TWD: Whole Wheat Loaves

So sorry for the absence- I've been busy with other life-related things, like the start of school and Sweet 16 planning.  All good things, but they take up time! I've also been stuck in a bit of a baking rut... I'm sick of making breads and savory things, and I don't know what else to do. This week I had a free afternoon and promised myself that I would make something sweet, and I did, but it was an old favorite- this cherry pie- which, don't get me wrong, is wonderful, but I need something new.

cheesy rolls

Anyone want to send me your favorite sweet fall recipes? I'm looking for a great pumpkin bread...

 But back to today. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums and Teresa of The Family That Bakes Together. Thanks for hosting! I decided to fancy it up a bit by baking half of the dough into little rolls, which I tucked some shredded mozzarella and a little butter into when I folded them into thirds. I baked them in my muffin top pan, and got 8 large rolls from half the dough. This was a fairly quick recipe (I did use maple syrup instead of malt extract, which can be hard to find) - I had a little trouble with the initial kneading of the dough, but it eventually all came together. This bread is tender and has a great flavor- not overwhelmingly "healthy-tasting," as some whole wheat breads can be.

I have been enjoying this bread as toast with nutella in the mornings and peanut butter and jelly. Yum! The recipe can be found on the hosts' blogs or in Baking with Julia, as always. Enjoy!

PB&J with homemade bread!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

 This was made on one of our last few nights in Brazil last week. It is a dense, chocolatey cake, naturally free of flour. This was actually my first traditional flourless chocolate cake recipe - it wasn't quite as fast to make as I thought. With the help of the food processor, though, it ends up being pretty simple to put together. Especially if you have great company drinking coffee in the kitchen with you! Oh, I wish we lived near family all the time, not just while we were on vacation...
Overall, this is a great recipe. It bakes into a... well... "rustic-looking" cake, but nobody will mind. The cracked top shows a glimpse of the dark, silky inside. It is rich enough that ten people didn't finish the whole thing, but we enjoyed every bite! Both those people who don't eat gluten and those who do loved it. Be sure to use good-quality chocolate, as you will really be able to taste it in this recipe.
Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake
(ever-so-slightly adapted from  Gluten-Free Goddess)

16 oz. your favorite dark chocolate
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white  sugar
3/4 cup very hot strong coffee (or use espresso powder in very hot water)
2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), room temperature, cut into pieces
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
8 large eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare a 10-cup springform pan by lining the bottom with buttered parchment paper.
Break up the dark chocolate into pieces and pour the chocolate into the bowl of the food processor. Pulse until the chocolate breaks up into small bits. Add the sugar. Pulse until the chocolate and sugar turns into an even, sandy grain.
Pour the hot water or coffee slowly into the feed tube as you pulse again. Pulse until the chocolate is melted. Magic!
Add the butter pieces and the cocoa powder, and pulse to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla, and process till smooth. The batter will be liquid and creamy.
Pour the batter into the lined Springform pan. Wrap the outside of the whole pan with a big piece of foil. Bake at 350º F in the center of the oven, till puffed and cracked - about 55 to 65 minutes (this may take more time if you use a smaller pan, since the cake will be thicker.) Use a wooden toothpick to check the center of the cake; pick should emerge clean, with maybe a crumb.
Place the cake pan on a wire rack to cool. The cake will deflate. Don't worry! When cooled a bit, press down on it gently with a spatula to make it even, if you wish.
When the cake is completely cooled, release from pan. Serve in thin slices.
-about 15 servings

TWD: Peach Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

 

    If all I showed you was the picture above, you would think my cake came out just like all the others. That it was light and fluffy and perfectly cooked. I've said before on this blog that when I really don't like how a recipe came out, I don't post it - unless it's worth my making again, I don't want you thinking you should be making it. However, the point of Tuesdays with Dorie is to try out new recipes. To learn techniques and flavor combinations I've never tried. So, I think  I should tell you the truth about this one. I didn't quite beat the egg whites enough, I think. I'm pretty sure the cake should have been baked for more time, but the recipe says 45-50 minutes, so I figured that after 60, it had to be done. I took it out, it was browned and yummy-looking. Twenty minutes later, there was a ditch in the center, and when I flipped it over, I saw this:

