Nutella Brownies or When Two Loves Combine

Nutella Brownies!

It is no secret: I love brownies and I love Nutella. Should I ever be forced to choose between one or the other (as in, I can only have one for the rest of my life), I think I would implode. Or I would choose these brownies, because it combines my two loves.

Don't judge...

I did not always love Nutella. My first impression of it was that of indifference; I could take it or leave it. That all changed when I studied abroad in Poitiers, France. Nutella became an addiction. True story: I would carry a jar of Nutella in my backpack in case I acquired a warm, fresh baguette from a bakery. Warm baguette + Nutella = Heaven (yes, I said that in a sing-song voice). Yes, I developed a deep, loving relationship with Nutella. This relationship, of course, was not good for me or my wardrobe. Let me just say that, regrettably, most of the clothing I had gone to France with did not fit me by the end of my time there.

I have since scaled back on the Nutella binges. In fact, I don't binge on it at all- too much sugar for me. I like my sweets, but I don't like them that sweet. Nutella is now just an occasional moment of bliss. My attachment is a lot less obsessive and is now more of a fondness.

Brownies, on the other hand, are still an obsession. The song Bad Romance comes to mind, for some reason. I get these really intense cravings for brownies (fudgy ones, of course), and then when I bake them, I go a little crazy with them. I'll eat one square and call it good, but sure enough, about half an hour later, I'm back at the pan, cutting myself "just a sliver" of brownie. Before I know it, a third of the pan is gone and my stomach is screaming at me for overdoing it. And then the guilt sets in. Brownies should come with a warning: contains guilt as a main ingredient. Yes, brownie is that bad lover that I keep returning to, no matter how many times he mistreats me. What can I say? I must be some kind of masochist...

Anyway, back to the Nutella Brownies. Were they good? Hells yes. Especially when served with my homemade coffee ice cream. You want to know the best part? These brownies were flipping easy to make. Seriously, way super easy. A drunken toddler could make these (note: I do not condone plying toddlers with alcohol). So, if you're really wanting brownies and have a large jar of Nutella on hand, I say go forth and bake these babies. You're welcome.

Gooey!

Nutella Brownies
from here

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup Nutella

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare an 8-inch square pan by spraying it with cooking spray.

Combine the flour and salt in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat until combined. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Beat in the Nutella and mix until incorporated. Stir in the flour mixture.

Pour the batter in the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack. These suckers are pretty stellar warm and served with ice cream.

Enjoy!

Lemon Loaf and Life Lessons

Most of the loaf was eaten before I took a picture...

"Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, folks, my blog has officially reached it's first anniversary. That means I actually stuck with this for a year! I am proud of myself for sticking with it, given how many projects I've started in the past, only to abandon a few days or a few weeks later.

I've actually had a weekend full of proud moments. It all began with an epiphany that I had on Thursday when I went for a walk during a break at work. I've been feeling restless lately, a bit trapped, uncertain of my future and questioning whether there was a light at the end of the tunnel. During that last walk (and I've been taking many walks lately), it suddenly hit me: I need to not return to school in the fall and instead focus on baking. Specifically, I need to focus on starting a business for my baking. It is a scary thought, something I've toyed with in the past, but never took too seriously. In the end, however, I think it is time that I really gave a dream a chance to see the light, instead of keeping it trapped in my mind.

Once I had that breakthrough, things began to seem a little more clear to me. I am not trapped. I am free to make whatever decisions I feel are best, as this is my life, and I'm the only one living it. I've also only got one chance at this life, so I need to make the most of it. It has also helped to have some good friends to talk to and to remind me who I really am. I am a strong person, and I am not alone.

With this new outlook, I managed to fill what started out as a no-plans 3-day weekend with lots of activity. I took a drive in the country all by myself (which I had never done before), and wound up on some country roads that reminded me of a roller coaster; at one point, I came over a hill where I could not see the bottom, so I just yelled, "wooooo!" and enjoyed the ride. It was a nice little adventure. I also went to a party where I managed to speak a little French,as well as talk to strangers and join in conversations I was not originally a part of (something that usually makes me nervous). On Saturday I met up with two different friends across the river and did some exploring over there on my own for a bit (another first). During that adventure, I ate the most delicious grilled sandwich ever at The Grilled Cheese Grill: the Jaime, which had mascarpone, nutella, and bananas on cinnamon swirl bread. I almost died of happiness. I'm glad I didn't die, though, because Sunday morning I had another such moment with some peanut butter pancakes at Screen Door. It was a solid weekend with new adventures and plenty of time spent with good friends.

