, noted the addition of baking powder and chocolate to Dorie's recipe and water and espresso to Martha's, and did my best to create a compromise between the two recipes that maintained the pretzely texture without sacrificing (much of) the flavor. And friends, you'll be thrilled to know that I succeeded! Yep, this super amateur method actually, to my total shock, worked!

Rivka's chocolate pretzel recipe (that's right, it's named after me!) yielded a chocolate pretzel that kept its round shape and its relatively toothsome crumb, but also packed a chocolatey punch from lots of cocoa and even a bit of chocolate. I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've developed a recipe from scratch -- so pat me on the back, will ya? And then run home and make these. They'll surely spread some holiday cheer (and maybe some chocolate onto your face, too).


Rivka's CocoPretzels
makes 18 pretzels
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 or 2 oz. good quality chocolate (I used ghiradelli chips, and 1 oz is about 30 chips; the second time around, I used 2 oz and they were even better!)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• (1 egg yolk, for brushing)

1. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with an electric mixer, whip butter until smooth, about 2 minutes.
2. Add sugars and whip until incorporated, 2 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, melt chocolate over double boiler.
4. Add egg, vanilla and salt; mix until combined, about 20 seconds.
5. Add chocolate; mix until combined, about 30 seconds, on low speed.
   
6. Add cocoa, flour, and baking powder. Mix on low speed until completely blended, about two minutes or less.
7. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or freeze for 45 minutes.
8. Remove dough from fridge/freezer. Break off 1 1/2 Tbsp.-size chunks. (Alternatively, do as I did and slice the dough into relatively equal portions from the start.



9. roll into 10-inch logs, about 1/3-1/2 an inch thick.
   DO NOT do as I did and roll them all out before shaping, because they'll get stiff and crack when you try to shape them. Shape as you go!



10. Take the edges in your hand, bring them together, and twist them twice, leaving the tips dangling.


11. Bring the twist down onto the rounded pretzel, stick the tips to the pretzel, and transfer to a non-stick or lined baking sheet.



12. Brush with a very light coat of egg yolk mixed with water and sprinkle with rock sugar if you desire.


13. Bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes, until they've just begun to harden.
14. Move delicately from baking sheet onto cooling rack, and allow to cool completely before serving. (Don't let that stop you from trying one...or two.)
    

Read more!

Sugar High Friday, baby!

Hey folks! Just a plug to check out Zorra's roundup of the Sugar High Friday entries -- mine's all the way at the bottom; it's the saffrom rice pudding and it's delicious! All the entries look mouthwatering -- so go check'em out!

Have a great weekend! Read more!

Simple antipasti

In Italy, antipasti are meant to whet your appetite. (Granted, when I ate out in Italy, my appetite needed little whetting -- what with all the whiffs of freshly-made pasta and roasted tomato sauce drifting from the kitchen to my table.) Nonetheless, in Italy, antipasti are simply appetizers, mere preludes to the main dish. In my house, they're just part of the meal. After all, roasted vegetables with a splash of quality balsamic vinegar and just the right amount of good olive oil make a perfect accompaniment to whatever's being served. In my humble opinion, they need not precede the main course -- in fact, they do just fine right alongside it.


By far the best thing about antipasti is their simplicity. Season, drizzle, and roast, that's all there is to it! These simple steps work wonders for eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, even sweet potatoes. The trick is to slice thinly, and flip once half-way through the roasting process so that both sides crisp up. If you're sparing with the oil, as I am, best use a pastry brush, which will spread the oil over the entire surface without soaking them all too much. And while cooking spray is fine for the pan, I strongly recommend sticking to real olive oil for the vegetables themselves; olive oil is a strong player in the saturated, concentrated flavor that antipasti develop.

I can safely say that this "recipe" has no recipe, but a method, instead: slice whatever vegetables you use about 1/4-1/8 inch thick, as uniformly as possible. Line a roasting pan with a single layer of vegetables. Brush each side with olive oil, sprinkle salt and pepper, and add herbs if you like (I favor sage, pictured below, for eggplant, and rosemary with sweet potatoes, onion, and a new addition -- turnips).


Bake at around 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the tops are browned; flip, and bake another 10-15 minutes. Check regularly to avoid burning (which I unfortunately have a tendency to do!). Once the vegetables are out of the oven, transfer to a platter, drizzle with good balsamic vinegar, add salt and pepper to taste, and bring to room temperature before serving.


Read more!

Happy Holidays!

You know it's holiday time when this is your kitchen table display...

Happy Holidays to all, and enjoy the winter season! Read more!

