Best Brownies EVER…unless you’re allergic to peanuts.
I’m still on my run of cafe friendly snacks for my friend Matt’s cafe/bar. After a successful batch of biscotti, I was thinking that something super sweet was in order. And what better sweet snack than a brownie? I found this recipe a few years ago, and it has been a picnic/camping staple since then. Think: chocolate + peanut butter + sea salt. I swear these brownies bring out the kid in all who taste them. It’s been a while since I made a batch, so I’m excited to get to know these little guys again.
Since my brownies require a bit of layering, I completely wrap my pan in foil, so I can just lift them out when they’re finished.
I start by melting some chocolate and butter. The safest way to do this is to put them in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. The heat slowly melts them as you stir, but helps prevent you from scorching the chocolate.
Once melted, I pour the chocolate into a mixing bowl and beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Then I stir in flour and salt. Notice a lack of leavening, these are super fudgy brownies.
I poured the batter into my prepared pan and baked them for about 30 minutes.
Once baked and cooled, I whipped together peanut butter, powdered sugar, nutmeg, milk and vanilla to make a fluffy peanut butter frosting. I spread that on top, trying to get an even a layer as possible.
Then I melted some more chocolate and butter, and topped the peanut butter. Once it cooled just a tad, I sprinkled on some chunky sea salt.
I let the brownies chill in the frdge for about 2 hours, and then sliced them into cute little squares! YUMMMM…
Feel free to swing by Etiquette Lounge during the day to try one with some of Matt’s tasty house roasted coffee!
RECIPE:
Brownies
6 oz unsalted butter
10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
– Preheat oven to 325°F.
– Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with foil, leaving long overhang.
– Butter foil.
– Place 3/4 cup butter in heavy large saucepan.
– Add chocolate. Stir over low heat until smooth. Remove from heat.
– Whisk in sugar, vanilla, and salt, then eggs, 1 at a time.
– Fold in flour.
– Spread in prepared pan.
– Bake until tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 30 minutes.
– Place pan on rack and cool.
Frosting and ganache
1 cup smooth peanut butter (do not use natural or old-fashioned)
4 oz unsalted butter, divided in half, at room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
7 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
– Beat peanut butter and 2 oz butter to blend.
– Beat in powdered sugar, salt, and nutmeg,
– Beat in milk and vanilla.
– Spread frosting over brownies.
– Stir chocolate and 2 oz butter in heavy small saucepan over low heat until smooth.
– Drop ganache all over frosting; spread to cover.
– Chill until set, at least 1 1/2 hours.
– Using foil as aid, transfer brownie cake to work surface & cut into squares.
Orange Almond Biscotti
I have some news! After a stint in Panama, chilling in the rain forest, my friend Matthew McKee has returned. He was inspired by the farms, and has starting roasting his own coffee. He’s brewing and selling it during the day at his brother’s bar “Etiquette Lounge” on Market Street in San Francisco. He’s basically turned it into a makeshift cafe during the day. Business is picking up, and people have been requesting nibbles. And that’s where I step in – I’m going to making little snacks to go with his delicious coffee!
First, I’m gonna make some biscotti. A biscotti flavored with orange zest and almonds.
I creamed some butter and sugar, then beat in some eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Once blended, I mixed in some lightly toasted almonds and orange zest.
I added flour, baking powder and salt until it formed a dough.
I shaped the dough into a log and baked it until it was lightly browned and just cooked through.
After the loaf cooled, I sliced it into little strips and popped them back into the oven to dry out.
And I have biscotti!
Come by Etiquette Lounge during the day if you want to dip one of these guys in some yummy coffee!
RECIPE (Cook’s Illustrated):
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbs unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 lg eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup whole almonds with skins, toasted, cooled and chopped coarse
2 tbs minced zest from 1 orange
– Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350. Whisk flour, baking powder & salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
– Either by hand or with electric mixer, cream butter & sugar together until light and smooth, about 2 min with mixer set at med speed. Beat in eggs one at a time, then extracts. Stir in almonds and zest. Sprinkle dry ingredients over egg mixture, then fold in until dough is just mixed.
