I have craved ranchero sauce ever since we left the beach.  Since tonight’s dinner was deemed to be tacos, and I utterly despise the packaged seasoning we usually use, I decided to whap together a batch of ranchero sauce instead.  

Ranchero Sauce

Ingredients

• 4 tomatoes
• 1 white onion
• 1 jalapeno
• the holy trinity (kosher salt, peper, garlic powder)

Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water, then shock them in icy water, yes, all in the name of peeling off the skins.  Dice them as you prefer, fine or rough.  

Finely dice the jalapeno and the white onion.  Sautee these in olive oil with a healthy couple of pinches of kosher salt, as much black pepper as you can stand, and a tbsp or two of garlic powder.  When the onions become transparent, add the diced tomatoes.

Now, to render an actual ranchero sauce, I’d say cook this for about an hour.  However, if you’re starving, the family is already at table, and you can’t stop licking the spoon with which you’re stirring, go on and serve some of that up when the tomatoes get soft (about 15 minutes at a fast simmer).  You can always cook it on down to sauce consistency later.

I had mine atop holy trinity/olive oil-sauteed chicken in taco shells with sour cream and shredded lettuce, and it was divine.  I imagine you could serve it atop just about anything you liked…meatloaf, green beans, etc.  

Just one more data point in the case for Simple is Best.

UPDATE:  Can’t. Stop. Eating. The. Sauce.

For the Love of Chocolate

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.  We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

It is noted that this cake will taste exactly like the chocolate you use, so use your favorite.  I used semisweet since I was making a sweet ice cream to go with, but if I were to make this again, we would definitely go to Webb’s to pick up their dark chocolate (which is The Best In The World, and yes, I have been all over Europe and can still say that) and make even smaller portions.

Chocolate Valentino

• 16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
• ½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
• 5 large eggs separated

Preparation Time:  20 minutes

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry). 
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. 
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. 
10. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
11. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

I used an oversized muffin pan for mine.  Just out of the oven:
 

And now displaying the regulation depression in the middle as the cooled cakes condense:
 

Strawberry Ice Cream

• 1 pint fresh strawberries, hulled and chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Combine strawberries, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup sugar in a mixing bowl, set aside in fridge for 1 hour.
2. In large mixing bowl beat eggs until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
3. Gradually add 3/4 cups sugar, mixing well. Stir in milk and vanilla and mix well.
4. Add strawberries with juice and mix well.
5. Gently stir in whipping cream just until combined.
6. Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s instructions.

Plating

As I said, the recipes themselves were not much of a challenge at all, but presentation always should be, and that’s where I concentrated most of my effort.  After wandering the Internets viewing innumerable desserts (the Wilton site is very useful for ideas), I decided on chocolate forms for garnish.  Some of the prettiest examples obviously used a lace doily for inspiration, but since I am just not a doily kind of girl (and at one time used to actually be considered an “artist”), I went with freehand.

For the chocolate I used a half cup of milk chocolate chips, mixed with a scant teaspoon of Crisco, and piped out a variety of designs using a small, round tip.  (The fat is to make the chocolate both shinier and easier to pipe, it sets up just fine in the freezer.)  The best platform for this is a quarter sheet pan, turned upside down, with wax paper taped to it.  Draw your forms with pencil (on the other side of the paper), or just freehand them, then pipe the chocolate over top.  I made a lattice heart, several swirly things, and this rose:
 

When Girlchild saw the rose she said, “I thought this was supposed to be a flower-less cake.”   She’s funneh.

I used the remainder of the melted chocolate to dip some of the leftover strawberries, and then plated up the whole deal like so:
 

For all that I am utterly devoted to chocolate in all its incarnations, flourless cakes are not my favorite thing in the world, I’ve discovered.  It was tasty enough, particularly with the sweet strawberry ice cream atop it, but so very HEAVY that it was pretty much overpowering.  Smaller portions (petit four size) would definitely be a good idea if you’re serving this.
 

Ok, bring on the next challenge!