Daring Bakers bake Buche de Noel

In honor of the holiday season, Daring Bakers’ took on what may be the holy grail of daring recipes: Buche de Noel, or Yule Log. Until Lis and Ivonne charged DBers with making this, I didn’t even know it was a food. See, traditionally, the Yule Log was a large, thick piece of wood burned by Pagans just after winter solstice (which was on Friday), in order to thank their gods for making the days longer and the weather warmer in the months to come. Today, not many people burn Yule Logs, but apparently, loads of people eat them around Christmastime.


Now I'm not one to balk when the going gets tough -- but that doesn't mean I won't bring in reinforcements. Fortunately for me, my dear friend Dellie was visiting from Boston, so we devoted a few hours one night last week to this undertaking. Boy was I wise -- both to set aside lots of time and to enlist a cooking compatriot: Buche is quite the project!

A classically-constructed Buche consists of a soft “genoise” cake, layered with some type of filling, rolled into a jellyroll shape, and coated with a thick layer of buttercream frosting. Oh, yes – how could I forget? – it’s also shaped like a log. To do this, you lop off a diagonal slice from the front of the unfrosted cake, and place it about ¾ of the way down the log with the diagonal end jutting upwards, to resemble a broken branch from the log.

Sound weird and odd and energy-intensive? But we haven’t even finished explaining the insanity that is Buche: after you’ve mixed and folded and mixed and baked and rolled and cut and placed and rolled and blahblahblah, you make some meringue, shape some stems and caps, and build meringue mushrooms (yes, you heard me correctly). To do this, you poke a hole in the bottom of each cap, fill with some raw meringue (or frosting, if you’re like we are) and insert the stem.

When you’re finished with the hours of stove-hovering, you’ll see something like this:

Now, correct me if I’m wrong – maybe Dellie and I were being too judgmental – but is this not the most random dessert you’ve ever seen? Cake shaped like a log and scraped to look like bark with some mushrooms growing out the sides?

…Yea, I thought so.

Having said that, it sure was fun to make – especially with the company of such a dear friend! -- and if you have a hankering for some seriously weird dessert-making and a few odd hours to kill, then sure, try this at home, why don’t ya?
For all the rest of you, just ooh and ahh at this one, and have yourselves some Happy Holidays!

Buche De Noel
Sources: Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri and The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert
Serves 12
Cake should be stored in a cool, dry place. Leftovers should be refrigerated

Plain Genoise:

3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
¾ cup of sugar
½ cup cake flour - spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off (also known as cake & pastry flour)
¼ cup cornstarch

one 10 x 15 inch jelly-roll pan that has been buttered and lined with parchment paper and then buttered again

1.Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

2.Half-fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat so the water is simmering.

3.Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, salt and sugar together in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Place over the pan of simmering water and whisk gently until the mixture is just lukewarm, about 100 degrees if you have a thermometer (or test with your finger - it should be warm to the touch).

4.Attach the bowl to the mixer and, with the whisk attachment, whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled (touch the outside of the bowl to tell) and tripled in volume. The egg foam will be thick and will form a slowly dissolving ribbon falling back onto the bowl of whipped eggs when the whisk is lifted.

5.While the eggs are whipping, stir together the flour and cornstarch.

6.Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl on every pass through the batter to prevent the flour mixture from accumulating there and making lumps. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and finally with the remainder.

7.Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

8.Bake the genoise for about 10 to 12 minutes. Make sure the cake doesn’t overbake and become too dry or it will not roll properly.

9.While the cake is baking, begin making the buttercream.

10.Once the cake is done (a tester will come out clean and if you press the cake lightly it will spring back), remove it from the oven and let it cool on a rack.

Coffee Buttercream:

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
24 tablespoons (3 sticks or 1-1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons rum or brandy

1.Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water and whisk gently until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2.Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip with the whisk on medium speed until cooled. Switch to the paddle and beat in the softened butter and continue beating until the buttercream is smooth. Dissolve the instant coffee in the liquor and beat into the buttercream.

Filling and frosting the log:

1.Run a sharp knife around the edges of the genoise to loosen it from the pan.

2.Turn the genoise layer over (unmolding it from the sheet pan onto a flat surface) and peel away the paper.

3.Carefully invert your genoise onto a fresh piece of parchment paper.

4.Spread with half the coffee buttercream (or whatever filling you’re using).

5.Use the parchment paper to help you roll the cake into a tight cylinder.

6.Transfer back to the baking sheet and refrigerate for several hours.

7.Unwrap the cake. Trim the ends on the diagonal, starting the cuts about 2 inches away from each end.

8.Position the larger cut piece on each log about 2/3 across the top.

9.Cover the log with the reserved buttercream, making sure to curve around the protruding stump.

