Bûche de Noël, Part II

Christmas came and passed, and so did the yule log. What do you think? :)

In the second picture you can tell that the roll got a little bit flat/lop-sided from sitting in the fridge overnight, so I guess next year I have to remember to rotate it before cutting. Also, I couldn't quite figure out how I was supposed to get the cocoa powder onto the sides of the log, which is why there's a giant pile of cocoa on the plate. My family said I should just call it dirt and my old boss used to say, "if you can't fix it, feature it!"... But you all know the truth now.


I looked through a bunch of recipes before settling on this one: Cherry-and-chocolate
Bûche de Noël from Food and Wine. The intro blurb said this recipe is from Dominique Ansel, who is the pastry chef at Daniel restaurant in New York. Go big or go home, right? Apparently, regular customers at Daniel get a mini version of this dessert to take home during the holidays. Merry Christmas, indeed!


Some other things I liked about this recipe included the addition of kirsch syrup to make the sponge cake super moist and flavorful, the use of vanilla bean custard for the filling (instead of buttercream), and the whipped cream frosting. I was worried that using buttercream for both the filling and the frosting, which a number of other recipes called for, might make the cake too heavy, so this one seemed perfect.


I did make two small changes, but nothing too crazy. I couldn't find brandied cherries, so instead I soaked a cup of dried cherries in 1/2 cup of cognac overnight. Also, I added a bit of cocoa to the whipped cream frosting. I figured if I couldn't dust the sides of the log, at least the frosting would be brown enough to vaguely resemble wood. 


Also, the recipe didn't include meringue mushrooms, but I couldn't imagine the log without them, so I used this recipe from Saveur for those. My family loved seeing these 'shrooms come together!

Here's the recipe! (It's a long one... :))


Cherry-and-Chocolate Bûche de Noël from Food and Wine (with some edits!)

INGREDIENTS

Cake
6 large egg yolks, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
5 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Kirsch Syrup1/2 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon kirsch
Filling
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
1 tablespoon cold water
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup pitted dried cherries, soaked overnight in 1/2 cup cognac


Topping
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons confectioners' sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder, for sifting

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 375. Line a 9-by-13-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk, beat the egg yolks with 6 tablespoons of the sugar at high speed until the mixture is pale and fluffy, and leaves a ribbon trail when the whisk is lifted, 3 minutes; transfer to a large bowl.
2. Thoroughly wash and dry the mixer bowl and whisk. Add the egg whites and salt to the bowl and beat at moderately high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 6 tablespoons of sugar and continue beating until the whites are stiff and glossy.
3. Using a rubber spatula, stir one-fourth of the beaten whites into the yolk mixture, then fold in the remaining whites until no streaks remain. Working in 2 batches, sift the cocoa over the batter and fold gently until fully incorporated. Spread the batter on the prepared baking sheet in an even layer. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the cake feels springy and dry; rotate the pan halfway through baking. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
4. In a small saucepan, combine the water and sugar and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer just until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute. Remove from the heat and stir in the kirsch.
5. In a small, microwave-safe bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand until softened. In a small saucepan, combine the milk with the vanilla bean and seeds and bring to a simmer over moderately high heat. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar.
6. When the milk comes to a simmer, discard the vanilla bean. Slowly whisk the milk into the yolk mixture until thoroughly blended. Transfer the mixture to the saucepan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, about 1 to 2 minutes. Strain the custard into a medium bowl.
7. Melt the gelatin in the microwave for 15 seconds; stir it into the custard and let cool. Meanwhile, whip the heavy cream until firm. Stir one-fourth of the whipped cream into the custard until incorporated, then fold in the remaining whipped cream.
8. Run the tip of a knife around the edge of the cake. Cover with a clean sheet of parchment and a second baking sheet and invert the cake. Remove the first baking sheet and peel off the parchment. Brush the kirsch syrup evenly onto the cake to soak; reserve extra syrup for another use.
9. Using an offset spatula, spread the filling evenly on the cake. Scatter the cherries over the filling. Use the parchment to carefully roll the cake to form a 13-inch-long log with the seam on the bottom. Fold the parchment over the log so the ends meet. Using a ruler, squeeze the cake in the parchment to tighten the roll. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (I kept mine overnight in the fridge).
10. Just before serving, whip the cream with the confectioners' sugar until firm. Add a teaspoon of cocoa powder and whip until evenly incorporated. Transfer the cake to a serving platter and frost with the whipped cream. Sift the cocoa powder on top. Slice and serve.