And so now I will share with you the recipe for the lemon loaf I made this weekend. Still not sure if it's a bread or a cake, but I don't really care. It tastes good. Sometimes I just get a lemon craving, and this satisfies that. It's a burst of sunshine, when that is what you need in your life. Also, my boss told me that it's the best lemon pound cake she has ever tasted, so I feel pretty good about it.

Lemon Loaf
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking


3/4 cup cake flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/8 cup sugar
4 lrg eggs at room temp.
grated lemon zest from 2 lemons
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 sour cream at room temp.
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup limoncello

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray. Fit a small sheet of parchment paper in the bottom of the coated pan and coat with cooking spray.

Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

In a food processor, combine the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice and pulse to combine. With the motor running, drizzle the butter in through the feeding tube. Stop the machine and add the sour cream and vanilla and pulse to combine. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, then stir the dry ingredients in in 3 additions. Stir until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, then bake at the center of the oven for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan and turn the heat down to 325 degrees F and cook for another 30-35 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Allow the loaf to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Invert the loaf onto a sheet of parchment and poke holes into the top and sides of the loaf. Use a pastry brush to brush the loaf with limoncello, allowing the limoncello to seep into the holes. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

Emergency Chocolate Cake

Sorry, this is the only picture I got; I was a bit excited about eating the cake...

So my blog has been on hiatus for a few weeks, mostly because I did not bake any new recipes. Okay, so that's not entirely true- I did make some muffins, but they weren't good enough to write about. Instead, I made coffee ice cream and my famous chocolate chip cookies because I was in the mood for something familiar.

But I'm back with a recipe for Emergency Chocolate Cake from Cook's Illustrated. I'd been feeling a bit of the summertime blues last week, so I figured an easy chocolate cake was what the doctor ordered. While the cake did not actually fix anything, it got me back in the baking spirit. It was also delicious.

No, what really is really helping me right now is a reminder from one of my best friends. I remember feeling this way when I studied abroad, and I told my friend about it. She reminded me that I got through that time, had the best time of my life after it, and if it were not for that, we would not be such good friends. Sometimes you need a friend who has been there for you before to remind you of just how strong you are. So I'm back. And I want to share a poem that has been playing in my mind today: Invictus.

Emergency Chocolate Cake
adapted from Cook's Illustrated


7.5 oz unbleached all-purpose flour
7 oz sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 oz Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1 cup hot coffee
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1 lrg egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and coat an 8x8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, combine the chocolate and cocoa powder, then pour the hot coffee over it and whisk until smooth; let cool. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

4. Allow cake to cool on wire rack. The cake can be eaten plain, or served with ice cream.

Limoncello, the final result

Limoncello!

So, remember how I told you all a month ago that I was making limoncello? Well, it is finally finished. You see, the Everclear had to soak up all of the lemony goodness of the lemon peel from 15 lemons for 3 weeks before I could add the sugar water and eventually transfer the mixture to bottles for serving and sharing. The end result is very lemony and rather potent. It is best served chilled and sipped slowly...

I have already told you my limoncello story (in the link above), so here I am going to take the time to talk about a favorite person of mine. A person who happens to love lemons. In fact, on the 4th of July, I asked this person what his favorite fruit was and he listed the following: blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and lemons. This person is my three-year-old nephew.

Yes, aside from Positano, lemons also make me think of my nephew, and how when he was a baby he would suck on lemons as though they were candy. Yes, he puckered his lips when eating a lemon, but he seemed to love the experience. This was back when he made Zoolander lips...