– Halve dougn & turn each portion onto an oiled cookie sheet covered with parchment. Using floured hands, quickly stretch each portion of dough into rough 13×2 inch log, placing them about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. Pat each dough shape to smooth it. Bake, turning pan once until loaves are golden and jus beginning to crack on top, about 35 min.
– Cool the loaves for about 10 min; lower oven temp to 325. Cut each loaf diagonally into 3/8 inch slices with a serrated knife. Lay the slices flat, about 1/2 inch apart, on the cookie sheet and return to oven. Bake, turning each cookie over halfway through baking, until crisp and golden brown on both sides, about 15 min. Transfer biscotti to wire rack and cool completely.
Strawberry Jam
Aaaaah…my favorite part about summer fruit begins…jam. I was at the store to buy a pint of strawberries for my ice cream, and they had a whole flat for $3! So I couldn’t resist, since I’ve decided this summer I WILL conquer jam making. I know it’s not that hard, but I’ve only made a few jams that I’ve thought were truly fabulous. And strawberry jam has been a tough one for me. Cook it too much and I swear it tastes like cough syrup.
I started this batch by chopping up 3 1/2 lbs of berries and letting them macerate with an equal amount of sugar and the juice from 3 lemons. I let that sit in the fridge, covered, for 24 hours.
The next day I boiled the mixture for about 25 minutes, until it seemed “set”. This part is the hardest for me. Since I’m fairly new to the jam making process, I haven’t gotten the feel for exactly when it’s ready. I just have to go with it and hope my jam isn’t just strawberry sauce.
I ladled the jam into hot jars that I had just sterilized. I sealed them up and waited for the most satisfying sound of home canning – the “pop” of the lid sealing. I did manage to dip my finger in for a taste, and I’m feeling pretty good about it.
Now I’ll let them chill in the fridge until I’m ready for them – more later on how smearable they turn out!
Later:
Yummers!
Strawberry Ice Cream
Strawberry Season is in full swing, so obviously some ice cream is in order.
What more can I say? It was creamy and yummy and tasted like strawberries. Store bought will never be the same.
RECIPE:
1 quart fresh strawberries, washed, stemmed and quartered
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 cups milk
2 cups cream
1 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split in half and scraped
6 egg yolks
– Mix the strawberries with ½ cup sugar. Let macerate for 10 minutes.
– Place in pot and cook on medium heat for 6 -7 minutes, until soft and fragrant.
– Puree in a food processor or blender, then strain through a fine sieve.
– In a saucepan, over medium-high heat, combine the milk, cream and vanilla bean. Bring just under a boil and let sit.
– Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl.
– Slowly ladle in hot cream mixture, whisking constantly.
– Once mixed pour back into pot and heat on medium, scraping with a spatula. Keep heating until custard begins to thicken, coating the spatula.
– Remove from the heat and stir in the strawberry puree. Whisk until smooth.
– Pour the mixture into a bowl and cool on an ice bath. Once cool place in fridge and let chill for several hours.
– Pour into an ice cream machine and spin away!
– Once spun, let rest in freezer for 4 hours before serving.
Lemon Bars!
Time for some lemony sweetness. I made some lemon bars at work last week, but they were gone before I had time to dig in. I did get a taste, but it wasn’t enough…so I made a batch that I could hog all to myself. And John can have a few. I guess.
First I needed a crust for my lemon curd to sit on. Super easy, I just creamed together butter, powdered sugar and flour.
Then I pressed it into a sheet pan. It was a sticky dough, so I had the best luck by layering it between 2 sheets of parchment and rolling it out. I brought the edges up the sides of the pan a bit, to help hold in my filling.
Then I baked it to a golden brown while I made the filling.
The filling was a mix of lemon juice, zest, sugar, flour and eggs. I have a thing for meyer lemons, so I used those.
I poured the filling onto the crust as soon as it came out of the oven, while it was still hot.
Then I baked it until it was just set.
I let it sit on the fridge overnight to get nice and chilled. Then I sliced them up into not so neat little squares. What can I say, I was hungry. o time for straight lines.