There are a BILLYUN madeleine recipes out there, people.  Refrigerate 3 hours, eggs at room temperature, dance naked in the moonlight to ensure the perfect, er, “hump”….  The list goes on and on.  I read a half-dozen variations this morning, and went with the following, which is a bastardization of this one, this one and this one.

Madeleines

(Makes 24)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) SALTED butter, melted and cooled, plus additional for brushing molds
• 1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350.

Melt the 1 1/2 sticks of butter first, in a heavy glass measuring cup if you have it.  Heat in 30 second intervals in your microwave on high (a little less than 1 minute does it).  Set that aside to cool.

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Beat the eggs in your stand mixer on high speed (or with a hand mixer) until they’re light and foamy, about a minute.  Add the vanilla.  Slowly add the granulated sugar, still beating at high speed, and continue to beat until the mixture is tripled in volume, 3 to 5 minutes.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, folding gently with a spatula until just incorporated.  Do the same with the next third and the final third.  (Folding gently prevents the loss of all that air you beat into the eggs.)  Then fold in the zest and the melted/cooled butter.

Melt 1/2 stick butter in the microwave, about 30 seconds.  Use a brush (my favorite is this silicone one) to thoroughly coat the molds in the pan, be sure to get the edges as the cakes will swell a good bit and will stick there otherwise. 

Spoon rounded tablespoons into each mold, aiming for about 2/3 full.  Bake for about 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden.

Turn the finished pan out on a wire rack.  Either dust with powdered sugar or glaze as you like.

Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water

Whisk together in a bowl, drizzle over cooled cakes.

These are thin buttery cookies that are generally sandwiched together with ganache:
 

And make no mistake, they’re completely delicious this way, but I had in mind something a little different:

An approximation of Pepperidge Farm’s Geneva cookie, except this one is done with semi-sweet chocolate and crushed almonds.  

Melt 1 cup of semi-sweet chips with 1 tsp of shortening, microwave until goopy (1 to 2 minutes).  Dip cookies (or spread lightly with a knife/spatula) then sprinkle with crushed almonds.

Either way they’re absolutely delicious.  The cookie has a texture somewhere between a regular sugar cookie and shortbread and I can see using it in endless different ways.

What to do, what to do…

Make pepper-infused oil, obviously!

That’s 750ml of olive oil and about 1/2 cup dried* and crushed peppers, though I did leave a few peppers whole for visual appeal.  That’s going to sit in a cheesecloth-covered mason jar (needs to breathe to really get the infusion process going) for about two months, or until it’s nice and pepper-red.  I’ll just rebottle it in the original olive oil jar (which is having its label soaked off as we speak) and be set for chile oil for, oh, WEEKS at least.

*Dried, yes.  If you use fresh then the joy of botulism shall be yours.

*blink*

Hey, go big or stay home, as a particularly loathesome ex-boyfriend used to say.  

I was *very* pleased with the dough throughout the entire process…well except for the fact that I took someone’s advice to do the first rise in the oven with the light turned on.  The dough Did Not Like That.  Because I live in Florida, that’s why…the odds of the kitchen being too chilly to rise dough are pretty much nil, you know, a fact to which I should have paid attention.  So, rescued the dough, deflated it and left it in my usual proofing place, on top of the stove, where it did just fine from then on. 

The third and final rise, after shaping, had to be effected not in a couche (unbleached canvas here if you don’t want to spend $20+ bucks), but in parchment paper supported by basically anything tube-shaped that was lying about the kitchen:  spice jars, rolling pin, non-stick spray can.  But it worked fine, and even made the transfer to the peel a bit less than the anticipated nightmare.  But judging from the appearance of the final product, I do think I might have handled it a bit too much (or that first rise in the oven did it no favors), as the appearance isn’t as, er…iconic as it could be.

But the taste…ohh, baby, the taste.  Amazing you can wring so much flavor from only flour, salt, yeast and water.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg whites 
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cupcake pans with paper liners.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, shortening, milk and vanilla  in a large mixing bowl.  Mix at low speed for 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides while mixing.  Add egg whites and mix at high speed until fluffy and smooth, approximately 2 minutes.