But now he is getting a little bit older and getting more of a personality. He's a little bit bossier, but he's also as sweet as can be. Just last night he was sitting next to me at a restaurant, telling me all of the things he wanted to do at my apartment, and then he suddenly stood up, turned around, threw his arms around me and told me, "I love you, Ray-Ray. I love Lucy and Enzo too." It's moments like these that I wish I could preserve in a bottle to enjoy later. But I will take them as they come.

This potent liqueur should be sipped.

Limoncello


1 750ml bottle Everclear
15 lemons (preferably organic)
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups water

Scrub the lemons and peel them, being sure not to get any of the white (which is bitter). Put the peels in a 2-quart mason jar, then cover with the Everclear. Let sit in a cool, dark place for 3 weeks, shaking the mixture daily.

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil until the liquid is clear and the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool for 30 minutes. Strain the Everclear-lemon mixture and pour back into the mason jar.  Add the sugar water and allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in the fridge overnight. Transfer the limoncello to sterilized 8-oz bottles. Makes about 7 bottles.

Enjoy!

Strawberry-Rhubarb Sorbet

What a pretty color!

I've been a bit lazy about writing this blog post for two reasons: writer's block and crappy weather. I made sorbet while it was sorbet weather, but that sorbet weather was replaced with a week of clouds and rain and misery. Okay, maybe that's a little overly dramatic, but seriously, you can't give me sunshine and heat and then just suddenly take it away and expect me to be happy about it. I understand that there are worse things in the world than bad weather, but I also refuse to believe that my feelings are invalid.

So anyway, sorbet. I don't usually eat sorbet because I'm more of a rich, creamy dessert girl than a fruity girl. But we were talking about strawberries and rhubarb that needed to be used up toute de suite, so I gave it a shot. I'm very happy I did. Not only was the sorbet ridiculously easy to make, but it was very delicious. Perfect on a sunny day...

I also discovered something about sorbet this week: you can create a sort of make-shift margarita with it. Just take a scoop or two of sorbet, add some tequila and triple sec, et voila! Margarita! Just make sure to use proper measurements because eye-balling the measurements is terribly dangerous...

Strawberry-Rhubarb Sorbet
from The Perfect Scoop


12 oz rhubarb, cut into half-inch pieces
2/3 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
10 oz fresh strawberries, rinsed and hulled
1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Put the rhubarb, sugar and water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and let simmer for 5 minutes or until the rhubarb is softened. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a food processor, combine the rhubarb mixture, strawberries, and lemon juice and pulse until smooth. Chill the mixture in the fridge overnight.

Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Enjoy!

All-American Afternoon Tea

Blackberry pies.

So, you know how my sister, Frakah, and I are into afternoon tea and want to start our own tea/bakery one day? Well, we're coming up with ideas for themed teas, and I came up with the idea for an American tea to celebrate the 4th of July. My family always gets together for every holiday, so I thought this would be the perfect occasion to try out a special tea theme.

It's a pie tree!

My first thought was (shocker) dessert. I knew right away that I wanted to make mini pies- blue ones and red ones, based on whatever I could find at the farmer's market. My second idea was for deviled eggs and mini hamburgers and veggie burgers (because I'm a vegetarian). The rest was based upon what we usually have for the 4th of July: potato salad, chips and dip, and veggies with dip.

I volunteered to make the pies, the burger buns, and the veggie burgers. I had no idea what I'd signed myself up for, but let's just say I ended the 3-day weekend feeling absolutely exhausted.

Aw, so cute! Mini veggie burgers.

My plan was to divide the baking into 3 days for the 3 items: Saturday was for pies, Sunday was for buns, and Monday was for veggie burgers (which needed to be fresh for the grill anyway). Well Saturday evening and Sunday morning saw me failing with my pies (24 mini pies means rolling dough out and shaping 48 pie crusts), Sunday afternoon/evening saw me failing with my buns (the damn dough would not rise!), and Monday morning the veggie burgers worked out perfectly (yay!). I actually had to re-bake my pies (which were baked in muffin pans) because I under-cooked them the first time around. Luckily, the pies turned out to be quite good. The buns, on the other hand, were passable, but should have been fluffier.

Strawberry-rhubarb mini pie.