Then I gave them a generous dusting of powdered sugar.
And dug in. Delicious.
RECIPE:
Yield: one 9 x 13 sheet pan
Crust:
6.75 oz soft butter
2.25 oz powdered sugar
8 oz AP flour
Filling:
1 lb 1/2 oz sugar
2 oz flour
4.5 oz lemon juice (meyers if you got ’em!)
2 TBSP lemon zest
5 eggs
– Preheat oven to 350°F.
– Cream butter and sugar. Add flour.
– Press into parchment lined sheet pan.
– Bake until golden. Do not cool crust.
– Combine sugar and flour. Whisk in lemon juice. Whisk in peel. Whisk in eggs.
– Pour filling into hot pre-baked crust.
– Bake until set in the middle.
– Let chill for 8 hours before cutting.
– Dust generously with powdered sugar.
A Glorious San Francisco Spring
San Francisco just keeps finding ways to amaze me. For the first time since moving here 13 years ago, I have a yard. A beautiful, big (well, by our standards, anyways) backyard. When spring finally hit, it exploded. Cherry blossoms on the cherry tree. Arugula, chard, fennel and parsley everywhere. Little sprigs of future peas and radishes poking up from the ground. And my little kitten, Bean, terrorizing the bees. It’s just glorious.
If you live here, you’re probably as enamored with the current weather as me. Yesterday the heat was so intense there was only one option: cook. and eat. in my warm and overflowing yard. I sent out a text, and before I could make up a grocery list I had 10 friends confirming attendance. With me and John that made dinner for 12, which meant a lot of cooking. Just the way I like it. John, not so much, he managed to sneak out early while I was still laying out brick pavers for the dinner table in my pajamas.
I wanted a meal that celebrated the season, made of all in-season veggies, with a few from our garden. It was my first time yanking a fennel out of the ground. I found it quite satisfying. Those suckers are big!
As I might have mentioned, it was HOT. So not a day for braising or stewing. My landlord recommended an orange fennel salad, tossed with some red onions and drizzled with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, heavily sprinkled with black pepper.
I had another salad in mind to go alongside. The arugula in the yard is fabulously spicy, so I tossed some with baby spinach, some barely blanched asparagus and radishes. I dressed it with a lemony vinaigrette. A big bowl of parmesan shavings was passed around for sprinkling.
And soup. As is probably obvious in past posts, I have a thing for peas. But I had NEVER made a fresh pea soup before. Since the season is short, the time was now. Just a simple soup with onion, leek, carrots, stock, a bit of spinach and a whole lotta fresh English peas. I made some parmesan croutons, and finished the soup off with some creme fraiche.
And my favorite part. I do like to work pie dough into a meal whenever possible. I saw an artichoke ricotta galette posted on “The Wednesday Chef” and knew I had to give it a spin. As she promised, it was a tasty one.
It was a beautiful night. Nothing quite like a dinner under the stars (were there stars?) with close friends and simple, home grown and homemade food. And of course there were strawberry rhubarb crepes for dessert…
Strawberry Rhubarb Crepes
Crepes. I love them. Tonight, I made some. Strawberry rhubarb to be exact.
I wasn’t always a rhubarb fan. But then I was shown the light. It’s so simple. You just dice the rhubarb really fine. Then let it macerate with some sugar, cornstarch and the seeds from a vanilla bean.
You cover it and roast it, and then mix in some chopped up strawberries while it’s still hot. The heat cooks down the strawberries, and you’re left with an absolutely fabulous strawberry rhubarb compote.
After I made my compote I got to work on some crepes. I was serving a crowd tonight, so it was quite a frying session. About 40 crepes in, I had a nice little stack.
They were so yummy stuffed with the strawberry rhubarb compote and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
So easy, and so deliciously spring!
STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COMPOTE RECIPE:
2 lb rhubarb
1 cup sugar
2 ½ tsp cornstarch
1 vanilla bean
3-4 pints strawberries
– chop rhubarb into 1/4″ dice.
