Black and White Cookies

The other day Jeremy randomly threw out that I should make black and white cookies and that I had until March 1st to perfect the recipe. I figured it might take a while for perfect to happen so I made them this weekend. For the white side to stay white you cannot put vanilla extract in there but you do lose the vanilla flavor. Jeremy suggested I use vanilla bean. I said no at first because its fun to disagree with him and then realized he was probably right (ugh I hate that) so we bought them.

I baked them for 11 minutes and as they were cooling and the second batch was in the oven I realized the tops (what becomes the bottom) were not cooked enough. So I baked the second batch for 12 minutes and then put the first batch back in for a few more minutes. Next time I will flatten the cookie longer and I think it will cook more evenly.

I need to work on the consistency of the frosting... both sides need to be much thicker so I can put more on there. Overall the flavors were pretty nice and I think with a few tweaks I'll have this in the bag before my deadline!

Dulce Leche Duos and Bittersweet Ganache

It was surprisingly difficult to find store bought Dulce de Leche. Luckily I live with a smarty pants and he directed me to a store that had it. Nothing much to this recipe. Dorie suggests you make them with the dulce de leche as the filling. I thought it would be too caramely sweet so I decided to knock another recipe out and fill it with the bittersweet ganache.












The ganache was yummy... I'd prefer semi-sweet I think. It took a lot longer than I thought to thicken... about an hour.

*Just wanted to say I still really love my countertops.*

Translucent Maple Tuiles

A Jeremy pick!

Super easy... mix it up, chill for 3 hours, roll into balls, bake.

It's really cool to watch them bubble up and separate. I'm not sure there's any flavor to it. Jeremy said they were good and he'd like them over ice cream. 

I would just want the ice cream.

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

I wasn't sure what I thought of cakey cookies... now I know I'm not going to be their #1 fan. There's nothing wrong with them but it's like they are having an identity issue. I'm a cake... wearing cookie clothes. They don't fit.

Caramel Crunch Bars

I'm not a toffee lover so this wasn't going to be my thing. I was intrigued by the recipe because the bottom layer bakes for 20 minutes and bubbles... it's the little things for me.

I couldn't find Heath Toffee Bits so I bought Heath bars and beat the crap out of them with a rolling pin.

You were supposed to finely chop milk chocolate. I bought chips so I tried to chop them in the mini prep but they didn't want to break up. It worked out because after 3 minutes in the oven the chocolate spread just fine.

The Heath bar pieces are crunchy, the chocolate layer is nice and the buttery, sugary bottom is tasty.

Bittersweet Brownies & Bittersweet Ganache Glaze

I don't care for bittersweet chocolate. What's the point of chocolate if it isn't sweet? I don't mind dark, semisweet can be nice, milk is the best, white isn't chocolate... bittersweet sucks.

I made these brownies as directed because there are multiple brownie recipes in the book so I thought I should let the bittersweet be the actual chocolate in this one.

Eh.

In the Serving section Dorie suggests you top with the Bittersweet Ganache Glaze... I would normally leave brownies alone but I thought it would be smart to do two recipes in one.

Eh.

Salted Cinnamon-Chocolate Fudge (not a book recipe)

I cheated on Dorie this weekend... I had to. Jeremy asked me if there was a fudge recipe in the book and there isn't. Now that he brought it up I wanted to make fudge. So I found a fleur de sel recipe... this has good cinnamon flavor but not very strong on the chocolate or the salt.

 
So... yeah. I thought I needed the square pan for the brownies I made and I used the round pan for the fudge. How do you cut round fudge? Like a pizza? Well you can but then get these slices below... too big for fudge. I actually needed the 9x13 pan for the brownies so this was all for nothing. NOTHING!

I'd play around with this recipe. Instead of bittersweet I would use semisweet and I'd put more salt on top.

Cream Scones

I was a little afraid of the scone and I can't really say why... now I'm sad I waited so long. The recipe called for currants... I added chocolate chips.

Notice I'm not so good at cutting things evenly... good thing that doesn't change the taste!

Yes, they taste as good as they look.

Granola Grabbers

I am a super fan of this recipe! This weekend I also made the chocolate oatmeal almost-candy bars again because two guys from work requested the repeat. I thought they would be the star but then I met the granola grabber. The recipe called for raisins but I swapped them with milk chocolate chips (of course). This cookie is mostly granola and then you add slivered almonds, peanuts, coconut and the chocolate. Great flavor and a yummy crunch!