All of this baking had me thinking: why do I put myself through this trouble? I got to thinking and realized the following: a) the stress of baking takes my mind off of any kind of stress/frustration/bad thoughts and feelings I may have, b) I usually enjoy the end result, and, most importantly, c) I do it for the pleasure that it usually brings other people. Few things make me happier than seeing my nephew get excited over something I've baked, or having my sister-in-law tell me how great something looks (even when I think it doesn't). What it really comes down to is sharing the fruits of my labor with people I care about. It's all about the love.

As for the 4th of July Afternoon Tea, it went over pretty well. I made a berry iced tea and threw some frozen strawberries and blackberries into the pitcher. My mini pies were blackberry and strawberry-rhubarb and though not perfect, they looked pretty darn cute, if you ask me. The family seemed to enjoy everything, and though my nephew did not partake of the meal, he did inquire about a pie. Sadly, boys who don't eat dinner don't get dessert.

Happy Independence Day!

Mini Pies


4 discs of chilled pie dough
1 recipe strawberry-rhubarb filling
1 recipe blackberry filling (below)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Roll out 1 disc of pie dough to about 1/8 of an inch. Cut out 12 4-inch circles of dough (you may have to roll out the dough a little thinner) and fit them into the muffin tin. Chill the tin in the fridge while you prepare your filling. Next, roll out the second disc and either cut out 12 3-1/2 inch circles (for strawberry-rhubarb) or use a pizza slicer to cut long thin strips for a lattice crust (for blackberry). Fill each pie crust with filling (abut 3/4 full) and top with the top crust, crimping the edges together.

Bake one muffin tin for 30 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the heat to 375 and bake for another 30 minutes. You want the crust to be a nice golden brown (try not to under-bake!). Let the pies rest until completely cool.

Baking Monster Cookies, Amish Style

That is one monster of a cookie.

Last night I set out with the intention of making Monster Cookies using a recipe from The Amish Cook's Baking Book. I measured the sugars and butter into my large bowl and grabbed my hand mixer to cream the butter and sugars together. Trouble was, the beaters would not stay in the machine part of the mixer. Like, at all. I tried switching them around, using the other pair of beaters, but all to no avail. Mind you, this hand mixer was old. I don't know how old, but it was my mom's and I took it when I moved out on my own because she had bought herself a brand-new one. Needless to say, I was now mixer-less. How the h-e-double-hockey-sticks am I supposed to cream butter and sugar without a machine?

No, the irony of this predicament was not lost on me. Here I was trying to bake a recipe from an Amish cookbook and my damn machine goes kaput, forcing to make the batch of cookies entirely by hand, sans electricity (save, of course, for the baking in the oven part). Yes, somewhere above the clouds, God was laughing at me. Perhaps he was even rolling on the floor.

Despite my little problem, the cookies turned out rather good. They're nowhere near as good as my famous chocolate chip cookies or my super-duper chocolate cookies, but these are an entirely different type of cookie. These have oats, peanut butter, milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips, and M&Ms. Boo-ya. I tell myself that they're kind of healthy because of the oats and peanut butter. My coworker said that it's okay to eat them because they're like a granola bar. They're nice and soft, with that hearty, oaty texture and plenty of chocolate. Oh, and did I mention that they have peanut butter in them? Because they do. And the combo of peanut butter and chocolate is awesome.

Cookie time!

Monster Cookies
adapted from the Amish Cook's Baking Book


2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp corn syrup
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups M&Ms

Heat oven to 350 degrees F, with the racks at the lower-middle and upper-middle positions.

Cream together the butter and sugars (by hand, if you must). Add the eggs and mix well after each addition. Before mixing in the third egg, add the vanilla, corn syrup, and baking soda. After adding the last egg, add the peanut butter and mix well until combined. Stir in the oats until combined, then stir in the chocolate chips and M&Ms.

Drop the batter onto ungreased cookie sheets using a soup spoon. Form into a somewhat cohesive ball, and keep the cookies 2 inches apart on two baking sheets. Stick the baking sheets on the racks in the oven and bake for a total of 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.

Remove the pans from the oven when the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Cool on the sheets for 3 minutes, then transfer to wire racks (or your mouth) to cool completely. Enjoy!