DB: Tiramisu

I'm a little late and a little rushed, but here goes.


The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I'm finally back in Tripoli after two weeks stuck in Malta, and as a result, I didn't have much time for this multi-day challenge. But I pulled it off (sort of), so come check it out.

TWD: Espresso Cheesecake Brownies

Today's Tuesday with Dorie is a great combination of cheesecake a brownie, chocolate and coffee. It was chosen by Melissa of Life in a Peanut Shell. Check out her blog for the recipe. Be sure to check out the other TWD bakers to see how theirs turned out.



I decided, like usual, to make it for Jacob's work, so instead of baking it in a 9x9 pan, I used doubled the recipe and put it in my large jelly roll pan. This produced a thinner than intended bar, but I think the proportions turned out well.


I realized later that the point where I poured the cheesecake mixture in made the brownie spread away to almost nothing, so if I did it again, I would pour small amounts around the pan.

I also didn't do the sour cream topping. I was going to, and I had grand dreams of piping fleur di lis on them to make them classy and creamy, but... I made this right before I left for my parents house and I simply did not have the time to do it without missing my plane. I made these early because I'm trying to get it all ready for when I move to Libya in one week exactly. I don't know how I'm going to bake over there, and I expect that it might take me a little time to figure that out, so I'm trying not to fall behind.


Also, as a result of barely getting them made, I didn't get to try them. It's quite a bummer because based on my husband, his coworkers, and other TWDers, it seems like a missed out on a scrumptious treat. I guess I'll just have to drool over the pictures until I get to make it again.

Uber Chocolatey, Uber Delicious

The person that is directly over Jacob at his work is leaving the company today. He had a luncheon party yesterday, and I decided I wanted to make him a treat. Jacob asked what he would like, and he requested something chocolate.

So I set to work looking for a recipe. This is actually quite fun. There are so many places to look for recipes, and with pictures to boot.

Along my search, I found this recipe from Annie's Eats. They looked chocolatey; they looked moist; and most importantly, they looked delicious.

I decided to go with them because I had the ingredients on hand and they looked good.

In fact, they turned out good, too. They had the nice sheen that stayed long after it was baked, kinda like a good brownie.


And I should think so. There's three types of chocolate in these, including 16 ounces of melted chocolate. That's a lot of chocolate for some cookies!

But the result was well worth the chocolate and the effort.


And Jacob's boss loved them. So mission accomplished. (I so felt like Kronk from The Emperor's New Groove right there. I love that character. Especially when he does his own theme music.)

Chewy Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies
as seen on Annie's Eats

2 cups (10 oz.) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz.) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used a mixture of semisweet and dark because it’s what I had on hand)
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. instant coffee or espresso powder
10 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 1/2 cups packed (10 1/2 oz.) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 oz.) granulated sugar
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together; set aside.

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water until completely melted and smooth; remove from the heat. (Alternatively, microwave the chocolate in 30 second intervals, mixing thoroughly in between, until melted and smooth.) In a small mixing bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla and instant coffee granules; stir well with a fork to dissolve; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds. Mix in the sugars until well combined, about 45 seconds – the mixture will look granular. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually beat in the egg mixture until incorporated, about 45 seconds. Add the chocolate to the bowl in a steady stream and continue beating until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated, being careful not to overbeat. Fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is scoopable and fudge-like, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets with a 1 ¾-inch cookie dough scoop, spacing the dough balls about 1 ½ inches apart.

Bake until the edges of the cookies have just began to set but the centers are still very soft, about 10 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. Cool the cookies on the sheets about 10 minutes, transfer to cooling racks and allow to cool completely. Cool the baking sheets before baking more batches with the remaining dough.

This says that it will make about 42 cookies, but I got 60 or so. More to enjoy...mmmm....

Of Lemons and Cookies

So here's another post about my self-forced commitment to bake twice a week for Jacob's company.

This time I chose to make Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, still from Baking from My Home to Yours.

I really, really enjoyed eating the lemon poppy seed muffins. So much so, that I'm going to include the recipe here. Right after you fall in love with them.

They were so darn delicious. And that was even eating them after they had sat out for a few days, I bet they're even better the first day.



Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
For Muffins
2/3 cup sugar
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
For Icing
1 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups. Alternatively, use a silicone muffin pan, which need neither greasing nor paper cups. Place the muffin pan on a baking sheet.
In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is most and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, which the sour cream, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. don't worry about being thorough--a few lumps are better than overmixing the batter. Stir in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a thin knife inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. cool the muffins completely on the rack before icing them.
Put the confectioner's sugar in a small bowl and add about 1 1/2 tablespoon of the lemon juice. Stir with a spoon to moisten the sugar, then add enough additional lemon juice, a dribble at a time, to get an icing that is thin enough to drizzle from the tip of the spoon. You can then drizzle lines of icing over the tops of the muffins or coat the tops entirely, the better tot get an extra zap of lemon.

For the Espresso-Chocolate Shortbread Cookies, on page 125, they turned out all right. I made two batches of them, since they were going to a crowd. One batch I used mini chocolate chips, the other I used chopped chocolate, so I got two very different looks.

I found it really difficult to take pictures of these. I still have loads to learn, I suppose.