Meringue Mushrooms from Saveur

INGREDIENTS

10 tbsp. sugar
2 large egg whites
2 pinches cream of tartar
Pinch salt
1⁄2 tsp. vanilla extract
1⁄4 cup cocoa powder
1⁄2 cup confectioners' sugar

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 200°. Combine sugar and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, swirling pan several times until sugar has dissolved, 1–2 minutes. Uncover pan and continue to boil until syrup reaches softball stage or 236° on a candy thermometer, about 4 minutes more. Put egg whites in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk and beat on medium speed until frothy, then add cream of tartar and salt. Gradually increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form, about 30 seconds. Slowly pour in sugar syrup while continuing to beat until whites cool to room temperature and become thick and shiny, about 10 minutes. Stir in vanilla. Use a rubber spatula to transfer meringue to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" plain pastry tip. To make meringue mushrooms, hold pastry tip perpendicular to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and pipe meringue into the shapes of mushroom caps and stems of various sizes, then set aside for 5 minutes. Lightly moisten a fingertip in cold water and smooth out any "tails" left behind on mushroom caps. Bake meringues for 1 1/2 hours. Turn off oven and allow meringues to rest in oven until dry and crisp, about 1 hour. Bore a small, shallow hole in center of underside of each mushroom cap with the tip of a paring knife. "Glue" stems to caps by dipping tips of stems into icing, then sticking into holes in caps. Sift a little cocoa powder on tops of caps. Meringues can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

Bûche de Noël, Part I

'Twas the day before Christmas, and so it began.
Sara's yule log adventure, with a two-day span.


Mushrooms were first on the long list of to-dos.
If it looks like one piece, haha! It's a ruse!
Two pieces of meringue, a cap and a stem.
With some icing, too, together I'll glue them.


The cherries were soaked overnight in cognac.
And a swig for herself, she also threw back.
The syrup had kirsch, for a bit of a kick.
And the cake baked up nicely -- spongey and thick.


The first batch of whipped cream, forgotten, you see.
It turned right into butter. Whoop-si-daisy!
A new batch she started. Clean bowl, right away!
That extra carton of cream, it saved the day.


With a big sheet of parchment and a board too,
The cake got flipped over, the edges trimmed new.
She filled it with custard and rolled it up tight.
Then popped it in the fridge to chill through the night.


Merry Christmas Eve, kids! Stay tuned for part II... 

Earthquake cake

The day after final ended, I threw my dirty laundry and a cake pan in the trunk of my car, picked my parents from LAX, and headed out to Palm Springs to celebrate my brother's 30th birthday. Here's a picture from Joshua Tree National Park, which looks like it dropped straight out of a Dr. Seuss book:

I told my sister-in-law that I would bake a cake for the occasion, and since my brother recently got interested in chocolate, I settled on a dark chocolate cake with milk chocolate frosting. It's called a midnight cake, but I don't know if that refers to the dark chocolate or the fact that it tastes best at midnight.


So what did I learn from this project? Well, as I make more things that require frosting, I'm discovering that it might actually be a good idea to invest in an electric mixer. I don't mind mixing the vast majority of doughs by hand, but as it turns out, whipping egg whites to a peak is somewhat time consuming (and a good arm workout). 


Additionally, when you rent a vacation home that doesn't have a mixing bowl, you can use a giant ceramic goblet.

And finally, you really should let a layer cake cool entirely before you try to move the layers around. Things actually started out fine for me -- I cut the cake evenly into three parts, and successfully frosted the bottom layer. 

But when I tried to transfer the top layer, it split down the middle. I thought I might be able to hide the crack with a healthy dose of frosting, but alas, gravity had its day. Hence, the earthquake cake.

Tragic, I know. Luckily, you can hide these kinds of faux pas with a bit of crafty cutting. So when I enter that MBA baking contest, I will submit this photo instead:

Happy birthday, Hermano!


And here's the recipe for Midnight Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Buttercream from my favorite baking cookbook.


INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup (60 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 ounce (28 grams) unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (240 grams) boiling water
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (225) grams cake flour (I used pastry, because that's all the local grocery store had)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups (330 grams) packed light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces at room temperature
1/4 cup (60 grams) creme fraiche
2 eggs
2 egg yolks


Milk Chocolate Buttercream
12 ounces (340 grams) milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup (120 grams) heavy cream
1 1/2 (300 grams) granulated sugar
3 egg whites
3 cups (6 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 2-inch chunks
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt


DIRECTIONS
- Position rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8-inch cake pan


- In a small heatproof bowl, combine the cocoa powder and unsweetened chocolate. Pour the boiling water on top, then whisk until the mixture is completely combined and smooth. Let cool to room temperature, about four hours at room temperature or 1 hour in the refrigerator, whisking every 15 minutes if refrigerated. 

 - Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer) (OR YOUR OWN ARM), mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and brown sugar on low speed for about 10 second, or until mixed. On low speed, add the butter and continue to beat for 30 to 40 seconds, or until the butter is thoroughly combined and the mixture resembles dough.

- In a small bowl, whisk together the creme fraiche, eggs, and egg yolks until well mixed. On low speed, slowly pour the egg mixture into the butter-flour mixture and mix to combine. Turn up the mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 2 minutes, or until fluffy and light. Stop the mixer a few times and scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the egg mixture is thoroughly incorporated. Turn down the mixer speed to low and slowly pur in the cooled chocolate mixture. Mix for about 10 seconds to combine. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and then mix on medium speed for about 30 seconds, or until the chocolate mixture is thoroughly incorporated. Pour the better into the prepared pan. 


- Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes to 1 1/2 hours or until the top springs back when pressed in the middle with a fingertip. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.


- To make the buttercream: While the cake is cooling, place the milk chocolate in a small heatproof bowl. In a small saucepan, scald the cream over medium0high heat (bubbles start to form around the edge of the pan, but the cream is not boiling). Pour the cream over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minut, then slowly whisk the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Let sit at room temperature for about 1 hour, or until cool (Or, refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes, whisking every 10 minutes).

- In a small heatproof bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg whites to make a thick slurry. Place the bowl over (not touching) simmering water in a saucepan and heat, whisking occasionally, for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the mixture is hot to the touch.


Remove from the heat and scrape the mixture into the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment (or use a hand-held mixer). Whip on medium-high speed for 6 to 8 minutes or until the mixture becomes a light, white meringue and is cool to the touch. Turn down the speed to low and add the butter, a few chunks at a time. The mixture will look chunky and funky and curdled at first, but don't worry. Increase the mixer speed to medium and watch the whole thing come together! It will be smooth and silky in 2 to 3 minutes.


- Change to the paddle attachment and add the cooled chocolate mixture, vanilla, and salt. Beat on medium speed, stopping to scrape the bowl once or twice to loosen any butter clinging to the sides, for 1 about 1 minute, or until the whole mixture comes together in a smooth buttercream.  You should have about 5 cups.


- Remove the cooled cake from the pan. Using a long, serrated knife, trip the top to level it (it will have rounded a bit in the oven). Then split the cake into three layers. Place the bottom layer, cut-side up, on a cake plate or cake pedestal (if you ahve a revolving cake stand, use it). Spoon about 1 1/2 cups of the butter cream on top and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly into the edges.


- Carefully place the second layer on top, spoon about 1 1/2 cups of the butter cream on top, and again spread it evenly to the edges. Place the third layer, top-side down, on top spoon about 1 cup of the buttercream on top, and spread it over the top and down the sides of the cake, smoothing the buttercream as well as you can and covering the entire cake with a thin layer. 


- Spoon the remaining frosting on top of the cake, and spread it evenly across the top and won the sides. This is the finishing layer of frosting. If desired, spoon any remaining frosting into a pastry bag fitted with a small round or star tip and pipe a decorative line along the top and/or bottom edge of the cake.

Pumpkin muffins for CK

Two posts in one day? Aren't you lucky! 


(I'm getting ready to bust out a holiday yule log for Christmas, so I thought I better bust out those backlogged posts I mentioned before I get too far behind.)


