Chocolate Bark with Dried Figs, Almonds, Salt and Orange Zest

Hey Ma-

We had John's work holiday party this weekend. As with every year, it was a really good time. There was a ton of food (appropriate for a restaurant's party) and plenty to drink (giant bowls of Margaritas anyone?) and laughter and good times abounded. Every year they do a white elephant gift swap that promptly deteriorates into raucousness. John has a knack for putting in hilarious gifts. This year he wrapped up a shrine to himself, complete with a lock of his hair, a swatch of an old sock (he always wears mismatched socks), a framed photograph of himself from 9th grade, candles and daily affirmation cards (which, needless to say, were pretty funny). I, on the other hand, usually go a different route. Wanting to include something actually desirable with my contribution this year, I made chocolate bark and included pieces in a jam jar on top of my gift.

I found the recipe here. It is absurdly easy and insanely delicious and, though certainly not Pop-pop's toffee, I highly recommend it if you find yourself needing something homemade without much time to turn it out in. I swirled together bittersweet and semisweet chocolates, adding slices of dried figs, chopped almonds, and generous sprinklings of salt and dried orange zest. Fortunately, only half of what I made fit in the jam jar, meaning we're left with the difficult task of consuming the rest.

Yum.

XXOO
R

The Cookie Competition

Rachel here: I have made these cookies a million times. They are my go-to "Oops! We're supposed to bring dessert tonight" recipe, both for their ease and their reliably awesome turn-out. This time, however, I made them for our birthing class. For some reason, bringing food for this bevy of pregnant ladies over the past three weekends has left me feeling a bit more pressure than I usually do when I cook. I think, perhaps, it's an underlying fear of somehow exposing myself as a bad mom or something by not bringing an appropriate food item. When I was assigned to bring dessert for our final class, I didn't think twice about what I would make. I knew I would make this foolproof recipe from "The Best Recipe" by Cook's Illustrated.


During our lunch break, I had one of the most satisfying cooking related experiences of my entire life. While John and I sat and ate, multiple people bit into their chocolate chip walnut cookies and announced that these cookies were amazing. The woman sitting next to me and her husband said that they think these are the best homemade chocolate chip cookies they've ever had. Now all I did was follow a darn good recipe, but it still felt super good. It felt so good, in fact, that I felt a little bit bad for the other woman who brought cookies. Don't worry, though, ever the altruistic eater, I dutifully ate her (quite yummy) ginger cookies.

Anyway, seriously: make these cookies. Though certain people that I blog with bake in whatever order they please, I can only assume that the success behind these cookies lies in following the various steps and combinations as they are detailed in the recipe. I have adapted the recipe ever so slightly and share my version below. I should warn you, though. If, as I did, you are going to bake these cookies for an event, leave a few at home. There won't be any leftover for you to enjoy late night if you don't and, trust me, this is tragic.



Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients
2 c. plus 2 T. all-purpose flour
1/2 tspn. baking soda
1/2 tspn. salt
12 T. unsalted butter, melted and cooled to just warm
1 c. brown sugar, packed (*TIP: Pour out 1 1/2 times the amount of brown sugar that you need--in this case that would be 1 1/2 c.--and this should get you very close to the right amount once it's packed*)
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tspn. vanilla extract
1+ c. bittersweet chocolate chips
1 c. toasted walnuts, broken/chopped

Method
preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix the melted butter with the two sugars until thoroughly blended (make sure to break down all sugar lumps at this point). Add the egg, the extra yolk and the vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chips and walnuts. Pull 1 to 2 T. chunks off and place on cookie sheet, leaving in rough ball form. Bake--rotating half way--for roughly 15 minutes, until cookies are a light golden brown. Cool and enjoy.




Janet here: Yeah, so apparently this week's decision to make cookies wasn't about merely making cookies; it was about "winning" the cookie bake-off. Guess I didn't get that memo.

Anyway, while I can't claim that my cookies are THE.BEST.COOKIES.EVER. the way some people are, I can tell you that these, which were adapted from Salty Sweets, are mighty fine and that people will enjoy them. Christie Matheson includes coconut, but I hate coconut so it's not in my version. So without further ado....the completely adequate "other" cookie recipe.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulatedsugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
grinder sea salt

Method
Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the flour, coca powder, baking soda and fine sea salt in a bowl.

In a separate bowl, beat the butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs until creamy. Add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing thoroughly each time. After this is all mixed up, add the oats and chips.

Spoon onto a baking pan. Add a few sprinkles of salt to each scoop on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Let cool on a rack.

cupcakes

Janet here: I'm flying mostly solo this week as Rachel juggles something like three papers and a test or something crazy like that. She'll weigh in if she's got time. That means I could pick whatever I wanted to focus on so I decided to kick it all off with dessert. There's nothing like a good dose of sugar to kick off the cooking week, don't you think?