10.Streak the buttercream with a fork or decorating comb to resemble bark.

11.Transfer the log to a platter and decorate with your mushrooms and whatever other decorations you’ve chosen.

Meringue Mushrooms:

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ cup (3-1/2 ounces/105 g.) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (1-1/3 ounces/40 g.) icing sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

1.Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Have ready a pastry bag fitted with a small (no. 6) plain tip. In a bowl, using a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar until very foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar while beating. Increase the speed to high and beat until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Continue until the whites hold stiff, shiny peaks. Sift the icing sugar over the whites and, using a rubber spatula, fold in until well blended.

2.Scoop the mixture into the bag. On one baking sheet, pipe 48 stems, each ½ inch (12 mm.) wide at the base and tapering off to a point at the top, ¾ inch (2 cm.) tall, and spaced about ½ inch (12 mm.) apart. On the other sheet, pipe 48 mounds for the tops, each about 1-1/4 inches (3 cm.) wide and ¾ inch (2 cm.) high, also spaced ½ inch (12 mm.) apart. With a damp fingertip, gently smooth any pointy tips. Dust with cocoa. Reserve the remaining meringue.

3.Bake until dry and firm enough to lift off the paper, 50-55 minutes. Set the pans on the counter and turn the mounds flat side up. With the tip of a knife, carefully make a small hole in the flat side of each mound. Pipe small dabs of the remaining meringue into the holes and insert the stems tip first. Return to the oven until completely dry, about 15 minutes longer. Let cool completely on the sheets.

4.Garnish your Yule Log with the mushrooms.

Read more!

Holiday Cookies

With candy canes and sprinkles lining grocery store shelves, holiday season just screams, "sugar cookies!" Around this time each year, I toss aside my fanciest dessert recipes and opt for the more humble sugar cookie instead. Sugar cookies can be enhanced any which way, from flavoring the dough to adding crushed candy to topping with sprinkles and frosting....with so many variations, there's truly a sugar cookie for everyone.

I made sugar cookies twice this season, both times differently than I have before. When Jackie hosted a cookie-making-and-decorating party (a blast, as you may have guessed), I was introduced to the wonder that is maple extract. It's not the easiest to find, but I'll be keeping it close for those times when I'm craving maple flavor, but adding maple syrup would change the texture. Apparently 5 lbs. of cookie dough and lots of intermittent nibbling wasn't enough for me, so I decided to make another batch at home. For those, I used vanilla extract and just a bit of molasses, which imparted an earthy flavor to otherwise regular sugar cookies. I highly recommend these recipes, and I've included both of them below.



At Jackie's party, we had the full gamut of cookie decorations as our disposal, from trusty powdered-sugar-milk icings to ginger-flavored sugar and other fancy treats. While those were loads of fun to play with, back at my house I used crushed candy instead. You can do so many things with crushed candy canes and heath bars, the two I used: you can incorporate them into the dough, sprinkle or press them on top of each cookie, or fill them into holes in your cookies to make a stained-glass effect, as Elise does here.
Any way you choose, it's pretty hard to go wrong. So make a double batch of these and keep'em around this holiday season. Your family, friends, and uninvited guests will surely thank you.



Rolled Maple Sugar Cookies
courtesy of Jackie and her friend's mom

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  
• 11 Tbsp. (a bit less than 1 1/2 sticks) butter, cut into chunks
  
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/3 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3 tsp. maple extract
• 1 Tbsp. milk

1. Mix flour and baking powder in a large mixing bowl.
2. Add all the other ingredients, in order, and mix either by hand or using a kitchenaid/electric mixer. Shape dough into a disk.
   
3. Chill for at least one hour, up to overnight.
4. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness, and cut out any shapes you like.
   
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until cookies have just begun to brown around the edges.

To make frosting:

Put 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl, and add milk by the Tbsp. until the mixture is the thickness of syrup. A thinner icing will run more easily and take longer to dry; a thicker one will run less and dry more quickly, but is harder to manipulate into shapes.



Old-fashioned Sugar Cookies
adapted from Epicurious

• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 Tbsp. molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt

1. Stir together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla, either by hand or with a mixer.
2. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; stir until the mixture forms a dough.
3. Form into a disk, and chill, covered, at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
5. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness, and cut out 2-inch rounds from the dough (or any other shape).
6. Crush any hard candy until most of it is very fine; I used heath bars and candy canes.
7. dunk cookies in crushed candy, and place 1 inch apart on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
8. Bake in batches in the middle of the oven for 8-12 minutes, until edges have just turned golden.
9. This last part is important -- eat one hot! Cookies will keep, packed in an airtight container, for up to one week.
   
   
   
   

Read more!