– scrape seeds from vanilla bean into sugar and rub together to incorporate.
– toss rhubarb with vanilla sugar and cornstarch.
– let macerate for 20 minutes.
– cover and bake at 325 for 40 minutes.
– slice strawberries and mix into cooked rhubarb while still hot.
A bit redundant but…Strawberry Cream Pie: Take 2
I am stubborn. While my chocolate strawberry pie soup was certainly delicious, I want a pie. A pretty pie that slices and everything. It can be gooey and messy, I just want a piece of it to be lifted out of its comfy circular mother pie and onto a plate. For me. And my friends. Is that asking so much? So I’m trying again. Retaliation for Sunday’s failures. But I’m changing it up a bit. No more chocolate pudding, instead a nice pink strawberry pastry cream. I’m not too tough to go pink. Pink pie. There, I said it. I like pink pie.
It pretty much started the same as the other pie. First up, I needed to make my crust. I tend to make a lot of pie dough each time, and then portion it into chunks that I keep in the freezer. This makes it much harder to make up reasons for NOT making a pie on a whim. So today all I had to do was thaw my dough out and bake it.
Then I brushed it with melted chocolate, so that once cooled, it would protect my crispy crust from the ooey gooey pinkness coming it’s way.
Then, the pinkness. My plan was to blend some pureed strawberries into a thick pastry cream, so I needed to get my berries ready. I made a compote by cooking chopped strawberries with some sugar for 7-8 minutes.
I let that cool down, then pureed it and strained out the seeds and chunky bits.
Then I made a pastry cream, a really thick one (I said I want a slice…).
And then I swirled in my pureed strawberries.
And poured it into my pie shell!
Man, that is pink. I popped the pie into the fridge to firm up a bit before tossing on some sliced strawberries.
And now I wait. Tonight I will devour you and all your pinkness!
RECIPE:
1 pie shell
2 oz good dark chocolate
2 ¼ cups milk
1 vanilla bean
7 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp salt
3 TBSP flour
3 TBSP cornstarch
12 oz strawberries, hulled and chopped
¼ cup sugar
2-3 pints strawberries, hulled and chopped
2-3 TBSP sugar
1 cup cream
1 TBSP cream
– Blind bake pie shell. Cool.
– Melt chocolate. Brush onto inside of baked pie shell.
– Put milk in pot. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean into milk and bring to an almost boil. Let steep for 20 minutes.
– In another pot cook 12 oz strawberries with ¼ cup sugar for 6-8 minutes. Cool and puree.
– Mix sugar, salt, flour and cornstarch, Whisk in egg yolks.
– Temper milk into egg yolk mixture.
– Pour back into pot and cook, stirring constantly until thick and bubbly. Taste to make sure cornstarch is cooked.
– Blend strawberry puree into pastry cream.
– Pour into cooked pie shell.
– Let sit in fridge for an hour to set.
– Macerate 2-3 pints strawberries with 2-3 TBSP sugar. Pour over filled pie.
– Let sit in fridge for a few hours.
– When ready to serve, whip cream with 1 TBSP sugar and spread onto pie.
Cranky Day Leftovers (a.k.a Chicken and Dumplings)
I’m in a bit of a cranky mood. Long day with some…annoying news…all I wanted was a hot dinner, preferably one already cooked. And then I remembered the chicken and dumplings leftovers in the fridge. While last night’s pie wasn’t exactly a “success” (at least visually), my chicken and dumplings were deeeelish!
I started by pan frying some chicken thighs in olive oil until it was all brown and crispy.
Then I sauteed leeks, onions and carrots in the juices.
Then I added some flour. I toasted that for a bit and added some white wine. I let that cook down a bit and then added some chicken stock, my chicken thighs and some salt and pepper.
I threw on the lid and let it all cook down for about 45 minutes. Then I made some dumpling batter and dropped globs of it in to boil into perfect little dumplings. Some fresh tarragon and a bowl of fresh shelled English peas later and we were in business!