My finals marathon ended on the Thursday before my friend's birthday, but I didn't have too much time to whip up something fancy before dinner, so I went with these pumpkin muffins I found on SmittenKitchen. CK told me that she likes pumpkin desserts, and in a perfect world I would have made proper pumpkin cupcakes, which are both sweeter and more festive, but I didn't have frosting ingredients on hand. :(  Next time, CK, I PROMISE!

I actually liked the flavor of these, although I would have really dug something slightly sweeter. It could be that I subbed in agave nectar for half of the sugar, or maybe I was just craving something sweet at the time. Whatever the reason, I must say that my last bit of kabocha puree gave these little ones a really pretty color and a subtle pumpkin flavor that was a nice send-off for fall/welcome in the winter holidays treat.


I've always been a fan of cinnamon-sugar combos, as well. When I was little, I used to eat the streusel topping off of my muffins and leave the muffin bottoms for my mom or dad. Yup, I was a spoiled one... But I just love crumbly tops so much!


Anyway, CK, I hope you enjoyed them. I will make you something more celebratory in the New Year. :)

Pumpkin Muffins (adapted from SmittenKitchen)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (from a 15 ounce can)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
3/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon sugar

1/2 cup agave syrup
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Put oven in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Put liners in muffin cups.

Whisk together pumpkin, oil, eggs, pumpkin pie spice, 1 1/4 cups sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl until smooth, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in another bowl.

Divide batter among muffin cups (each should be about three-fourths full), then sprinkle tops with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake until puffed and golden brown and wooden pick or skewer inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool in pan on a rack five minutes, then transfer muffins from pan to rack and cool to warm or room temperature.

Homemade Thin Mints

When I was growing up, one of the women at my mom's office had a daughter in the Girl Scouts. Every year, my mom purchased a big grocery bag's worth of Girl Scout cookies, including at least three boxes of Thin Mints. This was a huge deal for me, because my parents were never big on letting me eat sweets as a kid. No sugary cereals, no cakes (except for birthdays), no pop tarts (WAH!!!)... But for some reason Girl Scout cookies were allowed. Maybe because it's a pseudo-charitable donation. I have no idea, but I can't really complain because to this day, I adore Thin Mints and Samoas (nee Caramel Delights).


For my last group meeting of Fall Quarter, I decided to try my hand at my childhood favorites. I must say, there's nothing quite like the combination of mint and chocolate, and these cookies smelled outstanding. I got so hung up on the smell that I tried one of the cookies before they'd been dipped in mint chocolate... I'll just say they looked better than they tasted, and they tasted much better after getting a thin coating of chocolate.

It took me a little while to find a recipe that did not require shortening. I am assuming that's what gives Thin Mints just the right amount of crumble and crunch, but as someone who is generally opposed to the idea of shortening, I had to scour the Interwebs just a little bit harder to find something suitable.


I eventually found a workable recipe from 101cookbooks.com, but I had to use AP flour instead of pastry, because I only keep AP and bread flour on hand. Also, I didn't have to patience to let the logs of cookie dough harden in the fridge for long enough, so the first batch came out about funny looking -- the dough kept sticking to my knife as I was cutting the disks, soI had to pat down the cookies with my fingers. I figure it's not that big a deal, since they ended up covered in chocolate anyway, but as kind of a neat freak, this bothered me a little... Finally, the recipe didn't recommend sifting the flour and cocoa powder but if I had to do this again, I definitely would sift the dry ingredients, because the pure cocoa powder tends to clump together, and you get little pockets of powder that are hard to mix into the thick dough.


All that being said, I'm not sure I will make these again, but it *has* gotten me thinking about how smart it would be to keep rolls of icebox cookie dough on hand for those "emergency" sugar-fix-needed situations...

Homemade and All-natural Thin Mint Recipe (adapted from 101cookbooks.com)

Chocolate Wafers:
8 ounces organic butter, room temperature
1 cup organic powdered sugar

1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate Peppermint Coating:
1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
natural peppermint oil to taste

Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.

Make the cookie dough: Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that's o.k. You don't want to over mix and end up with tough cookies. (If I made these cookies again, I would sift together the flour and cocoa powder to fight the clump effect.)

Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.

Rollout and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That's how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I've done hearts and other shapes in the past). Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you've got one.

Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. I use a makeshift double boiler to melt chocolate (a metal pan over a saucepan of gently simmering water), but I know many people who swear by melting chocolate in the microwave. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time - but don't go overboard.

Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.

Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.

Back from the crypt... with a bevy of birthday treats

I had to break my bake-and-blog ritual last week, as I had four final exams in four days, culminating with an accounting test that left me feeling physically ill. In fact, I'm just going to go ahead and pretend that didn't actually happen. What happens in room D310 stays in D310.

The good news is that 1) I'm back in the Bay Area, eating with reckless abandon and soaking up quality time with my family and friends, and 2) I have a backlog of baked goods to write about, including chocolate cupcakes, thin mint cookies, pumpkin muffins, and an earthquake cake (more on that later). 


Three of the four were baked for birthdays, which is both a fun coincidence and a nagging reminder that time keeps on ticking, no matter how far behind you are on your blog.  That said, I don't have the attention span to blog about all four of these projects now, so I'm going to do my best to write about each one in turn. Since I'm now technically on winter break, I am optimistic about the likelihood of completion by the time 2012 rolls around. I'll keep you posted. (Get it? *wink*)

First up: Chocolate Cupcakes with Crispy "Magic" Frosting.

The Monday before Thanksgiving was my classmate's birthday, and while I couldn't care less about my own birthday, I really love commemorating other people's birthdays. Go figure.


I'm not usually a fan of cupcakes, and I don't really "get" the whole cupcake craze -- I usually find them to be dry and half as flavorful as a real cake... but I thought I would give these a whirl, since everything I've made from the Flour cookbook has been spectacular, and it's the only cupcake recipe in the book. That must mean these were the only ones good enough to pass her quality test, right? (Is it annoying that 90% of my blog posts are about that one book? Don't worry, I asked for another one for Christmas, so you'll have something to look forward to in the new year.)


Turns out it is possible for cupcakes to be delicious. The only trouble is, as with most things, you get as much as you put in. As far as cupcakes go, these were a bit labor and time intensive, but I would absolutely make them again... provided I had enough time to complete the whole thing. I also had to let the batter cool in the fridge for an hour, which was a real test of wills for me.... But, of course, the result was a delicious thick, fudge-y batter that looked good enough to eat raw.

The other "you get what you put in" discovery I made with this recipe is that buttercream frosting does, in fact, contain COPIOUS amounts of butter. I actually couldn't bring myself to put all the butter in the recipe into the actual frosting, but no one seemed to care -- there was plenty of delicious fat in there to please a crowd. The recipe actually called it "magic" crispy frosting, but I didn't have time to let the frosting become crispy... Again, it didn't appear to be a problem.

So without further adieu, here is the recipe that made me believe in cupcakes again: Flour Bakery's Chocolate Cupcakes with Crispy Magic Frosting.

INGREDIENTS

Cupcakes:

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/4 C Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 C granulated sugar
1 stick butter, cut up
1/3 C water
1/2 C milk
1 egg plus 1 extra yolk
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 C flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Frosting:
2/3 C granulated sugar
2 egg whites
3 sticks butter, at room temperature, cut up
1 2/3 C confectioners’ sugar
1/4 t kosher salt
2 T milk
1 T vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

In a heatproof bowl, combine chocolate and cocoa powder.

In a saucepan over medium heat, heat the granulated sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally, until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Pour the butter mixture over the chocolate and whisk until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Whisk the milk, egg, extra yolk, and vanilla into the chocolate mixture until combined.

In a bowl, stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt until blended. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth.

Let the batter sit at room temperature for 1 hour or cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days.

Set the oven at 350°

Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake for 30 minutes or until the tops spring back when pressed lightly. Set on a wire rack to cool completely.

In a heatproof bowl, whisk the sugar and egg whites. Fill a saucepan half full with simmering water. Set the bowl over (but not touching) the water. Whisk for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mixture is hot to the touch. It will thin as the sugar melts.

Remove the bowl from the heat. Tip the mixture into an electric mixer fitted with a whip. Beat at medium-high speed for 6 minutes or until the mixture becomes thick and white like a meringue and is cool to the touch.

Turn the mixer to medium and add the butter a few chunks at a time, beating for 3 to 4 minutes or until it is all incorporated. Add the confectioners’ sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla. Continue to beat until the mixture is smooth and satiny.