Fill liners 1/2 full of batter.  Do not overfill.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool 10 minutes in pans then remove from pan, and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients
 

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 
Instructions

Beat the butter and cream cheese until creamy. Add confectioners’ sugar slowly, while mixing in melted chocolate and vanilla extract.
 

You Got Your Chocolate in my Peanut Butter Cupcakes

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 eggs

 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Measure out everything but the eggs directly into your mixer bowl.
2. Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, beat on high speed again for 2 minutes.

Measure out into cupcake pan lined with cupcake papers, about 1/2 full.  Bake for about 15-20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool 5 minutes in the pan then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

The Reese’s cup chocolate/peanut butter cupcake recipe is huge, made 24 full size cupcakes with batter enough left over for a pan of minis, too.  These, by the Girlchild’s request, received only a coating of powdered sugar.
 

Now, who is going to help us eat all these damned things??

But after harvesting the goodies from the garden this morning, and noticing all the ripe and near-ripe key limes on the tree, the ball started rolling with…

Key Lime Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 tsp grated lime zest
• confectioner’s sugar for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, egg and egg yolk until smooth.  Stir in the lime juice and lime zest.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt, then blend this into the creamed mixture.  

The dough is going to be sticky, so the best way to dish it out is with a “disher” or ice cream scoop.  Spray the disher with non-stick spray and scoop out dough (more batter than dough really) in tbsp size glops.  

Bake the glops 8 to 10 minutes, or until the bottom edges are just slightly brown.  Slide the parchment paper onto wire racks.  Sift confectioner’s sugar over the tops of the cookies while they’re still warm.
 

Next up are my personal favorites…

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2  eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2  tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to (of course) 350 degrees.  Beat together the softened butter, brown sugar, and sugar until creamy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Add this to the wet ingredients and combine thoroughly.  Add the oats and chocolate chips, stir well to combine.

Drop by the tablespoon-ful onto parchment paper-covered cookie sheets and bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  Slide the paper to wire racks, cool completely, etc. 

Fair warning, the above recipe makes a crapload of cookies.  Substitute raisins for the chocolate chips, but only if you must.
 

And finally…

Chocolate Drops

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to (surprise!) 400 degrees.  Prep parchment paper-cookie sheets.

Mix together the shortening, sugar and egg.  Stir in the milk and vanilla, combine thoroughly (don’t freak if it looks curdly, the dry ingredients will fix that).  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder.  Mix this into the wet ingredients.  Chill the dough for 1 hour.

Drop the dough by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepped cookie sheets.  The easiest way to do this is with two spoons, just roll the scoop between them until it is round-ish.  (Bonus: then you get to lick TWO spoons!)

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, then cool on the parchment paper on racks. Frost them with royal icing, dust with powdered sugar, or eat as is.
 

Aaand I think that’s enough cooking for today.  Though I tell you what I need, a decent sugar cookie recipe for the plethora of Christmas-shaped cookies we’ll be making in the next two weeks.  Anyone?  Bueller?

This recipe started by accident, a huge nightmare of a failed buttercream mishap.  Today was the Girlchild’s birthday party, and I got all ambitious after the Thanksgiving cooking and decided to make her cake myself.  The cake part was simple, a tried and true Nestle’s chocolate recipe, and for the frosting I decided to go with Alton Brown’s buttercream.  I tend to trust AB’s recipes because we’re devotees of the show, and have learned a great deal from him about the mechanics of cooking, but I must have missed this particular episode.  The recipe is as follows:

Alton Brown’s Buttercream Icing

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1/2 cup dark corn syrup 
• 10 ounces butter (BY WEIGHT), cubed and at room temperature

In a large mixing bowl, whip the eggs until light and fluffy. 