The great thing about chicken and dumplings (besides the obvious tasty fabulousness) is that you can make a giant pot and eat the leftovers for days. And today that’s about all I could ask for. Well, maybe a little leftover pie soup for dessert.
RECIPE (adapted from Cook’s Illustrated):
Note: Start the dumpling dough only when you’re ready to top the stew with the dumplings.
Stew
5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium leek, cut into ½” pieces
1 medium onion, minced
6 TBSP AP flour
1/4 cup white wine
5 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup green peas
3 TBSP minced fresh tarragon leaves
Dumplings
2 cups AP flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
3 TBSP butter
– For the Stew: Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the chicken and cook until golden on both sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate and remove the browned skin. Return the pot to medium-high heat and repeat with the remaining 2 teaspoons oil and the remaining chicken.
– Add the leeks, onion, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to the pot and cook until softened, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the wine, scraping up any browned bits. Stir in the broth, milk, thyme, and bay leaves. Nestle the chicken into the pot. Cover and simmer until the chicken is fully cooked and tender, about 45 – 60 minutes.
– Transfer the chicken to a cutting board. Discard the bay leaves. Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon. Shred the chicken, discarding the bones, then return it to the stew.
– For the Dumplings: Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Microwave the milk and fat in a microwave-safe bowl on high until just warm (do not over-heat), about 1 minute. Stir the warmed milk mixture into the flour mixture with a wooden spoon until incorporated and smooth.
– Return the stew to a simmer, stir in the peas and tarragon, and season with salt and pepper.
– Drop golf-ball-sized dumplings over the top of the stew, about 1/4 inch apart.
– Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook until the dumplings have doubled in size, 15 to 18 minutes.
Ooops.
Are you ready to get messy? This post is a reminder that we all make mistakes. And as long as those mistakes still taste good, who really cares? I do, because I’m a perfectionist, but I don’t think anyone else at dinner tonight did.
This pie is a spin on a family tradition. In the south, chocolate pudding pie is king. Every family has their recipe, and of course, everyone thinks theirs is the best. I’ve made this one for years, and I’m pretty confident it’s a winner. Traditionally, in my family, it’s just a crust, some chocolate pudding and some meringue. I like to wait for strawberry season so I can throw some strawberries on top. Today I traded out the meringue for some whipped cream.
It all started out like any other pie: with a perfectly baked flaky pie crust. Crust so flaky I could see the butter boiling in the translucent flakes when I pulled it out of the oven.
Then I smeared in some melted dark chocolate. The melted chocolate forms a shell to protect the crust from the wet filling. I’m a bit of a crust Nazi, you won’t find any soggy crusts in my kitchen!
Once the chocolate covered crust spent a enough time in the fridge for the chocolate to firm back up, I poured in some chocolate pudding. This is where I started getting nervous. I had made the chocolate pudding an hour earlier, so it should have firmed up by then. But it didn’t. Ouch. I thought “maybe it just needs a little more time in the fridge…” I had my suspicions. I was pretty sure I had gone a little light on the flour that thickens the pudding. But denial is a powerful thing.
So I let that hang out in the fridge for a few hours, to get nice and firm. Except it didn’t get nice and firm.It’s possible that it was a tad thicker than earlier, but firm it was most definitely not. But what was I supposed to do? I had dinner guests and those dinner guests wanted PIE. John’s mom was in town and I was hoping to throw down with some mad skills. I don’t just make pudding pies EVERY DAY. And this ain’t no JELLO pie either! So there was no turning back, so I just went with it. I dumped the strawberries on and watched them sink like titanic wreckage into the depths of my beautifully, glossy chocolate goo.
I figured I might as well own it, so I whipped up some cream to throw on top as well.
I was prepared for a structural failure. When it’s time to be presented came, I placed it ever so gently into a baking pan. We all ooohed and aaahed at it’s beauty. And then I crushed it with one quick slice of the pie trowel. We ate in bowls, and eventually ended up just digging into the pan with our spoons. It wasn’t pretty, but I have to admit, it was mighty tasty. And even submerged in a sea of chocolate soup, my crust was fantastic.
I made that! 
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