Remove the cupcakes from the muffin tins and arrange on a platter. Fit a pastry bag with a star or round tip. Fill the bag halfway with frosting and pipe the frosting onto to the cupcakes or use an offset spatula to spread frosting onto cupcakes.

Playing with food... or Happy Pumpkin Cookies

When I got home from school today I realized I hadn't consumed a single cookie the entire day. The horror!

Not to fret. I brought all the leftover pumpkin puree from my Thanksgiving experiment back to LA with me, which seemed reason enough to bake up a batch of pumpkin cookies. Then I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, which had a truly astonishing number of positive reviews; it felt like destiny.

As an aside, while I do really enjoy pumpkin desserts, I can see myself getting tired of them in the not-so-distant future. It kind of reminds me of the time my high school economics teacher made a kid eat a whole box of Entenmann's powdered sugar donuts to illustrate the concept of diminishing marginal utility. A curious choice, undoubtedly, but perhaps effective, since I still remember the incident rather clearly. He looked about ready to boot by the fourth donut. Luckily, I only have about 1.5 cups of puree left, which is probably about enough for one more recipe.

But I digress.

The cookies turned out quite tasty. The texture is almost airy, and these babies crumble like cake, but that works really well with the subtle pumpkin + spices combo. In retrospect, I should have gone easier on the icing, since I don't actually like super saccharine-y sweet stuff, but the pumpkin flavor kills, and my apartment now smells like Thanksgiving all over again. Hard to argue with that.

Also, I started making these cookies, but after the first tray came out, I decided to mix things up a bit. Enter, the new and improved, HAPPY pumpkin cookie!

Another thing I forgot to mention in some of my previous posts is that I've mastered the art of creaming butter and sugar, sans electric mixer. I started doing this in Japan, and I have to say, I'm pretty pleased with how effective this method is. First, I use the wooden spoon like a pestle and mash up the butter into little bits, then I smear the remaining pieces against the side of the bowl using the back of the spoon until it's completely smooth.

Is it painfully obvious at this point that I'm distracting myself from studying for my finals that start next week? It should be.

Okay, okay... Back to work.

Here are the deets for this recipe, slightly adapted from allrecipes.com!

Pumpkin cookies with Icing

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup of chocolate chips (optional)

2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly. This is when I pressed in the chocolate chips in smiley faces, but obviously, this is completely optional.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency. To be perfectly honest, I just dipped my cookies... But, again, I think I over-iced mine. Oh, well!

Super かぼちゃ Pumpkin Pie

I drove up to the Bay Area on Wednesday afternoon, arrived around 6:00pm, and basically proceeded to eat everything in sight from then on. I crashed around 1:00 am and somehow managed to stumble down the stairs of my parents' house at 11:30am on Thanksgiving morning. I ate pretty much non-stop from then until about half-past midnight. All said and done, I ate for almost 13 hours straight on T-day.

Needless to say, I got full. Really, really full. In fact, I'm still full. But then, it wouldn't be an American holiday if it didn't involve grazing over overflowing plates of snacks for six hours and then sitting down to an uncommonly large dinner and stuffing yourself silly. I should really learn to pace myself -- the marginal enjoyment of that third piece of pie may very well have been negative in terms of my long-term life expectancy.


I was also lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving with two of my very best friends from college, who couldn't make it home to their families this year. Erin and Alejandro have seen me through some of the best and worst times of my adult life, and I'm really thankful that they've settled in California because it means I get to see them every time I come home to see my family. Actually, they are more or less part of my family, which is why they put up with all my ridiculous antics. Case in point: 

So moving along... 


I don't know much about roasting a turkey (except that it tastes best brined), and the rice stuffing I made last year in Japan turned out bright purple (long story...), so it's probably better that I stayed mostly out of my dad's way in the kitchen this year. The one exception, of course, was the dessert. I've discussed my love of pies at length on this blog before, and now that I have a crust recipe worth dying for, I've moved on to perfecting the filling.


Last year, one of my co-workers made the most amazing pumpkin pie from a Japanese Kabocha squash, so this year I decided to make my own version, from scratch. Kabocha is a really popular squash in Japan -- they grill it, steam it, fry it, toss it in soups, stir fries, salads... pretty much everything. It's a tasty little gourd, so I can understand the appeal. 