Honey Wheat Cookies

Hmm... this is a very plain cookie. Honey, lemon zest and wheat germ make up the flavor. Jeremy's review was that they tasted like "survival food" so while they didn't taste bad they will certainly not be a repeat in this house. I think this cookie would be a good pairing with tea... in England... with the Queen Mum.

Salt and Pepper Cocoa Shortbread

Oh cocoa shortbread... I just don't think you and I can be friends.
These were simple enough to make but they don't taste very good. I've had some trouble with shortbread but once I made the cornmeal shortbread it all seemed to come together. I thought this would have good flavor but I believe you use too much unsweetened cocoa powder and not enough sugar to balance that part. Then you add black pepper and fleur de sel and it throws the taste off even more.

I'm sticking with the cornmeal shortbread recipe if I need a shortbread cookie.

Quintuple Brownies

I can't believe how long it took me to make these brownies. 5 CHOCOLATES! Cocoa powder, semisweet, dark, milk and white. The recipe called for semisweet and unsweetened. So maybe I went a little overboard with the chocolate but I just don't care.

So you make the brownies... easy enough. Then you wait for them to cool and make a white chocolate glaze to put on top. I have to be honest and say I'd leave it off. Maybe I screwed up picking the chocolates I did but I'm also not a super fan of white chocolate. Dare I say it? They are a little too sweet. Just a little...

Pumpkin (Chocolate Chip) Muffins

This recipe calls for raisins and nuts and you should know by now that I am not down with that. Of course I immediately thought chocolate chips. I wasn't sure if pumpkin and chocolate went together. I Googled it and found all sorts of pumpkin chocolate cheesecake type things so I figured it would be alright.

Oh boy... these were amazing! The pumpkin kept the muffin moist (sorry to those of you who disapprove of that word... moist, moist, moist). The pumpkin pie like spices and the chocolate paired really well. I loved this one!!

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

I am not a fan of Whoppers... the dry sawdust malt is not appealing to me. I didn't try them but Jeremy's verdict is that they are too soft for him but they do taste like Whoppers. So at least that's good.

Nothing exciting to report on this recipe. Well except for having a not-so-intelligent moment. The instructions are to coarsely chop the Whoppers. So I'm trying to chop them and they are rolling all over the place. Instead of putting them in a bag and whacking them into submission I stood there and cut up each one individually. At least I can say I am committed to this task!

Sweet Cream Biscuits

I woke up this morning and I wanted a bread product... that's kind of my thing. Bread and I are really great friends. I cracked open the book and found that I hadn't made the sweet cream biscuits yet. Easy recipe.

Flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Pour the heavy cream over, mix it up and give it a few quick kneads.

Pat down the dough to 1/2 inch high, cut out the biscuits and bake.

This made a good biscuit. I thought I would miss the butter but I really didn't. They received the Jeremy Seal of Approval as well.

Almost Fudge Gateau

Once I found this recipe I knew it was going to be great for Thanksgiving. Our good friend Joe is a choco-holic and since he was hosting it was a perfect fit.

You melt chocolate, sugar, butter and coffee in the double boiler. Let it sit and then stir in egg yolks and flour.

Now it's time to beat the egg whites. The machine does all the work while you stand over it and proclaim that they don't look right. Then you ask your boyfriend to come look at it and snap at him when he attempts to form an opinion.

Fold about 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter, decide they are definitely overbeaten and pout while your patient boyfriend tells you to just keep going. Bake it even though it doesn't look right to you because it could be amazing and if it's gross you just try again another time.

So you bake for about 35 minutes and it comes out looking pretty good. The top separated from the cake and broke a bit but once the cake cooled it sunk back down.

After it's completely cool you make the glaze... just melt chocolate, pour boiling heavy cream over it and mix in some corn syrup.

Turn the cake over, pour the glaze over the flat bottom and smooth. Let the glaze cool to room temperature.

Eat Thanksgiving dinner, wait all of 5 minutes and dig into the cake. It's ridiculously delicious! Oh sweet chocolate... you are amazing. You know who is also amazing? That boyfriend of yours... he's the best.