In a small saucepan bring the sugar and the corn syrup to a boil. Lubricate the inside of a metal baster with a small amount of vegetable oil and dispense it completely. Then use this to drizzle the sugar mixture into the mixing bowl with the eggs. The mixer should be on low speed until you finish drizzling in all of the sugar mixture. 

Once the entire mixture of the sugar is incorporated, slowly add the butter pieces. Only add more butter when you can no longer see the previously added pieces. It will go fast at first and then slow down. Continue to whip until the mixture is creamy.

—

Now, where exactly I went wrong is most certainly in the “drizzling” of the sugar mixture into the egg mixture.  I had exactly 20 minutes to accomplish everything before heading out the door to pick up the kids from school, and I almost certainly got the hot syrup into the eggs too quickly.  Not fast enough to actually cook the eggs, but enough to disrupt whatever chemical reaction was supposed to occur.

So, the mixture went into the frige while I was gone (about 2 hours), whereupon I took it out, jiggled it (still very liquid-like), then shoved it back in the fridge in disgust and went on to make a different buttercream recipe.

Enter my sister about three hours later.  While awaiting dinner delivery we’re poking around in the kitchen and I show her the Failure.  She looks over the recipe and says, “this is almost cake.”  So we added a teaspoon of baking powder and flour to a good cake batter texture, nonstick sprayed some muffin tins, filled them about 3/4 the way full, and popped them into a 350 degree oven.  They baked along during dinner, rising a bit over the top of the cups, and were removed when they were spongy to the touch on top.

The cake thingies developed a gorgeous golden brown color, had a nice spongy texture, though the edges that were in contact with the top of the tin were nice and crispy.  I was in no mood to fiddle with yet more frosting, so we debated what to top them with.  Ganache was too much trouble, plus not enough bittersweet chocolate on hand, then Sister saved the day again.  ”Lemon,” she said.  Husband threw down his fork, abandoned his favorite burrito in the whole world (Dona Julia’s El Mariachi) and ran out back to the Meyer lemon tree, plucked the only two that were ripe and delivered them forthwith. 

We juiced them up, decided two was not even remotely enough, and pulled out the Key Lime juice I’d been hoarding as the fruits ripened over the past couple of months (probably about 6 fruits worth).  I whipped that all together with confectioner’s sugar to a nice glaze consistency, poked holes in the still warm cake thingies and droozled the glaze thereover.  My taste testers pounced (I am so NOT a lemon person) and prounouced them divine, much like Orange Grecian cake.

So there you have it, accidental success in the kitchen, thanks to a Sister with big ideas and a handy backyard garden!

STILL the very best cookie I’ve ever had in my ENTIRE life.

Last week during Thanksgiving break, the kids and I decided that cookies were more the thing this year, instead of heavy pies.  As we geared up for Daddy-favorites oatmeal raisin, and chocolate chip made with large bittersweet chips (recipe for that later), we also hauled this recipe out and raided the Halloween candy leftovers for Milk Duds.  Caramel, chocolate, cookies??  How could that be wrong?!?

Milk Dud Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup Milk Duds, quartered

Let me tell you, the quartering of Milk Duds is a Pain In The Arse.  Note the size of the knife with which I’m doing it here:
 

That’s because I didn’t trust a lighter knife to not deflect off the candy and remove a finger or two!  Be safe, go slow, use a heavy knife.  These little buggers are TOUGH.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Mix flour, baking soda and salt.

In your Kitchenaid (or with a hand mixer) on medium speed, beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, 3 tbsp water and the vanilla.  Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture, then beat until blended.  

Stir in the Milk Duds.  And try not to stop right here and eat the batter by the spoonful.
 

Drop the batter in teaspoon-sized glops onto parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.  Leave a few inches of expansion room between each glop…  
 

…because not only will they expand, but the bits near the edges will explode in glorious caramel flows, that turn beautifully crunchy when cooled.
 

We definitely need to experiment with more Halloween leftovers, see what else would be marvelous baked in a cookie.  Mounds bars, Goobers, Milky Ways, THREE MUSKETEERS!!!  *faints*