To make kabocha puree, I first steamed the pumpkin whole for about 10-12 minutes.

Then I cut it in half, scraped out the seeds (and later toasted those... Divine!), and cut the whole pumpkin into wedges and tossed those back into the steam for another 15 minutes or so, until the squash was soft enough for a fork to go through the flesh easily.

You can eat kabocha rinds after they've been cooked like this, but since I was making this into pie, I cut off the rinds and pureed the whole thing in a food processor.

The color of this pumpkin is really fantastic -- it's perfect for fall and the holidays.

From there, I measured out 16 ounces of pumpkin for the pie for the Flour Bakery Super Pumpkiny Pumpkin Pie. I left my Flour cookbook in LA, but luckily, I found a version online at Flour Child. Bless the Interwebs! I also have a ridiculous amount of pumpkin leftover, so I'll try to bring that back to LA to whip up something delicious.

The other thing I tried this time around was to pour the extra pumpkin pie filling into small ramekins and bake them alongside the pie. I'm really pleased with how those turned out, and I'm now wondering if maybe I can do some sort of pumpkin pot pie in the future, because that would allow me to enjoy pumpkin pie without having to blind-bake the crust ahead of time. 

Super Pumpkiny Pumpkin Pie
Makes (ahem) one 9-inch pie.

Pate Brisee II (recipe follows)
One 16 ounce can pumpkin purée (I made my own.)
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar (I used dark brown, as it's all I had.)
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup evaporated milk
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

My additions:
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon brandy

1. Remove the dough from the refrigerator. On a well-floured work surface, roll out the dough into a circle about 12 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick. Roll the dough circle around the pin and then unfurl it on top of a 9-inch aluminum pie pan or glass pie dish. Press the dough gently into the bottom and sides of the pan. Evenly pleat the overhanging dough with your fingers to create a decorative edge, or use scissors to trim the overhang, leaving a 1/4-inch lip (to allow for shrinkage in the oven). Refrigerate the pie shell for at least 30 minutes. (The pie shell can be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 1 day or frozen for up to 2 weeks. Bake directly from the refrigerator or freezer.)

2. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

3. Line pie shell with parchment paper, fill with pie weights, and blind bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until the entire shell is light brown all the way through.

4. Meanwhile, scrape the pumpkin purée into a medium saucepan and stir in the brown sugar. Place over medium-low heat and cook, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the pumpkin has reduced to a somewhat thick paste and darkened. Remove from the heat and whisk in the ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Then whisk in the sweetened condensed milk and evaporated milk.

5. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolk until blended. Slowly whisk in the cream and vanilla (and the maple syrup and brandy, if using), then gradually whisk in the pumpkin mixture and continue whisking until thoroughly mixed.

6. When the pie shell is ready, remove from the oven and leave the oven set at 350 degrees F. Remove the weights and parchment, and pour the pumpkin custard into the shell.

7. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until the custard is just set. The edges of the custard will puff up a little and the center should still have a little wiggle in it. Let cool on a wire rack for at least 2 hours. Serve at room temperature or chilled. (I found this pie tasted best after being refrigerated for 24 hours.)

8. The pie can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Pâte Brisée II
Makes about 10 ounces dough, enough for (ahem) one 9-inch single-crust pie, 10-inch crostata or 9-inch quiche.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cold milk

1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer), mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Scatter the butter over the top and mix on low speed for about 45 seconds, or until the flour is no longer bright white and holds together when you clump it and pecan-size lumps of butter are visible throughout.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and milk until blended. Add to the flour-butter mixture all at once. Mix on low speed for about 30 seconds, or until the dough barely comes together. It will look really shaggy and more like a mess than a dough.

3. Dump the dough out onto an unfloured work surface and gather it together into a tight mound. Using your palm and starting on one side of the mound, smear the dough bit by bit, starting at the top of the mound and then sliding your palm down the side and along the work surface (at Flour we call this "going down the mountain") until most of the butter chunks are smeared into the dough and the dough comes together. Do this once or twice on each part of the dough, moving through the mound until the whole mess has been smeared into a cohesive dough with streaks of butter.

4. Gather up the dough, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and press down to flatten into a disk about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before using. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.