Entries Tagged as 'smitten kitchen'

Superbowl XLVI

February 6th, 2012 · 2 Comments

Yesterday Jen and Chad hosted a superbowl party. I went, but Dallas is in Las Vegas, so he missed out. Or, I’m sure he’d say we missed out on his fun in Vegas. There was a ton of great food. Everyone brought something. I brought these cute (if I do say so myself) cookies.

I am not a huge fan of sugar cookies, so I made these chocolate roll-out cookies that I found on Smitten Kitchen. I decorated with both royal icing and chocolate royal icing using the outline and flood method. The Giants and the Patriots were playing so I took their quarterbacks numbers to use on the jerseys. Eli Manning is #10 and Tom Brady is #12.

The cookies were pretty good, but I think I’m still not a huge, huge fan of roll-out cookies with royal icing. There were plenty of kids at the party, though, and they all seemed to love the cookies. I don’t know if their parents loved how red and blue their mouths became after a cookie or two, but, oh well!

I didn’t really favor either team, but since the Giants beat the Packers and pushed them out of the race, I sort of wanted them to win. And they did.

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Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

January 3rd, 2012 · No Comments

Dallas made some awesome ahi poke to bring to our New Years Eve parties and I made Irish car bomb cupcakes. This time before I made them I visited Jo-Ann Fabric & Craft‘s baking section and got 1) a proper decorating tip, 2) a cute set of Celebrate cupcake liners and flags and 3) edible glitter. The result was the prettiest cupcakes I’ve ever made! I have baked Irish car bomb cupcakes for New Years Eve 2009 and for Andy’s birthday, but these were the prettiest and tastiest so far. I think it may become one of my specialties!

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
Modified From Smitten Kitchen
Makes 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (I used more like 3-4 tsp.)

Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Baileys Frosting (I doubled the butter used more Baileys and less than double sugar.)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

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Espresso Chocolate Shortbread

June 10th, 2011 · No Comments

I saw this recipe for Espresso Chocolate Shortbread on Smitten Kitchen and thought it would be perfect for the brunch clothing swap I was hosting. Espresso is breakfast-y, the chocolate is sweet, but shortbread is usually not too sweet. I thought they turned out great. I love shortbread, though. Everyone at the party seemed to like them and I took the leftovers to work, where they magically disappeared instantly. I liked making them too. The recipe used a technique I never did before – put the dough in a plastic ziplock and roll it out. Put the ziplock in the fridge for a while then take it out and slice it up. Kind of like making your own packaged dough and then cutting it open to bake.

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Espresso Chocolate Shortbread
From: Smitten Kitchen

1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 tablespoon boiling water
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (plain, or a toffee variety), finely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water, and set aside to cool to tepid.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a sturdy rubber spatula.

Using the spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.

If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

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Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

February 25th, 2010 · 12 Comments

Many months ago I saw someone on Twitter mention Irish Car Bomb cupcakes and demanded to know the recipe. I didn’t even know this person, she was nice enough to send me the recipe. I then realized it was a recipe that I’d previously passed by on Smitten Kitchen.

Here are the key ingredients in Irish Car Bomb cupcakes: Guinness beer, whiskey and Bailey’s Irish Cream. Technically, I should have used an Irish whiskey, but Jack Daniels did the trick.

The chocolate cupcakes are made with Guinness. I found this makes a really nice fluffy cupcake. Who knew Guinness was the secret key to perfect chocolate cupcakes? After the cupcakes are baked and cooled, you core out a center hole. I used an apple corer to do this. The hole is then filled with a chocolate whiskey ganache. The frosting on the top of the cupcakes is made with Bailey’s. I added the chocolate jimmies for decoration, but you can choose to decorate, or not decorate, as you wish.

Since my group of friends has a fondness for doing Irish Car Bomb shots, I saved this recipe for a special occasion, New Years Eve. I brought one tray of cupcakes to Chad and Jen’s party and one tray to Todd’s party.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes
From Smitten Kitchen

While the Guinness in the cake gets mostly baked out, the Baileys is fresh and potent, so if you’re making this for people who don’t drink — ahem, nobody I know, but I hear such people exist — you’ll probably want to swap it with milk.

The Baileys frosting recipe makes a smallish amount of frosting — enough to just cover the cupcakes. Because they were so rich and this frosting so sweet, I felt it only needed a little. Double it if you want more of a towering effect.

Makes 20 to 24 cupcakes

For the Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (preferably Dutch-process)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
2/3 cup sour cream

Ganache Filling
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
2/3 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 to 2 teaspoons Irish whiskey (optional)

Baileys Frosting (see Recipe Notes)
3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Special equipment: 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer and a piping bag (though a plastic bag with the corner snipped off will also work)

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 24 cupcake cups with liners. Bring 1 cup stout and 1 cup butter to simmer in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add cocoa powder and whisk until mixture is smooth. Cool slightly.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in large bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sour cream in another large bowl to blend. Add stout-chocolate mixture to egg mixture and beat just to combine. Add flour mixture and beat briefly on slow speed. Using rubber spatula, fold batter until completely combined. Divide batter among cupcake liners, filling them 2/3 to 3/4 of the way. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, rotating them once front to back if your oven bakes unevenly, about 17 minutes. Cool cupcakes on a rack completely.