 

But that's really okay. The center was uncooked, so I cut it out and threw it away. But the rest of it - the outer circle of peaches (I was in the mood for peaches instead of nectarines), was so light, so fluffy, so delicious. I have never made a cake this fluffy, at least not that I can remember. I left the oats out of the streusel, but it baked up crunchy and delicious (even though I skipped the food processor and did it by hand!). Obviously, this cake wasn't a huge success. But it's a great recipe if you bake it for longer than the recipe states, and we found a way to still enjoy it. I know I'll be trying another chiffon cake in the future. Thanks to Marlise of The Double Trouble Kitchen and Susan of The Little French Bakery for hosting this week's Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe can be found on their blogs or, as always, in Baking with Julia.
Enjoy!

Airy Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

 Family recipes are the greatest. Especially the old ones: although they are sometimes hard to understand or make with the ingredients you can find at your grocery store (I'm thinking grandma's handwritten recipes saying "bake in hot oven until ready"- true story), they have stood the test of time. Perfected over the years by generations, I love getting my hands on a new one and finding out why so many people in my family make this specific recipe so often.

My mom and I just came home from Brazil this morning, and I am oh-so-sad to be away from so much family again. This mousse was part of one of our last few sweet nights having dinner with friends. It is an old family recipe, perfected by a great-aunt, and made (this time) by me and my cousin. It doesn't take too long to put together, and though it uses lots of eggs, the ingredients are all probably ones you have on hand. We probably made it in half an hour, and then let it sit in the fridge for about nine - although around four hours is probably enough. It is so airy, with lots of bubbles; it makes you feel like you are eating a light dessert, even though it is actually filled with butter and chocolate. Its classic deep chocolate flavor makes it the perfect dessert for a dinner with friends and family. 

Enjoy!

Airy Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse

250 grams bittersweet chocolate

250 grams butter

9 egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

6 egg whites

Chop the bittersweet chocolate and cut the butter into several pieces. Place in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in one-minute intervals until melted, or melt in a heat-proof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar in an electric mixer until the mixture becomes a very pale cream. Stir in the hot chocolate mixture and the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Fold into the egg yolk and chocolate mixture. 

Pour it all into a big bowl or serving dish and refrigerate until serving, at least 4 hours.

                                                  

Cheesy & Sweet Cornbread

I do realize that I have been putting up a ridiculous amount of corn-centered recipes lately. This is for several reasons:
1. It is probably my mom's absolute favorite quick snack or breakfast treat. Hey, I like it too, so l don't complain about making it all the time.
2. Since my mom found out she has Celiac disease and can't eat gluten, we discovered that cornbread/cake is one if of the easiest things to make. Usually the recipes only take a bit of flour, which can be substituted, and many are naturally gluten-free.
3. Everybody swears that their recipe is the best (this particular one is my aunt's, slightly adapted by me.) Hey, that means we have to try all of them, right? Our problem is that they are all good! One I made last week was moist like a pudding; another recent one was a classic, one you could make for just about any meal or time of day; this one is cheesy and sweet at the same time. So yes, I have a lot of cornbread posts. But they are all worth trying. I promise.