I made these very tasty cupcakes for a dinner party after a friend's art opening. They're from Christie Matheson's Salty Sweets, a book dedicated to the delicious culinary magic that occurs when salty and sweet things meet. I went high end on the chocolate, eschewing my usual Toll House chocolate chips for Ghiradelli bittersweet. It was soooo worth it. The frosting was killer, as were the few chips that found their way to my mouth while baking. Hope you like these!

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
makes about 12 regular size cupcakes

cupcake ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk (I used skim and it was fine)

cupcake method

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12-cup muffin pan with cupcake liners
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl (or be like me, someone who has never sifted something in her life and it all still tastes just fine)

In a mixing bowl mix the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed until light-colored and creamy, about one minute. Beat in the egg for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then mix in the vanilla and beat on medium spped for one minute. Scrape down the bowl sides again.

Add in the flour mixture in three increments, alternating with the milk, ending with the flour. Mix until just combined each time.

Fill each cupcake liner 3/4 full with bater. Bake for about 20 minutes until the tops are golden brown and a cake taster comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. When cool, frost each cupcake with chocolate frosting. Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel or chopped salted peanuts or...., especially for kids, chopped up Reese's Peanut Butter cups or Reese's Pieces.

Chocolate Frosting

ingredients
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
3/4 teaspoon fine seat salt

method
Put the chocolate in a medium-size heatproof bowl.

Combine the cream, butter, corn syrup and salt in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until very hot but not boiling, about 4 minutes. Quickly pour the hot cream mixture over the chopped chocolate. Let it stand 5-7 minutes to melt the chocolate. Then whisk until smooth. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes and then beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. The frosting will keep for up to 3 days, refrigerated, in an an airtight container. Bring to room temperature before using.

Salty or Sweet? Or Both?

Janet here: People tend to either fall into the salty or sweet category for their food fixes. My son, G, has been a salt freak almost since he started eating solid food, for instance. A bag of Doritos is not safe in our house if he's at home. I, on the other hand, am definitely a sweets freak, in particular chocolate. On the other hand, the piece de resistance in a hot fudge sundae is definitely the salty peanuts. That combination of salty and sweet is just perfect. Why do you think Reese's peanut butter cups are so divine?

One of my new cookbooks, called Salty Sweets by Christie Matheson, is devoted to this idea. She is a firm believer that just about any dessert can be improved by adding salt. These fabulous brownies are just one of the many fine examples in her cookbook that I recommend you check out ASAP. I've made two killer recipes from this book already (click here for post on great chocolate cupcakes) and I just know there are more to come.

What's your pick? Salty or sweet? And how do you satisfy it?

Butterscotch Brownies

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup chopped toasted pecans

Method
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Butter and lour a 9X13-inch glass or ceramic baking pan.

Combine the flour, 3/4 teaspoon of the slat, the baking powder and the baking soda in a medium-size bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whisk together the brown sugar and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt so the salt is evenly distributed. Pour in the melted butter and whisk until well-blended. (I don't have this kind of mixer so I just mixed it with a fork in a bowl and it was fine.) Whisk in the eggs and the vanilla.

Add the lour mixture to the bowl, whisking until it's just incorporated. Fold in the pecans.

Spread the batter into the baking pan, distributing evenly all the way to the edges. (You can add 3/4 cup chocolate chips, either sprinkling on top or mixing into the batter. Also add a dusting of grinder seat salt on top to enhance the chocolate flavor (this is the Salty Sweets cookbook after all. This is an optional step that I did and it was delicious.)

Bake 30-35 minutes until the batter is completely set and the edges are starting to brown. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then chill the pan in the fridge for 30 minutes to one hour to help set the inside before cutting. The brownies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or up to one month in the freezer.

The Cupcake Wars

Rachel here: I only made these cupcakes because my mother upped the cupcake ante by purchasing mini cupcake tins. Yup, that's the kind of daughter I am: You got a cute accessory for this post? I will make the most complicated recipe I can find. Not really sure what I'm proving (or to whom, since my ma's not eating these from Connecticut!), but after they were done I proved that I can eat an insane amount of sugar. But anyway...

For this post, I re-approached the cookbook I used for my two failed scone attempts. Remember how I protected the name of the cookbook to preserve the innocent? Well, I have to say, I am actually not that impressed by this cupcake recipe, either (though, of course, I will eat the cupcakes dutifully). The cupcake itself is pretty anticlimactic and once drenched in chocolate and coconut it's just sort of, well, too much. If you are a nut for chocolate and coconut (and, speaking of nuts, I'm thinking these would be good with nuts in/on them), though, then this just might be the recipe for you (although maybe only dip the tops in chocolate to provide a little balance). And yes, I will continue to try recipes from this book because, well, I just really want one of them to be wonderful and because I am a glutton for sugary punishment.