Make the filling: Chop the chocolate and transfer it to a heatproof bowl. Heat the cream until simmering and pour it over the chocolate. Let it sit for one minute and then stir until smooth. (If this has not sufficiently melted the chocolate, you can return it to a double-boiler to gently melt what remains. 20 seconds in the microwave, watching carefully, will also work.) Add the butter and whiskey (if you’re using it) and stir until combined.

Fill the cupcakes: Let the ganache cool until thick but still soft enough to be piped (the fridge will speed this along but you must stir it every 10 minutes). Meanwhile, using your 1-inch round cookie cutter or an apple corer, cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes. You want to go most of the way down the cupcake but not cut through the bottom — aim for 2/3 of the way. A slim spoon or grapefruit knife will help you get the center out. Those are your “tasters”. Put the ganache into a piping bag with a wide tip and fill the holes in each cupcake to the top.

Make the frosting: Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

[This is a fantastic trick I picked up while working on the cupcakes article for Martha Stewart Living; the test kitchen chefs had found that when they added the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frostings got less grainy, and tended to require less sugar to thicken them up.]

When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.

Ice and decorate the cupcakes.

Do ahead: You can bake the cupcakes a week or two in advance and store them, well wrapped, in the freezer. You can also fill them before you freeze them. They also keep filled — or filled and frosted — in the fridge for a day. (Longer, they will start to get stale.)

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Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

March 10th, 2009 · 2 Comments

Crunchy Baked Pork Chops

I had this Smitten Kitchen recipe for Crunchy Baked Pork Chops printed out and in our kitchen for a long time. We had the pork chops in the freezer, we had all the ingredients, we just never made them. I actually bought parsley twice for this recipe. Then one Sunday I decided to do it. Well, by “I,” I mean “Dallas.”

Jess came over and she and I were playing Wii. Dallas was nice enough to cut up limes and keep serving us Corona Light while we played. Not only that, but he made the crunchy baked pork chops while we sipped our beer and played video games. There was some grumbling from the kitchen because the recipe is kind of long and drawn out.. you brine the pork chops and make your own breadcrumbs. Even though we had a canister of breadcrumbs in the cupboard I insisted that Dallas stick with the recipe no matter what.

In the end Dallas said that no matter how the pork chops turned out, he didn’t think they were worth the time and effort. Jess and I, torn away from the Wii, begged to differ. They might have been the most moist and flavorful pork chops I’ve ever had! And the crunch on the outside was just perfect.

So, please make this recipe. Just know that going into it you need to be patient and expect a lot of steps!
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Crunchy Baked Pork Chops
This recipe was developed using natural pork, but enhanced pork (injected with a salt solution) will work as well. If using enhanced pork, eliminate the brining in step 1. The bread crumb mixture can be prepared through step 2 up to 3 days in advance. The breaded chops can be frozen for up to 1 week. They don’t need to be thawed before baking; simply increase the cooking time in step 5 to 35 to 40 minutes.

Table salt
4 boneless center-cut pork chops, 6 to 8 ounces each, 3/4 to 1 inch thick, trimmed of excess fat
4 slices hearty white sandwich bread, torn into 1-inch pieces
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
3 large egg whites
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Lemon wedges

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Dissolve 1/4 cup salt in 1 quart water in medium container or gallon-sized zipper-lock bag. Submerge chops, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30 minutes. Rinse chops under cold water and dry thoroughly with paper towels.

Meanwhile, pulse bread in food processor until coarsely ground, about eight 1-second pulses (you should have about 3 1/2 cups crumbs). Transfer crumbs to rimmed baking sheet and add shallot, garlic, oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Toss until crumbs are evenly coated with oil. Bake until deep golden brown and dry, about 15 minutes, stirring twice during baking time. (Do not turn off oven.) Cool to room temperature. Toss crumbs with Parmesan, thyme, and parsley.

Place 1/4 cup flour in pie plate. In second pie plate, whisk egg whites and mustard until combined; add remaining 6 tablespoons flour and whisk until almost smooth, with pea-sized lumps remaining.

Increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Spray wire rack with nonstick cooking spray and place in rimmed baking sheet. Season chops with pepper. Dredge 1 pork chop in flour; shake off excess. Using tongs, coat with egg mixture; let excess drip off. Coat all sides of chop with bread crumb mixture, pressing gently so that thick layer of crumbs adheres to chop. Transfer breaded chop to wire rack. Repeat with remaining 3 chops.

Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted into center of chops registers 150 degrees, 17 to 25 minutes. Let rest on rack 5 minutes before serving with lemon wedges.

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