This cornbread comes together in about five minutes- from a counter of ingredients, you are less than an hour away from cheesy goodness. You might think the combination of cheese and sugar doesn't go together, but it does- think of cheesecake. Or just trust me on this one. I promise you'll thank me later.
This isn't dessert, but it's sweet enough to feel like a slightly indulgent snack. It's best eaten warm, when you still have some gooey shreds of cheese to balance out the sugar. Eat it with a cup of coffee for breakfast, with a glass of milk as a snack, or with a big bowl of chili for dinner... You may find it impossible to resist eating large slices of it between meals. Not that I would do that (cough cough). Enjoy! <3Cheesy & Sweet Cornbread

2 1/2 cups cornmeal
2 cups sugar plus 2 tablespoons
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs
2 cups milk
1 cup oil
1 1/2 cups grated cheese
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cinnamon.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 11x17" pan (you can use a 9x13", but it will be thicker.)
Stir together the cornmeal and 2 cups of the sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the cornstarch, baking powder, eggs, milk, oil, and cheese one by one.
Pour into the pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the edges are browned and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
As soon as it is out of the oven, prick all over with a fork. Spread on the butter so it melts and sprinkle on the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and the cinnamon. Serve warm.

Brigadeiros (Brazilian Chocolate Truffles)

If there's one thing that you'll find at just about every party, of somebody of any age, from 1 to 100, at least in the U.S., it's probably... Well, I don't know. We don't really have that one thing- it might be pizza, soda, maybe a birthday cake? In Brazil, there is one thing you will always find: Brigadeiros.
These are the simplest chocolate truffles- a can of sweetened condensed milk, a few tablespoons of sweetened cocoa powder or hot chocolate mix, cooked until the right consistency, refrigerated, rolled into balls and then in chocolate sprinkles. Make them the size you want, throw them in some little candy cups (don't use mini cupcake wrappers, unless you want enough richness in each one to last you a week), and these chewy chocolate bites will be a huge hit. They are sweet, chocolatey, the perfect texture for everyone from babies to great-grandparents. If you don't want the fuss of rolling, spoon the hot mixture into shot glasses and it will be like having a little grown-up pudding cup. Either way, delicious, and a Brazilian classic. Enjoy! <3 Brigadeiros

1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup sweetened cocoa powder or hot chocolate mix
chocolate sprinkles, for rolling

Stir together milk and chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl.
Microwave for two minutes, stir, two minutes, stir. Microwave in one-minute increments until the mixture reaches the consistency of a thick caramel sauce: too thin for scooping but too thick for easy drizzling (this should only take an additional 2-3 minutes, but depends on your microwave.)
Refrigerate until completely cool and thickened, about 3 hours. Once cool, scoop into small balls (less than a tablespoon usually, but the size is up to you) and roll in chocolate sprinkles. Place in candy cups and leave at room temperature until serving.
Note: while in the microwave, the mixture may overflow; just pause, stir, and continue.

Flourless Corn Coconut Pudding-Cake

My mom and I came home a few days ago, tired from walking around the Brazilian malls (hard life, huh? You must hate me right now... Trust me, I wish this were my year-round life too!) to find my grandma in the kitchen. My grandma doesn't often cook or bake (although when she does, whatever she makes is always delicious), so I knew something special was going to come out of there.She said she was making a gluten-free cake for my mom. This "cake" takes just a couple of ingredients: sweetened condensed milk, eggs, dried coconut, coconut milk, and canned corn. That's it. No flour or thickener of any kind. You would expect something like this to fall apart, but somehow, maybe magically, it doesn't. Straight out of the oven, it's almost like a pudding. Once cooled, it's a very moist cake- I decided to all it a pudding cake. It's not overly sweet, the perfect afternoon snack with a cup of creamy coffee or tea. Although I still have no idea how these ingredients come together into a cake, I guess that's simply the kind of magic that comes out of a grandma's kitchen. I just hope it happens in my kitchen once I get home, too- this pudding-cake is so delicious, you can bet it's going to be in my house very often. Enjoy! <3Flourless Corn Pudding-Cake

3 eggs
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 14-oz. can corn kernels, drained
1 200-ml. bottle or can coconut milk (can be light)
100 grams dried coconut, preferably unsweetened

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 6-cup bundt pan (or double the recipe for a regular-sized pan).
Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend to desired consistency- I like a few pieces of corn in there, but you can blend it until totally smooth if you like.
Pour into greased pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Eat warm or let cool for a firmer dessert.