Lamington Cupcakes
from "The Craft of Baking" by Karen DeMasco and Mindy Fox

Ingredients
2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
1 1/2 c. cake flour, plus more for the muffin tin
1 tspn. baking powder
1/2 tspn. kosher salt
8 oz. unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and very soft, plus extra for greasing muffin tin
1 c. granulated sugar
1 T. pure vanilla extract
1/4 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped out, bean and seeds reserved
1/2 c. whole milk
4 large egg whites
1/4 c. plus 3 T. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 c. confectioners' sugar
1/4 tspn. kosher salt
1/2 tspn. pure vanilla extract

Method
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake until it is lightly toasted, about 5 minutes. Remove, cool and transfer to a bowl (large enough to dipping cupcakes into later).

Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a standard muffin tin (ok, so she says not to use paper liners...I greased and floured and whatnot, but my cupcakes still stuck and so, in the future, I'm using the paper liners because you end up coating everything in chocolate anyway).

In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

In your electric mixer (with the paddle attachment) beat the butter, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and vanilla bean and seeds on medium high until light and fluffy. If you are operating sans mixer (soooo sorry), umm...good luck beating the butter and whatnot into fluffy submission. Scrape down the sides of your bowl.

With the mixer on medium speed (or with your left hand if you are your mixer), add the milk and flour alternately in three additions. Scrape the batter into a large bowl and remove the vanilla bean. If using an electric mixer, you now to have to clean and completely dry your mixer bowl. If you are mixing by hand, bust out a clean bowl and relish in this moment of not having to stop to clean a dish mid-baking process (it's maybe the only advantage to doing things the old fashioned way for this recipe...don't get too pleased, though, since you are about to work your whisking arm into an exhausted frenzy).

Whisk your egg whites until they are in soft peaks. In your mixer this takes about 4 minutes at medium speed with the whisk attachment. Without a mixer I have no idea, but I am pretty sure it will take longer than 4 minutes (I only got a mixer recently and I'm also pretty sure I always called John into the kitchen for steps like this in recipes...he's so big and strong and useful). In three turns, fold egg whites into batter.

Divide batter amongst muffin cups and bake approximately 20 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove from tins and cool on wire rack. Let cool completely before glazing.

Place a sheet of foil, parchment paper or whatever underneath wire rack for this next part (or, forget this step and get chocolate all over your counter like I did...there are worse things). In a medium bowl, sift together the cocoa powder, confectioners' sugar and salt. Add 1/4 c. plus 2 T. water and the vanilla and whisk until smooth.

Dip each cupcake into the glaze, covering completely and then immediately rolling through the bowl filled with coconut before placing on wire rack to dry. Wait for the glaze to set before trying to eat (or don't, it's just messier).



Janet here: Yes, I annoyingly texted Rachel and told her I had purchased mini cupcake tins AND cute little cupcake paper holders all because I wanted to one-up her. (Not that we're competitive or anything.) Anyway, I had heard about this cookbook on NPR and was immediately intrigued. Called Salty Sweets, it's by Christie Matheson and is all about the wonderful combo of salt and sweet. I can remember loving hot fudge sundaes as a kid precisely for the the mix of salty peanuts and hot fudge sweetness. Seriously, is there anything better?

I've only made one recipe from this book but I'm here to report, it's pretty damn tasty and while I kind of freaked out about paying a lot of money for a tiny jar of fleur de sel, it was totally worth it. I served this to friends Friday night and the oohing and ahhing was music to this baker's ears. It's 48 hours later and there are only two left. Now that's a success!

Dark Chocolate Fleur de Sel Cupcakes
with snappy butterscotch icing
makes 12-14 regular size cupcakes

Cupcake Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup water
1 large egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
fleur de sel

Cupcake Method
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with cute cupcake liners
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, sugars, baking soda and fine sea salt together in a bowl (I don't sift so I didn't do this and it came out fine, but that's the official recipe line so I'm giving it to you.)

In a small saucepan, heat the butter, oil and water over medium low heat, stirring until the butter is completely melted and incorporated.

Whisk the butter mixture into the dry ingredients on low speed until combined. (I did this by hand; I don't have an official mixer; it was fine). Whisk in eggs, then whisk in buttermilk and vanilla.

Fill the cupcake liners 3/4 full with batter and sprinkle with a tiny bit of fleur de sel over the top of each. Bake for 22-24 minutes until the tops of the cupcakes are set and spring back when you touch. (For mini cupcakes I cooked for 15 minutes.)

Let cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack for cooling (or to another spot if you're like me and don't have a wire rack). Ice with snappy butterscotch icing.

Snappy Butterscotch Icing

Ingredients
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon water
1/4 fine sea salt

Method
Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until the butter is melted and the sugar is completely dissolved, 3-5 minutes.

Turn the heat down to low and let simmer 8 minutes without stirring until the icing has thickened. Remove from the heat and let cool completely so the icing will thicken enough to spread. Refrigerate or freeze for 30 minutes to spped up the thickening process. Icing can be stored airtight in the fridge for up to 3 days.

I will tell you my icing didn't really get as thick as it was supposed to, probably because I didn't really pay total attention to the timing etc. I will also tell you it still was mighty fine on the cupcakes ... and off the spoon I licked repeatedly.